Topsy is “a search engine powered by tweets” and a fascinating new Web tool. If Twitter is the nervous system of the Internet, Topsy may be the most powerful electrocardiogram available today.

“The price of Christmas toys is outrageous — a hundred dollars, two hundred dollars for video games for the youngsters. I remember a Christmas years ago when my son was a kid. I bought him a tank. It was about a hundred dollars, a lot of money in those days. It was the kind of tank you could actually get inside and ride in. He played in the box it came in. It taught me a very valuable lesson. Next year he got a box. And I got a hundred dollars’ worth of scotch.”
—Johnny Carson

Many people are taking the next three days off by unplugging from their digital tethers. Seppukoo seeks to take that notion a few dozen steps further by assisting you in your “virtual identity suicide.”

David Letterman is must-see teevee tonight. Jay Thomas will tell his Lone Ranger story and throw a football at a meatball on the top of the Christmas tree. But the real reason to watch: Darlene Love, 68 years young and still going strong, who’ll be singing “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” and marking the official start of the holiday.

BeFunky is an interesting site that offers you 147 ways to upload and stylize a photo.