At 10 years on, perhaps for the first time we have just enough hindsight on the event to be able to judge it with a cool head.

FORBES: 9/11 and the Management of Future Feedback

That's a job that could run the country, as long as it's cool with the president, which at that point could very well be - you guessed it, Alison - Victor Zubkov.

NPR: Looking Into Putin's Soul Again

Akon says that it was this reality, coupled with a desire "to be cool, " that sent him off the rails during his teenage years.

CNN: Akon: Why I'm a changed man

Microsoft is also launching regional portals, and while it's not cool among Netizens to like anything Microsoft does, it is a force to be reckoned with simply because it IS Microsoft.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Asia Buzz: Let the Best Portal Win

"It was really cool to see everyone in their element and to be in their element with them, " Dolenc says.

CNN: Moroccan multisport

But now Cool Earth Solar of Livermore, California, has come up with what it hopes will be a better, cheaper alternative: balloons.

ECONOMIST: Monitor

On the surface, it will have a cool, modern look and feel that's meant to be used with touchscreen tablets.

CNN: This is the year Microsoft fights back

"It was a lot more fun to me to be making cool interactive music apps than struggling with the music industry which was sort of in recession, " Dolby tells me.

ENGADGET: Thomas Dolby's Wild Ride

"I'm kind of a geek and play the online MMO World of Warcraft with my sister and her husband, and we always talk about how cool it would be to go there, " she says.

CNN: A beauty beyond skin deep

My guess is he wanted to tell me before it was too late, before I was too embarrassed to be seen with him and too cool to listen to anything he said.

FORBES: Growing Up And Liking It