Facebook is going public today. We take a look at what a bunch of shareholders mean to the rest of us friending, picture-posting, regular Facebook users. Think lots of developments: new products, new services, enhancements, branded products. Plus, we look at the e-nose, an electronic sniffing device that’s small enough to fit on a smartphone.

You might be driving in a car right now with a black box recorder, like the black boxes airplanes have. Congress could make every car have one of these in the next couple of years. They typically record events related to actual collisions, things like how long you pressed the brake before the accident and if you were wearing a seatbelt — but there’s not much clarity about how and when and who can see the data they collect. Should my car be able to tell on me for driving too fast?

Ancestry.com, the genealogy site, is going to offer more advanced DNA testing for its members, helping people find ancestors all the way back to the 18th century. All you have to do is take a home DNA test. These days, home DNA tests are being used for far more than finding clues about Grandpa Joe or Great-Great Grandpa Isadore. There are groups that offer to find your perfect dating match based on DNA, and kits you can use to test for potential future health issues, like cancer, heart disease or obesity.

If you text, you’ve probably gotten text spam. The messages often seem to come in the middle of the night, or in the wee hours of the morning, before the alarm buzzes to start the day. And the number of these annoyances has tripled in the last year — to 45 million text spams a day, according to the security firm Cloudmark. One reason for the increase? More people are opening up messages on their phones without knowing the sender — similar to the early days of email.

Today in New York, TV networks and advertisers are in the thick of “the upfronts.” This is when the networks parade out their fall line-ups and advertisers move in to start the bidding. Lingering over the proceedings this year is The Hopper. That’s a new commercial-skipping device from DISH Network. What does this mean for TV and advertising?

Elections come and go and many issues change, but one seems to remain: electronic voting. Two years ago, four years ago, eight years ago — the story’s been about the same: the machines don’t seem ready for prime-time, but we’re using them anyway. Also, the anti-piracy warnings on your Blu-Ray discs get serious.

Facebook is courting investors this week for its upcoming initial public offering. But a new report from the Kauffman Foundation declares venture capital is broken — specifically, the method by which large “limited partners” supply the money venture capital firms invest. And it seems lately investments just aren’t paying off, and investors are pulling out.

The roads of Nevada are going to be filling up with more cars — but not as many drivers. After extensive testing, Nevada has approved Google’s application to test driverless cars on public streets. So why go driverless? It could be safer — no worrying about distractions — and it could help traffic, too. Also, a new vacuum from Sharp makes us feel like we’re in “The Jetsons.”

If you’re in an emergency, you call 911. But what if you’re in a situation where making a call would put you in danger? What if you’re deaf and can’t call? Starting next year, Verizon customers will be able to text to 911 instead of calling. But is it coming too late or being pushed ahead too soon? Also, folks at the Boston Globe newspaper are getting rid of the words yesterday, today and tomorrow in stories.