News, notes and other interesting stuff on a drizzly Seattle weekend … 

The idea was “to figure out how to make a living off the trees without cutting them down,” explains treehouse builder Michael Garnier in this video, giving a tour of his “Treesort” in Takilma, Ore., which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Ewok Village. More in this article on FairCompanies.com, via i09.

Speaking of Star Wars, there’s a cool event coming up at Seattle’s Museum of Flight: “Master Modeler Bob Jacobsen will talk about how he designed and built a life-size, operational model of the movie star droid, R2-D2.” Saturday, Feb. 18, at 2 p.m. Details here.

Facebook’s ticker symbol will be FB, reports the New York Post. Watch for the company to file its IPO paperwork as soon as this week.

Student orders used textbook on Amazon.com, finds $400 worth of cocaine inside. No, this is not a new feature of Amazon Prime.

It’s the battle of the sports helmet cams, featuring the GoPro HD Hero 2 Outdoor Edition vs. the Contour Roam. CNet News.com’s Jay Greene has the matchup from the slopes of Whistler Blackcomb resort.

In addition to visiting Steve Jobs for a final conversation, Bill Gates wrote the Apple co-founder a letter that Jobs kept by his bed in his final days, reports the Telegraph.

Valve has developed iPhone and Android apps for its Steam video-game store and service, currently available for use in a closed beta. Features include the ability to chat with friends on Steam, browse community groups and user generated content, track game sales, and read gaming news.

Can Barnes & Noble save the book business — and itself — from Amazon.com? The New York Times explores that question in this article, via TechMeme.

Vancouver, B.C., has a new supercomputer hub for processing digital movies. Dubbed RenderCloud, it’s part of an effort by the region to land an even larger piece of the movie industry.

Playboy parties, helicopter rides, and a meet-and-greet with T-Mobile spokesmodel Carly. Those were just a few of the perks on a CES trip that Nokia awarded to T-Mobile’s “most enthusiastic” Windows Phone salesman. Here’s the video, including a cameo by Nokia’s Stephen Elop.

With contributions from Isaac Alexander. Follow his aerospace news feed @jetcitystar.

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