I would look at what you could buy off the shelf before building it yourself. I know some of the guys at Rygen.com and they're building some great logistics software. I don't work there or have any financial interest in it myself.
I always wonder about the health effects of beaming energy to earth on the people near the beam. What keeps the beam narrow to the just the intended collection point? The article states it's microwaves and that doesn't sound healthy to be bombarded by microwaves. Is there something here that I'm missing about how they're transmitting the energy?
Devils Advocate: They need to evaluate very carefully the switch. If an engine was designed to run on 100LL then there's a switch to G100UL then care must be taken to ensure it won't mess up the engine. We're not talking about a land based engine (like a car) where if the engine stops you just coast over to the side of the road and call a tow truck. You're talking about an emergency landing which means possible damage to people and property other than the pilot and plane. Many of the general aviation planes out there were built in the 60's and 70's so the FAA needs to be sure it won't cause problems.
I agree that in normal use it's only covering the menu bar and probably won't be much of a deal. What happens if an app has a lot of menu options? What will that do to the bar?
What about gaming? is this something the developers will have to work around or will the game only be below the notch?