Google has announced a breakthrough in its efforts to make books available online. It comes in the form of a negotiated settlement of a class action suit. According to the Google press release:

'If approved by the court, the agreement would provide:

* More Access to Out-of-Print Books – Generating greater exposure for millions of in-copyright works, including hard-to-find out-of-print books, by enabling readers in the U.S. to search these works and preview them online;
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We all love our gadgets – and love having more and more of them – but technophilia has a downside: Running all those gadgets takes energy.

A lot of it.

For individual consumers, that means higher electric bills. For society as a whole, it means increased generation of greenhouse gases.

Fortunately, energy experts say, you don't have to throw out your new LCD TV to curb your energy consumption. There are some easier, less painful steps you can take. And new technology either already more...

'Microsoft, Google and Yahoo have signed a global code of conduct promising to offer better protection for online free speech and against official intrusion.......The guidelines seek to limit what data should be shared with authorities, in cases where free speech is an issue.'

Microsoft has announced a program called Windows Azure that stores and runs customers' data and programs in the company's computer-server farms. Microsoft didn't disclose a release date or pricing for Azure. Windows Azure will be marketed as making it easier and cheaper for corporate clients to manage their software and information technology systems. 'Amazon and Salesforce.com have already gotten their cloud computing models in operation.

FLORENCE (Reuters) - After 10 years of painstaking study and restoration that tested both cutting edge technology and human patience, one of the greatest masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance is returning to the public.

Raphael's 'Madonna of the Goldfinch' is a survivor.

The 107 cm by 77 cm (42 inches by 30 inches) oil-on-wood, showing the Madonna with two children caressing a goldfinch, has outlived everything from the collapse of a house in 1547 that shattered it to the ravages of time more...

2008 USAID Development 2.0 Challenge:
An Open Call for Innovative Mobile Technology Applications for Developing Countries

Enter USAID’s first open source challenge! our best ideas for mobile applications could benefit millions in developing countries.
Winners of the USAID Development 2.0 Challenge will receive a grant of up to $10,000 and the chance to present their ideas before potential investors and senior officials at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the US govern more...

O3b, a new satellite communications initiative, claims to have been able to learn from the mistakes made by previous projects, such as Globalstar, Iridium and Teledesic. 'O3b......intends to offer bandwidth on a wholesale basis to internet-service providers, and transmission services to telecom operators, to link remote base stations to their core networks...O3b’s service will be available only in a ribbon around the equator, covering most developing countries. It can start offering this servi more...

'Researchers have used Google Earth to create a simple, inexpensive mapping tool to help fight vector-borne diseases like dengue in resource-poor countries. The team, including researchers from Mexico and South Africa, recorded data about a city's infrastructure — such as the location of health facilities and water sources that may serve as breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Using Google Earth, a free satellite imagery and mapping archive, they overlaid the data onto satellite images to visually more...

Lead: 'The risk of spam and viruses that attack mobile devices is set to rise, says a report.' The article continues: 'Security experts suggest current risks are small, and that attacks will take the same form as PC spam and scams. End-user protection like anti-virus software is not yet mature in the mobile market, so the issue is being addressed by the network operators. Mobile users are urged to employ the same safe behaviours familiar from PCs to reduce risks.'

Proposals for a central database of all mobile phone and internet traffic have been condemned as 'Orwellian'. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the police and security services needed new powers to keep up with technology. And she promised that the content of conversations would not be stored, just times and dates of messages and calls’.