Microsoft wins court approval to topple "botnet": report

Software giant Microsoft Corp has won a U.S. court approval to deactivate a global network of computers that the company accused of spreading spam and harmful computer codes. A federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia, granted a request by Microsoft to deactivate 277 Internet domains, which the software maker said is linked to a "botnet". A botnet is an army of infected computers that hackers can control from a central machine.

Via Reuters

Bloom fuel cell: Individual power plant in a box

At a news conference attended by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, a Silicon Valley start-up today took the wraps off a fuel cell designed to enable individual homes and businesses to generate their own power. Bloom Energy Corp. showed off the Bloom Energy Server, which is being billed as a game changer for the clean energy industry. The solid oxide fuel cell is built to generate electricity with a mixture of oxygen and renewable or traditional fuels - all without creating any emissions.

Via Business Week

Capped mobile roaming rates about to start in EU

Brits in Europe will be limited to a maximum of £45's worth of phone usage as part of the EU directive on roaming. The limit is in place to make sure that massive bills are not run up accidentally and hopefully stop the fairly regular 'man gets £1,000 bill after watching Top Gear on phone in Spanish hotel' stories.

Via Techradar

How Google's Algorithm Rules the Web

Want to know how Google is about to change your life? Stop by the Ouagadougou conference room on a Thursday morning. It is here, at the Mountain View, California, headquarters of the world's most powerful Internet company, that a room filled with three dozen engineers, product managers, and executives figure out how to make their search engine even smarter.

Via Wired

British Library warns UK's web heritage 'could be lost'

The UK's online heritage could be lost forever if the government does not grant a "right to archive", a group of leading libraries has said. The British Library, along with other institutions, has been archiving UK websites since 2004 but has only been able to cover 6,000 of an estimated 8m.

Via BBC Online

Bringing back Mars life

Fifty years after NASA began grappling with the idea of life beyond our planet, it's in the midst of planning missions to bring potential traces of Martian life back to Earth ... again.

Via MSNBC