Mysteries of the Universe to be solved next Wednesday

The Times' science editor reports on the Large Hadron Collider that will help us understand how the Universe works while creating a blackhole that will devour Earth.

Google v. Microsoft, the browser war

Microsoft's IE8 includes a feature to hide your tracks, making it harder for Google to collect data and to serve you targeted ads based on this data. Google's response? A new Google browser to compete with IE.

UK to become the biggest country in the EU in 50 years' time,

By 2060, the population of major Europen countries will be:

• UK 77 million
• France 72
• Germany 71
• Italy 59
• Spain 52

Article from the Guardian.

Qik.com: Stream video live from your phone

The power of a live broadcast studio in your hand. Love the concept. What is not answered in their FAQs is: How much does this really cost?

Update: Sandrine pointed to me that the service isfree. Data charges depend on your plan with your phone provider.

Met Police launches Google crime map

Regions in blue is where you want to live. http://maps.met.police.uk/

Beware of a new Facebook scam!

Today you may receive a message on your wall saying "Hey. Somebody wrote something about you in their blog.. everybody needs to see this.. Go here" followed by a blogspot URL. This will redirect you to a fake Facebook page where you will be prompted to enter your Facebook login details. DON'T FALL FOR IT! It is a scam designed by people keen to get hold of your personal data. I almost went for it but noticed the unusual URL at the top of the "fake Facebook page". Consider it a civic duty to spread the word.

Creativity and Personal Mastery, summarised in one video

A truly life changing elective I took at business school with Professor Srikumar Rao, here speaking at Google.

Why Microsoft and Intel tried to kill the XO $100 laptop

A very sad story. From the Times.

Apple removes I Am Rich, a $1,000 featureless iPhone application

"Eight people bought the software, which has no function except to alert other people that you have money"... so why did Apple blocked it? Story on the LA Times.

Google offers free music in China

The service will let users search songs by singer or song title then download them from partner website Top100.cn, a Chinese music site. From CNet.

Google Lively, a Second Life killer? Yes but a slow death.

Google launched Lively, a browser based Second Life style real-time 3d world. It looks good, clean and fun but if you thought Second Life was slow... wait till you try Lively. Will it kill Second Life? Most Second Life users don't speculate on virtual lands and use the platform to meet and chat. They are the ones most likely to be seduced by Google Lively. Especially if they are from South Korea, the country of mega-fast broadband. For everyone else, they will prefer not to use Second Life than not to use Google Lively until they get a 50MB broadband connection. Via Tech Crunch.

Nasa: There is water on Mars

From the Guardian.

Growth slump may force Italy out of eurozone

For my Italian readers. This is according to Capital Economics and the article is purposely alarmist.

Technorati state of the Blogosphere

The new results are not in but the survey leading to them is available here: http://v2.decipherinc.com/survey/mmc/mmc08001

Second Life's economy is dominated by women's clothes

At least according to this entertaining article from Michael Parsons in the Times.

Google Knol, a Wikipedia rival?

The main difference between the two is that Google Knol puts the spotlight on authors and their opinions while Wikipedia strives to be factual. To that extent it is more a Squidoo or an about.com rival. It is very early day but the obvious pitfal for such venture is to prevent articles from turning into disguised sales pitches. Another concern is that Google will favour Google Knol articles over Wikipedia in its search queries.

Solar power from Saharan sun could provide Europe's electricity, says EU

Visionary. Article on the Guardian.

Beyond PR #24 on top 50 PR blogs in the world

There is a bit of a ranking mania at the moment. This one was compiled by Matthew Watson from the excellent Rainier PR. All I can say is a big thank you for including Beyond PR.

Shapeways lets you create real 3D objects

Upload your 3D design on Netherlands based Shapeways' website (incubated by Philips). They will provide you with a quote for 3D printing with a choice of four kinds of plastics (metal is planned) and shipping it wherever you like. The site uses 3D industry standard file formats (STL, Collada, X3D) and the average cost of objects is $50 - $150. As seen on TechCrunch.

I am very excited about the possibilities for artists and designers, from anime figurines to limited edition jewelleries.

See how it works here:

StudiVZ sued by Facebook?

German's premier social network is apparently being sued by Facebook for "intellectual property infringement". Seen on TechCrunch.