Link: Fuel Cell Technology & The 10 Hour Battery

Technology focusing around fuel cells is set to launch next year. Positive statements from laptop manufacturers like NEC, IBM, and Toshiba suggest that fuel cell technology will be available within 12 months, but such predictions have generally been optimistic. Airlines, noise, size, and weight have all been obstacles.

Link: WSJ.com – Microsoft’s Ballmer Defends Plan to Increase Spending.

The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reports that Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer made a rare appearance to investors to defend Microsoft’s plans to invest $2 billion more than expected to improve Web-based products including search. Windows and other software will continually be adapted to the Web via these higher capital expenditures and research-and-development costs as Microsoft intends to compete with Google.

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Link: Do Dial-Up Modems Still Matter?.

With broadband (high-speed Internet) adoption at an all-time high in the United States, can we finally assume that all users will have high-speed internet connections– and by association, an enjoyable, responsive, non-painful way to use the Internet? Or do web developers still need to accommodate dial-up users? The link above discusses the latest trends in American Internet connectivity.

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Link: Google Checkout: PayPal Killer?.

It looks like Google Checkout may be in the making.  The speculation is that it is a free shopping cart that lets website owners accept payment and track sales through Google Analytics.

The New York Post released rumors of Microsoft’s possible take over of eBay. Of course, only "unnamed" sources were used as references. Nonetheless, any news to do with the Microsoft / Google wars causes quite the stir online. Check out some of these responses found at CNET’s News.com.

The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) has an intriguing article explaining how "advanced-technology products often lack important virtues of their predecessors." Cell phones crackle with static that rotary phones don’t have; printers require tedious adjusting in order to print an address on an envelope while typewriters handled it with ease; and digital cameras have seconds of lag time while film cameras take shots instantaneously.

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The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reports that "…under a roughly three-year pact, Google, of Mountain View, Calif., would pay Dell to have its desktop software for searching the content of a user’s hard drive and emails, and a Web browser search toolbar installed on the computers, the people said. Dell would also set the default search engine for users to Google’s offering, one of the sources said." Each computer’s homepage would be set to a cobranded Dell/Google site.

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Link: Converting Trash into Energy.

The trash you toss in the garbage could end up powering your lights, computer and washing machine, because in the world of alternative energy, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure trove of fuel. Check out the article above for details on converting landfill gas into energy.

Link: 101 of the Top Free Software Utilities Available.

Here is a fairly comprehensive list of the 101 best "fabulous freebies," free software packages that are extremely useful, popular, and free! Follow the link to sort either alphabetically or by category. Click on any of the links in the list for a quick and easy download.

Link: Microsoft Releases Vista, Longhorn, Office Betas – Simultaneously.

In an unprecedented move, Microsoft Tuesday simultaneously released beta versions of its three major upcoming software releases — Windows Vista, Office 2007 and Windows Server, code-named Longhorn.