Google announces Project 10 themes

Google has whittled down the more than 150 000 ideas submitted as part of its Project 10¹⁰⁰ to 16 themes that will compete for $10 million in funding, reports CNET News.

Google is asking the public to vote on the most worthy of the 16 'idea themes' it has identified from the submissions it received over the past year.

Google had originally planned to choose individual ideas, but was "overwhelmed" by the number of submissions, which took 3 000 employees to properly vet, according to Google spokesman Jamie Yood.

Microsoft has opened a new $500 million 'green' data centre in Ireland in a bid to boost European sales of its hosted and cloud-based services, states Computing.co.uk.

The official opening ceremony was presided over by Irish Taoiseach Brian Cowen and is one of the largest construction projects to take place in the financially battered republic over the past 12 months. It took about one million man-hours to complete and employed a workforce of around 2 100 at its peak.

“The opening of the data centre is a milestone in our ongoing investment in Europe and provides the critical infrastructure to support the delivery of our next generation of online services for both businesses and consumers,” says Jean-Philippe Courtois, president of Microsoft's international business.

US Energy Secretary Steven Chu says more than $144 million in funding is available from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for the electric power sector, including $44 million in awards to state public utility commissions and $100 million in funding for smart grid work force training programmes, says eWeek.

Speaking at the GridWeek conference in Washington, Chu also announced $100 million in funding for the electric power industry, expanding job creation and career advancement opportunities associated with smart grids and electricity transmission projects.

Chu added that the funding will also help establish training programmes for workers in the utility industry and electrical manufacturing sectors.