Recession until 2012, says Gates

Speaking at the annual Technology, Entertainment, Design 2009 conference in California this week, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates predicted the US economy would suffer another three to four "very tough" years, says Computing.co.uk.

Despite the hardships of the economic crisis, however, Gates called on world governments to continue investing in sectors such as education and healthcare.

"We're going through a period... where a 50-year credit expansion has moved to contraction," said Gates. "You're going to have a number of years where aggregate demand is low."

Nasa boffins said today they've built and tested a small and relatively simple robot that can rappel down cliffs, traverse steep terrain, and tarry about in inhospitable craters other rovers would fear to tread, reports The Register.

The robo prototype, called Axel, was developed by Nasa's Jet Propulsion Lab and students at the California Institute of Technology. The engineers hope Axel's design can be used to aid future exploration of Mars - or even assist in Earthly search-and-rescue missions.

Axel rover - named for its single axel design and not the Guns N' Roses front man - was made with the goal of minimal complexity in mind. The rover is powered by only three actuators: two for its wheels and one for the multi-purpose trailing link.

Google has announced a new feature that allows users to share their locations among a chosen network of friends, says The BBC.

The "opt-in" Latitude service uses data from mobile phone masts, GPS, or WiFi hardware to update a user's location automatically.

Users can also manually set their advertised location anywhere they like, or turn the broadcast off altogether. The service has raised a number of security concerns, as many users may not be aware that it is enabled.