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As the planet reaches 9 billion people by 2050, technologies that reduce energy and water needs for farming will become increasingly important. A Silicon Valley startup called mOasis is working on materials that can help farmers produce more crops with less energy and water. mOasis is developing something called a hydrogel, which generally refers to a type of polymer that is super absorbent because it's able to form a tight bond with water molecules. Hyrdogels are used in everything from diapers to insulation for underground cables to materials for retaining water in soil in farming. mOasis' hydrogel can reduce the amount and cost of water use for farming by 30 percent while increasing the biomass - or size and weight - of a crop by 30 percent, said Susanna Kass, CEO of the Mountain View-based mOasis.

"Most data centers, by design, consume vast amounts of energy in an incongruously wasteful manner, interviews and documents show. Online companies typically run their facilities at maximum capacity around the clock, whatever the demand. As a result, data centers can waste 90 percent or more of the electricity they pull off the grid, The Times found."

"City governments, faced with decreased resources after the Great Recession and rising citizen demand for services with increased urbanization, must be able to make better decisions that are informed by data. To put it another way, in 2012, mayors need to start playing Moneyball in government with evidence-based analysis. From public health to education to energy policy, if governments can shift resources to where they're needed more quickly and accurately, there's substantial positive outcomes for citizens from the application of data for public good. Predictive data analytics - like any data analysis - can only be as effective as the data that they're based upon. Data quality is a long-term concern for any policy maker that wishes to make data-driven decisions, from foreign policy to energy to transportation. If it's bad data, policymakers are going to have a problem, even with superior methodology and algorithms."

"Drawing on an entirely new set of original research conducted with countless collaborators in fields such as healthcare, science, education, energy, government and the media, we tell the stories of some of the world's most dynamic innovators, from a global citizen's movement working to reverse the tide of disruptive climate change to for-profit startups that are turning industries ranging from music to transportation on their head. We argue that collaborative innovation is not only transforming our economy but all of society and its many institutions. Now the onus is now on each of us to lead the transformation in our households, communities and workplaces. After all, the potential for new models of collaboration does not end with the production of software, media, entertainment and culture. Why not open source government, education, science, the production of energy, and even health care?"

"The paper highlights the massive amounts of energy data centers consume. But is that all it got right?"

In working across the globe and working with multiple carriers deploying new, more robust broadband networks, Strategic Networks Group consistently comes up against the notion that once the network is built, adoption will naturally follow.  "Build it and they will come" is a school of thought that expresses the great hope that potential subscribers will naturally adopt, however this notion goes against what we have always known about technology adoption. Meanwhile, broadband is broadband for many consumers and businesses - who do not see the difference, nor what is possible with ultra-fast broadband (e.g. fiber / Fiber-to-the-Home). On the other hand, organizations like US Ignite are forming to promote "Next generation Applications," specifically new applications in education, healthcare, clean energy, public safety, and workforce development, including advanced manufacturing. These require the ultra-fast broadband connectivity which the networks being rolled out today will provide. And before we get to "Next generation applications," consider the bandwidth required to support online collaboration so critical to being competitive in a 21st century economy.

Pardon the hyperbole, but this may be one of the biggest partnerships in education since chalk met the chalkboard. MIT has officially joined forces with Khan Academy to launch a new set of educational videos. In this new partnership, MIT students will be making videos, not the professors. It's a truly inspiring time in education when you see a school ask its own students to become the teachers. It's like the ultimate flipped classroom. It's a flipped school. "Our students have responded with all the energy and enthusiasm we knew they would. We worked with them to design the program, and the results are fantastic." -Ian A. Waitz, Dean of the School of Engineering and the Jerome C. Hunsaker Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

A novel new approach to underwriting the costs of next generation broadband - fiber to the home while addressing the challenges of reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions and providing new revenue model for service providers. See below for more details FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2012 A novel way to fund broadband FTTH Internet - converting old coax/copper into microgrids [I have long argued that we need to find new business models to underwrite costs of next generation broadband - Fiber to the Home ( FTTH) if we ever hope to breakup the existing broadband oligopoly. The lobbying powers of cableco/telcos are so intense and overwhelming that even the few community broadband initiatives that still remain are likely doomed from this relentless onslaught.

The report, part of the Future of the Internet/Imagining the Internet series, surveyed "1,021 experts and analysts from the tech world, universities, government agencies, corporations, and other stakeholders" on how close we are to a "smart" world, one which uses energy-efficient "smart structures," integrated appliances and automobiles and "smart grids" that enable a more efficient delivery of electricity and water.

Creating a low-carbon economy means transitioning from the energy-intensive physical infrastructure of the 20th century to the innovative, connected, information-based infrastructure that will be the hallmark of the 21st century. Governments that recognize the opportunities broadband offers for addressing a range of socio-economic goals as well as climate action, are making the expansion of affordable, reliable broadband access a key priority, with positive economic results.

"If the Obama administration's smart disclosure initiatives gather steam, more citizens will be able to do more than think about personal data: they'll be able to access their financial, health, education, or energy data. In the U.S. federal government, the Blue Button initiative, which initially enabled veterans to download personal health data, is now spreading to all federal employees, and it also earned adoption at private institutions like Aetna and Kaiser Permanente. Putting health data to work stands to benefit hundreds of millions of people. The Locker Project, which provides people with the ability to move and store personal data, is another approach to watch."

Intel announced plans to partner with two leading universities in London to launch the Intel Collaborative Research Institute for Sustainable Connected Cities. Announced at No. 10 Downing St., the Institute will explore how technology can help support and sustain social and economic development in cities around the world. This will include research into how technology can help solve problems like drought, long commute times and wasteful uses of energy.

The impact of Gartner's top 10 strategic technologies will not center only on the business - their capabilities will also increasingly become integral to future generations of management architecture, according to Gartner, Inc. "We are already seeing the adoption of 'big data' within the IT and operations management [ITOM] industry. In particular, software-as-service [SaaS] management providers now have to collect and synthesize large volumes of data," said Milind Govekar, managing vice president at Gartner. "We also expect more next-generation analytics to come to the forefront to address an increasingly hybrid cloud environment. On the social front, IT service desk social management tools will establish an interactive relationship with end users, enhance end-user productivity, provide a platform to share information and ideas, and market the value of IT to the business." In the fourth quarter of 2011, Gartner identified the 10 technologies and trends that will have the biggest impact for most organizations in 2012. They are: 1. Media tablets and beyond, 2. Mobile-centric applications and interfaces, 3. Contextual and social user experience, 4. The Internet of things, 5. App stores and marketplaces, 6. Next-generation analytics, 7. Big data, 8. In-memory computing, 9. Extreme low-energy servers and 10. Cloud computing.