MIT researchers have solved a major problem in the area of fusion power research - how to safely, accurately and in a controlled way, contain and stabilize the hot plasma core of a fusion reaction without losing heat or creating turbulence. While still "decades away," according to researchers, from generating more power than it consumes, this latest research takes us over one huge hurdle and paves the way for France's upcoming 10x larger fusion reactor, ITER.

The Hawaiian Electric company and the State of Hawaii endorsed an effort to build an alternative transportation system based on the concept of electric vehicles with swappable batteries and a “smart” battery charging network on Tuesday.

Browser add-ons have grown into platforms within browsers and some add-on developers have created viable business models that make money and attract venture capital. However, incompatible add-on engines that power major browsers limit the innovation potential. There is little chance that this will change anytime soon as IE remains on the proprietary add-on path while Chrome is likely to bring its own add-on system to the table. But the upcoming Add-on-Con conference, the first event to gather developers and marketers of browsers and add-ons, carries some hope that this environment could change down the road.

Per Wimmer, owner of investment bank Wimmer Financial and a space enthusiast hopes to become the world’s first “affordable” space tourist.

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, a German research company that just completed a study on laser printer emissions, reports that volatile organic-chemical emissions (ozone), silicon oil, paraffin and ultra-fine particles are emitted during laser printing. Though they don't go into significant detail on the health-related issues. However, several previous Australian research studies show that the particle emissions are comparable to cigarette smoking. The Australian study also suggests that printer companies should be regulated by the government as their products are often a major source of inter-office air pollution.

Facebook announced that it would begin rolling out its highly touted Facebook Connect login system for multiple high-profile websites, which include Digg, Hulu, and Discovery.com. The sites, in addition to a few others, will begin supporting Facebook Connect within a few weeks.

Ever since Google launched Chrome in September, the browser has been struggling to reach and maintain a 1% market share. The company tried a short-cut to more downloads by pushing it on the Google homepage and YouTube with little success. But we are seeing some movement now: Version 0.4 introduced a new bookmark manager and Chrome's web usage share jumped to 1% for the first time since the days immediately following the browser’s debut.

A TG Daily reader saw our previous Circuit City article. He sent in detailed events of something which took place last Nov 28. On that Black Friday, a local CC advertisement indicated a HP Pavilion G50-108NR notebook could be purchased for $399 after $150 mail-in rebate (original $549). After ordering it online with a "24-minute in-store pickup guarantee," the consumer went to get it only to find the store supervisor attempted to charge the consumer for things he didn't order. When confronted, the manager refused to honor the sale for the advertised price.

Earlier today, we reported that Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has dropped below 70% for the first time nearly nine years. Even worse, market research firm Net Applications now estimates Microsoft’s Windows market share at less than 90%, which is still an impressive number, but a lower level than most PC users may remember. We had to go back to Windows 3.11 to find similar market share data.  

Prior to deploying in Iraq in January, a unit of the National Guard in Pennsylvania will be receiving a weird looking robotic aircraft that has been often referred to as “the flying beer keg”.