Digital activist and Reddit Co-Founder, Aaron Swartz, committed suicide on Friday. Swartz, a strong proponent of Internet freedom, was the founder of DemandProgress.org and a co-creator of the RSS 1.0 standard. . Read More

MIT researchers have developed an algorithm that can predict which topics will “trend” on Twitter an average of 90 minutes before Twitter’s own algorithm puts them on its trending list. Read More

Each year MIT’s Technology Review honors 35 innovators under 35 “whose work promises to change the world, as chosen by a panel of expert judges. As always, several of the chosen pioneers for 2011 are transformative figures from the world of digital media.

Choosing just three to highlight is difficult, but Kun Zhou is particularly relevant to games and movies. The Zhejiang University computer science professor has come up with software capable of rendering movie-quality scenes using regular, garden variety graphics [...].

Well-known Internet entrepreneur and programmer Aaron Swartz was indicted today on charges accusing him of stealing millions of documents from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and academic document library JSTOR. Swartz most recently founded the civil liberties activist group Demand Progress, having previously been involved with launching Creative Commons and co-founding Reddit.com, Jottit, Open Library and watchdog.net. He also co-authored the RSS 1.0 specification and released as free software the web framework he developed for Reddit.

The charges were filed by [...].

Cambridge, Mass. – Researchers at MIT have developed a new battery technology that could lead to smaller, lighter batteries that could recharge in "seconds rather than hours," according to a report from the university’s news office.

The work, conducted under the leadership of MIT Professor Gerbrand Ceder, is based on a new surface structure for lithium ion batteries that allows the ions to move more quickly in the battery.

In the report, Ceder said that that further tests showed that unlike other battery materials, the new material does [...].

Cambridge, Mass. - Researchers at MIT and Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) have developed a new chip design for portable electronics that can be up to ten times more energy-efficient than present technology, according to an announcement on Monday. The key to the improvement in energy efficiency was to find ways of making the circuits on the chip work at a voltage level much lower than usual, according to the announcement. "While most current chips operate at around 1 volt, the new design works at just 0.3 [...].

Cambridge, Mass. - Legatum, a private investment firm that focuses on initiatives to support sustainable development, has made a gift of $50 million to MIT to create a new center for development and entrepreneurship.

The center will support aspiring entrepreneurs from the developing world, who have a strong commitment to development entrepreneurship, helping them to acquire the knowledge and skills required for successful business development and civic leadership around the world, MIT announced.

In addition, the center will provide [...].