prizes

Linux Creator Linus Torvalds has been chosen as one of two recipients of the Millennium Technology Prize.

Torvalds was named a 2012 laureate by the Technology Academy of Finland for his creation and ongoing contributions to the open-source operating system. Created in 2004, the awards recognize "technological innovation that significantly improves the quality of human life, today and in the future" every two years.

"[Linux] has become the basis of Android smartphones, tablets, digital television recorders and supercomputers the world over," the academy said in announcing Torvalds' selection. "Today millions of people are using devices … Read more

Philips on Sunday will start selling an LED bulb that sets a new bar for performance -- and price.

The company will release the Philips L Prize LED on Earth Day for $50, which includes an "automatic incentive" from the company. The general-lighting bulb came out of the Department of Energy's L Prize competition to develop long-lasting, efficient, and less expensive LED lamps.

Philips claims its L Prize LED is the most efficient 60-watt LED equivalent and improves on features from Philips own existing LEDs.

It gives off 940 lumens, consumes 9.7 watts, and has a … Read more

Looking a little bit like the light cycles from Tron, but without the glowy bits, the E-Tracer 7009 placed in the top three of the Progressive Automotive X Prize competition in 2010.

Now the two-wheeled, two-seater has been renamed the MonoTracer MTE-150 and is headed to production, according to Auto Blog Green.

The MonoTracer MTE-150 has a Kevlar cabin and runs on a third-generation 150 kW (200 horsepower) drivetrain from AC Propulsion in California.

While the X Prize competitors were challenged to create a vehicle that could reach 100 mpge (miles per gallon equivalent), the MonoTracer could see about 350 … Read more

The "Star Trek" universe may be beloved by millions, but it's entirely fictional. Yet one element of Gene Rodenberry's timeless creation may actually help people with their health care decisions in real life.

The problem faced by millions of people around the world, especially in the third world, and in rural areas of the first world, is that there's not always a doctor around to help figure out what's wrong with you--and sometimes, one isn't even necessary. Sometimes, the right technology could help us determine what's going on in our bodies.

That'… Read more

Late last year I sung the praises of cash-rebate sites, which pay you back for making online purchases you were going to make anyway.

SwagBucks gives you prizes for doing stuff you already do, like searching the Web, playing games, taking polls, and watching videos.

It may sound a little scammy, but the site's legit: in the past couple years I've redeemed bucks for things like Amazon and iTunes gift cards. The challenge, of course, lies in earning enough bucks for a decent prize.

You now have one more tool in your arsenal: SwagBucks TV Mobile, a new Android app … Read more

With the shuttle program retired, NASA is turning to Virgin Galactic to hitch rides to the edge of space.

Richard Branson's private venture, which aims to be the first commercial space carrier, said it has signed a deal to give the agency up to three charter flights on SpaceShipTwo. The contract could be worth as much as $4.5 million.

The space plane, whose assembly hangar at the Mojave Air and Space Port was unveiled last month, will carry at least one science mission with a flight test engineer to monitor experiments. … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Microsoft today announced that it will give out $250,000 in BlueHat Prize rewards for innovative research on computer security defense.

Winners will be announced at next year's Black Hat security conference, with the grand prize being $200,000 and second prize being $50,000, Katie Moussouris, head of Microsoft's Security Community Outreach and Strategy team, said in a conference call from the conference being held here.

Researchers will own the intellectual property from their inventions and Microsoft will be able to use the technology under a royalty-free license, she said.

"This is a new program … Read more

Philips has won the equivalent of grueling car rally race for lighting.

The Department of Energy today awarded Philips' 60-watt equivalent LED bulb with the first L Prize for energy-efficiency lighting. Philips wins a $10 million cash prize. The product could be in stores as soon as early 2012, according to the DOE.

To win, the bulb needed to generate as much light as a 60-watt incandescent at 900 lumens but consume less than 10 watts. Its life has to be rated at over 25,000 hours, or 17 years of using a bulb four hours a day.

The bulb, … Read more

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Experts in fields such as regenerative medicine; personalized health; information and data-driven health; and neuromedicine are gathering here this week for several days of discussions about the future of medicine.

Organized under the appropriate rubric of "FutureMed," leaders in these fields, plus nearly 70 paying participants, are taking part in Singularity University's first FutureMed executive program.

For two years, Singularity University (SU)--created by futurist Ray Kurzweil and X Prize CEO Peter Diamandis--has been bringing people together at NASA Ames Research Center here to discuss what are called "exponentially growing" technologies--things … Read more