This week, Japanese ISP BIGLOBE and spun-off parent company NEC began testing a new energy conservation incentive in the homes of 100 of its employees that turns carbon emission reduction into a game called Carbon Diet.

The circuit breakers in the testers' homes are connected to a WiFi and ZigBee-enabled device which tracks their electricity consumption. The data from the box is then converted into stats which are used in various online multiplayer games.

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Angela Belcher and her team of bioengineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), have turned the concept of a virus-built battery into a reality.

For the last five years, the team has been engineering a virus known as M13 bacteriophage, which is attracted to inorganic materials. Each virus coats itself with gold and cobalt oxide, effectively turning itself into a fragment of nanowire. When these viruses are then chained together, they form a film that can be used as an anode, or the part of a battery that carries a negative ionic charge.

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Linux-based video game console EVO from Envizions is available for pre-order today. The system is based on a 2.4GHz Athlon 64x2 4850E+ CPU with 2GB of DDR2 expandable to 4GB, an ATI HD3200 graphics processor, a 120GB HDD, and other customizing options.

Unfortunately, the company has rather messily publicized the console's pricing. The "Beta" version of EVO is listed on Envizions' site for $379 (Linux) and $479 (Windows), but is also listed as costing $799.99 for the EVO Smart Console HD (Vista), and $499.99 for the EVO Smart Console (Mirrors Evolution) on the console's dedicated site.

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Two days ago, the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED) passed in Sweden. The law requires that Internet service providers turn over the IP addresses of file sharers to authorities in cases of suspected copyright infringement.

The chilling effect this law has had on Swedish Internet traffic is palpable. Traffic metric site Netnod Internet Exchange shows that since IPRED was passed on Wednesday, traffic has dropped by around 40%.

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Skype blogger Peter Parkes posted a quick update today announcing that within two days of availability, Skype is now one of the fastest-downloaded apps of all time in the iTunes app store at around six downloads each second.

This in no way is a gauge of the usage the app will get, since it has been shown that most iPhone apps that are featured, free, and downloaded at least a million times do not get used at all after one month, and 80% don't even use the app after the first day.

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With only two official deployments in the United States and flagging interest from hardware providers such as Nokia, WiMAX needs a strategic deployment. Where better than Silicon Valley?

Clearwire is shooting for a 20 square mile area of coverage in the San Francisco Bay area, and giving 4G developers there free access to the network.

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Software company Opera announced that its Web browser will be included in the Sprint 3G-connected Ford Work Soutions in-vehicle computer systems, and as a download for the Nintendo DSi that will be released in Europe tomorrow, and in the U.S. this Sunday.

In announcing the company's placement in the first 3G in-dash computer, Opera Americas' Software's Senior Vice President, Rod Hamlin said, "Opera's vision has always been about giving people access to the full Web anytime, anywhere. No example showcases this better than delivering a fast, feature-rich Web browser to a vehicle."

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Hulu is reportedly attempting to keep out the non-browser based watchers by implementing its own form of DRM with JavaScript, but the trick didn't work for long as media center applications have already been updated.

Because of the sudden popularity of solutions like Boxee and MCE, and the related displeasure they caused content providers, streaming television service Hulu has been cat-and-mousing with third parties in the way that typically ends in legal action.

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Applications that allowed Android-based phones to act as 3G modems were pulled from the Android Market earlier this week, only to be returned again to everywhere...except in the U.S. According to a report from a developer of one of the apps that was pulled earlier in the week, Google found that the applications were a violation of T-Mobile's terms of service.

But given the open nature of Android, and the operating system's availability on wireless networks other than T-Mobile, Google today brought back the tethering apps, with the proviso that T-Mobile USA users will not have access to them. Because (unlike with the iPhone) Android applications can be distributed outside of the Market, however, those users who want tethering can likely find the download elsewhere.

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Microsoft today released a new version of its free Windows Live app for Windows Mobile devices. The application, which was first debuted almost exactly one year ago, now includes Windows Live Messenger in addition to the push Hotmail syncing, Contact syncing, and Spaces upload support it previously offered. The software is available in both touch-based, and non touch-based formats.

Separately, all non-Windows Mobile devices will enjoy the upgrade to the Windows Live Mobile portal. The mobile page has been upgraded with a brushed-up UI and has received support for full HTML in Hotmail, a feature that Google's Gmail's mobile client does not yet offer.

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Representing a veritable 180 degree turn in opinion, a Nokia spokesperson told the Financial Times today that the company no longer believes WiMAX is a viable wireless mobile standard.

"I don't think [WiMAX's] future is very promising. This is a classic example of industry standards clashing, and somebody comes out as the winner and somebody has to lose," said Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President of New Markets at Nokia. "Betamax was there for a long time, but VHS dominated the market. I see exactly the same thing happening here."

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According to Sprint, its new caller-ID notification service announced today can be personalized just like caller-ID on mobile phones themselves, including pictures, nicknames, custom fonts, and colors for different callers. Even before the phone rings, the company says, a caller-ID message pops up on the user's TV or PC screen.

Betanews contacted Sprint today, but since CTIA WIreless is this week, the reply channel for telecommunications companies has been slow. Our main question, after, "Is this an April Fool's gag?" was "How do you ignore calls?"

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Virgin Mobile announced today that beginning on April 14, Opera Mini 4.2 will be available as a free download for prepaid customers in the VirginXL store, and that a number of future devices will ship with the browser pre-installed.

Opera said that customers with the Samsung Slash, or the UTSTARCOM Super Slice, Shuttle, and Arc will all have access to the new browser.

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MocoNews yesterday got some critical information from T-Mobile USA about Google's Android Market, the most interesting of which is the average G1 user's voracious consumption of Apps.

According to the report, 40 million apps have been downloaded since the G1 debuted just over five months ago, and based upon the number of handsets sold, the average user downloads 40 apps from the Android Market.

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Samsung's Instinct was not only Sprint's fastest selling EV-DO handset, but it also ranked as Best Buy's best selling handset since 2006. And though Samsung followed it up with the Windows Mobile "TouchWiz"-equipped Omnia, the splash made by the Instinct was too big to avoid a sequel.

At CTIA Wireless in Las Vegas, Sprint and Samsung announced the Instinct s30 will be available on April 19 through Sprint's stores and Web site for $129.99 with a two-year contract and applicable rebates.

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