Microsoft is looking to capture the energy in the gas produced by sewage and harness that otherwise wasted energy for data centers. Microsoft has just gotten approval to test out a new modular data center that will be powered by a biogas fuel cell. The fuel cell will be situated at a sewage plant in Wyoming.

"A person is consuming data and that person's waste is going to power the data center," Microsoft data center researcher Sean Parker told Technology Review. "It's been a mind shift...when we smell that methane at a water treatment plant, we realize we're smelling energy."

Supposedly this isn't just some project designed to make Microsoft appear "green" to the public. They actually seem genuinely interested in being able to co-locate smaller data centers around sources of biogas. This means datacenters could find their way to your local sewage system, farm, or landfill.

The only issue I foresee with locating data centers at farms and possibly other out of the way locations is that getting a fast internet connection to them could be tough. They will definitely need a fiber line, which could delay or increase costs for this new idea. If it proves successful, though, it will deal with all the excess methane being produced and might help fight global warming.

The patent wars are in full force. Constant lawsuits between Samsung and Apple with others thrown in the mix make for a busy legal system. Back in September, the International Trade Commission ruled that Apple's iOS devices did not infringe on any of the patents that Samsung alleged they did.

The reason behind the ITC reevaluation isn't known, but it will give Samsung another chance to inflict some pain upon rival Apple. The ITC has the ability to prevent iOS devices from being imported, if they rule that the devices infringe on Samsung's intellectual property and patents.

The ruling is expected to come in January. Samsung will be attempting to tip the ITC scales in its favor, but it is not clear whether or not this is something they will be able to do. The original ITC finding was the second attempt by Samsung to block iOS devices. The first was the massive Apple v Samsung lawsuit, which saw a jury finding in favor of Apple to the tune of $1 billion.

If there are two things I enjoy than life itself, it's singing karaoke and never leaving my home. Thanks to a new collaboration between Microsoft and The Karaoke Channel, I won't have to as the company will release a Karaoke application for the Xbox 360 this holiday season.

Karaoke will allow users to rock out by the hour as they'll need to purchase blocks of time, which are said to be two, six and 24-hours of time, although I'm sure the 24-hour block of time won't need to be used all at once or you could end up with no voice for days after your marathon performance. Players will also be given the opportunity to select a number of free karaoke tracks to sing through.