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SimpleGeo has placed 20 million locations for "places" in the public domain to drive developers of location-based service apps. The thing is that data, combined with location-tracking smartphones, could spark unsavory uses too. In a direct challenge to Foursquare's effort to become the "Rosetta stone" for location-data on identifiable geo-located "places," SimpleGeo is trying to spark a revolution in location-based app writing by making the data for 20 million places available on its servers under the Creative Commons Zero license--essentially placing the data for free into the public domain.

It's that time of the year again, when publicists everywhere pitch their most eco-friendly products in the silliest of ways. Let's hope they're at least diluting real environmentalism with reclaimed water. Happy Earth Day, everyone

Almost 900 million people in the world live without access to safe drinking water--the kind of water that is safe enough to flow straight from the tap into your mouth (with maybe a Brita filter in between). For these people, walking hours each day to faraway and potentially contaminated streams and wells is a way of life, and not one that is particularly conducive to getting much done

Professional pyromaniacs (fine, engineers) employed by the insurance industry are finding increasingly sophisticated ways to recreate horrific natural disasters--and their research is helping companies avoid millions in losses. As wildfires rage through Texas and the U.S

The blood-brain barrier keeps bacteria out--which is good. But for patients with brain tumors, it also keeps out life-saving medicine. A startup thinks it can fix that by using ultrasound

After dangling a reported $6 billion offer in front of daily deal site Groupon (which it ultimately rejected), Google is pressing on with its own service. Today Google unveiled Offers , a new feature that will allow local businesses to show off deep discounts to consumers. Seemingly a direct competitor to Groupon and Living Social, Offers boasts of discounts of 50% off or more

You can't download an app these days without it asking for your location--and not just on check-in services like Foursquare and Gowalla. Google Maps, Instagram, Twitter , Square, MenuPages, Shazam--they all want to know exactly where you are whenever you're using the app. Heck, services like Google Latitude won't even let you decline to share your location--it'll just put you through an endless cycle of notifications, almost demanding you to accept its terms.

New data suggests that in Europe, iOS is twice as big a market as Android, and the news comes as rumors resurface about Amazon's Android tablet hopes. It would seem the bookselling giant has an uphill struggle ahead.

Fitting a gasoline-powered car engine with frikkin' laser spark plugs may seem like one sci-fi step too far, but since it improves the combustion and cleans-up the exhaust, it may be the gas engine's last gasp before the electric revolution comes. The design of the spark plug really hasn't changed very much since the gasoline engine was invented--they're a device that creates an electric spark across a very precise small gap to ignite the fuel mixture in each cylinder, and apart from improving their materials and reliability there's not much you can do to tweak that. The problem with spark plugs is that they're not particularly good at their raison d'être.

Ethonomic Indicator of the Day: $12 - The minimum wage Walmart could pay its workers without affecting prices. Walmart is plowing through its global responsibility goals , cutting down on plastic waste, improving energy efficiency in factories, and reshaping the crop diversity of entire U.S. regions.

Syrian democracy activists on Twitter have found themselves threatened and spammed by mystery accounts. Now one prominent opposition figure claims the Syrian government may be involved. Protests in Syria are getting intense

It has been a year since BP helped make the ultimate oil company screw-up: blowing up an offshore oil rig, killing 11 workers, and then unloading 170 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

With the rise of GPS-enabled touchscreen phones like the iPhone, you'd think that the future for stand-alone GPS makers looks bleak. Except that these companies are being surprisingly agile, and are embracing smartphones to make the best GPS navigators ever.

Search for "New York Times" on Google, and you'll get 126,000,000 results (in about 0.14 seconds). Search the same query on Bing? Prepare for 491,000,000 results.

The U.S doesn't have much over China at this point. Sure, we have breathable air, but they have more clean energy funding , the world's fastest-growing economy, and at least for now, a head start on the vehicle electrification race.