The Netherlands

Microsoft released Silverlight 2 on Monday, the second major version of its platform for creating and delivering advanced multimedia applications and experiences in a Web browser.

The company also said it will continue to back Silverlight-related open-source communities, with funding for advanced Silverlight development based on the Eclipse Foundation's integrated development environment (IDE) and with new controls to developers via the Silverlight Control Pack.

Vodafone announced the reorganization of its business structure and top management Tuesday, splitting in two its emerging-markets division and appointing a new boss for Europe.

Vodafone, the world's largest mobile phone operator by revenue, said it had appointed Michael Combes, the former finance director of France Telecom, as the new chief executive for Europe and said Paul Donovan, chief executive of the emerging-markets division, would leave.

Data centers in the U.S. have created a carbon footprint that is larger than that of countries such as The Netherlands and Argentina. Internet companies such as Google are investing billions of dollars in setting up massive data centers and struggling to control soaring power usage. While Google may want its users to trawl thousands of terabytes of data and get their search results almost immediately, this activity gobbles up plenty of energy.

Apple's iPhone 3G is continuing its march around the globe with reports of 120,000 sold by T-Mobile in Europe, plus a deal for distribution in Russia.

In an interview Monday, the head of Deutsche Telekom told the German magazine Focus that its wireless arm, T-Mobile, has sold that number since it was made available on July 11. The sales figure was reached, said Hamid Akhavan, in spite of distribution problems.

22 Countries Simultaneously

Researchers in Massachusetts are working on a technique to turn heat gathered by asphalt into useable energy via water pipes. Their paper, released this week at the International Symposium on Asphalt Pavements and Environment in Zurich, posits that asphalt roads could be better than solar panels in gathering energy.

Microsoft will pay comedian Jerry Seinfeld $10 million to advertise its Windows Vista operating system. In all, the campaign, which includes a series of ads featuring Seinfeld and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, will cost $300 million.

Based on the theme "Windows Not Walls," the series aims to shed a more favorable light on Windows Vista. Launched by Microsoft's new ad agency, Miami-based Crispin Porter + Bogusky, the campaign is set to debut Sept. 4 and will be one of Microsoft's largest ad blitzes. Crispin is credited with turning around Burger King's image.

Greenpeace called on the world's electronics companies Tuesday to eliminate hazardous chemicals from their products, saying toxic waste from wealthy nations' gadgets ends up being dumped in poor countries despite laws prohibiting it.

The environmental watchdog made the appeal in a new report on the electronic waste trade, which it said was spreading from Asia to West Africa -- particularly Ghana, where discarded TVs and computers that contain toxic materials are being dismantled by children as young as 5.

While pondering how to capture wind energy, scientists from the Netherlands went out and flew a giant kite. The 10-sq-meter kite was tethered to a generator and managed to produce 10 kW.