IBM, in an experiment on cloud computing, developed a technology called the Spoken Web which allows people to create and navigate websites by voice, opening up a whole new world of opportunities for the vast number of illiterate people in India, and other developing countries.

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Agencies are filled with wonderfully creative people who love technology and experiment with it on a daily basis.

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The company running the experiment, VaxInnate, a closely held biotech firm, is working on technology that could derive in only six weeks a new vaccine for the H1N1 swine flu, the virus causing the global scare.

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's bold video-on-demand experiment with an eye toward investing in the fiber-optic technology that made it work.

FORBES: Fiber in the sagebrush

The idea is to experiment with projects that pay farmers to reduce nutrient pollution, using money that would otherwise have been spent on expensive technology for use by institutions such as municipal water authorities.

ECONOMIST: Nutrient pollution

The experiment faltered, and eBay gave up on Skype in 2009, selling a 70% stake to a group of technology investors including Silver Lake Partners, venture capital firms Index Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, who will make a handsome return on the Microsoft transaction.

WSJ: Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Skype for Nearly $8 Billion