Alex salkever

When you hear the word "entrepreneur" you probably picture this: a recent college grad (or even a college drop-out) living off ramen noodles, sleeping in his office and hitting up a venture capitalist for start-up funds. We imagine individuals who have rarely worked for other companies or other people -- it's not in their blood. Turns out, all those stereotypes are flat wrong.

This new service makes it fast and easy to learn about your immediate vicinity with a much simpler interface than other local search applications use. And it shows how important Google sees location-specific search to it's long-term strategy.

A big hit at this year's CES is a collaborative effort among several companies to seamlessly connect appliances and energy-control devices into a simple-to-use system aimed at conserving electricity in homes. The payoff might be huge: Conservation alone could reduce power consumption in the U.S. by nearly 25%.

Known for its energy-guzzling data centers, Google is always looking to green its image. The latest move? The search giant has formed a new entity called Google Energy that could allow it to use more alternative energy when pulling in the power it needs.

Thanks to the power of the Internet, it's getting harder for companies to control how we communicate and entertain ourselves. Google's new phone runs an app that enables users to make international calls far cheaper than with any wireless carrier. That's just one sign of growing consumer influence through the Net.

At first, the iPhone-killer, Android-running smartphone was the Cliq. Then it was the Droid. Now it's the Nexus One. Each was hailed as the best one yet. Will the rapid-fire emergence of new smartphones anger potential Android devotees?

The alternative energy moneymen dreaming of clean electricity from Mexico see several factors that make the country perfect for power production aimed at the Southwest U.S. Baja California is blessed with ample wind and sunshine -- with lower costs and far less red tape.

Serious Materials is a green construction materials company that has raised more than $60 million in venture capital, thanks to innovative products like its EcoRock sheetrock, which is made with less than one-fifth the energy used to create standard drywall.

First we told you about Web 2.0 Suicide Machine, a Web application that makes it incredibly easy to strip all traces of your social media life off the Internet with a press of the button. Now, Facebook is trying to block the app from doing that.

Want to wipe your online slate clean for 2010 and eliminate your social-media indiscretions? Now, there's an app for that. The Web 2.0 suicide machine may be a harbinger of a hot new trend: Ditching social media to reconnect with the people in real life.