(Photo from LifeStraw, via Social ROI).

A number of stories, articles and links to highlight today. I should have a few new articles instead of these massive link drops soon. I'll be looking at a couple other ventures I saw in India while I was there in March.

*First off is this one from Social ROI that looks at something called LifeStraw. Invented by Danish innovator Torben Vestergaard Frandsen, the LifeStraw hopes to help people in third world countries immediately purify their water as they drink it. There are questions about cost effectiveness, though we might just have to put Torben in our next Audeamus SE awards.

*Coverage of Google Zeitgest Europe at Loic Le Meur.

*Ethanol beats fuel cells in European eco-marathon.

*Some coverage at TechCrunch of Innovate 2006, held a couple of weeks back in Zargosa, Spain.

*Does technological progress really produce economic growth? Check in at Hillary Burrage to find out.

*BlogHer looks at Random House's recycling program in depth.

*Mainstreaming Renewable Energy in the 21st Century, a paper by the Worldwatch Institute. In pdf.

*GreenGirl LA goes after Starbuck's CAFE practices.

*What are the 100 best companies to work for in Europe? Find out here. Via Mulley.

*Some scientists are backing plug-in hybrid vehicles.

*I missed this one. A forum was held at MIT on May 13th called "Solving Tomorrow's Energy Crisis: Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Policy." Some coverage here.

*The University of Iowa is expanding its WiderNet Project from universities in Africa to schools in India, Haiti and Bangladesh. The WiderNet Project is a a nonprofit effort to improve Internet access that has been focusing on developing nations in Africa.

*More reflections on the recent Skoll World Forum, from the Hindu Business Line.