Remember Google.org, the philantropic arm of Google? They’re still here and trying their best to spend that billion they started with.

This time, they’ve donated 14 million dollars in various grants to partners in Southeast Asia and Africa to help predict and prevent the next pandemic. These efforts include “identifying hot spots where diseases may emerge, detecting new pathogens circulating in animal and human populations, and responding to outbreaks before they become global crises.” For the details on how exactly they plan to do that, go here.

Check out a video of Google.org’s CEO, Dr. Larry Brilliant, talking about his dream: building a global system that can detect each new disease as it emerges.

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The iPhone’s text-message storage capacity has been increased from 1,000 to 75,000. If you get anywhere near that limit, either you’re texting way too much or you’re subscribed to egoblogger Robert Scoble’s Twitter feed. Actually, this is good news. I recently hit this limit on my iPhone — I had some messages from September stored on there. Here’s my question: why is there a limit at all?

Source:Valleywag

Joost fired its CTO, Dirk-Willem van Gulik, a company flack told NewTeeVee. For a replacement, the Web TV service named Matt Zelesko, formerly the company’s senior vice president of engineering. Here’s the weird part, though: van Gulik already has a new job.

The BBC’s Future Media and Technology Group appointed van Gulik chief technical architect this afternoon.

That news apparently surprised Joost. Joost PR first told NewTeeVee that van Gulik would continue as a consultant for the company. On a second call, the flack told the blog that van Gulik had been “terminated.”

What could have caused their story to change so fast? Here at Valleywag, we’re on the case, actively searching the Internet for a photograph of van Gulik’s girlfriend’s boobs or at least a shot of the CTO ripping a bong hit. Because why else does anybody get fired around here? You could, of course, let us know.

Source:Valleywag

Perhaps inspired by Jason Calcanis’s successful Twitter for help when stranded sans passport in Paris, the do-gooding Google.org has launched the Innovative Support to Emergencies, Diseases and Disaster project — essentially a Web 2.0-fueled emergency broadcast system that will spread disaster-related tidings. With so many people friending and tracking strangers, it only seems logical that you’d base an early warning system on Twitter and Facebook. Instead of inane ramblings, InSTEDD would track text messages between humanitarian workers to help track down resources in the event of an outbreak, and it will help people track down nearby friends. Hopefully InSTEDD’s Twitterlike bot will be a bit more reliable than the original.

Source:Valleywag

Could it be true? Eric Savitz of Barron’s blogs about the apparent comeback of his former employer, The Industry Standard. The weekly tech trade magazine inflated, and imploded, more or less in sync with the dotcom bubble; shuttered by owner IDG, it’s seen a series of mostly pathetic attempts to resuscitate its website, all of which floundered. But the website now promises that the Standard is “coming back.” Odd timing, given Time Inc.’s shuttering of Business 2.0, and the discontinuation of the Red Herring’s print edition. Founder John Battelle tersely wishes the new Standard luck. I’m betting that the publication bypasses print and goes straight to the Web — just like Battelle’s current venture.

Source:Valleywag

Wondering about the status of Google.org, Google’s nonprofit arm? According to tax filings, “In 2006, the foundation had $4.07 million in revenue on its investments, and paid out $2.096 million.” Sounds like a better return than most for-profit startups. [Docu-Drama]