Gates Lets Mosquitoes Fly at Audience

Microsoft co-founder commits most of his fortune to philanthropy

(NEWSER) - Looks as though Bill Gates' billionaire challenge is paying off: Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has pledged to give away most of his $13 billion fortune. He made the vow public a month after Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett urged the world's richest to give away at least half of their wealth. Allen, the 37th-richest person in the world on the most recent Forbes list, hopes to "spur other people to give," a rep tells the Seattle Times . More»

Largest charitable donation ever aims to save 8M children's lives

(NEWSER) - Bill Gates upped the ante for charitable giving again today, pledging $10 billion dollars for the development of vaccines over the next decade. The semi-retired Microsoft founder aims to save the lives of as many as 8 million children under the age of 5 in the world's poorest countries, reports the Times . “Vaccines already save and improve millions of lives in developing countries," Gates said in announcing the donation at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "Innovation will make it possible to save more children than ever before.” More»

(NEWSER) - Apple is closing in on a $700 million, all-cash deal to buy Twitter, Gawker reports. Silicon Valley sources say an agreement could be announced as early as next month at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference, and the iPhone is reportedly the force behind the deal: Its users already post countless Twitter messages on Tweetie and other Apple apps. More»

Bill Sr. recounts raising his 'smart-ass' son

(NEWSER) - Bill Gates stopped being a kid right about age 11, his father tells Wall Street Journal. And then he turned into a royal pain, at least for a while. In the most famous bit of family lore, Bill Gates Sr. says he had to chuck a glass of cold water over the head of his 12-year-old son during an outbreak of "utter, total sarcastic, smart-ass kid rudeness" at the dinner table. Soon after, the family enrolled him in a private school where he had more freedom—and discovered computers. More»

If trials work as expected, shots could save millions of children

(NEWSER) - Scientists have developed a promising vaccine against malaria, a devastating disease that kills a milion people a year, most of them young children. Trials of the breakthrough vaccine enter the final phase next year and it could be widely available by 2012, reports the Los Angeles Times. Successful trials have been conducted in Kenya and Tanzania. More»