ReadWriteWeb

Former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates made headlines a few weeks ago when he decided to join Twitter, amassing hundreds of thousands of followers within just a few hours of signing up for the service. Just last week, Gates made an appearance on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show to discuss the release of his second annual letter describing the progress the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has made. Needless to say, Gates has had a busy 2010 so far.

Gates' foundation is focused on improving the conditions in developing countries by providing funding for supplies and research and by raising global awareness. Now Gates is beginning to focus on another way to improve the general condition of the world: green tech.

Bill Gates has started a mysterious new company, called bgC3, possibly to be focused on creating catalyst business ideas to spin off to Microsoft, the Gates Foundation or elsewhere. Little is known about the company, which doesn't appear to have a public web page, but a fair number of details have been ferreted out by the Seattle area tech reporters Todd Bishop, Eric Engleman and John Cook.

One of the highlights of CES (Consumer Electronics Show) each year is Bill Gates' keynote speech, available here as a webcast. Every year ReadWriteWeb analyzes Gates' keynote, highlighting the main themes and trends that he discusses. This year there were a slew of products and partnerships announced. It was less futuristic vision and more beta products and what's coming in 2008. In other words, it was much less about Internet-connected fridges, and more about what you can do now on your Xbox 360.