A school in Mississippi is getting a first hand lesson in the power of the internet to take an issue and make it go viral.

Constance McMillen, a student at Itawamba County Agricultural High School, was planning to go to her senior prom. However McMillen is a lesbian and wanted to bring her girlfriend along and the school has rules that all dates must be of the opposite sex. McMillen did what any American youngster would do and took the school to court.

The ACLU got involved and it looked like McMillen was going to go to the prom after all. However, the school board decided, in its wisdom, to cancel the entire prom rather than let a same sex couple darken its door. It issued a statement saying it hoped someone would host a private party instead, which isn't covered by discrimination laws.

Now this would seem to have drawn a line under the affair, and pre-internet chances are it would have. But the school administrators had reckoned without the power of social media.

This morning a Facebook group called 'Let Constance Take Her Girlfriend to Prom!' was set up to support McMillen and it went from zero members to over 40,000 in less than 12 hours. It's one of the fastest viral developments we've seen in years.

The news media is, of course, all over the story and McMillen has been on CNN, ABC and the rest of the networks all day, and now the BBC has picked up on it and the story has gone international. Famed relationship adviser Dan Savage caught wind of the story and published the email addresses of the school board and suggested people send in polite letters of complaint. The response apparently caused the school to shut down the email addresses of some staff, presumably due to the volume of traffic.

From a tech standpoint we'll  be watching this closely. Viral issues like this tend to have a short half life so tomorrow will be interesting. If this rate of growth doesn't let up this could be a major meme and it'll be interesting to see how the school deals with it.

At long last the object of many geek's desires is on the market, a jetpack that actually works.

Older readers will remember Sean Connery's thrilling escape from the bad guys using a realistic looking jet pack in Thunderball. Younger readers may have seen the opening of the 1984 Olympics where a pilot flew a Bell Aerosystems rocket pack across the stadium.

In fact the idea of a jet pack is as old as World War Two, where the German army developed a primitive jetpack that would allow engineers to jump over minefields. Since then the idea has been tried and tried again but one fundamental problem remained - fuel.

No-one has managed to come up with a jet pack capable of sustained flight, although a recent example that uses water power was a brave attempt. Now a New Zealand company, Martin Aircraft, is taking orders for a workable jet pack that gives half an hour's flight time and runs on ordinary unleaded.

I predict this is going to become the transport device of choice for the well-healed geek in Silicon Valley. The device itself costs $90,000 and consists of a five by five foot unit with twin turbofan engines and a carbon fibre body.

At 250lb it's hardly the easiest thing to move around but the cool factor is through the roof and you won't need a pilot's licence to operate one. Imagine arriving at the office in one of these babies, or stopping off at a petrol station to top up the tank.

Now I wonder where we can get a review unit...

In light of recent events in Iran and elsewhere the US government has announced that it is relaxing sanctions to allow internet communications tools to be exported to Iran, Cuba and Sudan.

In a statement issued today the government said it was relaxing the rules in the hope that the technologies will be used to allow those opposed to the established regime to coordinate their activities and protest effectively and communicate outside national borders.

"Consistent with the Administration's deep commitment to the universal rights of all the world's citizens, the issuance of these general licenses will make it easier for individuals in Iran, Sudan and Cuba to use the internet to communicate with each other and with the outside world. Today's actions will enable Iranian, Sudanese and Cuban citizens to exercise their most basic rights," said Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin.

The ban will be lifted on technologies covering personal communications over the internet, including web browsing, blogging, email, instant messaging, and chat; social networking; and photo and movie sharing. In addition other software sales could be allowed but these will be cleared on a case by case basis.

"As recent events in Iran have shown, personal internet-based communications like email, instant messaging and social networking are powerful tools," said Wolin.

"This software will foster and support the free flow of information - a basic human right - for all Iranians. At the same time as we take these steps, the Administration will continue aggressively to enforce existing sanctions and to work with our international partners to increase the pressure on the Government of Iran to meet its international obligations."

The quality of people visiting stands at RSA 2010 has improved markedly, according to those manning the stands.

"It's a lot better this year," Chester Wisniewski, senior security adviser to Sophos told V3.co.uk.

"Last year we got about a third of people on the stand trying to sell us their companies. They'd lost angel funding and were just like 'Would you be interested in a company that does xyz?' Possibly, but we're here to sell, not to buy.

"This year there's a lot more customer engagement, we're doing a lot of good business."

Although visitor numbers won't be released for some weeks the exhibition hall has been packed and companies are reporting a significant amount of new business. Visitor numbers fell sharply last year as companies cut back on spending but anecdotal evidence from the show floor indicates this may be easing up.

"We're getting far more done here now," said Tom Murphy, chief strategy officer at enterprise application whitelisting vendor Bit 9.

"There's a lot of people interested in the concepts we're pushing and the quality of visitors is high."

Visitors to the RSA conference spend thousands of dollars on the best tickets, and generally get their money's worth in information and contacts.

It's not widely known but the city of San Francisco and a major credit card company have struck a deal with a number of businesses in the city, and surrounding Bay Area, so that conference delegates can also get discounts and promotional offers.

There's a huge variety of things to choose from. Some of the best tourist attractions are covered, including the Academy of Sciences (well worth a long visit), the de Young museum (ditto, and handily right next door) and the Botanical Gardens bookstore.

A large proportion of businesses that opted into the scheme are vineyards, or wineries as they are known over here. You can get free tastings, private tours and discounted purchases just by showing your RSA 2010 conference badge.

However, as Sleuth scanned the list, some other businesses came to light that are a little more unconventional. Conferences can be stressful times and I'm hoping that not many delegates use their 15 per cent discount at the On the Mat Fight Shop. The last thing you need on the Expo floor is someone going nuts with nunchucks after getting jostled one too many times.

Then there are the purveyors of other services, notably strip clubs. I'm not sure how many delegates would be happy flashing their badge at one of these establishments but Larry Flynt's infamous Hustler Club offers 15 per cent off food and beverages, Beaver Bucks (I don't want to know) not included.

That said there certainly appears to be a lot more business being done on the floor, the Expo is bustling and the Thirsty Bear is doing great trade. Last year they were trying to keep stand staff away from sharp implements in case of mass depression. This year things seem a little more hopeful.

If you've ever tried to find a review of somewhere in the US you'll probably have used Yelp.

The concept is simple, people review the restaurants, bars and businesses so that you can make a judgment based on people's actual experiences. While this approach does have its drawbacksY crowdsourced reviews are generally a good way to find out the skinny on a new place.

Almost since its inception, however, Yelp has been controversial. Business owners have threatened to sue over bad reviews and there have been persistent allegations that companies have been offered the chance to remove bad reviews if they buy an advertising package, allegations the site's management vehemently denies.

"Only a member of the user support team can remove a review and this team is not part of the sales organization. Please note that members of our user support team do not receive compensation tied to sales performance. It's our version of checks and balance," the company says in its FAQ.

Now things have come to a head, with a class action extortion complaint filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California, on behalf of Gregory Perrault, a veterinarian who owns and operates Cats & Dogs Animal Hospital in Long Beach.

Perrault claims that a sales executive from Yelp promised him that he could have much more control over the site if he bought a $300 per month advertising package.

"I don't have a problem with negative reviews. Like probably most business people, you use negative reviews to your advantage, as long as they're not emotional or making fun of [people]," Perrault told ABCNews.com.

"It's just that I tried following their rules about the reviews and I've been [faced with] this extortion ever since."

Yelp says that the claims are demonstrably untrue and it will fight the action. Several other businesses have also indicated that they want to get involved, according to Perrault's legal team.

"We've been directly contacted by dozens of people. And in every location you can think of. Literally across the country," said Beck, an attorney with Beck & Lee Business Trial Lawyers in Miami.

"What we learned is that this isn't an isolated practice or a single event or a single sales representative run amok. This seems to be a regular business practice."

Bloom  Energy's event today was all well and good, but Sleuth reserves judgment on its effectiveness.

On the one hand this is a perfect story. Nasa scientist develops hardware to convert Mars power into oxygen, project gets canceled and the invention gets turned around to benefit life on earth. It's not a new story - Bruce Stirling came up with something similar in Distraction.

As ever, the devil is in the details. Bloom claims to have invented an improvement on existing fuel cell technology that uses cheaper components than prior systems. If correct, this could be very good news.

One of the biggest problems with power generation is transmission. Superconductors, materials that can transmit power with no loss via resistance, aren't practical at normal temperatures and so we lose a lot of the electricity we generate just sending it to where it's needed.

Bloom offers to sort all that out by putting the power generation plant next to the consumer. It's a smart idea, something Thomas Edison first envisioned for power stations.

Details on the system are sketchy, we've asked for customer references and details of the system but had no reply. However, one serious problem springs to  mind.

The fuel cell relies on either a hydrocarbon source, or renewable energy. Quite how the differential between these two power sources comes about hasn't been explained and therein lies the rub.

According to reports, Intel is planning to invest up to $3bn dollars in a US venture-capital fund that will assist technology start-ups.

Apparently Intel is discussing its investment plans with venture firms. The reports said that Intel chief executive Paul Otellini will make the announcement later today.

Otellini is speaking at the Brookings Institution at 10am in Washinton DC on how future economic growth can be established with a long-term strategic approach.

He will speak on rebuilding the foundations of America's growth based on investment in innovation, and through developing and engaging new talent, according to the Brookings Institution events agenda.

"In his remarks, Otellini will describe the need to create a culture of investment in the United States, including the role for American businesses to partner with the government in promoting education, innovation and the creation of new business opportunities in order to maintain a globally competitive economy," it said.

In an astonishing case a US school is being sued for spying on students in their own homes.

Papers released in the case of Robbins v Lower Merion School District show that Harriton High School issued laptops with webcams to all students so that they could work from home. However, the laptops also contained spying software, something the school neglected to mention in their information for students.

The policy only came to light in November last year after one student, Blake Robbins, was called into school and disciplined for "improper behavior in his home" and as evidence the school presented a photograph taken by the webcam.

When his outraged parents called in to confirm this the school said that it routinely monitored students webcams for inappropriate behaviour, according to the court documents.

The parents then filed a class-action lawsuit against the district, charging it with interception of electronic communications under the Electronic Communication Privacy Act, theft of intellectual property under the Computer Fraud Abuse Act, violations of the Stored Communications Act, violations of the Civil Rights Act, invasions of privacy, and violations of the Pennsylvania wiretapping and electronic surveillance act.

"Many of the images captured and intercepted may consist of images of minors and their parents or friends in compromising or embarrassing positions, including, but not limited to, in various stages of dress or undress," the lawsuit charges.

If the details of the case are accurate the case could prove very costly indeed for the school district, which has yet to offer an explanation.

Tragedy struck electric car company Tesla today when three of its employees died in a plane crash.

The three took off in a Cessna 310 from Palo Alto Airport at 7:55am in thick fog and within minutes hit power lines over a residential neighborhood. All were killed but there were no other injuries, something the Menlo Park Fire Protection Chief  called "miraculous."

"We are withholding their identities as we work with the relevant authorities to notify the families," Elon Musk, Tesla's chief executive said in a statement.

The crash started house fires and knocked out a large chunk of the power network in Menlo Park and Mountain View, leaving many companies, including Facebook, powerless. At time of posting power is still out as engineers try to repair the damage.

The plane was registered to Doug Bourn, 57, a senior electrical engineer at Tesla, although it's not known if he was on board.

In a statement the city authorities said the Emergency Operations Center has been activated and the power should be back up by about 5.30pm, but no promises.