Here are the emerging technology stories for the week of August 20th.

Collective Search Is Next Focus, Ask.com CEO Says - The idea of collective search isn't a bad one, though not sure if Ask.com will be able to pull it off.

Silicon Nanoparticles Enhance Performance Of Solar Cells - There's been lots of news recently on new methods to improve the ability of solar power cells, including this new nanoparticle idea. Hopefully some of these will appear sooner rather than later.

Blueprints drawn up for quantum computer RAM - Interesting proposal on how RAM would work in quantum computers.

Microsoft Moves UC Ball Forward - Over at VoiceCon lots of companies once again pushing the idea of Unified Communications.