A Labor MP has suggested it is time for Australia's competition watchdog to look into why Silicon Valley companies, including Apple, are fleecing families and young people more than US customers for their products.

The City of Santa Clara has approved a plan by Yahoo allowing the Internet giant to build its new headquarters on a sprawling 46-acre (186,155 square meters) campus in the heart of Silicon Valley.

At a news conference attended by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, a Silicon Valley start-up today took the wraps off a fuel cell designed to enable individual homes and businesses to generate their own power.

Silicon Valley's garages have a long history as incubators of technology.

It is held without question that Silicon Valley is the center of the high-tech universe in the United States. It's still undisputed. A Milken Institute study released this week places Silicon Valley at the top of its list of top 50 high technology regions in the U.S. And the majority of U.S. venture capital money still flows into that region's technology industry.