In another interesting demonstration of open protocols and open source, Apple's grid computing initiative, XGrid, has been ported to generic Unix (including, especially, Linux and Solaris). Code, instructions, and details can be found at the XGrid for Linux web site.

In it's first week of operation, Apple's iTunes Music Store has sold 800,000 songs. According to Apple, their closest competitor (OD2) has sold just 1/16th the number songs last week in the UK as Apple, who sold 450,000. OD2 appears to operate: MyCokeMusic.com Virgin Music Tiscali …

Apple's Chief Software Technology Officer, Dr. Avie Tevanian, has given testimony (PDF) along with a number of other computer industry executives, about computer security in the home. The testimony basically talks about how building security in from the ground up, providing good security tools, frequent updates, and network diversity all …

Infoworld's Tom Yager reviews G5 XServe and Opteron servers in comparison to the Intel Xeon offerings. Not surprisingly, the Mac receives high marks for its extraordinary I/O capabilities and the Opteron for its RAM access speeds. No matter how you slice it, it's not coming up Xeon.

OK, I'll admit that this one may be even a bit far fetched for me, but take a look at the information and tell me if it doesn't look like a good deal for Sony. According to reports from a number of locations, including CNet, Sony has settled with European …

Startup company, OQO is showing off their OQO Model 01 hand-held computer. It's a bit larger than an iPod and weighs 14 oz., but runs full-fledged Windows XP on a 1GHz Transmeta CPU with a 20GB hard drive and 256MB of RAM. The machine also packs Bluetooth, WiFi (802.11b …

As I was preparing for the wedding, I finally decided to change my main printer (after 2 mostly happy years with the Xerox 860DP). The 8400 is the first "true Xerox" version of the Phaser product line and I evaluated costs and features of a number of printers before deciding …

In an effort to bring local channels to another 41 local areas in the US, DirecTV has launched another satellite, this time using the Sea Launch sea-borne commercial launch facility. Sea Launch uses a sea-borne launch facility usually position near the equator in the Pacific Ocean to launch commercial payloads …

As the folks at Ars Technica explain, it's only one week, but for the week ending April 24,2004, AMD beat Intel in desktop CPU sales. Laptops are still the purview of Intel (81% or so), but losing the 60% desktop race still hurts.

I went poking around this weekend looking for fuel cells for use as backup power (I need somewhere between 7KW and 20KW of backup for use when there is no power, but I'd really like to keep the noise and footprint down). Once again, I have sought out hydrogen-based fuel …

Tim Berners-Lee, the acknowledged inventor of the world wide web, has been given the Millennium Technology Prize by the Finnish Technology Award Foundation. The prize, worth 1 million Euros, is handed out every other year for innovations stemming from research in the following areas: Health Care and Life Sciences Communications …

In what Extreme Tech called a "Grand Slam" in their preview, nVidia has announced May availability for their new NV40-based 16-pipeline graphics chip. It is a best, beating previous performance winners by about a factor of two!

After this week's settlement with Microsoft, Sun has come under attack by some in the computing community about their willingness to "sleep with the enemy." Sun's venerable "java guy" has posted a blog entry wherein he gives his take on why the Java world should not fear the $1.6B …

US space and aircraft agency, NASA has announced that an unmanned research plane successfully flew at over Mach 7 (5,300 mph- 7 times the speed of sound). The modified Pegasus rocket was launched from under the wing of a B-52B Saturday over the Pacific Ocean.

Those who are completely dependent upon spelling checkers for making their documents correct should take heed. This story from the Scotsman tells of the problems and consequences of depending too much on your spelling checker. The article recounts the story of the Scottish National Party and their recent mistake of …

For those unfamiliar with it, Vonage is a Voice over IP telephone service that includes hardware and allows you to use a normal telephone to make phone calls over the Internet. This isn't news, though. In conjunction with some beta tests being done by the company at Click2Call, the folks …

With the recent uproar about camera phones being misused in locker rooms and other private areas, there is now some evidence that cell phones cameras are useful as a crime fighting device. Over the last year, there have been a number of articles (such as this article from last year …

The following is a very slightly edited account of Kurt's foray into using 64-bit Microsoft Windows with AMD's Athlon processors. Links to the software, hardware and drivers are scattered throughout. For those Mac users out there, this is a taste of what the PC-based 64-bit world is going to be …

The Washington Post has a review (registration required) of Apple's new iPod Mini. Their technology writer likes it. In summary, the iPod Mini is a suitable replacement for just about any flash or hard drive-based player and if you are willing to pay the money for the size (a "real …

Whitehouse.com, possibly the most often accidentally-reached porn site on the internet is going to be moving this year. Based on this article from Reuters (via Yahoo), the site's owner is concerned that his soon-to-be school-aged child will be the subject of ridicule at school if the family's business is …