Wal-Mart break a barrier by selling a Linux-based laptop for under $500. According to CNET:

The computer, dubbed Balance, comes loaded with the Linspire operating system and the OpenOffice.org office suite, the companies said.

The companies said Balance is the lowest-priced laptop currently available with an operating system and an office suite. It features a VIA C3 1-GHz processor, 128MB RAM, a 30GB hard drive, a CD-ROM drive and a 14.1-inch liquid crystal display…

Plenty of free music is distributed over the Internet by artists who wish to promote themselves and share their work. UNIX/Linux users can use wget to mass-download that music without any manual intervention. This means that hundreds of songs can potentially be downloaded to your hard-drive automatically and on a daily basis. This method (which personally I consider unethical) is exposed in Jeff Veen’s item where you can pick up the simple instructions.

Sample files are located on this domain although they do not reflect on personal preference.

Also see the newer item which expands on this method and gives a clearer background.

Changes are expected in the way high-bandwidth entertainment is delivered. It sounds as if M¥¢ro$o£t have concrete plans of entering the world of television and maybe even broadcast. It might, of course, take us some time to discover if TV will absorb the PC or vice versa. In either case, it’s unlikely that the two will remain separate for the next decade to come. Time will tell.

From Slashdot:

…Verizon joins other baby bells SBC and Bellsouth in choosing Microsoft to provide TV content over high speed internet. IPTV, whose technology will deliver TV content in much the same way as VOIP delivers phone service, relys heavily on fiber optic speeds. According to SBC, Microsoft’s IPTV technology will allow a home to receive 3 standard TV signals, 1 HD channel, and high-speed Internet access all at the same time…

S⁵ is a token that explains its essence: A Simple Standards-Based Slide Show System. Alternatively, it can be perceived as a tool which constructs presentations for a modern Web browser to interpret. The author, Eric Meyer, has incorporated yet another improvement. At midday today I will present my work using S⁵:

• Version with no videos
• Version with videos

Ever wondered what is going on inside your PDA? Peter’s Pilot Pages contain high-resolution images of the entire contents of your Palm broken apart. This site is for the curious, not only for electronic engineers.

Cited by: PalmAddict

The experience of choosing a Web host is very baffling. One has to rely on word of mouth and the features provided by the host are rarely understood. I have had bad experiences with slow hosts that offer little or no support, but my current hosts, catalyst2, have been impeccable. Their service scope is global and I warmly recommend them.

Quite arguably, the number of links pointing to a Web site indicate its popularity. The Google PageRank system is somewhat controversial, but here are some of the most popular sites on the Web, as viewed by the PageRank machanism:

Title:	PR	Backlinks
Adobe	10	82,500
Adobe Acrobat	10	306,000
World Wide Web Consortium	10	117,000
Macromedia	10	27,800
Energy.gov	10	40,200
Intel Corporation	10	38,100
Apple – QuickTime	10	43,300
Yahoo	10	581,000
Keio University	10	3,470
Elsevier.com	10	29,600

See Search Engine Genie for full listings.