Overall, Tiger is the best and most advanced personal computer operating system on the market, despite a few drawbacks. It leaves Windows XP in the dust. It also adds to the Mac's general superiority over typical Windows computers as the best choice for average consumers doing the most common computing tasks.

Entrepreneurs who enter the Think Big contest will have their business plan evaluated in a three-round process. The entries will be judged on the novelty of the business and its ability to attract a national audience; the design and navigability of the Web site, as well as its ability to generate and convert traffic into customers; and an essay that offers a compelling business plan that also demonstrates the entrepreneur's knowledge of business fundamentals.

First Clocky, now this. Aaron Tang’s Anemone Clock rumbles when the alarm goes off, eventually shaking its way all across your room, forcing you to get up to stop it. But that’s not all — it keeps shaking when you pick it up, making it a frustrating exercise just to find the off button. Tang didn’t say if the clock had a snooze button so you can repeat this process a few times each morning.

On Thursday, the Vatican modified its Web site so users who click on a "Greetings to the Holy Father" icon on the home page automatically activate an e-mail composer with his address in the send field.

The address for messages in English is benedictxvi@vatican.va. There are also addresses for e-mails in Italian, Spanish, French, German and Portuguese. Benedict's e-mail isn't the only address generating interest in an online world.

First of all, Google has been noted to be purchasing large quantities of 'dark' fibre-optic capacity, on the cheap (much excess capacity was laid during those heady days of irrational exuberance) to increase its proprietary network bandwidth. To what end? Some of the most far-out rumours say that Google is developing a Skype-esque software that will allow high-quality voice communications over the Internet, costing virtually nothing to the consumer. If Google is making a play into the telecom arena, it would be a relatively late-comer in an arena that is widely populated.

Not unlike its e-mail and mapping software, which are entirely Web-based, Google will release an operating system that will be completely networked and centralized on its servers. You will literally no longer need any software running on your local computer (except the Google Web-browser of course, and a network connection). The computing experience will involve booting your computer, logging into the net, and having access to all your programs (and most of your data) which will reside happily in the ether — all protected and secure, we will be assured, by the good god Google.

A knitted bag holds a weakened heart, helping it pump blood. Electricity flows through the threads of a battery-powered fleece jacket, keeping the wearer warm. Carbon fibers are braided into structures that look like mushrooms, but are actually prototypes of automotive engine valves. Other fibers are shaped into bicycle frames and sculling oars. Textiles are no longer just the stuff of clothing, carpets and furniture covering. Made of high-tech threads, they can also be found in lifesaving medical devices and the bodies of racing cars. One architect is proposing building a skyscraper out of carbon fibers.

SCIgen is a program that generates random Computer Science research papers, including graphs, figures, and citations. It uses a hand-written context-free grammar to form all elements of the papers. Our aim here is to maximize amusement, rather than coherence.

In 2000, the OECD said the U.S. ranked third in Net users connecting at high-speed among the top-30 world economies. The next year it fell to fourth. Now it's 11th, according to the OECD. And fast connections in the U.S. are slower than in many other countries. A top-of-the-line cable modem in the U.S. carries five megabits per second, while broadband connections in Asian countries like Japan and South Korea are often 20 times faster. South Korea is, in fact, the world leader in broadband. And unlike the U.S., it has multiple companies offering most of the country DSL lines that are also faster than what's available in the U.S., thanks in no small part to government encouragement and sponsorship.

Many critics point the finger at Washington for not fostering the kind of competition that has allowed Canada's broadband market to thrive and led France -- not exactly known for fostering capitalist competition -- to boost its broadband penetration from 12% in 2003 to a forecasted 41% next year. If cable companies were forced to open up their lines, over-night 80% of the U.S. would have more than one broadband supplier to choose from. Theoretically at least, that would drive down prices and force companies to offer enticing service packages like phone and TV delivered via the Web.

"This will change our lives well beyond entertainment," says Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers. For example, when speeds allow quick sending of detailed images. such as X-rays, he says, "You'll do the majority of your health care straight from the home." Others envision a host of other applications. For example, businesses could easily arrange video conferences with high-definition TV. Consumers could download an entire HD movie in about five minutes vs. today's 22 minutes. And, "There will be a need for higher speeds as games become more graphics-intensive," says Adelphia Chief Technical Officer Marwan Fawaz.

Tech grew fast as it clawed back from the dot-com bust of 2001. Some markets, such as cell phones, topped 20% growth a year. The industry is still growing, but not at that rate, tech analysts say. Corporate tech buyers surveyed by CIO magazine in March said they expected to increase spending by 6.4% in the next 12 months. That's down from 7.3% in March 2004, the magazine said Friday.

Even Google, the Web's self-proclaimed "Do no evil" company, is experimenting with a technology called AutoLink that inserts button-shape links on other people's Web sites that lead back to Google or to Google partners like Amazon.com. Google says it is still only experimenting with AutoLink but, ominously, adds that it is exploring ways to increase the technology's scope. If that happens, predicts New York intellectual property lawyer Jeffrey Neuburger, "There will be some litigation."