Some Odds and Ends

Here are a few stories that are interesting, but maybe don't merit a whole blog.

Wal-Mart Stores has started selling a Compaq laptop for $398 a few weeks ahead of Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and one of the biggest shopping days of the year. It is more feature-laden than the model they sold last Christmas.

Not long ago, Dell released a new 20" laptop computer, the biggest screen ever for a laptop. But there is a price to pay, this monster laptop, which could also be categorized as half laptop-half desktop, weighs in at 18 lbs. Imagine lugging that around through airports. As a matter a fact, a British website called Crave UK has put up a video showing one of their staffers lugging this monster on the London Underground and on a double decker bus. It rates a good laugh, so enjoy it.

Sony will shortly release its Playstation 3 game console in the US, just in time for Christmas. Hold your breath, because it will sell for $499 and $599. The more expensive one will feature a Blue-Ray DVD player. Sony is lagging behind Microsoft's X-Box in popularity and it is hoped that this new player will help them catch up.

Starting early next year, the address bar in Microsoft's new Internet Explorer 7 will turn green when surfing to a legitimate Web site, but only in some cases, not all. The colored address bar is designed to be a sign that a specific site can be trusted, giving people the green light to carry out transactions there. It is a weapon in the fight against phishing scams, which use fraudulent Web sites to steal your identity. The catch is that only corporations will be able to get the online trust indicator, a rule that shuts out the vast majority of smaller businesses.

If you have been hooked on Sudoku, or maybe want to give it a try, there is a new, free software available where you can learn the secrets of playing it and work on puzzles from easy to extremely hard. If you are not familiar with it, Sudoku is a numbers puzzle that uses the numbers 1-9 in 81 squares that you must complete with various restrictions applied. I got hooked this year while on the road and did it during my quiet times instead of crosswords.