In most American homes the computer remains banished to an uncomfortable office-like room, while the television and stereo enjoy the leisurely living room atmosphere, says FoxNews.com.

Reuters says that financial warnings by stylish computer maker Apple and chip
powerhouse Intel have stoked fears that personal computer
demand is slowing, even as the industry enters its busiest season.

Norman Data Defence said that it has discovered a new and vicious virus in the
wild. Known as W32/MTX@mm, the virus is said to be highly malicious since it can
strike as a conventional virus, a backdoor program and/or as an e-mail worm. From a report at Computeruser.com.

Sun Microsystems is scaling back its Jini software intended to network everything from kitchen appliances to cell phones,
adding a stripped-down version more likely to work on today’s gadgets, reports CNET.

A report at Fairfax IT claims that Shafted X is Australia’s largest games-based LAN event, says Richard Smyth, one of the dozen-or-so members of the ShaftedLAN organising committee.

Netgem offers Internet service similar to American WebTV, and runs on a Linux-based open source platform. From a press release at BusinessWire.

The IT idustry might be the new economy, but the old problem of discrimination still dogs it, writes Jenny Sinclair of Fairfax IT.

ICANN makes decisions regarding the introduction of new
top-level domains, and deals with other issues relating to Internet governance. From a report at Wired.com.

Read this brief report at KDE News to find out what hackers do at hackers’ conferences.

“I’ve been following the BeOS for about a year; I’m a serious fan and hardcore advocate. I sense an opportunity. I audaciously email Jean-Louis Gassee, CEO of Be, Inc., to take him to task for his “peaceful co-existence” stance on Microsoft. Let’s face it, the minute MS sensed a challenge from Be, Inc. and its incredible OS, it would call out the dogs with a vengeance. Incredibly, JLG responds and is impressed with my reasoning. Emboldened, I email JLG an offer… let me pitch my idea for putting BeOS on the map. Even more incredibly, he AGREES. The following is my proposition to JLG…” –Kelly McNeill