NewsBytes article contains ambivilent news for people who make Web sites for a living — like NewsForge staffers.

A ComputerUser.com story starts out by saying, “American Online [NYSE:AOL] and Time Warner [NYSE:TWX] are saying that their pledge to permit AOL competitors to
provide Internet services over Time Warner cable doesn’t include an open invitation to other providers of set-top boxes,
according to reports.”

They start at $2199 (£1,548), they’re “less than 1 inch thick and weigh as little as 3.1 pounds,” says a brief note at ZDnet.co.uk.

On their own Flash-free site, ComputerUser.com is running a story that contains the quote, “What retailers need to do is become proactive and offer things like virtual dressing rooms, zoom-and-spin, Java, Flash or
text-based chat to their customers.”

FairfaxIT says, “Human beings are emotional creatures. The truism that revenge is a dish best served cold is not easily understood by many of us in the heat of personal crisis – and it is certainly not comprehended by the average laptop.” (We almost filed this as “humor.”)

Cool! Prepackaged, Linux-powered iMac clusters.Full story at The Register.

Almost everybody seems to love the idea of online Applications Service Providers [ASPs], says FairfaxIT — except the big-biz customers who are supposed to use them.

“Have you ever been on an airplane and wanted to watch a racy DVD on your laptop but were too
embarrassed?” Wired says you won’t have to worry about this problem much longer:

“Later this year you may be able to, thanks to a new range of microdisplays — tiny screens that when
magnified appear as large as a regular monitor but offer total privacy.”

FairfaxIT interviews famous workaholic (and Netscape cofounder) Marc Andreessen briefly about this and that before he “…grabs his pager and starts checking his e-mail.”

It’s been reproted elsewhere, but this is Wired’s take on “…an integral flaw that allows users with
personal digital assistants to eavesdrop on conversations.” (They’re talking about upcoming ones using Bluetooth wireless technology, not PDAs already on the market.)