Wired.com reports that a project to put Linux computers in Mexican schools has largely failed.

Kelly McNeill writes: “As a frequent computer buyer and a long-time follower and customer of Apple, I was pleased when the company decided not to invest ludicrous sums of money into the development of an LCD iMac — a device which, in my opinion, would be a ridiculous upgrade to a system based on a paradigm whose time has come and gone. Sure, it was interesting to see what a new LCD iMac might look like. Like many people, I tuned in the news reports to see if Steve Jobs introduced a LCD iMac at MacWorld. Yet it was a reluctant anticipation. The iMac is not well-positioned to be the hub of our digital lifestyles. It was innovative and served its purpose well.”

The Register: “Transmeta isn’t having it all its own way in the ultradense server market it’s been
pivotal in creating.

San Jose start-up Amphus yesterday announced ultra dense 336-way servers
based on Intel processors. Much of the preliminary work was done with Crusoe, but
the press statement is very gung-ho about the choice of Chipzilla as CPU
supplier.”

The Register: “The first and original effort to make a software libre implementation of Microsoft’s
.NET runtimes is to join forces with one of the newcomers. Portable.NET will now
co-ordinate its work with DotGNU, launched last month, under the GNU umbrella.”

Kelly McNeill writes: “I recently did some information technology consulting for a local school. My boss suggested it and as schools have enough to worry about, we certainly weren’t going to charge them for our time or expertise — that wouldn’t be right. I spent three or four days auditing the school’s setup, going through designs and seeing what the staff wanted, because it became apparent during the initial meetings that they didn’t know what they wanted and were waiting for someone to tell them.”

MSNBC: “The government approved a swallowable
camera-in-a-capsule Wednesday that snaps pictures as it
travels through the digestive tract. The device offers a more
patient-friendly technique for detecting abnormalities in the
small intestine.”

PCWorld: “In fact, by September, some industry experts expect 12X/10X/32X CD-RW drives will
be selling for $100, faster 16X/10X/40X drives for $150, and state-of-the-art 24X/10X/40X drives for $200–nearly $100 off the
price at which TDK introduced the first 24X drive in June. Such price drops normally happen over six months or so, not three.”

ComputerNewsDaily: “The carnage in the Internet industry slowed dramatically in July as the
number of Web company failures declined to their lowest level since
September 2000.

A study by Webmergers, a research and advisory service in San
Francisco, showed that 32 online firms closed or declared bankruptcy
across the globe last month. That marks a sharp decline from the past
10 months, when the monthly online death toll hovered between 36 and
60.”

LinuxJournal: “I must admit to a certain fantasy. I sit down at a bar on a slow night, order a Guinness, and the bartender, eager to make conversation, asks me what I do
for a living. “I do a lot of things. Machine vision, software, largely math with computers”. Hearing the magic word, the bartender without hesitation asks “So,
what do you think of the new Windows XP then?”. And I punch him.”

ABC.com: “Reports indicate the notorious worm has been infiltrating computers, including some Pentagon Web sites. But with thousands of computer systems affected, the damage now appears to be slowing.”