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Online Extra: How Microsoft Is Clipping Longhorn To get the already-delayed follow-up to Windows XP out the door by 2006, it has decided to omit some of the most ambitious features Never in its history has Microsoft (MSFT ) had to wait so long between Windows releases. When Windows XP launched in October, 2001, researcher Gartner Inc. expected the software giant to gin up a new version within two years. But Microsoft's ambitious follow-up to Windows XP, code-named Longhorn, has bogged down in delays. The company rarely discloses timelines for products, lest it miss its targets. But in copies of...

Senator John Kerry, D-MA, unwittingly tried to help a Chinese espionage agent and arms dealer in 1996 in return for campaign contributions for his Senate reelection campaign, according to congressional and other documents, interviews, and photographs. The arms dealer, the daughter of the man who was then the second-highest ranking official in China's military, did not get what she wanted -- a listing for her company on a United States stock exchange -- but Kerry was able to get her a meeting at the Securities and Exchange commission, after a business associate of hers provided him with campaign contributions and...

<p>RACINE, Wis. -- Howard Dean has been urging voters all across Wisconsin to give him the victory he needs to keep his campaign alive even as members of his staff have been exploring how he might get out of the race.</p>

<p>Howard Dean went into the Iowa caucuses riding high as the front-running Democratic presidential candidate, with a battle plan designed to take that state and set him on a course for winning those that followed.</p> <p>The plan put in motion a flurry of handwritten letters and a blizzard of door-knocking volunteers to convince Iowa Democratic voters that Dean was the person to take on President George W. Bush this fall.</p>

DEAN LEAGACY MARCHES ON He wants to do to America what he did to Vermont. Not likely once American learns what he did here, creating the nearly highest electricity rates, health insurance costs, and workman?s compensation costs in America with a nightmare permit process to boot. This wonderful business climate caused Vermont to post net job losses for the first time in a decade in 2002. Of course worse than that was Vermont?s falling per capita income ranking compared to the other states, which fell from the mid twenties to the mid thirties. So not only are there fewer jobs,...

Associated PressIBM Claims Nanotech BreakthroughMonday December 8, 12:07 am ETBy Brian Bergstein, AP Technology Writer IBM Researchers Claim They Have a Nanotech Breakthrough That Works With Existing Chip Design NEW YORK (AP) -- Researchers at IBM Corp. claim they have made an important breakthrough in the race to design circuitry at the molecular level: a system that works with existing methods of electronics manufacturing. ADVERTISEMENT In a paper being released Monday at an industry conference in Washington, D.C., IBM researchers Chuck Black and Kathyrn Guarini say they used a naturally occurring pattern of molecules as a stencil to etch flash...

After God casually looked up from His desk, glanced at the Cubs and the Red Sox and cleared His throat in a meaningful sort of way before returning to His paperwork, the phenomenon wherein hordes of amped-up souls gleefully line up at all hours to buy something the moment it becomes available retreated to its natural arenas: the next "Lord of the Rings" movie and Panther, Apple's latest major update to Mac OS X. Yes, people were lined up for Panther. Apple kept its retail stores open until midnight on Friday to accommodate everyone who couldn't contain themselves. Mac users...

Security experts are warning Microsoft  customers about silent Internet attacks that exploit a security flaw in the Internet Explorer Web browser, potentially allowing remote attackers to run malicious code on vulnerable machines.    ADVERTISEMENT      The vulnerability is similar in scope to those exploited by devastating worms such as Nimda, Badtrans and Klez, according to one security company. And, to make matters worse, the flaw is one Microsoft said it fixed weeks ago. The security hole, known as the "Object Data vulnerability," affects Internet Explorer (IE) versions 5.01, 5.5 and 6.0. It concerns the way that IE processes HTML...

Writing a column containing debatable comments from security experts is nearly as good at filling up your e-mail inbox as the SoBig virus. Last week, I concluded that Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh OS X provided safer computing than Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating systems -- in part because its small market share offers Internet villains too little opportunity to spread mayhem and partly because OS X ships with all of its vulnerable services turned off. This blocks potential attackers from gaining access to the system's software in the first place.

HAWTHORNE, N.Y. - A driver of the future -- the near future, IBM says -- will be able to dictate and send e-mails, get spoken directions to a restaurant, even play a game of "Name That Tune" with his onboard computer. If the children in the back seat are being too noisy and the computer can't hear the driver well enough, it'll just read his lips. And if he's getting drowsy, approaching a sharp curve or driving too fast in the rain, the car might cut off his interactive privileges so he can pay more attention to his driving. "We're...

Dean to America: Just Take My Word For It Montpelier, VT - Vermont Republican Party Chairman Jim Barnett today called on former Governor and presidential candidate Howard Dean to open his gubernatorial record to public scrutiny. Dean has sealed his papers for a decade. "If Howard Dean plans to run on his record in Vermont, he needs to share that record with the public" said Barnett. "The American people should not just have to take his word for it." "By refusing to subject his record to public scrutiny, Howard Dean is telling the American people to pay no attention to...

<p>MONTPELIER -- The license a Vermont teacher who was elected to the executive board of the nation's largest teachers' union this month was suspended earlier this year because he had sex with a colleague in his classroom.</p> <p>Officials with the National Education Association said Wayne Nadeau has been disciplined and the matter will not affect his ability to serve on the board.</p>

This guy is paying the price for making a statement aginst the war March 24 was a lovely spring day, so Mark Szymanksi, 36, of Charlotte rode onto icy Converse Bay off Charlotte on his ATV. His dog Jesus joined him as he drove around the bay, marking up the ice with his ATV to form a gigantic peace sign. The plan went awry when Szymanki's ATV broke through, sinking into 35 feet of water. He got wet, too. "Peace could kill," he said. He scrambed to shore, minus his $7000 uninsured 2000 Polaris ATV with about 1600 miles on...

<p>Resist no more. Any Mac users holding out against upgrading to OS X can now safely give up the fight. Jaguar, the latest version of Apple's new operating system released on Saturday, Aug. 24, is spectacular. It's arguably the best OS ever released for personal computers. Fast, stable, elegant, and intuitively easy to use, OS X makes owning a Mac once again a mark of distinction.</p>

Editor's note: AnchorDesk is pleased to present guest columnist Bob Shier. A public school educator for more than 30 years, Shier lives in the Kansas City, Missouri area. As an instructor of computer literacy in an all-Windows environment, I'm sometimes asked "would I ever consider using a Mac?" My answer: in a heartbeat! So why am I teaching on Windows machines? Two reasons: peer pressure (we all accept that adolescents are slavishly conformist, but don't always recognize that the herd instinct is still present among adults), and false economies. OFTEN, "fiscal responsibility" is cited as the reason to choose Windows ...

Sure, it's odd. But with its powerful features, the new iMac is not only a great multimedia computer--it's also a surprisingly good bargain. Some people look at Apple's longneck iMac and declare it to be a triumph of industrial design, destined for the Museum of Modern Art. Others look at its snow-white, rounded base and the rectangular, 15-inch liquid crystal display that floats above the desk on a stainless-steel mast and conclude that the new iMac resembles a half-submerged Humpty Dumpty setting sail for Geekland. Is the new iMac all it's cracked up to be? Let's skip the question ...

<p>I AM WRITING these words on the most radical-looking personal computer I've ever seen. It's a white hemisphere that sits on the desk top, sort of like a snow-covered basketball that has been sliced in half. A strong, but flexible, stainless-steel arm projects from the top of this mound. On the end of that arm, perched at almost any viewing angle you like, sits a bright, vivid flat-panel screen.</p>

Look at it this way............... 1. Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film. 2. He who laughs last, thinks slowest. 3. A day without sunshine is like, well, night. 4. On the other hand, you have four fingers and a thumb. 5. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine. 6. Back up my hard drive? How do I put it in reverse? 7. I just got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory. 8. When the chips are down, the buffalo is empty. 9. Seen it all, done it all, can't remember most of it. 10. ...

It will be very easy for you to say, "Well, I will do something, some day. When I can afford it, I am going to." But would you let an old "grad" tell you one thing now? Giving is a habit. Get into the habit now, because you will never be able to afford to give and contribute, thus to repay the obligation you owe to those people who made this college possible, if you wait until you think you can afford it. Start now regardless of how small, and in the days to come when you are confronted ...

It will be very easy for you to say, "Well, I will do something, some day. When I can afford it, I am going to." But would you let an old "grad" tell you one thing now? Giving is a habit. Get into the habit now, because you will never be able to afford to give and contribute, thus to repay the obligation you owe to those people who made this college possible, if you wait until you think you can afford it. Start now regardless of how small, and in the days to come when you are confronted ...