NASA recently benchmarked Apple's dual 2GHz Power Mac G5 at its Langley Research Center in Virginia. The main purpose of the tests was to compare the G5 to the G4 for "computational fluid dynamics applications" however they also compare it to the Pentium 4.

In the Windows 2003 SP1 beta, Intel says it will offer a preview of the 32-bit execution layer that will cause the Itanium 2 processors to run x86 applications at the full clockspeed rating of the processor. For example, the 1.5-GHz Itanium 2 "Madison" processors launched this week would offer that clockspeed to 32-bit applications, as well. Until now, the inability of the Itanium Family processors to run 32-bit applications without a large performance penalty has been a major shortcoming of Intel's 64-bit Itanium line that has negatively affected industry adoption.

"Few languages have been as popular over the years as BASIC. Until about a decade ago, almost every programmer cut his teeth learning BASIC. Indeed, the name itself came from Beginner's All Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. If you've had BASIC training, can you find a familiar flavor that runs under Linux? Because it is not enough to find a good BASIC language implementation for Linux; one must find a BASIC language variant that approximates the style of BASIC to which you are accustomed." Read the article at DevChannel by Russell Pavlicek.

VMware, whose software lets an Intel server run several operating systems simultaneously, is expanding both its software capabilities and business ambitions.

Rocklyte Systems announced the latest version of its free multi-platform operating system environment, Athene 3.1. Available for Linux and Windows, Athene supports the rare ability of being able to function on competing operating systems, while also maintaining its own independent OS infrastructure (the Athenyx 2003 CDROM series). The 3.1 release of Athene continues to make significant strides in the advancement of its desktop interface.

Do you remember the Contiki desktop OS, an Internet-enabled graphical operating system for constrained systems? I have just ported Contiki to the 8-bit Atmel AVR microcontroller, which is commonly used in various kinds of embedded systems, and have set up a demo server running the Contiki AVR software at http://contiki-demo.sics.se/.

Apple readies Panther Server, a forthcoming update to Mac OS X Server. Version 10.3 will feature improved management capabilities and support for Windows networks, add a variety of services including a new edition of the QuickTime Streaming Server. Read the rest at ExtremeTech.

Are you a long time Windows user curious about the Apple Switch campaign? Are you wondering if you should try it? Read below for my experience with the whole thing... twice. Just over a week ago I purchased a new 12" Apple PowerBook G4...

"Apple's future doesn't ride on the speed of its Macs. In fact, Apple's future doesn't ride with Macs at all anymore. No, I haven't been off in the desert downing peyote. What I saw from my sideline perch is that the Mac's day has come and gone." Read the interesting editorial at BusinessWeek. Elsewhere, Maccentral has a round-up article: "Developers, Analysts weigh in on the G5, Panther".

Trolltech announced the release of Qt Script for Applications (QSA), a scripting language designed specifically for applications made using Qt, its multiplatform C++ application framework. Also, read OSNews' recent tutorial on how to setup the native and free version of Qt under the Macintosh platform.

Motherboard audio has sounded awful for a long time. But over the last few years, it has improved steadily. It's still not ready to replace the best PCI sound cards, but based on ExtremeTech's extensive testing, it might just work for you.

A small article written by Colin. J. Wenzel was published from Amiga's 'Club Amiga Monthly' online magazine regarding the new AmigaDOS library and its originally unintended TRIPOS roots. Last weekend new AmigaOS4 screenshots were published and the first report and photos of last weekend's Swedish AmigaOS4 event are available. Next weekend OS4 events are planned for Italy and France.

François Bancilhon, MandrakeSoft CEO, would like to update its customers on their current situation and his beliefs for the future. UPDATE: HP to sell PCs with Mandrake 9.1.

At NewMobileComputing, we've posted a hands-on review of the Sharp SL-C750 Linux-based handheld computer. It's a mini-laptop form factor, with a screen that folds back so it can be held like a PDA.