"Oh sure, the following tests aren't as scientific as putting all the browsers in a ring and seeing which one is left standing after the fight, but it's close." More here.

Physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have devised a potentially groundbreaking theory demonstrating how to control the spin of particles without using superconducting magnets - a development that could advance the field of spintronics and bring scientists a step closer to quantum computing.

The FreeDOS kernel originally produced by Pat Villani and what we consider today to be the full featured operating system "FreeDOS" by Jim Hall and is currently maintained by the FreeDOS team, including many third party contributors. It's first goal was to create a full featured MS DOS clone but it has extended beyond this with features like "out of the box" networking support.

Windows Vista may not ship in the European Union at the same time that it is released in the United States as a result of possible issues with European competition law, Microsoft acknowledged on Sept. 7. The problem from Microsoft's perspective is that the EU has been slow in letting the software giant know exactly what it needs in order for Windows Vista to ship in Europe.

"In July, Intel released the dual-core Itanium 2 processor, formerly code-named Montecito, and announced that the new chip is capable of double the performance of its predecessor while consuming 20 percent less electrical power. eWEEK Labs' tests of a server based on the newest Itanium 2 platform show promise but also limitations."

LinuxDevices is reporting that a new WiFi-enabled portable A/V player from Archos (604-Wifi) runs an embedded Linux OS and sports the Opera web browser. It is thought that this is the most advanced PMP in the market today, although Bluetooth A2DP/AVRCP support and FM radio are missing.

"Want to run best of breed apps under both Windows and Unix? Eric Hall tells you about an option for doing this: Microsoft's Posix subsystem. It lets Unix apps think they are using regular Unix, but they are actually using Windows instead."

"The new Acorn Computers Limited have sneaked the first details of their range of notebooks onto their website. The new Nottingham-based company will be assembling notebooks locally using current Intel and AMD x86 mobile processors. The notebooks are said to be designed with close co-operation from nVidia, ATi and Microsoft." Ok, so they have no relationship whatsoever with the original Acorn machines, but seriously, now you can outshine Apple's glowing logo with a much cooler one.

Syllable 0.6.1 is the latest incarnation of the operating system that "will be a reliable and easy-to-use GPLed operating system for the home and small office user" as their website states. That's quite a noble cause most other alternative operating systems never claim to be able to market to non-technical audience one day. Even getting Syllable up and running is pretty easy: fully-working VMWare images and a LiveCD images are provided for free download. Apparently, Danes are the primary downloader of the Syllable LiveCD, given the primary language in which the LiveCD page is by default.

Windows Vista Release Candidate 1 is now available for download. If you previously registered for the Windows Vista Beta 2 Customer Preview Program 2 and received a product key (PID), that key will work for the Windows Vista RC1 release as well. You need not re-register. Update: A review of the RC1 version say that Vista is not ready.

Two negative reviews of Vista RC1. First off, CRN says: "Microsoft is making its first Vista release candidate and pricing information more broadly available to partners and consumers this week. Solution providers who have seen it say it's not yet ready for prime time." Our favourite Microsoft Apple Microsoft zealot Paul Thurrot posted the 2nd part of his RC1 review: "Overall, Windows Vista is a stunning bit of work. But the devil is in the details, as they say, and Microsoft has never been very good at consistency and that final bit of polish that separates something competent from something wonderful." In the meantime, one of Vista's lead developers has left Microsoft.

"Many KDE users tend to take the Konqueror Web browser for granted, but that's a mistake. Konqueror may not be able to replace Firefox as a Web browser for every site, but it does a lot more than just simple browsing."

UNIX provides hundreds, if not thousands, of commands with which you can manipulate a large variety of resources available in the kernel and user space. Martin Streicher, Editor-in-Chief, Linux Magazine, looks at three essential UNIX utilities that deliver the entire Internet to your command line.

Apple has quietly updated its Macintosh product line today. The iMac line is now all Merom (Core 2 Duo) based, and a new 24" model has been introduced. The iMac line now starts at USD 999 or EUR 999.01 (the cent does it) for the 17" model. The Mac Mini line receives a processor upgrade, but prices remain the same.