A New Ipod?

New iPod?

Apple is hoping its "Let’s Rock" event Tuesday in San Fran will rock the company all the way to the bank this holiday season.

There’s speculation that it may release updated models of the iPod media player at the event to spur holiday sales, according to Bloomberg News.

Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs has held events each September for the past four years to introduce new media players. Last year, Jobs unveiled a smaller version of the iPod Nano and released the iPod Touch, a model with a touch-screen display and wireless communications. The iPod accounted for 22 percent of revenue last quarter.

Happy decade, Google

For a business that just turned 10 last week, Google’s got it going on.

The search engine company has emerged as the most successful business on the Web, and many expect it to dominate the next era of computing as thoroughly as Microsoft dominated the personal- computer era, according to The New York Times.

A quick look at the numbers comparing Microsoft and Google proves the search-engine king belongs on top:

Google’s revenue in the last four quarters: $19.6 billion; Microsoft: $60.4 billion.

Worldwide searches on Google in July: 48.7 billion; Microsoft: 2.3 billion.

Google’s revenue per employee: $1 million; Microsoft: $672,000.

Sources: the companies, Yahoo finance and comScore.

X-ray this

If you’re tired of toting a laptop through airports and running into blockades at security checkpoints, you may soon be able to expedite your travels.

How? With new rules that allow laptop computers in "checkpoint- friendly" bags to pass through X-ray machines without being pulled out for inspection.

The move marks perhaps the first time the federal government has responded to traveler opinion expressed primarily via an Internet blog – in this case, the Transportation Security Administration’s "Evolution of Security" blog.

Based on comments, the TSA asked those in the travel industries how they could help make laptops and their cases more traveler- friendly.

What admin got were dozens of protypes, some of which eventually were submitted for testing.

The agency recently began allowing those that passed muster through X-ray machines at airports around the country.

Approved cases must have a designated laptop-only section that unfolds to lie flat on the X-ray belt and has no pockets, metal fasteners or other features that could prevent the machine from getting a clear, unobstructed image.

Chrome surprise

Game developers often drop Easter eggs – hidden features that users stumble across – in their games. It looks like the developers of Google’s Chrome Web browser, which debuted last week, had the same impulse.

Chrome users can type "about:internets" in the browser’s equivalent of an address bar and get a blast from the past: the classic Windows 3D Pipes screensaver. The page is titled "Don’t Clog the Tubes!"

The joke plays on two popular Internet memes. The term "Internets," an uncommon pluralization, and the phrase "series of tubes," first made to describe the Web in 2006 by U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, are used to illustrate technological ignorance.

If "about:internets" is entered on a computer lacking that screensaver, the tab will display a gray screen and the page title will display "The Tubes Are Clogged!" Apple is hoping its "Let’s Rock" event Tuesday in San Fran will rock the company all the way to the bank this holiday season.

There’s speculation that it may release updated models of the iPod media player at the event to spur holiday sales, according to Bloomberg News.

Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs has held events each September for the past four years to introduce new media players. Last year, Jobs unveiled a smaller version of the iPod Nano and released the iPod Touch, a model with a touch-screen display and wireless communications. The iPod accounted for 22 percent of revenue last quarter. For a business that just turned 10 last week, Google’s got it going on.

The search engine company has emerged as the most successful business on the Web, and many expect it to dominate the next era of computing as thoroughly as Microsoft dominated the personal- computer era, according to The New York Times.

A quick look at the numbers comparing Microsoft and Google proves the search-engine king belongs on top:

Google’s revenue in the past four quarters: $19.6 billion; Microsoft: $60.4 billion.

Worldwide searches on Google in July: 48.7 billion; Microsoft: 2.3 billion.

Google’s revenue per employee: $1 million; Microsoft: $672,000.

Developers often drop Easter eggs – hidden features that users stumble across – in their games, videos and more. It looks like the developers of Google’s Chrome browser, which debuted last week, had the same impulse.

Chrome users can type "about:internets" in the browser’s equivalent of an address bar and get a blast from the past: the classic Windows 3D Pipes screensaver. The page is titled "Don’t Clog the Tubes!"

If you aren’t in on the joke, it plays on two popular Internet memes. The term "Internets," an uncommon pluralization, and the phrase "series of tubes," first coined to describe the Web by U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, are used to illustrate technological ignorance.

If "about:internets" is entered on a computer lacking that screensaver, the tab will display a gray screen and the page title will display "The Tubes Are Clogged!"

If you’re tired of toting a laptop through airports and running into blockades at security checkpoints, you may soon be able to expedite your travels.

How? With new rules that allow laptop computers in "checkpoint- friendly" bags to pass through X-ray machines without being pulled out for inspection.

The move marks perhaps the first time the federal government has responded to traveler opinion expressed primarily via an Internet blog – in this case, the Transportation Security Administration’s "Evolution of Security" blog.

Based on comments, the TSA asked those in the travel industry how they could help make laptops and their cases more traveler- friendly.

What TSA got were dozens of prototypes, some of which eventually were submitted for testing.

The agency recently began allowing cases that passed muster through X-ray machines at airports around the country.

Approved cases must have a designated laptop-only section that unfolds to lie flat on the X-ray belt and has no pockets, metal fasteners or other features that could prevent the machine from getting a clear, unobstructed image.

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