On
the Net
with Chris Goh
Hotnews
Arfa Karim, 9, of Pakistan, is the world's youngest Microsoft engineer. She
completed the exams to gain Microsoft-certified practitioner status and scored
a meeting with Bill Gates as her reward. She rated him second after her Disneyland
visit.
Speaking of youth and Gates, in Korea, Park Kyoung-hoon will gain special recognition
from Microsoft for his Master of Visual C#, Microsoft's language challenge to
Java. At age 23, he's completing the closing chapter for the guide book to
the language for Microsoft.
At the same time India has produced its youngest ever post-graduate student.
Aarti Jaju is a mathematics genius and will be recognised in India's version of
the Guinness Book of World Records. She credits her father and brother as her
inspiration. And since we're in India, Parimarjan Negi is the world's youngest
international Chess Master. He's 12.
Apple has notched up the 500 millionth download from its online iTune stores.
Meanwhile IBM has announced the end of a unique era. OS/2, created by IBM &
Microsoft, could have been the Windows we used, but Microsoft took the experience
it gained from the partnership with IBM, and itstead created the competing product,
Windows, which now dominates as the desktop operating system for the world. IBM
has now tossed in the towel and will no longer support its first multitasking
operating system in IBM-compatible machines.
Sony has announced that it will develop its first digital SLR with interchangeable
lenses in a partnership with Konica Minolta.
Hotsites
- www.winlike.net
- WinLike has taken a conventional layout and Windows functionality and applied
it to how you surf the web, in the process creating something simple and accessible
for web developers. The clever interface is intuitive and shows that potential
web developers have to use and manage the content delivery of a website.
- www.factnet.org
- It's worth reading up on about this fascinating organisation. They are dedicated
to uncovering cults, especially those using exploitation and mind control. These
guys aren't your run-of-the-mill mythbusters and show a clear passion for uncovering
the truth. As a result their offices have been raided (instigated by a group they
regularly investigate). Their determination to publish the truth in the face of
litigation is something you don't often see on the internet.
- www.ihr.org
- Napoleon said that history was written by the victorious. In the information
age, some organisations are challenging that maxim by looking into history with
a more objective view. The Institute of Historical Review aims to give us a better
understanding of history without the political spin that dominates today's history
wars.

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