I just received a brand new computer from a client for a project I'm working on but I don't need it, so if you know anyone who's interested (Montreal area only please), hit me up! :)

Specs are here on the HP site.

In addition to those specs, they've added another 512mb of RAM (for a total of 1gb), a firewire card (I can't find the driver disk, but you can get it easily off the net), and a 17" NEC CRT monitor. It's registered with HP and still has almost 3 years of onsite warranty.

It comes in the original box with all original documentation, including recovery CDs and manuals, optical mouse and keyboard, and all cables.

It runs Windows XP, Symantec Anti Virus - I've also installed Adobe Photoshop CS 3 and Adobe Lightroom, and will leave them installed (no CDs).

The price for the computer itself as you can see on the HP site is $579 USD plus tax and S&H - without the added memory, firewire card and monitor.

I'm asking $500 all included.

One day, I'll stop quoting Mark Pilgrim, promise.

If wishes were iPhones, then beggars would call [dive into mark]

I have nothing to say about the iPhone that hasn't been said already. Apple made it very clear what they were offering: a carrier-locked, closed-development mobile computing device where every aspect of the user experience would be controlled by Apple. I'm told it can also make phone calls. If that's what you want, then buy it. If not, then don't.

When this iPod dies, I won't buy another; I'll buy something that works out-of-the-box with my Linux workstation. Live by the penguin, die by the penguin. Apple doesn't want my business, so why reward them?

I don't understand this continuing obsession with buying things that you need to break before they do what you want.

I thought the big draw for Apple hardware was that 'It Just Works.' By breaking it, you must know you're giving up the 'Just Works' factor, so what's left? Rounded corners?

My current theory is that i's some twisted form of wish fulfillment. 'I wish this company understood the value of openness, but they don't, so I'm going to keep buying their closed, crippled shit until they get it.' Yeah, let me know how that works out for you.

>BBC NEWS | Technology | Halo 3 sales top £84m in 24 hours

Video game Halo 3 earned more than £84m ($170m) in sales in its first 24 hours on release, according to Microsoft.

The game sets the record for the most money earned in a day by an entertainment product, topping figures set by film Spiderman 3.

Thousands of shops opened at midnight on Monday in the United States as gamers queued for the Xbox 360 title.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Shadow lamps to connect friends

Called Teleshadow the system pipes video of what people are doing at home via the net to their friends' houses.

But instead of showing images in full motion and colour, Teleshadow turns them into shadow outlines projected on the inside of a small decorative lamp.

Creator Shunpei Yasuda said the shadow presence system aims to fill the gap between live video and static images.

Mr Yasuda, a post-graduate student in Media Design at Japan's Keio University, said the inspiration for the system came from Japanese history.

For many years, he said, Japanese homes have had Shoji or paper walls that divide some rooms. The thin walls preserve some privacy but the shadows cast on the paper as people move about also act as a reminder of that person's presence.

In a similar way Teleshadow preserves privacy while reinforcing presence between rooms that are far apart rather than next door.