A Linux laptop for just $498
Linare Corporation just unveiled an AMD 1800+ processor featuring a 40 GB hard drive, 128 MB RAM, CD ROM drive, Ethernet Interface, and the Linare Linux OS. It also comes with Open Office suite, a full office suite compatible with Microsoft Office documents, which includes word processing, spreadsheet and presentation tools. The laptop will be distributed through Linare's partner companies, including popular retail outlets Amazon.com and Wal-Mart.

The iPod of digital audio hubs
The Sonos ZonePlayer ZP100 digital music hub was released at the Consumer Electronic Show this January. Why might you want one? It plays the same music simultaneously
in multiple rooms, or different music in different rooms, reading directly from network hard disks. Did we mention it's running Linux? PC Magazine raves about the easy-to-use Zoneplayer, calling it "the best and easiest audio-only media hub we've seen". Read the full review on PC Magazine's web site.

An alternative to Outlook
Sunbird, created by the Mozilla foundation, is a new cross platform standalone calendar application, similar to Microsoft's Outlook Calendar. It's intended audience is someone who uses either Mozilla Thunderbird or Firefox as their email client or browser. As everything else from the Mozilla suite (including Thunderbird and Firefox), it's available for Linux, MS-Windows, and the Mac. To download the free Sunbird, visit Mozilla's site. For more information about Sunbird, we recommend reading O'Reilly's recent review. The review overall is very positive, although does point out that as of the moment Sunbird does not actually integrate with Thunderbird or Firefox. It is purely a standalone project, although this is one of the tasks Mozilla points out will be solved in the near future. Just a word of warning.

Top 15 Firefox web browser extensions
Firefox is an increasingly popular web browser that many suggest allows you to browse more safely and efficiently than ever. Infact, Forbes magazine said Firefox is "Better than Internet Explorer by leaps and bounds". Many extensions are available for Firefox, which is available for Linux, MS-Windows, and the Mac, making it not just functional but fun. PC Magazine reviewed 15 popular Firefox extentions, including a dictionary, ad blocker, and bandwith tester. It's easy to add extensions to Firefox, from the menu at the top of the browser select Tools -> Extensions -> Get More Extensions.

grep.com for sale
In the day when one can register a domain name for just $8.95 on GoDaddy, it's hard to fathom forking over $150,000 for one. But if it's grep.com you're looking for, then that's just the price. (Grep is a search command line utility in Linux.) grep.com is being auctioned on eBay now through Feb 17. Good luck bidders, or should we say good luck seller...