"Apple is (as we've proven using neuroscience)...a religion," Lindstrom said in the interview. "Not only that--it is a religion based on its communities. Without its core communities, Apple would die--it is already facing strong pressure as the brand simply is becoming too broad (losing) its magic. What's holding it all together is the hundreds if not thousands of communities across the world spreading the passion and creating the myths."

Public documents describe the new Gates entity -- bgC3 LLC -- as a "think tank." It's housed within a Kirkland office that the Microsoft co-founder established on his own after leaving his day-to-day executive role at the company this summer.

Is this Bill Gates' next big business? A Gates insider gives an emphatic no -- saying it's not a commercial venture but rather a vehicle to coordinate the software mogul's work on his business and philanthropic endeavors.

However, bgC3 will also oversee Gates? personal pursuit of breakthrough ideas in science and technology. The insider said the goal isn't necessarily to create new companies, although ideas could be passed along to Microsoft, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation -- or others - as it makes sense.

Whatever the ultimate role of the company, the circumstances surrounding its creation provide a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the new era of Gates' life.

Caceres, 27, of White Plains, said his computer was stolen in early September when he left it on top of his car while carrying things into his home.

His first efforts to figure out who stole the laptop by logging on remotely were stymied, Caceres said. "It was kind of frustrating because he was mostly using it to watch porn," he said. "I couldn't get any information on him."

But then the suspect typed in a name and address to register on a Web site, and a few hours later, police caught the suspect.

The man was charged with grand larceny, said police Lt. Eric Fischer in Wednesday editions of the Journal News.

Strategy Analytics has been doing some number crunching. According to its computations, Android will grab 4% of the market for smartphones in the United States during the fourth quarter of 2008. That amounts to some 400,000 units sold. What do you think, is that bullish or bearish?

"We forecast 10.5 million smartphones to be sold in the U.S.during Q4 2008," said Neil Mawston, director of wireless device strategies at Strategy Analytics. That's the total market for smartphones, including BlackBerrys, Treos, Windows Mobile devices, Symbian phones, and the iPhone. Despite the buzz building around Android, it has some stiff -- and more experienced -- competition already hunkered down in the trenches.

If you're a web developer looking forward to the new tools in HTML 5, the next generation of the language that powers the web, we have some bad news for you - you're going to waiting a while.

Ian Hickson, the editor of the HTML 5 specification, recently outlined the time table for HTML 5 and, even assuming browser manufacturers embrace HTML 5 when it reaches the final draft stage, that puts HTML 5's widespread adoption at 2012. Worse, the final proposed recommendation won't be released until 2022.

Yes, you read that right. 2022. Yes, that's thirteen years from now.

If you're thinking that planning how the web will look and work 13 years from now is a little bit ridiculous, you're not alone.

Hazard: Irregularly positioned wires near the computer's hinge and/or a dislodged screw inside the hinge can cause a short circuit and overheating. This poses a burn hazard to consumers.

Incidents/Injuries: Sony has received 15 reports of overheating, including one consumer who suffered a minor burn.

Description: The recalled notebook computer models are the VAIO VGN-TZ100 series, VGN-TZ200 series, VGN-TZ300 series and VGN-TZ2000 series. The computers? screen size is about 11.1? measured diagonally. Not all units are affected; consumers should contact Sony to determine if their unit is included in the recall.

Sold by: The SonyStyle stores and Web site, authorized electronics retailers, and authorized business-to-business dealers nationwide from July 2007 through August 2008 for between $1,700 and $4,000.

The blistering sales pace of Apple's new gadget defies the otherwise downward trends in consumer spending, employment levels and overall economic health. The 3 million figure is much higher than Wall Street analysts had anticipated. Forecasts called for total quarterly sales of three million to four million.

Three days after the new iPhone's July 11 debut, Apple announced that it had sold 1 million iPhones. For comparison, it took 74 days for the original iPhone to hit the one million sold mark. The new 3G iPhone has already sold nearly half as many as the original iPhones in total.

Dave Hermansen did not own a bird or a cage when he bought the online store bird-cage.com for $1,800 three years ago. He simply saw a Web site that was "very, very poorly done," and begged the owners to sell it to him. He then redesigned the site, added advertising and drove up traffic. Last December, he sold it for $173,000.

Hermansen, 30, is among the latest wave of entrepreneurs who, like the day traders and real estate investors before them, are looking to make a lot of money without much effort.

They use little more than home computers and free software to buy Web sites that appeal to a small and specific niche. Then they fix up the sites with hopes of reselling them for far more than they paid

Creating value, though, is the tricky part. Many Web site flippers said they begin by tweaking a site's template and making other superficial changes like adjusting fonts, colors and type sizes. After that, they manipulate a Web site's structure, coding and presentation so it shows up more prominently in Web searches.

In an era when Web use is increasingly search-driven, making sure people find your site makes all the difference, Hermansen said. "Once you beef up traffic, everything else just happens," he added.

Demonstrated at the conference the prototypes showed how swarm robots can independently divide up tasks, with no central program controlling them. They skitter around, communicating as they encounter each other via the same kind of infrared technology used in mobile phones.

Red and green lights on the robot were used to show which task they had chosen. After a short while, the group autonomously divided itself - 80% red and 20% green.

The swarm can cope with disruption too. If a handful of the "green" robots are removed from the arena, the remainder will redistribute themselves again into the 80/20 split.

Scientists say this flexibility gives swarm robotics an edge over traditional approaches for far-flung missions.

"You might have some complex robot that is sent to Mars, has a technical problem, and then the mission is basically over," said Klaus-Peter Zauner, the leader of the Southampton swarm robot project.