New & Noteworthy: WSJ recommends Macs; iMac a class act;

Bargain Prices for PCs Are Scarce, So Here's a Guide for Savvy Shoppers From the Wall Street Journal: "I am a big fan of Apple's new iMac models. These are great machines, better than many Windows computers, but nobody needs a buyer's guide to choose one. There are only three models, ranging from $1,399 to $1,899, including lots of power and features, and a gorgeous flat-panel screen with a flexible arm." More.

New Flat-Screen iMac is a Class Act by Larry Magid, LA Times syndicated columnist: "PCs that run the Windows operating system may be more commonplace, but when it comes to aesthetics and sheer class, the Apple Macintosh is the winner. That was true back in 1984 when Apple first released the Mac, it was reiterated in 1998 when the company came out with the iMac, and it’s truer than ever now that we have the new flat-screen iMac." More.

XP on the PowerPC From O'Reilly.net: "Tradeoffs exist with either platform. Mac OS X is young and still maturing. Windows XP is a dominating OS that doesn't play nice with the other kids. Wouldn't it be great to have the best of both?" More.

A law to protect spyware From Salon: "Sen. Fritz Hollings is pushing a bill that supposedly safeguards online privacy -- but actually gives intrusive marketers a green light." More.

High Wireless Acts From Washington Post: "Until now, most WiFi users have been the Internet cognoscenti, an elite group of technologically savvy people who like to tinker with gadgets and love to access the Internet at lightning-fast speeds. That's changing as more people flip open their laptops and get Web-connected -- for example, in the American Airlines Admiral's Club on Concourse D at Dulles International Airport." More.

Legal rulings put 'junk faxes' in limbo From AP: "A Missouri federal judge ruled last month that unsolicited fax ads are constitutionally protected free speech. The ruling, by U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh, has created a legal dichotomy that might fester until a higher court steps in to clarify the 11-year-old federal law. " More.

Raising Alexandria Library From Wired: "Historians quibble over details of the original library's demise. Various researchers claim that Julius Caesar burned it in 48 B.C., that Augustus Caesar destroyed it in his pursuit of Mark Antony, that early Christian monks burned it in 391, that Muslim zealots decimated it in 642. In short, the place was doomed. It contained too much knowledge that offended too many people." More.

USC Internet HDTV Almost Ready For Prime Time From DigitalTelevision.com: Experiments by researchers at the University of Southern California School of Engineering's Information Sciences Institute (ISI) in transporting High Definition Television (HDTV) using Internet Protocols are showing promise." More.

The Internet is for Everyone By Vinton Cerf: "This document expresses the Internet Society's ideology that the Internet really is for everyone. However, it will only be such if we make it so." More.