PBS has developed this website as a companion to its television special "Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires." The website includes a historical timeline (beginning with the invention of the abacus and ending with the World Wide Web), stats and figures about the nerds featured on the show, "an interactive 'pick the computer' game that lets you test your nerd quotient," the...

Computers and processors of the near future could incorporate RapidIO technology, an interconnect architecture that provides high speed data transfer between on- and off-chip components. The RapidIO Trade Association is an industry-wide collaboration that is developing the technology. Among the resources provided on the association's Web site, the most useful are the white paper, which gives a...

The Stanford Computer Forum is sponsored by the Industrial Affiliates Program for the Computer Science Department and CS/EE Computer Systems Laboratory. The Forum brings together students, faculty, and industry leaders through events and programs, and offers members "facilitated interaction with faculty, students, and colleagues at other member companies." The website announces upcoming meetings,...

For tech junkies and others, TechCrunch is a great way to stay up-to-date with developments on new technologies, computer systems, mobile devices, software, and a wide array of tech-related matters. On the top of the homepage, visitors can check out Hot Topics, which might feature anything from updates from Microsoft to venture capital funding developments for new web-applications. On the...

The Pebbles Project at Carnegie Mellon University is working to create new technologies and applications for personal digital assistants (PDAs). Many avenues of investigation are being explored, including networking and synchronizing multiple PDAs, using handheld devices in classrooms and in conjunction with a fixed computer, and integrating assistant technologies into handheld devices for people...

The Virtual Museum of Computing provides an extensive list of websites on the history of computing and on-line computer-based exhibits around the world. Inventors who recently died are highlighted, with links to websites about them and their work. The online galleries include exhibits on mathematics, computing, electronics, corporate histories and general historical information. Links to other...

Twice a year, the Top500 Project releases a list of the 500 sites with the most powerful supercomputers. The purpose of the list is "to provide a reliable basis for tracking and detecting trends in high-performance computing." The latest version was unveiled in June, and this site examines some of the most important developments and newcomers to the list. Most important is the recently constructed...

The long-term goal of the Active Logic, Metacognitive Computation, and Mind project at University of Maryland, College Park, Computer Science Department is "to design and implement common sense in a computer." The website offers an explanation for what a project of this nature involves and the challenges of achieving "cognitive adequacy." A Primer section provides an introduction to active logic,...