London, Mar 11 : The first task for the world's earliest computer - the Manchester-built Mark One - was to compose romantic verse.
After creating the Mark One's small-scale prototype, the Baby Computer, in 1948, Manchester University scientists earned world-wide fame.
Then dozens of pioneer software programs were specially written, only to be lost over time.
But German academic David Ward has turned up a light-hearted love-poetry generator program written by Manchester scientist Christopher Strachey in 1952 to test the machine's ability to randomly select information, reports The Telegraph.
Cupertino, California - Changes are in store for Apple's line-up of desktop Macs, the computer manufacturer has announced.
Hamburg - The principle of "higher, faster, further" seems to have been taken very much to heart by computer game developers. They strive valiantly in a never-ending quest for titles with better graphics, "never before seen" game play and everything else ratcheted up a notch over the last generation - at least in theory.
Washington - Zip files are a way of life. The compression method known as Zip can reduce files to a fraction of their original size, and it's used by people the world over. The trouble is, the major programs used to decompress Zip files - WinZip and WinRAR - are both commercial. Luckily, there's a free tool called 7-Zip that does just about everything the fee-based utilities do. Get 7-Zip at 
Karlsruhe, Germany - Wireless LAN (WLAN) is a convenient way of surfing the internet. The technology allows users to connect several computers together wirelessly, without an entire jungle of cables running everywhere. Even so, the lack of physical transmission lines also makes it relatively easy for outsiders to tap the network. After all, wireless signals don't stop dead at your front door. Therefore, a few simple steps should be taken to protect a WLAN network against unauthorized access.
Washington - So you've resisted the move to Windows Vista? You're not alone. Although Vista is installed on most new PCs delivered today, this much-reviled successor to Windows XP has been a flop by many measures that matter: its uptake by businesses has been slow, complaints from consumers have been rampant, and the word-of- mouth damage has been so severe as to cause Microsoft to hurriedly ready Vista's successor, now expected by the end of this year.
