Computers

The order by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology was unprecedented in scope: All personal computers sold in the country as of July 1 would have to include government-sponsored Internet filtering software. But just how the plan, which would potentially affect hundreds of millions of computer users, would be carried out remains unclear.

At long last, details about a super-secret computer tablet have emerged, complete with pictures and even a video showing how it works. But it's not the long-awaited tablet that Apple Inc. has been rumored to be developing. This prototype reportedly comes from deep inside Apple's archrival, Microsoft Corp., where its development has supposedly been so blanketed in secrecy that many high-ranking company executives didn't know it existed. If it's real, that is. The device, code-named Courier, showed up on the popular technology blog Gizmodo.

Apple Inc., maker of the Macintosh computer and the iPhone, was sued over claims that display screens on the company's iMac desktop computer are defective and show unwanted vertical lines. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in San Jose, blames a faulty transistor or connection on the back of the screens. The suit, filed on behalf of consumer Aram Hovsepian, a Florida resident, seeks unspecified damages and class-action status. Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif.

Intel Corp. dropped support for a foundation working to provide inexpensive laptops to the developing world because the group would endorse only one model of computer. The world's largest chip maker reached a "philosophical impasse" with the One Laptop per Child foundation and founder Nicholas Negroponte, who had asked the company to support exclusively the group's XO laptop, Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said Thursday. The XO is built around a chip made by Santa Clara, Calif.

If there were a list of the geekiest landmarks to visit in Seattle, RE-PC would be near the top. It's the place that old computers go to die. Most are disassembled for parts, stripped down like wrecked cars at a junkyard. Some are recycled. But a select few escape. They make it to a tidy room in the corner of the folksy high-tech salvage shop. That's the site of the RE-PC Computer Museum.

UCLA's neuropsychiatric hospital has banned all cellphones and laptop computers after a patient posted group photos of other patients on a social networking website, officials confirmed Monday. Dr. Thomas Strouse, medical director of the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital, said in a statement that the decision was part of "UCLA Health System's ongoing efforts to enhance patient privacy and confidentiality in compliance with California's patient rights law."

The Transportation Security Administration suspended Verified Identity Pass Inc. from enrolling travelers in its pre-screening program after a laptop containing the records of 33,000 people went missing. The company, based in New York, lost possession of the laptop July 26 at San Francisco International Airport. The laptop contained unencrypted pre-enrollment records of individuals interested in joining the program, the Transportation Security Administration said Monday in a statement.

Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs unveiled a line of laptops Tuesday but did not dramatically slash prices. Instead, Jobs focused on a new manufacturing process for Apple's MacBook line of laptops, which carves the machine's casing out of a single 2.5-pound aluminum block. "This is a tour de force of engineering," Jobs said. The new aluminum MacBooks, which come with a glass multitouch track pad, will begin selling today starting at $1,299 for a 13-inch model.

Two years ago, California public schools received an unexpected gift: a grant of $250 million for new computers, software and training. The windfall was part of a $1.1-billion settlement of a class-action lawsuit against Microsoft that alleged the company had plotted to monopolize a portion of the computer industry. At the time, state Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said the funds provided "a wonderful opportunity to close the digital divide in many of our schools."

Call it the high-tech equivalent of a book signing. Los Angeles Philharmonic music director Esa-Pekka Salonen will show how he uses a Macintosh computer to compose at 7 p.m. on Feb. 15 at the Apple Store, 1248 Third Street Promenade, in Santa Monica. Salonen also will give a sneak preview of his new work, "Helix," to receive its first U.S. performances by the Philharmonic March 30 through April 1 at Walt Disney Concert Hall. It will also be released as part of the iTunes DG Concerts series.