It all began 20 years ago with a frustrated 29-year-old programmer who had a passion for order. Tim Berners-Lee, now famous as the founder of the World Wide Web, was working as an obscure consultant at Cern, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, in the suburbs of Geneva. Berners-Lee loved the laboratory. It was full of stimulating projects and creative people, but his work, and the work of his colleagues, was stymied by the lack of institutional knowledge.

Berners-Lee proposed adding “hypertext” to the Cern network, basically embedding software in documents that would point to other related documents. And thus was born the Web, a global communications network that has shaken up industries, created enormous wealth and transformed the way ordinary people live their lives.

Scientists have developed a polyurethane coating that heals its own scratches when exposed to sunlight, offering the promise of scratch-free cars and other products, researchers said on Thursday. The self-healing coating uses chitosan, a substance found in the shells of crabs and shrimp. This is incorporated into traditional polymer materials, such as those used in coatings on cars to protect paint.

“We developed a polymeric material that is able to repair itself by exposure to the sun,” said Marek Urban of the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, whose study appears in the journal Science. “In essence, you create a scratch and that scratch will disappear upon exposure to the sun,” Urban said in an interview on the Science website.

Intel has recently started supplying its Atom N270 processor to white-box netbook vendors in China, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report. Since the N270 is priced only US$15 and US$5 higher than VIA's C7-M and Nano processors, respectively, some local first-tier PC vendors in China including Founder, Lenovo and Haier are also considering expanding their Atom-based netbook shipments, the paper claimed.

In additional news, Nvidia is also in contact with Founder, Lenovo and several second-tier white-box netbook makers to promote its Ion-platform for their netbook products. Although the chipset's price is US$5-10 higher than Intel's 945, its support for HD video and graphics output has earned the interest of some white-box netbook maker, added the paper.

Finnish-based benchmark development company, Futuremark, has just unveiled an online-based benchmarking tool for measuring the performance of Web browsers, and so far results are showing that Safari 4.0 is the speediest browser of them all. The new tool, ironically called Peacekeeper, might just be the first free, publicly-available tool for pitting the performance of Internet browsers against each other that comes from a source other than one of the respective browser’s own developers–consider it an “impartial”

It’s tough to fathom that it was 2004 when we were drooling over Nintendo’s cutest, if not a touch bulky, handheld ever: the DS. Originally hailed for its groundbreaking usage of dual screens (one of which was touch-friendly), the system was a runaway hit from day one. Here we are, nearly five years later, listening to Nintendo gloat about an astonishing sales figure.On March 6, 2009, Nintendo shipped its 100 millionth Nintendo DS system, which includes the original DS, DS Lite and the DSi, which is out in Japan

On Thursday, Palm and Sprint had a webcast to go over — what else? — the Palm Pre. Unfortunately, the information we all wanted to hear, meaning pricing and availability, was not revealed. What they did dish on were the service plans. Individuals can choose from 450 minutes ($69.99), 900 minutes ($89.99) or unlimited plans ($99.99). Families can choose from 1500 minutes ($129.99), 3000 minutes ($169.99) or unlimited plans ($189.99). Business customers can pool their minutes together using an unlimited plan.Oh,

Not satisfied with simply introducing a new platform that’s more diminutive than the already tiny Mini-ITX, VIA has stepped in with an all new media system processor that aims to bring power efficiency to 1080p-capable systems. The VX855 MSP offers up hardware-based H.264 video acceleration in a staggeringly small, highly integrated single chip package with an ultra low TDP of 2.3 watts. Interestingly enough, we’re now wondering if this here chip isn’t in Habey’s latest mini HTPC, and if not, if it’ll be in

CyberPower is now bundling NVIDIA’s GeForce 3D stereo glasses with their Gamer Xtreme 3D Series high-end gaming PC. The Gamer Xtreme 3D 1000 is an AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition Triple-Core system, while the Gamer Xtreme 3D 2000 features Intel’s Core i7-920. The systems also come with a Samsung Syncmaster 2233RZ 22-inch 120Hz LCD monitor. The GPU driving the 3D glasses is the NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 graphics card. Prices start at $1,299. See below for the full press release. CyberPower Announces New Gaming

The Cooler Master V10 CPU cooler is said to be capable of dissipating over 200 Watts of heat generated by processors, which makes it one of the most powerful coolers money can buy. With ten 6mm heat pipes, a TEC (Thermo-Electric Cooling), and two cooling fans this CPU cooler looks like it should cool any processor with no problems! Read on to see how it performs with an Intel Core i7 and Core 2 CPU.

Another weekday, another MSI notebook. After detailing a new line of gaming and multimedia laptops at CeBIT this month, the company seems to be trickling out even more as the month of March marches on. Yesterday it was the bargain-minded VX600; today it’s the stylish and nimble VR430.MSI’s latest (for now, anyway) notebook features a decorative ocean wave lid, the company’s own ECO Engine for saving power whenever possible and a slim, sleek overall build. Sitting just between the realms of ultraportables and