NerdTV identifies its target audience with its very name and with its format: It's not available over the air but rather through a free internet download.
The tech-focused interview show, created by pundit and PBS host Robert X. Cringely, is meant to be unlike anything on regular TV or elsewhere on the internet, where video tends to come in short clips.
Among the names lined up for coming weeks are former Sun Microsystems guru Bill Joy, Apple (AAPL) co-founder Steve Wozniak, computing pioneer Doug Engelbart and Google (GOOG) CEO Eric Schmidt.
This week's debut offering was a talk with Andy Hertzfeld, who is described with a sort of nerdish breathlessness as "the first Macintosh programmer ... ever."
At one point, Hertzfeld recalls his amazement at discovering how Wozniak had designed the Apple II's display screen: "He used a very clever trick of clocking the basic machine synchronous with color microburst, so effectively you could micro-program the NTSC signal."
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XP lite: Microsoft is developing a low-cost version of the Windows XP operating system to introduce personal computing to first-time Filipino PC users.
The Filipino language starter edition will be a stripped-down version of the popular operating system. Development on the system was started this year, and no date has been set for its sale.
Similar starter versions of Windows XP already are available in countries like Thailand, Malaysia, India, Brazil and Mexico.
Typically, starter editions allow only three applications to run simultaneously and provide access to the internet, but won't support home networking or sharing of a network printer.
No price has been set for the Filipino starter edition. Those available in other countries cost about $30, less than half the amount of a full version of a Windows XP.
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Leonardo video: Texas Instruments says it has developed semiconductor technology that will let manufacturers quickly produce digital video devices with more power and features.
The company hopes the technology, called DaVinci, will give it the same stronghold in digital video components that it enjoys in the market for mobile phones, about half of which run on Texas Instruments chips.
Texas Instruments' (TXN) news comes two weeks after rival Intel announced plans to make a personal computer running on a Microsoft operating system and that serves as the nerve center of a networked digital home.
Company officials said the technology would allow digital cameras to correct color and lighting problems instead of fixing them on a computer, and allow a single box to let TV viewers record, play or hold a videoconference.
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A smaller giant: Microsoft introduced a line of software products for mid-sized businesses using technology it acquired as part of its strategy to sell more software to companies with fewer than 500 employees.
The company said its new brand, Microsoft Dynamics, will include applications for managing customer contacts, financial tasks, human resources and other jobs.
Microsoft (MSFT) also unveiled a separate product code-named Centro; server software that will allow mid-sized businesses to set up, manage and maintain corporate networks.
Microsoft also said it would start selling a small businesses accounting program aimed at companies with 50 or fewer employees, an application that takes direct aim at Intuit's (INTU) widely-used QuickBooks accounting software.
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Compiled by Keith Axline. AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
