Why iMac was put to sleep

Though Apple has filled the original iMac`s slot with a redesigned iMac and added the eMac, the company has not caught the public`s attention the way it did with the first candy-coloured machines, reports NewsFactor.

The original iMac debuted in 1998, and more than six million units were sold during its lifetime, making it one of Apple`s most popular products. The company decided to phase it out in favour of newer offerings.

Apple declined to comment on the reason for the original iMac`s retirement, but one can assume that the line finally lost its lustre, the site comments. As TidBITS publisher Adam Engst told NewsFactor: "When you play in the world of design, things start to look dated quickly."

Aside from the look, the 15-inch CRT on the original iMac may have been standard in 1998, but 17-inch monitors are almost a minimum requirement now, and many people prefer flat-panel LCDs over CRTs. Apple has now introduced larger flat-screen CRTs or LCD monitors.

Although the original iMac model has been retired, the name has not. The heir to the iMac moniker is a flat-panel, lamp-like design in pure white that occupies the higher end of the price-point spectrum. And the company now offers bargain shoppers the eMac - a machine that shares the familiar teardrop design of the original iMac, but without the candy-coloured shell.

The newest version of Mozilla, the open source cousin to the Netscape browser, went into beta yesterday, and is available for downloading in editions that run on Windows, Linux, Macintosh, Solaris, AIX and HP-UX operating systems.

TechWeb reports that Yahoo Mozilla 1.4 features support for NTLM authentication, enabling it to communicate with Microsoft Web and proxy servers configured to use Windows security.

Other improvements in the beta are rollovers from the most current final edition, 1.3.1, which include the ability to "train" the integrated e-mail client to segregate spam, auto-resizing of images within a browser window, and on-the-fly profile switching.

Mozilla can be downloaded here at no charge.

Scientists in the UK have announced the development of biometric devices that detect finger pressure, which could be used for biometric security on portable technology products.

IDG News Service reports that the devices are known as piezo-electric (or pressure electricity) and piezo-resistive sensors. They were developed at the University of Southampton and in the Netherlands. The sensors detect the unique pressure stamp created by an individual user tapping out a rhythm or sequence, such as a personal information number.