Getting his computer stolen was the most fun thing ever to happen to this guy, who sounds like a bit of a tech geek. Thanks to a remote-access program he'd installed, he was able to screw with the thief's head, while gathering info to help the police track the guy down.

Also in today's links: hungry badgers feed on a lawn, malnourished plants feed on human hair, and more.

Hey kids! Have you heard of the cool new program for Windows PCs that lets you boot your system in a jiffy and gives you instant-on access to e-mail, IM, and the Web? Yeah, it's called Linux.

Huh?

That's the basic sales pitch for a new software package called Presto -- though the official verbiage doesn't dare go anywhere near that dirty "Linux" word. On its web site and in its documentation, Presto is positioned simply as a program for Windows. You download it as an .exe file and install it like you would any other application.

A stove that burns trash while cooking food is being plugged as a way to combat the problem of excessive trash, while also providing a means to cook food and boil water for the poor in Kenya. The "community cooker" -- which is close to being put in use -- burns at a high enough temperature "to destroy toxins in the rubbish, particularly plastic." There's a tall chimney meant to carry away the fumes but, I still can't quite imagine wanting to eat anything that's been so close to the smell and emissions from burning garbage.

Also in today's links: science and Islam, garbage and food, and more.

Now you can rock out even with puny laptop speakers. Normally when you try to pump up the bass using the equalizer settings in iTunes or other software, you inadvertently distort your music's sound by boosting frequencies that small speakers can't reproduce. New software and chips promise crisper sound and fuller bass, using tricks such as toning down the extra-low frequencies that your speakers can't handle. We tested the tech by cranking the volume on CDs, DVDs and MP3s on three laptops.

Also in today's links: coal-fueled birth defects, cheap laptops, stolen dung, and more.