Black Friday is only two days away and unless you started camping last night, don’t expect to scoop up any of those doorbuster items. Luckily, every hipster’s favorite computer company will be offering rare discounts on hardware and the like. Apple will offer deep discounts ranging from $100 to $250 on Macbooks, Macbook Pros, iMacs and other computers. The more expensive, the better the discount. It looks like our good friends Best Buy will also be offering the discounts, but I wouldn’t go anywhere near a place like that on Black Friday. Best of luck on your deal-hunting.

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The CAPTCHA process is famous for preventing spam and helping translate books. So, Jeffrey Augustine went back to third grade arts and crafts to create the Dream Captcha. It’s inspired by Native American dream catchers and the “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart” used by many online sites to inhibit automated software from posing as you or I. Say goodbye to CAPTCHA nightmares and hello to sweet dreams.

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Here’s a “Pro Gaming Table” that is supposed to be awesome for people who never leave the house. It can hold your thousands of dollars worth of equipment with ease, ensuring that you’re never going to have “issues” whilst raiding in World of Warcraft come the release of that new expansion pack. And by “issues,” I mean running out of Lean Pockets.

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Keep in mind that the IEEE 802.11n wireless spec hasn’t even been solidified and is still in the draft phase. Draft, people. And now, rumors of Gigabit WiFi are popping up at a time where WiMAX is still having a ton of problems and we’re still on 802.11g as a standard. The new technology, dubbed 802.11 VHT (Very High Throughput), could one day be the new standard for WiFi. The performance increase would be astonishing, but right now, no computer could take advantage of it:

f approved, the increase in data rates would be dramatic, at least by today’s standards. The 802.11n standard calls for bandwidth on the order of 600 Mbits/s; today, so-called “pre-n” devices offer roughly 300 Mbits/s. But actual throughput can be much less, or only about 100 Mbits/s, after overhead and other traffic. The 802.11 VHT proposals call for throughput of at least a gigabit per second, which could place actual data rates many times higher. Interestingly, none of the PAR documents mention the estimated range for the wireless link.

As you can see, that’s nearly twice the speed of 802.11n. Maybe adding VHT into the mix isn’t such a bad idea after all…

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This time next year, when you’re buying Apple’s newly updated Macbook Pro or Mac Pro, you’ll likely see Intel’s latest line of CPUs in your machine. It’s called “Core” and the first CPU due out under the new moniker is the Intel Core i7 and i7 Extreme Edition. Not the most exciting thing, I know, but just think back to that old 486 DX and you’ll be smiling in no time. Just don’t expect Psystar to make the upgrade.

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Physicists at the University of Sydney in Australia have created an optical chip that has the potential make the internet up to 100 times faster. These “chalcogenide glass photonic chips” can operate at data rates of almost 640 GB/s, meaning they’ll allow users to transmit the equivalent of seventeen whole DVD’s each second. Wow. Imagine what the bootleggers will be able to do with the new crystal chips.

Chalcogenide glass photonic chips are cheap to produce since they can be made from plain glass crystals. The chips increase internet speed by preventing networks from being bogged down by old fashioned electronic components when transmitting information at the speed of light. Scientists say this technology could be commercially available in as early as five years. Get ready for blazing fast downloads and supercomputers that will blow your mind.

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Eco-friendly Uruguayan leathermaker Begoodesigns has found a use for old car seats. They’re making swank laptop cases using recycled auto upholstery. Begood’s bags don’t just protect the environment, they also guard your precious computer. Inside the bags, there’s a soft lining made from padded car seat fabric.

With it’s classic leather luggage styling, this recycled laptop bag is a major step up from those DIY velcro and duct tape laptop bags. Begoodesign’s car seat leather computer case sells for $250 on their web site. Buy one of these and you might be able to feel a little bit better about driving a big ol’ gas-guzzling SUV. If you’re looking for even more recycled leather gear Begoodesigns also makes sandals and necklaces.

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Found on Wikipedia, this image is (purportedly) the first web server on the World Wide Web. It’s an old NeXTCube machine that Tim Berners-Lee used at the CERN lab in Geneva, Switzerland. In case you weren’t aware, our handsome publisher, Steve Rufer, is also from Geneva. So in honor of Steve Jobs and our dignity, we’re going to beg him to break into the Microcosm museum and steal it for us. We want to destroy the computer that became catalyst for MySpace and Goatse.

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The coolness of this case mod is plain to see, but what it actually does or who developed it remains a mystery. It appears that the case features an elaborate cooling system and a series of gauges that provide information on various processes like temp and CPU usage, but other than that all we have is plenty of pics–many of which can be seen after the jump.

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Well, at chess, anyway. Vladimir Kramnik lost 2-4 to the multi-processor version of Chessbase’s commercial software Deep Fritz at a tournament held in Bonn, Germany. Kramnik was able to hold an earlier version of the software to a draw in 2002, but this latest defeat may preclude a rematch. Monty Newborn, a professor of computer science at McGill University, told The New York Times: “I don’t know what one could get out of it at this point. The science is done.” Newborn also said, however, that poker and go, an ancient Chinese strategy game, are where the future development of computer game-playing software is likely to concentrate. — Mike Payne

[via Engadget]