Sunday, October 29, 2006 - Apple's iPod is now 5 years old. More than 60 million of them have been sold. But the iPod is more than just a commuter jukebox. Some doctors use the photo and video versions as a diagnostic tool. The Colorado Rockies baseball team use video iPods to scout their opponents. College students use them to download lectures and critique fellow classmates projects.

Apple's little invention has created some unusual partnerships. Nike built a personal trainer into a pair of shoes and an iPod. There are iPod clothes from ski gear to skivvies. BMW became the first carmaker to create an iPod plug in for their car. Happy fifth birthday, iPod

The internet browser war is back. Microsoft has released Internet Explorer 7 and the Mozilla Foundation unveiled version 2.0 of their Firefox browser.

IE7 looks very different than its predecessor...the familiar set of menus...file, edit, view and tools...is gone. Key buttons, like for favorites for example, are placed in different areas at the top of the screen.

On the other hand, Firefox 2.0 doesn't look much different than its earlier versions.

Surfing security has been improved...both IE7 and Firefox 2.0 have phishing filters for added protection.

When it comes to browsing the web, IE7 uses tabs...something that's been available in every version of Firefox since it was released. You can view multiple web pages in one browser window, and go back and forth between them.

Both browsers are free to download. For Microsoft's IE7, go to http://www.microsoft.com. For Firefox 2.0, go to http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/.