Here are new features in iTunes 8, according to Apple:

• Genius Playlists — Play a song, click the Genius button, and iTunes creates a playlist of other songs from your library that go great together. Genius playlists help you discover songs in your library you never knew you had — and rediscover forgotten favorites.
• Genius Sidebar – While you reacquaint yourself with the music you already own, let Genius introduce you to new music you’ll love. As you select songs in your library, the Genius sidebar displays songs from the iTunes Store that go great with it. The Genius sidebar won’t recommend songs already in your library, and you can preview and buy recommended songs directly from the sidebar.
• Grid View — See your iTunes library in a new way. Select Albums in Grid View and iTunes 8 displays your entire music library using cover art. Select Artists, Genres, or Composers and iTunes automatically creates groups of albums based on your selection. Simply skim across a group to see the albums inside, and start playing an album with a single click. Movies, TV shows, podcasts, and audiobooks look great in Grid View, too.
• HD TV Shows — Purchase select episodes of your favorite TV shows in high definition for just $2.99. Or get the whole season in HD with a Season Pass. And when you buy HD, iTunes doubles your viewing pleasure: You also get an iPod-ready version with a file size and resolution that’s ideal for smaller screens.
• Enhanced Accessibility — iTunes 8 is now screen reader friendly on both Mac and PC. Manage your iTunes library using VoiceOver in Mac OS X Leopard or Window-Eyes for Windows XP and Windows Vista. Or use your screen reader to purchase or download content from the iTunes Store — including iTunes U.
• New Visualizer — Turn on the new Visualizer and lose yourself in a 3D-scape of spheres, ribbons, and lights that pulsate to the beat and tempo of the song you’re playing.

For more details, go to iTunes.com

Source: iTunes

1. Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

2. Wheaton College, Wheaton, Ill.

3. U.S. Coast Guard Academy, New London, Conn.

4. College of the Ozarks, Point Lockout, Mo.

5. Grove City College, Grove City, Pa.

6. U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo.

7. U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md.

8. Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass.

9. Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula, Calif.

10. Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Mich.

11. U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.

12. Wesleyan College, Macon, Ga.

13. Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Needham, Mass.

14. City University of New York-Queens College, Flushing, N.Y.

15. Webb Institute, Glen Cove, N.Y.

16. Berea College, Berea, Ky.

17. Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Ga.

18. City University of New York-Baruch College, New York.

19. Simmons College, Boston.

20. Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pa.

• Born Sarah Louise Heath on Feb. 11, 1964 in Sandpoint, ID
• Took office Dec. 4, 2006, as the 11th governor of Alaska and first woman to hold the office
• Holds a bachelor of science degree in communications-journalism from the University of Idaho (1987)
• Graduated from Wasilla High School in 1982; has lived in Skagway, Eagle River and Wasilla
• Married to Todd Palin, a lifelong Alaskan and a production operator on the North Slope; he is four-time champion of the Iron Dog, the world’s longest snow-machine race
• Has five children: Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig
• One son, Track, enlisted in the U.S. Army on Sept. 11, 2007
• Is a lifetime member of the NRA
• Serves as chair of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission
• Chair of the National Governors Association (NGA) Natural Resources Committee (previously served as co-chair of the committee)
• Served two terms on the Wasilla (Alaska) City Council and two terms as the mayor/manager of Wasilla
• Served as chair of the Alaska Conservation Commission, which regulates oil and gas in Alaska
• Was president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors

Source: State of Alaska

Google has launched the beta version of a new open-source browser, Google Chrome, in more than 100 countries. Here are some of its key features, according to Google:

• Designed to be clean and fast, with improved speed and responsiveness
• Keeps each tab in an isolated “sandbox” to prevent one tab from crashing another and provide improved protection from rogue sites
• Has a more powerful JavaScript engine, V8, to power the next generation of web applications that aren’t even possible in today’s browsers
• Currently available for Windows only (Mac and Linux versions are in the works)
• Open source (includes components from Apple’s WebKit and Mozilla’s Firefox)

For more information and download details, visit Google.

Source: Google

The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin maintains one of the world’s largest collections, housing the archives of such figures as Norman Mailer, David Mamet, Arthur Miller. In the early 1960s, broadcast journalist Mike Wallace donated the interviews from his television program The Mike Wallace Interview, which aired in 1957 and 1956. Most episodes have not been seen since they aired.

Here is a selected list of guests from the 65 interviews available. (For the full list, visit the HRC site.)

Gloria Swanson (4/28/1957) — Gloria Swanson, one of Hollywood’s most spectacular stars, talks to Wallace about why she is not making films, sex appeal, Hollywood in the 1920s, marriage, plastic surgery, and cancer cures. Watch Video

Eldon Edwards (5/5/1957) — Eldon Edwards, Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, talks to Wallace about the South’s attitude toward the KKK, the Klan’s membership, segregation, the NAACP, communism, and J. Edgar Hoover. Watch Video

Steve Allen (7/7/1957) – Steve Allen, comedian, musician, and television personality, talks to Wallace about his rivalry with Ed Sullivan, his television show, and awards. Watch Video

Glenn McCarthy (7/21/1957) – Glenn McCarthy, the legendary Texas oil millionaire, talks to Wallace about money, gambling, fighting, and the Hollywood film Giant, which some say is the story of his life. Watch Video

Frank Lloyd Wright (9/1/1957 and 9/28/1957) – Frank Lloyd Wright, one of the greatest architects of the 20th century, talks to Wallace about religion, war, mercy killing, art, critics, his mile-high skyscraper, America’s youth, sex, morality, politics, nature, and death. (This interview is available on home video through the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.). Watch Video

George Jessel (9/14/1957) — George Jessel, veteran comedian, talks to Wallace about television, Jimmie Hoffa and the Teamsters Union, fame, Jewish performers, relationships, and his desire to be named ambassador to Israel. Watch Video

Orval Faubus (9/15/1957) – Orval Faubus, governor of Arkansas, talks to Wallace from the Governor’s mansion in Little Rock during his standoff with the Federal Government over the integration of Little Rock Central High School. Faubus had called in the National Guard to bar the African-American students from the school and had met the day before this interview with President Eisenhower in an effort to resolve the conflict. Watch Video

Kirk Douglas (11/2/1957) – Kirk Douglas, a film star who had recently completed two films, Paths of Glory and The Vikings, talks to Wallace about acting, fame, the charge that Hollywood films misrepresent America abroad, Nazis, Communists, and European versus American women. Watch Video

Leonard Ross (12/21/1957) — Leonard Ross, a 12-year-old California school boy who won a total of $164,000 on the game shows The Big Surprise and The Sixty-Four Thousand Dollar Challenge, talks to Wallace about the effects of quiz shows on children, school, politics, eggheads, spanking, mothers, and Santa Claus. Watch Video

Oscar Hammerstein II (3/15/1958) – One of the most successful and controversial figures in show business and Broadway lyricist for such classics as Oklahoma!, The King and I, and South Pacific, Oscar Hammerstein II talks to Wallace about sentimentality, racism, religion, and politics. Watch Video

Silicon Alley Insider complied an entertaining list of “25 technology brands that were either huge hits or had huge hype over the last 25 years or so — brands that you’re far less likely to be using today.” Click on each brand for SAI’s mini-profile:

1. AltaVista

2. Amiga

3. Atari

4. Broderbund

5. CDNow

6. Commodore

7. Compuserve

8. CueCat

9. Cyberian Outpost

10. Divx

11. Egghead Software

12. eToys

13. Geocities

14. Inktomi

15. Iomega

16. Lotus

17. Lycos

18. Netscape

19. Packard Bell

20. Prodigy

21. Silicon Graphics

22. Tandy

23. Tomagatchi

24. U.S. Robotics

25. WordPerfect

Source: Silicon Alley Insider

Each August for the past 11 years, Beloit College in Beloit, Wis., has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college. It is the creation of Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Public Affairs Director Ron Nief. The list is shared with faculty and with thousands who request it each year as the school year begins, as a reminder of the rapidly changing frame of reference for this new generation.

Students entering college for the first time this fall were generally born in 1990. For these students, Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Henson, Ryan White, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Freddy Krueger have always been dead.

1. Harry Potter could be a classmate, playing on their Quidditch team.

2. Since they were in diapers, karaoke machines have been annoying people at parties.

3. They have always been looking for Carmen Sandiego.

4. GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available.

5. Coke and Pepsi have always used recycled plastic bottles.

6. Shampoo and conditioner have always been available in the same bottle.

7. Gas stations have never fixed flats, but most serve cappuccino.

8. Their parents may have dropped them in shock when they heard George Bush announce “tax revenue increases.”

9. Electronic filing of tax returns has always been an option.

10. Girls in head scarves have always been part of the school fashion scene.

For the complete list, go to the Beloit College web site.

Source: Beloit College

1. So Long Lovey Eyes

2. Nothing To Cry About

3. No Deliverance

4. I Am a Man of Stone

5. Song I Hate

6. Flower

7. Hell in High Water

8. Don’t Go My Way

9. One More

10. I Want Your Love

Source: Kirtland Records

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Jan. 10, 1917 — Born in in the Bronx

1949 — Becomes staff journalist at Billboard magazine, where he christened black popular music “rhythm and blues”

1951 — Joins music publishing arm of MGM Records, Big Three

1953 — Named a partner in Atlantic Records

1965 — Signs a distribution deal for Memphis-based Satellite Records — later known as Stax

1967 — Releases Aretha Franklin’s “I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You,” recorded at Muscle Shoals. Alabama

1975 — Leaves Atlantic Records

1978 — Produces Etta James’ “Deep in the Night”

1979 — Named VP of A&R for Warner Bros. Records

1979 — Produces Bob Dylan’s “Slow Train Coming” and Dire Straits’ “Communique”

1990 — Releases Linda Ronstadt’s “What’s New,” an album of standards

1993 — Publishes his autobiography “Rhythm and the Blues: A Life in American Music” (Knopf)

Sources: Billboard magazine, Atlantic Records

• Allman Brothers
• LaVern Baker
• Lou Ann Barton
• B-52’s
• Solomon Burke
• Ruth Brown
• Kim Carnes
• Ray Charles
• King Curtis
• Dire Straits
• Kenny Drew Jr.
• Dr. John
• Bob Dylan
• Aretha Franklin
• Gang Of Four
• Donnie Hathaway
• Etta James
• J. Geils Band
• Led Zeppelin
• Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters
• George Michael
• Willie Nelson
• Wilson Pickett
• Otis Redding
• Sam & Dave
• Dusty Springfield
• Big Joe Turner
• Bill Vera

Sources: Billboard magazine, Atlantic Records