Late in 2011, Hewlett Packard announced "Project Moonshot," an initiative to shrink data center size and energy consumption by using "hyperscale" low-power servers.

Initially, HP announced the project's low-power server design codenamed "Redstone" was based on Calxeda's ARM-based EnergyCore processors which used just 1.5 Watts of power per SoC. At the same time, ARM announced it was getting into the server business with its first ever 64-bit architecture. The excitement for ARM servers was high.

Hybrid cloud software provider Eucalyptus open sourced its software on Tuesday, moving the entire package to code-sharing site GitHub. Version 3.1 of the software includes performance enhancements and a feature called FastStart, which allows IT administrators to deploy Amazon Web Services-compatible clouds in under 20 minutes.

Eucalyptus is an application that reproduces the AWS cloud locally, which in turn allows IT personnel to easily migrate cloud applications built from AWS back and forth from the public to private cloud. Amazon itself supports Eucalyptus, giving the nod to Eucalyptus' efforts to support Amazon Web Services' APIs back in March.

Some people seem to be born with great artistic talent, able to produce amazing work with just a few strokes of a pencil or some well-placed dabs of paint. If, like the rest of us, you’re not so lucky, though, you’re probably going to need to help to produce anything which deserves to be called “art”. And that’s where Zip Art comes in.

The program was created by light sculptor, scientific artist and former physicist Paul Friedlander, in an effort to help anyone, even the totally talent-free, express their creative potential. And while, as a software developer Friedlander is clearly a great artist, Zip Art is an interesting way to produce appealing abstract images, often in just a few seconds.

Surface isn't just about the future. The tablet is also about the past, and Microsoft bringing to market a vision quashed by its hardware partners. In 2012, Surface is all about Apple and Microsoft securing a fast foothold in the emerging cloud-connected device category. But the tablet also encompasses something sought six years ago: Project Origami.

It's no coincidence that Project Origami's launch was, until yesterday, the last time Microsoft held a super-secretive media event that generated big buzz. Surface and the other share much in common, and not just buzz. Before there was iPad, Microsoft developed Ultra-Mobile PC -- or what Project Origami came to be branded. The idea: To bring to market a sub-$500 touchscreen computer. The software giant sought this product category four years before iPad stormed the media tablet market. Surface is Project Origami's revenge, against Apple and Microsoft's hardware partners.

LastPass has released a major new update for its secure password manager, LastPass 2.0, and the big addition is the extension of its Secure Notes feature.

As well as safely protecting simple text information, the new release also allows you to add confidential documents, PDF files and images as attachments to your secure notes. As with all other stored data, these will be locally encrypted to keep them safe from snoopers. And of course the attachments will then be synced to any location where you log in to your account, so they’ll be available anywhere.

I dunno if it's branding or magic, but Microsoft's "big-ass" Surface table suddenly is smaller. In a jam-packed media event this evening, the software giant unveiled a 10.6-inch display tablet. Case is magnesium with beveled edges that give a sleek appearance. The tablet weighs as little as 676 grams. That's a helluva lot lighter than the Surface table introduced 5 years ago. That baby measured 30 inches and newer Samsung model is 40 inches. The tablet is pretty compact compared to the table.

So the rumors were true about a Microsoft tablet. But Surface? Not Xbox? It's smart branding that pits Microsoft's tablet against Apple's -- industrial design, announcement timing, Surface branding and more.

Our brains are incapable of multitasking.

That's the claim of the folks at OnlineUniversities.com, which sent me nifty infographic "Digital Stress and Your Brain". There is a lot of interesting data, but two sentences caught my attention: "Our brains' attention levels are finite. When our brain is overloaded with information, it can trigger a 'fight or flight' reaction. The overload makes the brain feel threatened, so it shuts down higher brain functions that deal with empathy".

Well, all we can tell you at the moment for sure is that there's a Microsoft event in Los Angeles today at 6:30 pm Eastern Daylight Time. The invitations came in plain text, and it seems like nobody knows what's going on for sure.

We've heard a few guesses -- from a Microsoft branded tablet to a Xbox accessory. We've pinged our sources within Microsoft, and these normally reliable sources don't know what's going on themselves. What's this Steve Jobs-like secrecy? It's sure building a lot of buzz.

The reality is no one is buying BlackBerries anymore it seems, and Research in Motion may finally be getting the hint. Manufacturing partner Celestica said Monday that it will wind down production of the devices in its factories over the next three to six months, at a cost of $35 million. Don't take it as the end of the BlackBerry just yet: Celestica is one of several partners that manufacture RIM's devices. So the death knell isn't ringing (yet).

RIM is reassessing its entire supply chain, and as a result of its shrinking market share will likely wind down some of its manufacturing capacity. The company has admitted that it's losing its clout in the marketplace and will likely result in an operating loss for this current quarter.

I surely don't. Perhaps even I am too influenced by all the pro-Apple propaganda. But the figures come from a reasonably reliable source, Online Publishers Association, which puts US iPad adoption at 52 percent and Android at 51 percent. Okay, I'll pause so you can wipe off coffee, or whatever else just spit out, from your computer screen.

The numbers don't add up to 100 percent, because some people own more than one type of tablet. Android gains largely come from Kindle Fire, which share is 32 percent -- four times new iPad and one point more than the original. Year over year, overall Android penetration rose from 32 percent, while iPad's fell from 72 percent. Perhaps it's no coincidence Android rose by 19 points and iPad fell by 20.

Not unless you'd like to waste $9.99 and feel the fool for it.

That's because Microsoft isn't the developer, but Super Racing Real Games. Well, there's nothing real about this app and the only "super racing" is to get your money before the app disappears, because it can't be long on the App Store. Surely Microsoft will issue a take-down notice -- if for no other reason. But Microsoft Word 2012's appearance in the App Store makes me wonder about Apple's so-called rigorous approval process. The company rejects legit apps but lets this through?

In the world of Android-powered smartphones, Samsung is the reigning king. It sells approximately 40 percent of all the Android smartphones going to consumers today, and Forrester Research predicts proprietary Android builds (such as Samsung's TouchWiz) will actually surpass Google's Android ecosystem within three years. Of course, this fragments the market and causes trouble for developers and enterprises looking to create and deploy software for Android.

Monday, Samsung unveiled a new brand that will be applied only to Android devices that have been approved for enterprise use: SAFE, or "Samsung Approved for Enterprise." It's similar to Motorola's line of Enterprise Android devices called Motorola Business Ready, which debuted earlier this year.

When you need sound effects for a game, video, presentation or some other task, then of course there are plenty to be found online. If you’ve very precise ideas about what you need, though, it could take plenty of browsing to locate something suitable, and so it might be easier to use LabChirp to synthesize them for you.

Despite its extremely small size (the program arrives in a 78.5KB download), LabChirp has plenty of power. You can set your effect modulation, shape its envelope, use standard waveforms or create your own, and support for up to eight channels means there’s plenty for creativity here.

It's Microsoft mystery Monday, with some big announcement coming at 6:30 pm EDT. The current rumors all focus on tablets, with the most recent being a partnership with Barnes & Noble. Can you say Windows Nook? (However, after I posted, Barnes & Noble issued a non-participation statement).

There's a broader question: Should Microsoft release a branded tablet? I pose that to you on this fine day. I'm certainly perplexed. The big advantage to such an announcement is timing. Google is expected to debut its own branded Galaxy Nexus tablet at the I/O developer conference next week. Microsoft could steal Google's thunder by doing something first. But would it be, with Windows 8 still in development? Now it would be big if Microsoft said Windows RT is ready now and this tablet , whether made by Barnes & Noble or somebody else, ships imminently. Otherwise, why bother announce June 18, when OEM partners showed off Windows RT models earlier this month at Computex?

Project management software is usually thought of as being expensive, complex and mainly for big business. Which is a shame, because really the technology is just about documenting some complex task to help you better understand it. And that can be useful in all sorts of situations (as you’ll know if you’ve ever tried to organise a large wedding, say).

It doesn’t have to be that way, though. GanttProject is a compact open source project management tool which is free for anyone to try. Its main focus is ease of use, so previous experience isn’t essential (though it’ll definitely help). And the project is Java-based, running equally happily on Windows, OS X or Debian Linux.