Cupertino, California - Quicker graphics, cutting edge processors, and a completely novel aluminium casing: those are the highlights of the completely reworked laptop line from Apple, as presented by CEO Steve Jobs at a recent press conference in Cupertino.

Apple also used the occasion to announce new lower prices for its portable computers, including a MacBook starting at 950 dollars. Many fans were nevertheless disappointed that Apple chose not to enter into the inexpensive netbook market, a class that includes machines for less than 300 dollars.

Washington, Oct 9: Astronomers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and their colleagues used a rare cosmic alignment and modern adaptive optics to reveal a galaxy as it appeared 2 billion years after the Big Bang.

Apart from providing detailed insight into the nature of the young star-forming galaxy, the technique also determined how that galaxy may eventually evolve to become a system like our own Milky Way.

The team made their observations by coupling two techniques, gravitational lensing and laser-assisted guide star (LGS) adaptive optics (AO) on the 10-meter Keck Telescope in Hawaii.