Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Nathan Myhrvold is going on a one-year sabbatical, but insists that a Time report that he was forced out by Microsoft President Steve Ballmer is simply incorrect. "Nathan has been an invaluable contributor to Microsoft, the technology industry, and to me personally over the past 13 years. Frankly, I would rather he continue his work at Microsoft, but I support his decision to take a much needed break and explore his passion for science," Chairman Bill Gates said in a statement.

    Sen. Spencer Abraham, R-MI, is at Green Acres Elementary School in Detroit Tuesday to assist Comcast President Steve Burke in linking the school to a new high-speed cable service. Comcast's Fred Eaton says the new service will allow students to access a Web site almost instantly. "They're able to gather information about what's happening in the world right away, whenever they or their teachers want it," Eaton said. "We're excited about the opportunities this service will mean for them."

    California Judge Stephen Hjelt has ordered Dr. James DeYarman to stop selling the Propecia baldness treatment over the Internet to people without a prescription. The case is the first in California in which a medical practitioner was ordered to shut down a Web site for prescribing a drug without directly examining patients.

    Tiananmen Square protestor Chai Ling, ten years after the massacre on June 4, 1989, is now a Cambridge, MA, Internet entrepreneur. Just off Harvard Square, she heads Janzabar, a company with 18 employees. "Janzabar" is a transliteration of the Chinese for "best and brightest," Chai told an AP reporter. After the 1989 crackdown, Chai fled China. "We all believed it was the right thing to do. We tried to do our best. It was a beautiful movement. To be able to be surrounded by all these people sharing common goals, sharing some risk for a better future," Chai says of the pro-democracy movement. Now, her company is building an Internet system that will let college students to communicate with one another and their teachers, keep track of schedules, and access e-commerce features.

    Former Philippines President Corazon Aquino says computer technology she saw on a tour of Texas Children's Hospital last week could help developing countries like the Philippines in offering better children's health. "I hope that, in time, the Philippines will have access to telemedicine," Aquino said.

    Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov's arrival in Italy on a state visit was broadcast over the Internet, the second time Luzhkov has offered such a webcast. The site will be updated with current news by Italian journalists covering Luzhkov's visit to Rome and Florence.

    According to a University of California at Irvine survey, teachers at nontraditional or "alternative" schools are more likely to use the Internet in the classroom. "Could I still teach without the Internet? Of course," middle school teacher Gretchen Lee told The New York Times. "Would I want to go back to teaching without it? No." The study concludes that "teachers' basic beliefs and pedagogical practices feed into whether they use the Internet. The teachers that believe in focusing on what I call 'constructivism'...are much more apt to use the Internet," its author, Professor Henry Jay Becker, says.

    Y2K evangelist Ed Yourdon has given up the faith, and has announced on his Web site that "the time has come for me to say goodbye to Y2K. I'm removing the Y2K articles, links, and resources... and dropping off the Y2K radar screen... No, I haven't been abducted by aliens. I haven't been kidnapped by the CIA or the mysterious people in black helicopters... I simply feel that I've done everything I can do to raise the alarm about Y2K. I've co-authored two books, written dozens of articles and essays, spoken at hundreds of seminars, conferences, meetings, and gatherings. I could continue doing the same thing, over and over again, but I would be repeating myself. More important, I would be preaching to the choir; those whose opinion and outlook on Y2K are compatible with mine would nod their head in agreement, and those whose opinion and outlook are incompatible with mine would shake their head in disbelief, just as they have for the past four years."

    Send comments and contributions to Peter J.M. Orvetti.