1. Stephen King stops work on his pay-per-installment online novel, The Plant, after sales slump. But watch for King’s next macabre tale, The Terror of the Web-Surfing Deadbeats.
2. Microsoft appeals last year’s antitrust ruling. To prove that it isn’t a monopoly, the company offers to abandon its hotels on Park Place and Boardwalk while selling off the Water Works.
3. Apple may open a chain of Mac retail stores. Its slogan: “Our prices aren’t just insane – they’re insanely great!”
4. Intel ships the 1.5GHz Pentium 4 chip. Not to be outdone, Motorola engineers step up work on faster, more resilient breed of hamster.
5. Steve Jobs brings down the house with his Macworld Expo keynote. Though things got awkward after the Apple CEO claimed an Electoral College victory and started picking cabinet members.