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The article highlights the results of the 2006 Spectroscopy Salary and Employment survey conducted by Advanstar Communications Inc. The unemployment rate among participants dropped to 1.5 percent. The average annual salary is approximately $77,980. The average annual salary of military employees was the highest among all the respondents. Government-employed spectroscopists' average salary rose to $75,750. Higher degrees are important for spectroscopists just as much as age does. The survey also shows a gap in the salary of female and male spectroscopists. It also reveals that 60 percent of respondents said their workloads have increased. Thirty percent affirm that they are more than satisfied with their job.

The article discusses Microsoft Corp.'s competitions in the computer software market. The first competition comes from the open-source operating system Linux. Some organizations are pushing the use of Linux in personal computers of their employees. One reason is that licensing costs are low. Another is the ability of Linux to run on old hardware that would spurn Microsoft Windows. Also, Linux is more convenient than Windows for managing a large number of computers from a remote location. The second challenge to Microsoft comes in the form of a 15-centimeter box called the Mac Mini developed by Apple Computer Inc. The third competition comes from the open-source browser, Firefox developed by Mozilla Foundation.

This article explains that companies in the United States computer industry as increasingly accepting of gay and lesbian employees. The Corporate Equality Index for 2004 scores firms based on their treatment of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) employees, and almost all computer companies in the Fortune 500 were rated "above average". Many high-technology companies include gays and lesbians in their diversity efforts. However, most of the technology employers that offer benefits to gays still do not include transgendered individuals in their equal-employment policies. GLBT engineers seek an accepting and tolerant work environment.

The article reports that a group of French and German scientists have demonstrated in a laboratory that shining powerful laser pulses between two electrodes elicits a controllable form of lightning. The scientists hope that their invention will help to fend off lightning strikes on airports and power stations. They employed their Teramobile laser, whose pulse lasts for a mere 100 femtoseconds and packs a peak power of 5 terawatts. The pulse rips the electrons from air molecules, creating a plasma. It also changes the refractive index of the air, a phenomenon called the Kerr effect. The effect focused the light just enough to balance plasma-induced diffraction, creating a straight and highly conductive channel, called filament.

This article points out that the personal computer is not very politically correct because manufacturing it is an energy-intensive process and its annual energy cost is greater than that of household appliances.

The article highlights the 54th annual American Society for Mass Spectrometry Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics held from May 28 to June 1, 2006 in Seattle, Washington. A plenary lecture on mass spectrometry followed by oral sessions and poster presentation was held every each conference day. One of the significant part of the event was the bioanalytical applications of mass spectrometry.