Has Apple Computer’s chief executive, Steve Jobs, found a way to connect the PC to the TV? John Markoff has the goods.

UPDATE: Apple Launches Online Movie Service

Almost every organization is sitting atop enormous unused computing capacity that is widely distributed. UNIX® servers are actually “serving” something less than 10 percent of the time. And most PCs do nothing for 95 percent of a typical day. Imagine an airline with 90 percent of its fleet on the ground, an automaker with 40 percent of its assembly plants idle, a hotel chain with 95 percent of its rooms unoccupied.

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Grid computing allows you to unite pools of servers, storage systems, and networks into a single large system so you can deliver the power of multiple-systems resources to a single user point for a specific purpose. To a user, data file, or an application, the system appears to be a single enormous virtual computing system.

Grid computing is the next logical step in distributed networking. Just as the Internet allows users to share ideas and files as the seeds of projects, grid computing lets us share the resources of disparate computer systems so people can actually start working on those projects.

Grid computing takes the ability for computers (and their users) to communicate a step further: With grid computing, you can reach out and use computational or storage resources on machines other than your own.

If you’ve ever used virtual network computing (VNC) to remote control into a distant computer, you know it can be a hassle: the controllee (person on the other end) can never quite get all the port settings correct and the whole thing takes more time than it’s worth.

Now, there’s a solution called UltraVNC SingleClick. You email a program to the controllee and they set it up with — duh — a single click. No more hassle!