Instead of souped up CPUs, simple programming tricks are often all it takes to speed up a program. Profilers can discover bottlenecks that need more TLC from the developer.

Instead of just monitoring incoming requests in your web server's logfile, a sound server makes them audible and lets you listen to the tune of users surfing the site.

Although a USB toy such as a polystyrene rocket launcher only includes a Windows CD, it works fine on Linux with a spot of reverse engineering. With libusb, this doesn't even require compiling a device driver – Perl controls the device from userspace.

Barcodes efficiently speed us through supermarket checkout lines, but the technology is also useful for totally different applications. An inexpensive barcode scanner can help you organize your private library, CD, or DVD collection.

If you have grown tired of manually correcting color-casted images (as described in last month's Perl column), you might appreciate a script that automates this procedure.

If you are a bargain hunter, you might enjoy this Perl script that monitors price developments at Amazon and alerts you if Amazon suddenly drops the prices on the products you have been watching.

Linux lets users watch the kernel at work with a little help from Ptrace, a tool that both debuggers and malicious process kidnappers use. A CPAN module introduces this technology to Perl and, if this is not enough, C extensions add functionality.

We'll show you a Perl script that helps you draw area graphs to keep track of your portfolio's performance.

The netstat utility reveals how your Linux box interacts with the local network. With a few Perl modules, you can develop a tool that displays the data dynamically, exactly the way top does.