Got Roomfuls of Stuff? Now Sites Will Help Keep Track of It - New York Times

So these are simple list managers for personal assets?... 

At least three companies have emerged in recent months with the aim of helping people catalog and value their possessions and post them online.

The obvious question is, how many people would be bothered to catalog all their stuff, online or off? The answer, surprisingly enough, is millions. Whether there are enough of them to make a long-term business out of it, though, is anyone’s guess.

Source: Got Roomfuls of Stuff? Now Sites Will Help Keep Track of It - New York Times

Social Networking Leaves Confines of the Computer - New York Times

It's social networking day... 

The social networking phenomenon is leaving the confines of the personal computer. Powerful new mobile devices are allowing people to send round-the-clock updates about their vacations, their moods or their latest haircut.

New online services, with names like Twitter, Radar and Jaiku, hope people will use their ever-present gadget to share (or, inevitably, to overshare) the details of their lives in the same way they have become accustomed to doing on Web sites like MySpace.

Source: Social Networking Leaves Confines of the Computer - New York Times

Microsoft Wins Ruling In AT&T Patent Dispute - WSJ.com

Nice way for Microsoft to start the week... 

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday ruled in favor of Microsoft Corp. in a case that restricts the reach of U.S. patents overseas.

In a 7-1 decision, the court said that Microsoft, under current federal law, doesn't owe AT&T Corp. patent royalties on software contained on foreign produced and sold computers.

Source: Microsoft Wins Ruling In AT&T Patent Dispute - WSJ.com

Visit MIX07

FYI perhaps sparse posts today and tomorrow; I'm at the Microsoft MIX event -- more to follow on Silverlight etc. 

Link to Visit MIX07

Networking aims beyond facebooks - The Boston Globe

 A different twist on social networking

In the online social-networking world, Lexington start-up Carmun.com stands out like a guy wearing a pocket protector at the prom.

Carmun fuses social networking and the card catalog to create a free online space where people can dish on the hottest sources for their latest 20-page term paper, in place of the latest Lindsay Lohan gossip.

Source: Networking aims beyond facebooks - The Boston Globe

Rolling Out The Instant Office

Timely BusinessWeek reality check -- access to the full article annoyingly requires a subscription, but it's an interesting snapshot of a domain in transition, 

Why maintain empty cubicles? Companies are gaining flexibility with on-demand office space

Working anywhere but work is causing a vast emptying out in corporate-land. About 60% of the office space that companies pay so dearly for is now a dead zone of darkened doorways and wasting cubes.

[...]

The age of on-demand projects is creating a need for on-demand offices. Just as executives in the '80s and '90s created flexible workforces by outsourcing jobs, today they are creating flexible workplaces by outsourcing offices. Quick shifts in global business currents mean that during one quarter your team might need to be in Minsk, the next in midtown Manhattan. Projects that were supposed to last a few months sometimes linger for years.

The article continues with an overview of how some companies are seeking to better optimize the use of office space. 

Source: Rolling Out The Instant Office

A Better Wi-Fi Music Player

Timely BusinessWeek review of the Sansa/Yahoo!/ZING offering. 

I'm still a fan of Yahoo! Music Unlimited, but my laptop is my primary music player at the moment, and I'm not thrilled with Yahoo!'s recent price increase... 

Trying to beat the iPod at its own game has been a thankless strategy for makers of rival music players, who have barely made a dent in Apple's overwhelming market share. SanDisk, a company better known for computer memory than music, has wisely devised something different: a wireless player that downloads music on demand.

Source: A Better Wi-Fi Music Player

SD Times - Rich Internet Pioneer Ready [Curl] to Ride Again

Caught this in the dead-tree version of SD Times last week. 

Curl's technology is on the short list of things likely to be impacted (in a negative way) by Adobe's decision to open-source Flex 3.0.  Curl was an intriguing architectural vision several years ago, embodying a view of how web apps could be recalc'd if started over with a blank slate, but it's deeply in the outlier zone now.

A good curl will always bounce back. As such, Curl Corp., a rich Internet application (RIA) pioneer, is looking to bounce back into the consciousness of the North American market with the relaunch of its platform at the Web 2.0 Expo in mid-April.

Being positioned as a platform for business-critical, client/server applications, Curl isn’t just about eliminating page refreshes anymore. The platform, according to vice president of product strategy Richard Treadway, is best suited for applications that must be Web-enabled, require highly complex user interfaces, need support for enterprise-class data sets, and be high-performance and highly secure.

Source: SD Times - Rich Internet Pioneer Ready to Ride Again

Business & Technology | "$100 laptop" project adds $75 and Windows | Seattle Times Newspaper

 Interesting times...

The founder of the ambitious "$100 laptop" project, which plans to give inexpensive computers to schoolchildren in developing countries, revealed Thursday that the machine for now costs $175, and it will be able to run Windows in addition to its homegrown, open-source interface.

[...]

Even at $175, the computers upend the standard economics in the PC industry. A huge reason has been XO's use of the free, open-source Linux operating system, tweaked for this project with the help of one of its sponsors, Red Hat.

However, Negroponte disclosed that XO's developers have been working with Microsoft so a version of Windows can run on the machines as well. It could be the $3 software package that Microsoft announced last week for governments that subsidize student computers. It includes Windows XP Starter Edition and some of Microsoft's "productivity" software.

Source: Business & Technology | "$100 laptop" project adds $75 and Windows | Seattle Times Newspaper

Joost signs major advertisers for TV-over-Web plan | CNET News.com

 Impressive -- see the full article for a list of US and European advertisers already signed up

Joost, the Internet TV company founded by Europe's top Web entrepreneurs, has taken a big step towards commercial viability by signing up 31 advertisers worldwide ahead of the launch of its free service.

The company, aiming to become a new kind of global cable TV network on the Web, was started last year by Niklas Zennstrom and partner Janus Friis, founders of Web phone company Skype, now owned by eBay, and music-sharing site Kazaa.

Source: Joost signs major advertisers for TV-over-Web plan | CNET News.com

Strong Quarter at Microsoft, and an Upbeat ’08 Outlook, Bring Wall St. a Sigh of Relief - New York Times

MSFT Q2 details; see the full article for  more

In an interview, Christopher P. Liddell, Microsoft’s chief financial officer, said the sales of Windows Vista were $300 million to $400 million higher than the company’s internal projections, and Office 2007 sales were about $200 million higher.

In the online services business, where Microsoft trails its main rivals, Google and Yahoo, Mr. Liddell pointed to a 23 percent increase in ad revenue as “encouraging progress.” The continuing losses, he added, are regarded as investments as Microsoft tries to build that business. “We’re in investment mode, and that’s going to be our strategy for the foreseeable future,” Mr. Liddell said.

And it is a big-spending financial arms race for the major companies. According to Ms. Friar of Goldman Sachs, Microsoft is expected to spend an estimated $4 billion in 2007 on online services business, excluding capital expenditures, like equipping data centers. Yahoo, Goldman estimates, plans to spend $4.7 billion, and Google, $8 billion.

Reality check: Google is expected to spend twice as much in this domain as Microsoft in 2007, and Yahoo!, often considered a has-been in the mainstream press, is also projected to invest more than Microsoft.  Let's see, if we add MSFT's $4B and Yahoo!'s $4.7B, ...

Source: Strong Quarter at Microsoft, and an Upbeat ’08 Outlook, Bring Wall St. a Sigh of Relief - New York Times

Sold on eBay, Shipped by Amazon.com - New York Times

Amazon.com's evolution continues... 

Since last fall, the program, Fulfillment by Amazon, has allowed independent sellers who list their goods on Amazon.com to use its network of more than 20 distribution centers around the world to fill orders. Now Amazon, which is based in Seattle, is opening the program to vendors who list their items elsewhere on the Web — on their own site, through Google, or even on Amazon’s e-commerce rival, eBay.

The program is part of a broader set of tools called Amazon Web Services, an effort by the e-commerce pioneer to rent out complicated parts of its infrastructure to smaller companies that might benefit from its hard-earned expertise, and who will pay for the privilege of lightening their workload.

Source: Sold on eBay, Shipped by Amazon.com - New York Times

PlayStation Creator Resigns As Chief of Sony Unit - WSJ.com

More Sony details 

While many game executives say Mr. Kutaragi's ambitious vision with PlayStation 3 still could pay off, the console is in an unexpectedly weak position compared with less expensive systems from Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co. In March, U.S. retailers sold 259,000 Nintendo Wii consoles, 199,000 Microsoft Xbox 360s and 130,000 PlayStation 3s, according to NPD Group Inc.

Instead of being the hoped-for cornerstone of a recovery for Sony, videogame-related losses for Sony's year ended in March are expected to amount to $2 billion, or double original forecasts. That is expected to drag down the company's overall performance despite improvements in other businesses, such as televisions. Sony will report full-year earnings next month.

Source: PlayStation Creator Resigns As Chief of Sony Unit - WSJ.com

PlayStation guru to leave amid struggles - The Boston Globe

Hmmm.  I wonder if he'll show up at Google...

The chief architect of Sony Corp.'s flagship PlayStation game console will retire in June as the company struggles to retain dominance in the video game industry and revive its flagging reputation as an electronics and entertainment pioneer.

Ken Kutaragi, 56, an icon among gamers, will step down as Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.'s chairman and group chief executive, Tokyo-based Sony said yesterday . He will be replaced by Kazuo Hirai, who is now president and chief operating officer of the division.

Source: PlayStation guru to leave amid struggles - The Boston Globe

Microsoft Reports Record Profits: Robust demand for Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system drives 72% growth in earnings per share

 Juggernaut mode...

Microsoft Corp. today announced revenue of $14.40 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2007, a 32% increase over the same period of the prior year. This revenue drove record profits with operating income of $6.59 billion and net income of $4.93 billion. Diluted earnings per share for the quarter grew 72% to $0.50, and included $0.02 in tax benefits and $0.01 in legal charges.

Interesting contrast to Apple's Q2 2007 announcement (yesterday):

Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2007 second quarter ended March 31, 2007. The Company posted revenue of $5.26 billion and net quarterly profit of $770 million, or $.87 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $4.36 billion and net quarterly profit of $410 million, or $.47 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 35.1 percent, up from 29.8 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 43 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

If Apple keeps up this kind of growth, its quarterly revenue might even surpass Microsoft's quarterly operating income soon.

Source: Microsoft Reports Record Profits: Robust demand for Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system drives 72% growth in earnings per share

Adobe to open-source Flash tool Flex | CNET News.com

This is a subtly significant move for Adobe, and it will create lots of new opportunities for Flex 

The company chose to create an open-source project for the Flex software to garner good ideas and contributions from developers outside Adobe, said Jeff Whatcott, vice president for product marketing at Adobe's enterprise and developer business unit.

The move is also meant to appeal to open-source developers who shun closed-source and proprietary products. Adobe already offers the Flex software development kit for free and provides the source code.

"For some people, (open source) is a philosophical requirement, a sign of integrity and trust in a vendor," Whatcott said. "This will close that gap and address any lingering doubts they have about our openness and commitment to community."

Source: Adobe to open-source Flash tool Flex | CNET News.com

Microsoft, SAP Share Extended Roadmap for Duet Software: Q&A: Building on the success of Duet 1.0, Microsoft and SAP announce plans to build Duet on the next generation of Microsoft Office and SAP Business Suite.

Interesting times in the Microsoft/SAP co-opetition zone 

PressPass: Tell us a little about the success of Duet to date.

Raikes: The first version of the solution has been in market just over one year and it’s had unprecedented adoption. Customer response has been incredibly positive. Together with SAP we have more than 250 customers with more than 400,000 user licenses. The partner community is as, if not more, enthusiastic and we are working hard together to train and accredit our partners with nearly 100 of them around the world already trained to help our customers.

We attribute this success to a few things. First, after meeting with dozens of customers it’s clear to us that they not only immediately see the value of Duet, they’re excited about the opportunities it creates for their people and businesses. Additionally, so many Fortune 500 global companies have bet their IT strategy on Microsoft and SAP, for us to come together and create a solution that bridges those investments is delivering on their needs in a way that individually we could not.

The partner ecosystem interest has also been incredible. Partners are most interested in the ability to extend and customize Duet, so this news, for them, is particularly exciting. With the new scenarios and increased support for SharePoint Sever in Duet 2.0 and a comprehensive set of developer tools for customization and to build new scenarios in Duet 3.0 we’re increasing the partner opportunity significantly.

PressPass: With this news, it seems that SharePoint plays an increasingly significant role in future versions of Duet. Why is that?

Raikes: We continue to see tremendous market momentum for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server with more than 85 million licenses. Microsoft Office has evolved so that the traditional client applications like Microsoft Excel and Outlook exist more and more on both the client and the server to enable new scenarios, and that server is Microsoft Office SharePoint. SAP and Microsoft together see the value in leveraging SharePoint for deeper collaboration capabilities and what we call “people-driven processes.” In Duet 2.0 you’ll see scenarios that will leverage SharePoint, and with Duet 3.0, SharePoint becomes a significant part of the platform for Duet.

Source: Microsoft, SAP Share Extended Roadmap for Duet Software: Q&A: Building on the success of Duet 1.0, Microsoft and SAP announce plans to build Duet on the next generation of Microsoft Office and SAP Business Suite.

This Internet TV Program Is Brought to You by ... - New York Times

Joost update/snapshot 

Joost, the Internet television service being developed by the founders of Skype, has lined up several blue-chip advertisers, including United Airlines, Microsoft, Sony Electronics and Unilever, as it prepares for its introduction.

Those brands are among 30 advertisers listed as “launch partners” for Joost, which plans to send free, advertiser-supported programming to computer screens using the Internet. According to several people with knowledge of the company’s plans, Joost will begin the broadcasts on Tuesday.

Source: This Internet TV Program Is Brought to You by ... - New York Times

Apple Zooms Past Rivals, With 88% Profit Growth - New York Times

 Very impressive results

Apple Inc. surpassed even the most optimistic forecasts for its usually tepid second quarter, delivering an 88 percent increase in profit on strong sales of Macintosh computers and iPod music players.

The company said on Wednesday that its profit rose to $770 million from $410 million in the comparable quarter last year. Apple sold 1.5 million Macs in the quarter, a record for the company.

Source: Apple Zooms Past Rivals, With 88% Profit Growth - New York Times

Cable Giant Comcast Tries to Channel Web TV - WSJ.com

The web TV dance floor is getting crowded... 

Comcast is hoping to play the same middleman role on the Internet that it does on traditional TV -- buying programming from entertainment companies and packaging it for consumers. Earlier this month, the Philadelphia-based giant announced plans to launch Fancast.com, an ad-supported free TV and entertainment site.

[...]

"Being the place people go to for [video] content is what we have always done and it makes sense to provide content online as well," says Brian Roberts, Comcast's chief executive.

 

Source: Cable Giant Comcast Tries to Channel Web TV - WSJ.com

No Charges for Apple Over Options - New York Times

More analysis/speculation 

Unless the government can move beyond evidence of passive and indirect involvement, some legal experts say, a case against Mr. Jobs might be difficult to win.

“Steve Jobs dodged a bullet,” said Mark C. Zauderer, a trial lawyer in New York specializing in white-collar cases. “This is another circumstance where the government is going after an easier target. It will generally shy away from situations where the evidence is ambiguous or subject to different interpretations.”

Source: No Charges for Apple Over Options - New York Times

Ex-Apple officer implicates Jobs - The Boston Globe

This will probably become a TV mini-series before we see resolution... 

The claims implicate Jobs in the company's stock options scandal and may increase the risk he will face further scrutiny by government lawyers looking into Apple's backdating, said Bill Shope, an analyst at J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. In December, Jobs was cleared by a special committee led by Apple board member and former US Vice President Al Gore, which said Jobs didn't "appreciate" the accounting implications.

"This is the first time any credible witness has claimed that Mr. Jobs was aware of the accounting implications of the backdating," Shope, based in New York, wrote in a report yesterday .

Source: Ex-Apple officer implicates Jobs - The Boston Globe

The Mossberg Solution -- Creating Your Own 'Wiki' Web Site

 WSJ review of Wetpaint (the link below is to the no-subscription-required version of the article)

Building a wiki, or collaborative Web site, is made easier using Wetpaint.com Inc., a free program.

This week, I tested a free program from Wetpaint.com Inc. that helps regular users create wikis, which encourage interaction because they're constantly changed by contributors. Wetpaint's wikis ease the process of adding Web links, digital images, digital videos and additional text to sites made with Wetpaint. Likewise, your site can easily be adjusted and enhanced by anyone who views it. Compared with blogs or normal Web sites, my Wetpaint wiki felt much more alive and exciting.

Source: The Mossberg Solution -- Creating Your Own 'Wiki' Web Site

Potentially habitable planet found - Yahoo! News

Now Google can expand the scope of its mission... 

For the first time astronomers have discovered a planet outside our solar system that is potentially habitable, with Earth-like temperatures, a find researchers described Tuesday as a big step in the search for "life in the universe."

Source: Potentially habitable planet found - Yahoo! News

Technology Review: Yahoo music hits a new chord with online lyric library

Cool... 

Yahoo Inc. is expanding its online music section to include the lyrics of 400,000 songs, hoping to strike a chord with Web surfers looking for a more reliable alternative to Internet sites that publish the words without the permission of the copyright owners.

The Sunnyvale-based company is touting the free service to be unveiled Tuesday as the Web's largest legally licensed database of lyrics.

Source: Technology Review: Yahoo music hits a new chord with online lyric library

Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: Google buys PowerPoint editor

Missed this last week; see the post for screen shots and more details 

Filling in a hole in its Google Apps suite, Google has acquired Tonic Systems, which provides a set of tools for the online editing, viewing, and sharing of presentations created with Microsoft PowerPoint. Tonic Systems describes itself as "Java PowerPoint Specialists." Google says it will incorporate Tonic's technology into a new presentation service that will be added this summer to Apps.

Source: Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: Google buys PowerPoint editor

Burton Group Inflection Point: Can Cisco Take On Microsoft?

 Free podcast from my Burton Group colleague Mike Gotta

A series of moves over the past few months have positioned Cisco more strongly as a competitor to Microsoft along multiple fronts – including software-as-a-service (SaaS). Indeed, at a recent partner event, Cisco’s CEO boldly claimed that the company has a three year lead over Microsoft in area of unified communications. In this podcast, principal analyst Mike Gotta examines Cisco’s announced acquisition of WebEx, how Cisco might exploit WebEx’s assets and areas where the Cisco remains challenged to prove (to the market and to customers), that it can compete with Microsoft as a software vendor.

Source: Burton Group Inflection Point: Can Cisco Take-On Microsoft?

Why Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer can't stop bashing Google. - April 30, 2007

Timely reality check -- see the article for more details 

Last month Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's notoriously bombastic CEO, set bloggers blabbing again when he went on an anti-Google tirade that was shrill even for him.

In a speech at Stanford's business school, he derided many of Google's forays beyond search and advertising as "cute" stunts produced by a "random collection of people doing their own thing." He also blurted out to the audience that Google (Charts, Fortune 500) was "insane" for trying to grow its headcount so fast. Google's employee base - nearly 11,000 at the end of 2006 - has grown by 250% over the past two years and has nearly quadrupled since Google went public in the spring of 2004. The company can't lease new buildings, much less parking lots, fast enough to accommodate everyone.

Source: Why Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer can't stop bashing Google. - April 30, 2007

Q&A: A Week in the Fast Lane of Interactive Entertainment: Peter Moore, the head of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business, discusses how Xbox 360 is changing the way people interact with their television [...]

See the full post for more details 

PressPass:  Your keynote at NAB 2007 was titled “Interactive Entertainment Goes High Definition and Online…And How TV Will Never Be the Same Again.” How is Xbox 360 ushering in an era of change in the digital entertainment arena?

Peter Moore: Television has changed forever. Video game consoles are bringing social networking and HD entertainment delivered over the Internet to TV for the first time. In November we launched Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace, which allows Xbox 360 owners to download hundreds of standard and high-definition, full-length TV shows and movies directly to their consoles. Partners like CBS, Warner Brothers, MTV and Paramount Pictures tell us that Xbox 360 became the #2 distributor of TV and movie content on the Internet overnight, only behind iTunes. But we’re #1 in high definition and #1 where it matters most – in the living room. On the social entertainment side, next month we’ll launch Games for Windows Live on the PC and Windows Live Messenger on Xbox 360, expanding the largest social network on television.

Source: Q&A: A Week in the Fast Lane of Interactive Entertainment: Peter Moore, the head of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business, discusses how Xbox 360 is changing the way people interact with their television [...]

Ex-Officers of Apple Await Suit - New York Times

More speculation on what's next for Steve Jobs 

It is not clear whether the two prospective S.E.C. civil lawsuits will be the extent of the commission’s action against Apple or its executives over the backdating activities. Nor is it clear when an investigation by the United States attorney’s office in San Francisco will come to a conclusion. A spokesman for the office had no comment yesterday.

But Apple’s stock rose $2.54, to $93.51, yesterday after an article in The Mercury News on Sunday, citing unidentified sources, said evidence suggested that Mr. Jobs was unlikely to face civil or criminal charges.

Source: Ex-Officers of Apple Await Suit - New York Times

Apple Ex-Finance Chief Settles With SEC - WSJ.com

If a similar story unfolds at Pixar, Steve Jobs could be in the clear 

Apple Inc.'s former chief financial officer Fred Anderson has settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission on his alleged participation in the backdating of stock options at the computer maker and the agency is expected to pursue a civil lawsuit against the company's ex-general counsel Nancy Heinen on similar charges, according to people familiar with the matter.

Source: Apple Ex-Finance Chief Settles With SEC - WSJ.com

Business & Technology | Sun exec pitches site devoted to education | Seattle Times Newspaper

At least part of what Scott McNealy has been up to 

Though it's not part of his official duties at Sun, McNealy is spending a lot of time as pitchman for a project called Curriki — a melding of "curriculum" and "wiki," which is a Web site allowing users to add and modify content and claim a piece of authorship.

In the case of Curriki, parents, teachers and students can post and download free lesson plans, sample tests, book chapters and other materials. McNealy said the site has strict copyright protections, requiring intellectual-property releases for all the original material it publishes.

Source: Business & Technology | Sun exec pitches site devoted to education | Seattle Times Newspaper

TurboTax Software Slows Just as the Big Deadline Nears - New York Times

Oops... 

When thousands of users of TurboTax software from Intuit found themselves mired in a computer slowdown as they tried to file returns at the deadline last week, the company faced a storm of anger over the inconvenience and potential penalties.

Source: TurboTax Software Slows Just as the Big Deadline Nears - New York Times

New Model for Sharing: Free Music With Ads - New York Times

Maybe they should call it "radio"... 

For years, music labels have been trying to prevent fans from downloading their songs on peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. Now, some of them would like to encourage people to listen to music that way — provided they view some advertising first.

Source: New Model for Sharing: Free Music With Ads - New York Times

RIM to Broaden Its Software Offering - WSJ.com

 Interesting times

"We never created BlackBerry to lock in the devices," said [RIM co-chief executive] Mr. Balsillie in a phone interview. "If we can't earn our merit on the device side, we will lose the device side."

RIM still dominates the market for U.S. wireless email devices, with 45% of all U.S. smartphone operating-system shipments in the fourth quarter, according to market researcher IDC. Windows Mobile now holds 38% of the market.

"RIM is looking at the reality out there," says Carrie MacGillivray, an analyst at IDC, who says the new application should help them reach more customers, including customers who want to upgrade older devices. "It shows that they can be flexible."

Source: RIM to Broaden Its Software Offering - WSJ.com

Microsoft to Offer Low-Cost Software In Emerging Markets - WSJ.com

This largely takes price out of the equation, when competing with open source in developing countries. 

Microsoft Corp. will start selling $3 software as part of a broader effort to expand personal computer usage in developing countries and deepen Microsoft's ties with governments around the world.

Called Microsoft Student Innovation Suite, the software will be sold to select governments for $3 and be available in the second half of the year. The software includes a stripped-down version of Windows called Windows XP Starter Edition, a consumer version of Office and software for accessing email.

Source: Microsoft to Offer Low-Cost Software In Emerging Markets - WSJ.com

Supplier: Microsoft to Brand, Sell Consumer Fuel-Cell Chargers - News and Analysis by PC Magazine

Perhaps handy for Zune owners... 

Medis, a startup specializing in fuel cells, began delivery of its first products to Microsoft on Friday. Medis executives said Microsoft will brand the products as its own and sell them as portable recharging stations for consumer devices.

A Microsoft representative confirmed the purchase Tuesday afternoon. Unfortunately for Medis, however, a source close to the company said the number sold to Microsoft was "small," and that Microsoft wouldn't be selling the fuel cells, but supplying them as free goodies for an undisclosed upcoming conference.

Source: Supplier: Microsoft to Brand, Sell Consumer Fuel-Cell Chargers - News and Analysis by PC Magazine

Vonage Says That It May Face Bankruptcy - New York Times

In fewer words, I suspect: "for sale" 

The Internet phone service provider Vonage Holdings, which a federal court found had infringed on three patents owned by Verizon Communications, said its legal woes could lead to bankruptcy, according to a regulatory filing.

Source: Vonage Says That It May Face Bankruptcy - New York Times

Microsoft Opens First Of Six Server Farms In Quincy, Wash. - WSJ.com

Yow... 

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) on Monday opened the doors of a massive data center in central Washington, turning what was once a bean farm into a "server farm."

The data center, based in Quincy, Wash., is about 474,000 square feet and is surrounded on three sides by fields of potatoes, beans and broccoli. An undisclosed number of servers inside are now online, handling Internet traffic to Microsoft's Hotmail email program, instant messaging and other tools.

The server farm is the first of six Microsoft has planned for Quincy; construction of No. 2 is under way, but beyond that, growth will be "tied to adoption of online services," said Michael Manos, a senior director of data center services at Microsoft.

Source: Microsoft Opens First of Six Server Farms in Quincy, Wash. - WSJ.com

Microsoft Outlines Its Vision for Creating, Managing and Experiencing Content at NAB2007

 More on Silverlight (previously code-named "WPF/E")

Microsoft provides the foundational technologies that help media companies create rich media content quickly and efficiently. This week at NAB2007, Microsoft is expanding its efforts with new solutions and alliances that further reduce the barriers to creating and distributing content across a variety of mediums.

Microsoft Silverlight is a new cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of media experiences and rich interactive applications (RIAs) for the Web. Silverlight integrates with existing Web technologies and assets to provide higher-quality experiences with lower costs for media delivery. Delivered to end users through a seamless, fast installation, Silverlight offers consistent experiences to both Macintosh and Windows^® users on a variety of browsers including Internet Explorer^®, Firefox and Safari. Early supporters of the new platform include Akamai Technologies Inc., Brightcove Inc., Eyeblaster Inc., Limelight Networks, Major League Baseball, NaviSite Inc., Netflix Inc., Skinkers, Sonic Solutions, Tarari Inc., Telestream Inc. and Winnov.

Source: Microsoft Outlines Its Vision for Creating, Managing and Experiencing Content at NAB2007

Microsoft Urges Review of Google-DoubleClick Deal - New York Times

Microsoft is not alone -- read the article for more details. 

Microsoft contends that the $3.1 billion deal, announced on Friday, would hurt competition in the fast-growing market for advertising on the Web and raises questions about how much personal information would be collected by Google, already a dominant player in online advertising.

Source: Microsoft Urges Review of Google-DoubleClick Deal - New York Times

Microsoft, Adobe Set A Collision Course on Web - WSJ.com

Major milestone in the Adobe/Microsoft competitive scene... 

The companies have been partners in the past, and Adobe is one of the largest makers of software for computers running Microsoft's Windows operating system. The companies have also tussled before, but they have generally stayed in their corners of the tech arena.

Today, though, each company plans to introduce software that falls squarely on the other's turf and sets the stage for a broader battle over how Internet services and software will be built in the future. Both want to be the key supplier of cutting-edge software that handles functions like video and animation on the Web.

Source: Microsoft, Adobe Set A Collision Course on Web - WSJ.com<