The three largest Internet advertising firms will pay a total of $31 million to the US Government, settling allegations by the Justice Dept. that they provided advertising services for online gambling sites.

In the terms of their settlement released today, Microsoft has agreed to forfeit $4.5 million, and Yahoo and Google will each pay $3 million.

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New video on demand service Vudu has announced that its set-top boxes will be made available for free with the purchase of select Sharp AQUOS LCD TVs.

New video on demand service Vudu, which just one week ago announced it would offer new release movie streamsday and date with DVD releases, has unveiled a special partnership with CE manufacturer Sharp.

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In light of a recent Parks Associates analysis of mobile and portable gaming trends, a series of casual games have hit the market for cellular handsets and portable media devices.

Mobile handsets have typically been a repository for casual games, previously because of hardware limitations, but now because of the changing habits of the handset user. The Parks Associates study released yesterday, entitled "The New Frontier: Portable and Mobile Gaming," shows that even though multi-player and 3D games like those utilizing QualCOMM's BREW look impressive on new handsets, the real money is still in simple, low-investment time-wasters.

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Multimedia suite Nero has received an update which enables authoring of both Blu-ray and HD DVD.

Popular multimedia management software Nero's newest version, Nero 8 has been certified for authoring and playback of writable Blu-ray Disc Multimedia Video (BDMV) in addition to HD DVD content authoring on DVD-R/W.

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After a deluge of posts on Apple's MacBook support forum complaining of periodic or even total loss of keyboard function in MacBooks and MacBook Pros running Leopard, Apple has issued a patch for the OS.

According to users' comments, the glitch was reported to randomly cause keyboard input to cease until it "resolves itself," or until the user reboots. Trackpad function is reported to be unaffected, and in most instances, external keyboards appear to be safe from the malfunction.

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DivX has announced that Sony's PS3 -- like Microsoft's Xbox 360 -- will now support the company's video format with the 2.10 firmware update, but who will use it?

While not fully certified, DivX says it expects Sony to give the PS3 console a full certification in the future.

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ESPN, CBS, and Fox will be bringing full-length NCAA football bowl games to Verizon Wireless VCAST TV this month and next. Now fans can argue over who's really #1 on their small screens just as easily as on the big ones.

This morning, Verizon Wireless announced they will be providing access to college bowl games televised by ESPN Mobile TV, CBS Mobile and Fox Mobile Stations to V CAST TV, starting later this month.

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The FCC has approved the new LG smartphone, the KS20. This sleek handset takes its cues from LG's KE850 Prada phone, sharing a very similar design, but offering functionality over flash (no pun intended.)

Instead of running the KS20 on Prada's Macromedia flash-based UI, LG has equipped it with Windows Mobile 6, putting it in competition in the US with touch-screen devices from other companies, like HTC's popular Touch Dual.

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Satellite radio company XM's fight against the Recording Industry Association of America over receivers with the ability to record content may finally be coming to a close.

This morning, Universal Music Group becomes the first RIAA member involved with this ongoing lawsuit to have reached a multi-year agreement with XM, making its music available for recording on current and future hardware. Further, UMG withdrew itself from the RIAA's complaint against XM.

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AT&T announced today that its U-verse TV package will include eight more high definition channels, bringing the service a total of 40 HD channels.

The rollout of U-verse appears to be gaining some momentum after a period of what some would call clumsiness and lackluster uptake, especially when compared with Verizon's FiOS. AT&T re-affirmed its commitment to the all-in-one (internet, cable, phone) service last week, saying it anticipated one million subscribers by the end of 2007.

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Palm announced the online availability of its newest Treo today, the 755p. Will this device be a strong opening to 2008 for the company that has recently been faltering?

Palm continues its commitment to its eponymous OS with the Treo 755p, the successor to the 700p smartphone. It is available today at verizonwireless.com, and will be in VZW stores on January 7.

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Alltel Wireless Corp. will launch a new feature on Friday that allows voice messages to be converted to SMS text messages.

The mobile company is using voice recognition software, much like that used in automated 411 lines and telephone bank services, with the aim being to provide a hands-free method of texting.

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If the world's interests can truly be encapsulated by the end-of-year Google Zeitgeist rankings, then perhaps it's time for the media to re-evaluate its priorities as British sports appear to outrank some American celebrities.

Since 2001, Google has been releasing lists of search trends and patterns culled from aggregate search data, which it calls Zeitgeist. Friday we got to see what everyone has been asking about all year.

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Comcast yesterday filed suit against the National Football League, claiming it was acting in breach of contract for encouraging Comcast subscribers to drop their service.

In e-mail blasts and on a dedicated Web site, iwantmyNFL.com, the football league attempts to rally its fans against cable companies who refuse to put the NFL Network in their basic cable packages. It has even gone so far as to encourage Comcast's subscribers to drop their service in favor of DirecTV and Dish Network satellite providers.

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Remote PC access software company Orb has announced support for iPhone and iPod touch, allowing users to stream their music, movies, and TV without being locked into iTunes.

To start, users must install Orb on their "always on" Windows machine, and then allow Orb to bypass any firewalls and anti-virus software. It then displays the media in the Windows default folders: My Documents, My Music, My Videos and My Photos. Other folders can be added at will by the user.

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