Ed Oswald

With customers looking for some answers regarding what changes the next version of Internet Explorer will bring, Microsoft provided them with little more than a name.

In a post to the official Internet Explorer blog, general manager Dean Hachamovitch revealed the not-so-surprising detail that the next major release of Internet Explorer will be called IE8. But he failed to provide any details on actual features.

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Copies of Microsoft's former flagship operating system will be placed on XO laptops as part of a limited field trial. As a result, for the first time in a long while, it finds itself in the role of PC hardware tester.

Microsoft says it's testing Windows XP one more time, for deployment in a new environment: the OLPC system for emerging markets.

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In a post to the company's official Web log early Wednesday, the CEO of Facebook conceded his company made a lot of mistakes in building its controversial advertising platform.

"We've made a lot of mistakes building this feature, but we've made even more with how we've handled them," stated Jeff Zuckerberg in a post to his corporate blog this morning. "We simply did a bad job with this release, and I apologize for it. While I am disappointed with our mistakes, we appreciate all the feedback we have received from our users."

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Following the release of Yahoo's top searches for 2007, Google released its own -- with decidedly different results.

None of Google's top ten terms were the same as Yahoo's, which were led by troubled pop starlet Britney Spears and the wrestling league WWE. Whether it was just a different formula or a totally different type of user base, Apple's iPhone led the way.

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JupiterResearch says better browser options would spur growth in the mobile web in a new study released Wednesday. This after a survey yesterday indicated the iPhone was already the leading mobile Web browsing tool.

Specifically, a NetApplications study yesterday revealed that Apple's iPhone has quickly eclipsed all other mobile platforms to reach the number one spot.

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Results of a web poll by the Computing Technology Industry Association indicate that gaming consoles are a much sought-after high-tech gift this year.

While a high-definition television led all gadgets with 15.2 percent, Sony's PlayStation 3 had a strong second place showing with 13.7 percent of all respondents. It is not exactly clear if these respondents wanted Sony's console all along, but it is a bright sign for the company.

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The GPS maker says that users of its service will be able to send business information from Google Maps to its devices through its 'Send To' feature.

Google's tie-in with TomTom is not bringing the Mountain View, Calif. company's mapping software to the device, but is rather giving users an easier way of navigating rather than having to go through multiple menus on the device itself to locate a destination.

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Web searchers using Yahoo's portal seemed to be obsessed with Britney Spears again in 2007, and are continuing to search for Saddam Hussein.

The Sunnyvale, Calif. company's yearly list of top queries were quite celebrity-heavy this year, with Paris Hilton, Beyonce, Lindsey Lohan, Fergie (the pop star, not the duchess), and Jessica Alba joining the troubled superstar in the list.

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Microsoft continues to play hardball in the next-generation DVD format wars, this time slashing the price of its add-on HD DVD player for Xbox 360 by 30 percent.

The price cut does not seem to be effective for all retailers: as of Wednesday morning it was only showing the new $129 price at Toys-R-Us and Amazon.com. In any event, the move shows that the Redmond company is nowhere near ready to give up on HD DVD.

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With CEO Ed Zander on his way out, news came Monday that the company's chief technology officer has also left the company.

References to Padmasree Warrior had already been removed late Monday from the corporation's Web site, and a spokesperson confirmed her departure, saying it had been in the works since last month. No reasoning was given for her resignation.

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Google said Tuesday that it had added interoperability with AIM into its GTalk client within Gmail, allowing users to login to their AIM accounts from within the client.

While the feature would allow Web-based access into AOL's service, the feature has not yet made it into the desktop client. All features native to the Gmail version of the chat client, such as chat history and and automatic sorting of buddies based on how often the user communicates with them would work for AIM contacts as well.

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Despite being on the market for only five months, the iPhone already has nearly a 0.1 percent share of the global browsing market, according to research firm NetApplications.

While it may seem extraordinarily small, with respect to mobile devices, the data -- released this week by research firm NetApplications -- is actually quite significant. Windows CE, which has been on the market for ten years, has only a 0.06% share, while Hiptop, the makers of the Sidekick, only counts for a 0.02% share.

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In an embarrassing blunder for an organization that has made copyright one of its signature issues, the MPAA is now being accused of violating copyright itself.

As part of the organization's fight against the pirating of movies, the Motion Picture Association of America had been urging universities to install an Ubuntu-based toolkit that would assist it in tracking and reporting students who were participating in file-sharing. The Association proposed the so-called "University Toolkit" as part of letters sent to 25 universities back in October.

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The social networking site is looking to draw users by offering exclusive video and audio content from artists, and is offering incentives for those artists to, in effect, "sign with MySpace."

Called MySpace Transmissions, the service will focus on differentiating itself from its competition through content that is not available elsewhere. Participants will be able to upload videos for viral distribution, or sell exclusive tracks directly to the consumer.

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The alliance pairs eBay with the company that pushed it out of the market in Japan in 2002.

By March, users in Japan would be able to bid on items for sale on eBay through Yahoo's auction site. eBay will have similar interoperability on its American site by the middle of next year.

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