Ed Oswald

The World Trade Organization is pushing back against Internet gambling restrictions passed by United States, saying Friday it had ruled that the provision was illegal. The US will have the option to appeal.

A complaint was brought before the group by Antigua and Barbuda, where many offshore online casinos are located. It stems from a 2005 verdict by the WTO that ruled some of the US' restrictions ran afoul of WTO policies.

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Microsoft continues to press forward with its Genuine Software Initiative, saying it is seeing progress in combating pirate software. However, it also warns that the battle is far from over.

So far, some 600 million plus validations have been processed since Microsoft started Windows Genuine Advantage in July 2005. It says its outreach efforts with law enforcement and government officials are also paying off for the company.

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Gaming company Take-Two has undergone massive management change as a group of shareholders owning nearly half of the company were successful in removing the entire board and chief executive.

The group hopes that the sweeping change will help the videogame maker regain its financial footing and recover from problems related to a stock-options scandal and other issues, which caused the company to become unprofitable.

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ICANN rejected a proposal to create a domain for adult websites for the third time Friday, after the plan received criticism from world governments, religious groups, and members of the adult entertainment industry.

Porn sites felt that the creation of .xxx would eventually cause anti-porn advocates to press governments to make it mandatory to use the domain. Religious groups felt that a domain would legitimize pornography.

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An interest group is fighting back against the XM-Sirius merger, sending a commissioned study to the FCC that claims the combined company would constitute a monopoly.

The Consumer Coalition for Competition in Satellite Radio (C3SR) was formed shortly after the merger was announced "to counter the potentially dim prospects facing subscribers of satellite radio under a monopoly provider," its Web site says.

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The latest firmware update for the Sony PlayStation Portable has added functionality that would allow users of the device to access wireless Internet at any T-Mobile HotSpot location.

Each PSP user would receive six months of free Wi-Fi at those locations following the first date of login. Following the promotional period, users would be offered a special rate for access via the device.

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Google's efforts to bring its advertising successes offline are not panning out as the company expected, even as it attempts to move into television advertising, the New York Times reports.

Although the search giant had lofty goals to expand its dominance to other mediums, it has run into several roadblocks. Its radio ad efforts have seen some resistance from radio stations that would rather control their own ad sales and pricing.

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Apple said Thursday that it would allow iTunes users to purchase a full album at a discount if they had already purchased one or more of the tracks.

Called Complete My Album, it is the first feature of its kind from any music service. Normally, when buying a single track of an album, to purchase the rest of the songs one must buy the entire album. iTunes would give a 99-cent credit for each song bought previously.

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Apple on Wednesday pushed an update to its Boot Camp dual booting feature, providing support for the 32-bit version of Windows Vista, as well as updated drivers for various hardware included with Intel Macs.

While Windows Vista could be installed on Intel Macs even before the update, some of the drivers provided by Apple for Windows XP would not work with Microsoft's latest operating system.

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In reporting a story on Microsoft's Channel 9 blogging initiative, Wired Contributing Editor Fred Vogelstein got an unexpected surprise in his inbox: the company's public relations firm's research on him.

The thirteen-page document shows the lengths to which Waggener Edstrom likely goes when dealing with the media to ensure Microsoft's public relations goals are met. Among the information included are tips on how to handle Vogelstein and transcripts of interviews and e-mails.

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Confirming speculation that it was set to announce a price drop in its players, Toshiba said Wednesday that it would lower the cost of its entry-level HD DVD player to $399 USD, and would debut a 1080p player at $499 USD.

The Toshiba HD-A2 would become the new entry-level player, and the HD-A20 will provide an affordable entry point for those seeking full 1080p resolution. The top of the line HD-XA2, which also includes 1080p, was already reduced to $799 USD at the beginning of the month.

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Online advertising firm DoubleClick, which has seen its share of troubles in recent years, is now rumored to be exploring a sale to Microsoft, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Such a deal is worth about $2 billion, according to those close to the company. Current owner Hellman & Friedman bought the company for $1.1 billion in 2005, and has sold off a number of divisions amid a massive restructuring.

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InfoNow will integrate Microsoft's Virtual Earth application into its mapping location services that it provides for retail outlets and banks, the two companies said on Wednesday.

Although it provides no standalone service, InfoNow's LocationInsight plays a large part in many retailers' websites. According to the company, its customers include Everbank, LaSalle Bank and Suzuki, and its services are used by more than 20 million consumers worldwide.

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Microsoft has confirmed earlier reports of the Xbox 360 Elite, saying it would begin arriving in US stores on April 29 at a street price of $479.99 USD.

As expected, the new model comes with a 120GB hard drive and HDMI support, along with HD cables, wireless controller, and Xbox Live headset. Both the console and controllers will feature a premium black finish.

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Verizon said Tuesday that it plans to deploy technology developed by Alcatel-Lucent across its FiOS service area that could increase speeds by four to eight times.

Customers in Lewisville, Texas and Kirklyn, Pennsylvania would be the first to receive the upgrade, called a gigabit passive optical network (G-PON). Verizon would be the first to deploy the new technology within the United States.

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