Ed Oswald

At a press event in New York City Wednesday night, electronics manufacturer Delphi introduced its third SkyFi radio, molding together the popular in car XM radio with a portable unit. While Delphi also produces the portable MyFi, it is unclear whether or not the company plans to merge the two product lines.

A Delphi representative told BetaNews at the event that he could not say whether the company planned to end the MyFi line in favor of a converged solution, although it seemed as if an announcement on Delphi's portable is to come soon.

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Nokia said Thursday that it had reached an agreement with Microsoft to integrate Windows Live Search into its phones, meaning consumers would be able to access the service via both Nseries and S60 phones. The agreement is the second major partnership between the two; Nokia and Microsoft joined in February to support Windows Media on select phones.

Nokia handset users would also be able to access stock quotes, movie times and the Encarta encyclopedia (in select markets) as a result of the deal. The experience would be integrated into the user interface of the phone, meaning a Web browser is not needed to access the services.

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While much of the blame in the HP press leak scandal has fallen primarily at the feet of chairwoman Patricia Dunn, for the first time documents have surfaced that finger CEO Mark Hurd as authorizing at least part of the investigation.

In a front-page story appearing in the Thursday edition of the Washington Post, the paper says e-mails obtained by the paper indicate Hurd approved an attempt to trick a reporter into revealing her sources. While none of the e-mails are either to or from Hurd himself, they do indicate the operation had his approval.

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TiVo continues to work on giving advertisers clearer information on its users' DVR viewing by partnering with Chicago-based market analytics firm Information Resources on two new services. The first would provide second-by-second analysis of viewing patterns, while the other would create a consumer panel that would track purchasing decisions.

The analysis service would allow companies to test specific advertisements and compare their effectiveness between TiVo and non-TiVo households. The DVR maker says that companies using the service would have an edge when the technology eventually becomes ubiquitous.

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Yahoo said Wednesday that it had penned an agreement with Current, the current events cable network pioneered by former vice presidential candidate Al Gore. The deal would bring some of the network's "viewer created content" to Yahoo's video service.

The agreement calls for a co-branded page on Yahoo Video that would feature content from the network. However, the four content channels that Current would sponsor on Yahoo would be completely separate from the cable network, meaning some of the content may not appear on Yahoo! Current, and vice versa.

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Hoping to target a young audience, the U.S. Government has turned to YouTube to educate young people about the dangers of drugs.

For some, the addition of anti-drug messages may seem comical, especially considering the government's videos could sit alongside others whose message would so obviously contradict what the White House is trying to say. However, government officials would beg to differ.

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DSL penetration continues to increase and close to half of all broadband users use the technology in the United States, the DSL Forum said Tuesday. From June 2005 to June 2006, 46 million new DSL subscribers were added worldwide, and in eight countries 25 percent or more of the landlines were used to deliver high-speed Internet.

The technology continues to be extremely popular in Europe, where cable television is less prevalent, with 56 million subscribers or over one third of the global total. The region added 18 million subscribers in the 12 months ending June 2006, the study said.

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Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson entered into the already-crowded online music store market on Tuesday by introducing M-BUZZ, a service aimed at promoting new and up-and-coming artists. Two phones would initially offer the service, W850 and W950 Walkman phones that were announced earlier this year.

However, the service will not be available in North America - at least not initially. Both phones would debut European, Asian and Latin American markets later this year. The company sees these phones as a way to promote artists from Sony/ATV Music Publishing's roster, offering some compelling cross promotional opportunities.

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In its continuing efforts to stop piracy of its software, Microsoft said Tuesday it had filed another twenty lawsuits in nine states. The Redmond company said the lawsuits were filed for various reasons, including the manufacture and distribution of pirated software, or engaging in "hard-disk loading."

Hard disk loading is the practice of loading unlicensed software onto a computer which is then sold to an unsuspecting consumer. The purchaser usually has no idea that the software on the computer was pirated until a method like Windows Genuine Advantage exposes it as counterfeit.

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Napster made moves to prepare for a possible sale of the company Monday, including retaining an investment banker to discuss its options. Sale of the service was first rumored to be considered in January of this year, although it was quickly denied by the company.

However, in August Napster CEO Chris Gorog acknowledged that he was weighing options for the company, including considering a sale. Napster has been losing subscribers after adding a free portion to its Web site, which users have begun to choose over the company's subscription plans.

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At least one analyst suspects that Microsoft decided to forego announcing pricing of its Zune music player at the last minute due to the surprise announcement last Tuesday that Apple would drop the price of its smallest hard-drive based iPod to $249.

This seems to match information obtained by BetaNews over the weekend, which indicated that Apple's announcement caught Microsoft by surprise. The issue created an awkward situation for the Redmond company where a product was announced, but without any kind of retail pricing or availability guidance.

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The Federal Communications Commission said Monday that it had ended its wireless spectrum auction in the 161st round after the agency received no new bids. The auction had netted the U.S. treasury a record $13.9 billion, close to the $15 million analysts had projected the sale would make.

As expected, T-Mobile USA led all bidders with a total bid of about $4.2 billion for 120 licenses. The licenses covered both regional locations, as well as spectrum in some of the nation's top markets. T-Mobile has far less spectrum than its bigger rivals, and acquiring more was crucial to maintaining its rapid growth.

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Disturbing new developments have surfaced in the ongoing investigation into the Hewlett-Packard press leak scandal, possibly placing the company in more danger of legal trouble for its actions, according to people briefed on the project. Not only did the investigation include 'pretexting,' but also surveillance of board members and journalists, as well as an attempt to place tracking software on a journalist's PC.

An article in the Monday edition of the New York Times has given a much more in-depth look into the details of the investigation than has been previously reported. It also seems to indicate that HP relinquished much of the control to third-party investigators not soon after it began looking into the leak.

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Real said Monday that its Rhapsody service would switch over to its own in-house DRM software called Rhapsody DNA, ending a partnership with Microsoft for its PlaysForSure Windows Media technology. The SanDisk Sansa e200 line will be the first with the DRM embedded.

The announcement puts to an end Real's short-lived use of Microsoft's PlaysForSure digital rights management technology. Real began employing PlaysForSure following its settlement with Microsoft last October. However, Microsoft's DRM proved to be glitchy and prone to error, the company said.

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Depending on which music label you talk to, YouTube is either a friend or foe. The company on Monday said it had reached an agreement with Warner Music to stream music videos, behind-the-scenes footage, artist interviews and original programming. Contrast this with Universal, which apparently threatened to sue the video-sharing site last week.

The deal with Warner is expansive; not only does it include the rights to stream video content from the fourth-largest record label, but it would also give rights to users to incorporate Warner music into the videos they create and upload. Revenue from advertising appearing on pages with Warner music would be shared, YouTube said.

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