Ed Oswald

Microsoft said late Tuesday that it had spun off a social networking tool developed by its research labs into a separate company. Named Wallop, the service will be led by experienced entrepreneur and CEO Karl Jacob.

Bay Partners will provide the startup with financing, and it would be based in Silicon Valley. Initially, the company will have 12 employees, although it is unclear if any of those employees are from the Wallop project that was created at Microsoft Research.

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Responding to customer demand, TiVo on Tuesday introduced its first standalone digital video recorder with dual tuner capability. The new model will be optimized for cable households and features built-in Ethernet and a refreshed look.

The company said the first shipments would arrive at Circuit City, Best Buy, Amazon.com and its Web site on May 1. The dual-tuner model will offer 80-hours of recording time.

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Symantec earlier this week warned of vulnerabilities within its Scan Engine, a programming interface that allows third parties to incorporate scanning technologies into their applications. The security software maker has rated the vulnerabilities as a "medium risk."

According to the advisory, the first problem lies within an issue in authenticating Web-based logins. "Anyone with knowledge of the underlying communication mechanism can control the Scan Engine server," the notice reads.

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Groups from opposite ends of the political spectrum are coming together to press Congress to ensure that net neutrality is included into a rewrite of a telecommunications law making its way through the House of Representatives.

The SavetheInternet.com Coaliton is made of groups and individuals from both conservative and liberal persuasions. Charter members include Free Press, the Gun Owners of America, Instapundit blogger Glenn Reynolds, and Moveon.org among others.

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eBay launched its instant buying service to supplement its normal auction listings Monday, hoping to lure more traditional e-commerce users to its service. First announced in January, eBay Express allows users to purchase from multiple sellers using a single shopping cart.

The site is completely separate from eBay's main auctions, and has the appearance of a more traditional e-commerce store. Nearly 10 million listings are included, culled from the auction site's "Buy it Now" listings. A U.S. version is currently in "preview mode," allowing sellers and buyers to test out the service.

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Nokia on Tuesday introduced three new phones, as well as announcing several partnerships aimed at further solidifying its leadership in the mobile multimedia category.

The devices would join Nokia's N Series line of "converged" devices, which offer several different entertainment options in a single electronic device. The partnerships are intended to support these new handsets.

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Microsoft said Monday it was expanding a pilot of the Windows Genuine Advantage program that would notify users of counterfeit versions of the operating system. The company will still continue to delivery high priority software updates to these users regardless of their WGA status.

Piracy remains a growing problem in the software industry, with as much as 35 percent of all software pirated, according to the Business Software Alliance. Research firm IDC has said that if the piracy rate dropped to 25 percent, as many as 2.4 million new jobs and $400 billion in economic growth would be created worldwide.

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Microsoft on Monday detailed innovations coming in Windows Vista that the company believes makes the operating system superior in the delivery of multimedia. This would include several enhancements to Windows Media itself as well as expanded functionality within Windows Media Center, now standard in Vista.

The company is promoting the new features of its upcoming operating system at the National Association of Broadcasters convention being held this week in Las Vegas. With online multimedia becoming more prevalent, traditional broadcasters are increasingly interesting in utilizing the Internet as a method for delivery.

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RealNetworks said Monday that it had been awarded a patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office surrounding its media technology. The patent covers methods used when consumers click on links to stream content from Web browsers and media players, the company said.

Called "click-to-stream," the technology patented covers how streaming media is allowed to play before the entire file is downloaded to the computer. The patent specifically references media that is initiated from a Web browser, multimedia advertising, and network-enabled software media players.

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Microsoft said Friday that it has hired away InterActive Corp search head Steve Berkowitz to lead its Online Business division, which includes MSN and Windows Live. The hiring continues the leadership shuffle at the Redmond company in an effort to make it more competitive against rivals such as Google.

Berkowitz would replace David Cole on May 8, who announced he would be taking a leave of absence in March. In an e-mail to the Microsoft Platforms and Services Division Friday, Berkowitz's new boss Kevin Johnson told employees that he had the right mix of experience and a "deep functional knowledge of the search."

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Microsoft and Universal Studios announced at the National Association of Broadcasters Convention in Las Vegas Monday a collaboration to use Microsoft technologies in upcoming HD DVD discs. The Redmond company is a strong supporter of the next-generation DVD technology.

Universal has agreed to use iHD, an interactivity feature for DVDs, in its upcoming titles. Additionally, it will use VC-1, a compression protocol recently approved as a standard for use in HD DVD discs. Both technologies were developed in part by researchers at Microsoft.

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As expected, Apple on Monday debuted a 17-inch MacBook Pro, the second model in its high-end Intel-based notebook lineup. The system, which will retail for $2,799 USD, includes a 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo processor.

All features save the screen size are identical to the 15-inch model, including a built in iSight camera, iLife '06, Front Row, and MagSafe power adapter. The laptop itself is one inch thin, and weighs 6.8 pounds, Apple said.

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The HD Radio Alliance said Monday that an additional 22 radio markets are ready to begin broadcasting HD2 channels, which is additional high-definition programming that piggybacks digital on the main broadcast signal.

With the new channels, 50 radio markets would now have the service, spanning over 450 new radio stations as a result. Locales to now receive HD2 programming would include Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Kansas City, Salt Lake City, and Las Vegas among others.

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Microsoft is heading to college campuses to promote its Windows Live service in a new way -- by hosting college e-mail accounts. Called Windows Live@edu, 72 colleges worldwide have signed onto the service and discussions are ongoing with almost 200 more.

The e-mail service provides a familiar interface to many students as it is patterned after Hotmail. However, students do not receive a hotmail.com or msn.com e-mail address, as the accounts it carry the domain of their respective school.

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Alltel subscribers will now be able to extend the benefits of mobile-to-mobile calling to other carriers, and even landline phones, through a new program being offered by the company. Called "My Circle," the feature would be available to those with monthly calling plans of $59.99 or higher.

The customer will be allowed to pick ten numbers that they can call free of charge for an unlimited amount of time. These numbers can be changed at any time, the company says. The new feature comes as a result of market research.

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