Ed Oswald

MobiTV said Tuesday that it had partnered with Microsoft to bring its service to Windows Mobile based devices, as well as Windows XP computers. The company will use Microsoft's digital rights management and codecs along with Windows Media Player to deliver its content.

The selection of Microsoft technologies would allow the service to deliver high-quality video content to smartphones, MobiTV said. Also, the company noted the decision was influenced by demand for support of the platform by its customers.

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Sony delivered its first Walkman MP3 players of 2006 on Tuesday with the introduction of new flash memory-based players for the European market. The players come in six different colors, and can offer three hours of battery life after three minutes of charging through special quick-charge technology.

The E Series Walkman players will come in three sizes: 512MB, 1GB and 2GB. All will be able to play MP3 and unsecured WMAs, as well as Sony's proprietary ATRAC format. The players would connect directly to the computer via an attached USB port.

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Microsoft said Tuesday it would expand its line of mice to include more affordable models with its proprietary High Definition technology built in. High Definition will improve mouse responsiveness, precision and make for smoother tracking, the company claims.

The first mouse to be released would be a re-launch of Microsoft's popular Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse. The new version would include the new technology, as well as feature a smaller receiver than its predecessor, making it easier to store away. The laptop mouse would retail for $29.95 USD.

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A Michigan law aimed at restricting the sale of violent video games was struck down on First Amendment grounds Friday. The ruling follows a similar pattern by judges to side with game manufacturers and gamers, citing that freedom of expression prohibits such laws.

The law was originally blocked from taking effect in November through a temporary injunction. The legislation was signed into law by Governor Jennifer Granholm and was supposed to be enforced beginning December 1.

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The music industry began the next phase of its fight against file sharers in Europe Tuesday, filing 2,000 more lawsuits against people in 10 countries. Altogether, some 5,500 lawsuits have been filed in 18 countries since the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) started its latest effort.

The IFPI is the European equivalent of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Here in the United Sates, the RIAA has filed nearly 18,000 lawsuits.

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Samsung said Tuesday it would delay the launch of its Blu-ray disc player to late June in order to ensure it could fully test the unit before release. Orignally scheduled for release May 23, the player would now release in the United States on June 25. The company said it still expected to be the first player to launch in the U.S. The news follows word from Toshiba that it would delay its HD DVD players to mid-April. HD DVD players are already on sale in Japan.

The Samsung BD-P1000 will sell for $999 and includes memory card capabilities that would allow users to view digital still pictures. It is also widely expected to be the cheapest Blu-ray player on the market for quite some time. In comparison, Toshiba's HD DVD players start at $499.

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AT CTIA WIRELESS With mobile phones becoming ever more ubiquitous in today's society, so has the consumer's desire to access the Internet while on the go. However, so far the experience has been lacking. .mobi's Alexa Raad thinks her company is about to solve that, and she sat down with BetaNews to tell us why.

"It's not the lack of devices," says Raad, vice president of business development at .mobi -- a new top-level domain set to launch next month. Prices of phones have dropped dramatically in recent years. "It's not because of bandwidth either," she continued, pointing to the emergence of high-speed 3G data.

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While most of the buzz at this week's LinuxWorld in Boston is intended to revolve around the open-source operating system, Microsoft on Monday decided to use a backdrop of the semi-annual Linux confab to make some waves of its own.

The company has announced that it would support those customers who decide to run Linux under Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2. Installations of Red Hat and SUSE Linux have been made simpler through software created by the Redmond company. Additionally, Microsoft would provide technical support for those who decide to run both through virtualization.

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Claria launched the beta of its customized web portal Monday, marking the end of a two-year project to clean up the company's image. Called PersonalWeb, the site requires a small download that analyzes a user's surfing habits and then places suggested content on the portal without setup from the user.

In an addition to suggested content, PersonalWeb would also provide links to a customers web e-mail accounts and RSS integration. Claria said that it would continue to add features over the next several months as well as adding support for other browsers.

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On Tuesday, Brokeback Mountain will break ground once again -- this time as the first movie to be launched on a download service the same day as its DVD release. Along with Brokeback, beginning Monday movies would be available on service Movielink as "download-to-own" titles.

New releases would be available for between $20 and $30 USD per download. Older movies would start at $9 USD, the company said.

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IBM is expected to announce on Monday at Linux World in Boston a new partnership with Novell to give small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) an easier way to implement Linux. The offering pairs software from Novell and Centeris with IBM's eServer xSeries or BladeCenter systems.

"We're seeing increasing interest in Linux and Open Source from small and medium businesses," IBM's open source strategy manager Adam Jollans told BetaNews in an interview. He said that many of these companies lack the IT department necessary to run a large Linux installation.

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AOL on Monday announced several improvements to its mobile offerings, including an enhancement to its mobile search service that would format any page for the mobile screen, an expanded relationship with Sprint, and new mobile applications.

Through a new "Surf the Web" feature included within AOL Mobile Search, users would be able to view any standard Web page through a special transcoding feature. AOL Wireless Director of Emerging Technologies Raine Bergstrom told BetaNews that pages have a similar structure that allows this to be done.

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Adults are becoming increasingly cell addicted, with four out of 10 considering dropping their landline service. The findings were part of a larger mobile lifestyle survey released on Monday by America Online, the Associated Press, and Pew Research Center.

In previous studies AOL had focused on children and teenagers, which AOL Wireless director of emerging technologies Raine Bergstrom called "the trendsetters." Mobile use among this demographic is highest, and thus gauging their cellular activity has proven to be the most logical way of measuring the success of mobile features.

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Television program guide service MeeVee is expected to announce Monday a new version of its site that adds functionality such as Internet television channels, better search functionality, user recommendations and reviews, and contextual e-commerce features provided through Amazon.com.

The site has been in beta since June of last year, however Monday marks the official launch of the product along with the new features. MeeVee president Michael Raneri says what sets the service apart is its improved search functions.

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Google took the lid off an anticipated new feature for users of its mapping service Friday that would let advertisers promote their businesses directly on Google Maps. The ads would appear as small icons, and would be clickable to reveal logos and pictures of the business in question.

Certain searches would make these advertisements appear. For example, while the service was in testing, Barnes and Noble and Ralph Lauren bought keywords such as "Philadelphia Books" or "Ralph Lauren New York." When people searched using these keywords, the ads appeared.

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