Adding to Sprint's current Pocket PC offering from Toshiba, Microsoft announced at CTIA WIRELESS 2003 plans to introduce two new Pocket PC phones for Sprint's PCS network. The phones will be manufactured by Samsung and Hitachi, and utilize a CDMA version of Microsoft's platform. Both include a digital camera and productivity suite targeted at business customers.

The Samsung SPH-i700 allows users to attach voice memos and text to 640x480 images captured by the built-in camera. The bulkier Hitachi G1000 includes a QWERTY keyboard for quickly entering text messages and e-mails.

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Creative Technology on Thursday joined a small list of companies that have announced plans to back Microsoft's forthcoming portable audio and video platform, tentatively dubbed Media2Go.

Although industry giants ViewSonic and Samsung have already signed on to build Media2Go devices, Creative is the first such partner with experience marketing a hard drive-based audio player, the NOMAD Jukebox.

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The new version of Microsoft's Windows Automotive platform will launch on March 26, with similar debuts following in Europe and Asia by the end of April. As first reported by Microsoft Watch, CEO Steve Ballmer will likely unveil the new system Automotive Executive Summit in Dearborn, Michigan.

Windows Automotive was developed as part of Microsoft's "Connected Car" strategy and will not actually power automobiles. Instead, Microsoft wants to bring Internet-based technologies such as entertainment and Web services directly into cars. Seven auto manufacturers are currently onboard to embed Windows Automotive in upcoming models.

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Microsoft on Wednesday announced plans to support Internet SCSI, a new standard for storage area networks that provides improved performance at a lower cost. An iSCSI driver for Windows 2000, XP and Windows Server 2003 will be available in June for download via Windows Update.

Working with industry leaders such as is Adaptec, Cisco and IBM, Microsoft is currently beta testing Windows support for iSCSI. Over 60 software and hardware vendors are developing iSCSI-based solutions and analysts believe it will become the dominant server storage technology by 2006.

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Apple this week released the first major upgrade to the company's Java implementation since the debut of Mac OS X version 10.2. Java 1.4.1 for Mac OS X is based on Sun's J2SE release with added support for Quartz Extreme and improved memory management. The update incorporates over 60 percent more features than the previous 1.3.1 release, according to Apple.

In order to reduce the amount of memory used by Java applications, Apple has developed technology that allows Java code to be shared across multiple applications. The technology is compatible with Sun's standard Hot Spot virtual machine, and will be contributed to the Java project.

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Microsoft on Monday officially launched the long-awaited second beta of Office 2003, which will be marketed as part of the newly dubbed "Office System." 500,000 copies of beta 2 will ship worldwide to partners and testers, as well as customers who order beta kits.

Office System Beta 2 consists of Microsoft Office 2003, FrontPage 2003, InfoPath 2003, OneNote 2003, and SharePoint Portal Server 2.0. Microsoft Visio 2003 and Project are also part of the Office System umbrella, but will ship separately this summer. The beta 2 kits will include Windows Server 2003 RC2, Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 and Exchange Server 2003 Beta 2 as well.

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After over two years of development, AOL has made available a preview release of its new standalone e-mail client dubbed AOL Communicator. Communicator is one of many applications and services AOL plans to offer members in an effort to reinvigorate diminishing subscriber growth.

As first reported by BetaNews, a beta version of Communicator -- code-named Photon -- first cropped up last November. At the time, AOL was unsure how it would market the product and whether it would compete with the company's fledgling Netscape browser suite. But recent financial troubles and management shakeups have forced AOL to focus on improving its core subscriber business.

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The first beta of Microsoft's next-generation real-time collaboration and messaging platform, code-named Greenwich, was released on Thursday. The Greenwich beta includes enterprise instant messaging and tools for customers to create solutions based on presence -- knowing when someone is online -- and IM.

Greenwich integrates with MSN Messenger Connect for Enterprises, a new service for connecting businesses and consumers using instant messaging. The beta supports voice and video communication, along with conversation logging.

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Apple is preparing to enter the subscription digital music fray with a new online service designed for Mac and iPod owners, according to a report this week in The Los Angeles Times.

Sources say Apple has already signed deals with major record companies for access to their libraries, although nothing official has been announced.

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As Microsoft prepares for next week's official release of Office 2003 Beta 2, Corel has announced details on the new version of its own office suite. WordPerfect Office 11 is an evolutionary upgrade featuring improved document flexibility and new file-sharing features.

Corel has added a new conversion utility for migrating WordPerfect files to a variety of formats, along with enhanced XML support for viewing content on a wide range of devices. Office 11 integrates with ZIM SMS Office for updating spreadsheets remotely via mobile phone.

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UPDATED An internal alpha build of Microsoft's next Windows release, code-named Longhorn, has slipped out of Redmond labs for the second time in four months. Build 4008 began appearing on Internet sites late last week, following a path similar to last November's leak of build 3683.

To the casual observer, build 4008 shows little progress over 3683. Longhorn's "Plex" visual style (screenshot) has been slightly polished, sporting new graphics for buttons and tabs. The oft-discussed Longhorn Sidebar is also visually cleaner and less prone to crash.

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In the process of putting the finishing touches on the new server operating system, Microsoft on Monday announced long-awaited pricing details for Windows Server 2003.

Retail pricing will start at $399 USD for the Web server edition with no client licenses and $999 for Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition plus 5 licenses. Standard Edition with 10 client licenses runs $1,199, while Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition will cost $3,999 for 25 client licenses.

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The team collaboration technology known as SharePoint Team Services that ships with Microsoft Office has been re-branded as Windows SharePoint Services and will be made available to Windows Server 2003 customers, independent of Office 2003.

Windows SharePoint Services provides an out-of-the-box Web-based portal for managing documents, discussions and tasks within a workgroup. The technology integrates with Microsoft's SharePoint Portal Server, a broader and more flexible incarnation of the technology designed for enterprises.

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With this week's unveiling of threedegrees for MSN Messenger and the Windows XP Peer-to-Peer Update, users got a taste of Microsoft's plans in the P2P space. But the experience quickly turned sour for many who were left with broken Internet connectivity or an inability to reach certain Web sites including those of AOL and retailer NewEgg.com.

Developed by Microsoft's NetGen group that was first established almost three years ago, threedegrees virtually connects people so -- as Microsoft puts it -- "they can do fun things together." The idea is to enable social interaction within a group of friends or family by extending standard instant messaging with music, group chats, digital photos and personal desktop animations that Microsoft calls "winks."

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AOL this week unleashed a new premium music subscription service built upon MusicNet, a joint venture between AOL, RealNetworks, EMI and BMG. MusicNet on AOL comes over a year after Real launched its own MusicNet-based offering, dubbed RealOne.

AOL will initially feature three subscription levels, starting at $3.95 USD for 20 music streams and 20 downloads. For $9.95, subscribers can access unlimited streams and downloads, but songs cannot be transferred to CD or portable device.

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