Apple CEO Steve Jobs today announced the first upgrade to the company's iPod portable music device, with double the storage capacity of last year's introductory model. Boasting a 10GB hard drive, the new iPod also features software for storing up to 1,000 contacts on the device - a move which demonstrates Apple has been listening to its customers. Many iPod owners were already storing information such as contacts by using the ID3 tags attached to empty MP3 files.

"With the new 10GB iPod, you can listen to your music continuously on six round-trip flights between San Francisco and Tokyo and never hear the same song twice," said Jobs during his keynote address at Macworld Tokyo. "Plus, now you can store your contact lists inside your iPod, too."

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In a potentially striking blow to Microsoft's "Windows" trademark, U.S. District Judge John Coughenour issued a preliminary ruling late Friday stating Lindows.com may continue using the Lindows name despite efforts by Microsoft to prove it is confusingly similar to the company's own operating system moniker.

Lindows.com called on the community in January to help rebut Redmond's claim over the term. Although the ruling only covers the preliminary injunction portion of Microsoft's suit, Coughenour openly questioned whether the word Windows can be protected under trademark law. "Lindows.com has presented sufficient evidence to rebut the presumption of validity of the Windows mark," he wrote.

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After almost a year of delays, AOL has taken the much anticipated first step to make Netscape's Gecko the default browsing engine in its client, a move that could breathe new life into the now stagnant browser war. As first revealed by BetaNews, AOL began developing the browser agnostic technology dubbed Komodo last year after an agreement with Microsoft sanctioning the use of Internet Explorer expired. The company has been testing Komodo with its CompuServe client since that time, but only this week made the switch in a test version of AOL, dubbed "Talon."

"The software used in this test is based on the most recent version of AOL 7.0 with Netscape Gecko as its internal browser," AOL beta coordinators wrote in an e-mail to testers. "Netscape Gecko is an embeddable browser designed to support open Internet standards, and is used for products like Netscape 6.2 and Instant AOL. This Beta tests the functionality of the AOL 7.0 software with Netscape Gecko."

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Microsoft revealed at CeBIT in Hannover, Germany, that it has signed additional hardware partners for Mira, the company's platform for next-generation portable touch-screen monitors. Using Windows CE .NET and the Remote Desktop Protocol in Windows XP, Mira devices enable a user to work on a PC from up to 150 feet away. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will announce tomorrow that Redmond has tapped Philips and LG Electronics to build Mira-enabled devices, expected to debut later this year.

Philips will debut 10.4-inch and 15-inch Mira prototypes at CeBIT, with LG unveiling a 15-inch detachable LCD monitor. Tatung and TriGEM have also joined up with Microsoft and will license Mira devices to a variety of OEMs. Industry giants Intel, ViewSonic and NEC had previously announced support of the Mira platform.

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Following in AOL's footsteps, Sun Microsystems has filed a private lawsuit against Microsoft for anticompetitive practices, including harm inflicted by not shipping Java with Windows XP. Sun said it was seeking damages north of $1 billion, and to require Microsoft to release the Internet Explorer source code. A preliminary injunction also sought by Sun would force Microsoft to immediately include Java in Windows XP and Internet Explorer.

Microsoft announced it would remove Java support last summer due to previous settlement terms with Sun, which allowed the software giant to only ship an older version of the programming language. Unprepared for such a move, Sun lashed out at Microsoft for hurting the development community and said it would offer a special Java download for Windows XP users. Unfortunately, the update has not had the mainstream acceptance the company had hoped.

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The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday ruled that a merger of Hewlett-Packard and Compaq would not necessarily raise antitrust concerns and gave the companies a green light to move forward. The merger of the computer heavyweights was first announced last September in a landmark deal initially valued at over $20 billion.

"The Commission conducted an extensive investigation of the merger's effect on competition in markets for personal computers, servers, and microprocessors, among other products," the FTC said. "Based on that investigation, the Commission did not find reason to believe that the proposed transaction would impair competition in any relevant market."

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Corel has announced it is accepting applications to beta test version 11 of Corel GRAPHICS SUITE, the next generation of the company's renowned CorelDraw package. According to Corel, the suite includes "a world-class vector illustration and page layout application, an intuitive vector animation application, and a powerful image editing and painting application."

Corel is looking for testers who have experience using CorelDRAW, Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Flash, Adobe Photoshop, Corel PHOTO-PAINT, and Micrografx Picture Publisher.

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Microsoft Thursday refuted news reports that it had issued a mass recall of its Xbox gaming system in Japan due to technical problems. The company said it had received reports of game and movie disks being scratched after use in the console, but less than one percent of consumers were affected.

"While this is not a common occurrence, and minor scratching is primarily a cosmetic issue that does not affect performance, a positive customer experience is of the utmost importance to Microsoft," the company said in a statement. "An apparent misinterpretation of information on a Microsoft Japan Web site resulted today in a media report of a recall of Microsoft's Xbox game console in Japan. This report is incorrect. There is no recall of Xbox in Japan or any other market."

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Centercode is looking for people to test an innovative and new software application designed for operation with a PDA and home entertainment equipment. Qualified applicants must have a PalmOS handheld with IR capability. Also required are at least two different brands of televisions that operate via remote, and multiple-channel service including satellite or cable.

Applications will be accepted through the end of the week and selected testers have the opportunity to gain premier placement in future PDA hardware and software beta tests. Testers will also be notified of all updates to the product.

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Intel Tuesday began shipping its Pentium 4 processor for mobile computers, 15 months after introducing the chip in desktop form. The Pentium 4 processor-M boasts current speeds of up to 1.7 GHz, and includes a 400 MHz bus speed and 512k of on-die L2 cache. A mobile version of Intel's 845 Chipset will support DDR RAM, and Deeper Sleep Alert State - a low power mode that allows the processor to operate at 1 volt.

"Together with the Intel 845 chipset and advanced power management technologies, this delivers an optimal balance of high performance and long battery life for today's mobile PCs," said Intel vice president of Mobile Platforms Group Anand Chandrasekher in today's announcement.

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File sharing giant StreamCast launched a new version of its software last weekend after millions of Morpheus users were locked out of the Kazaa-owned network it had previously accessed. The new Morpheus is instead based completely on the decentralized Gnutella network, the controversial brainchild of AOL/Nullsoft employees. But the change has not fared well for the company, as Morpheus users had grown accustomed to quick searches and reliable downloads that come with a centralized architecture and are now connecting to alternate services - namely KaZaA and Grokster.

StreamCast had been planning to add Gnutella support into its client for some time, but Kazaa BV -- the company that licenses StreamCast and Grokster its software -- refused to supply StreamCast with the required version 1.5 update claiming it had never been paid. StreamCast cried foul last week when the network upgrade rendered Morpheus inoperable and its users scratching their heads. Morpheus became much more popular than both its counterparts, because it lacks the "spyware" advertising that exists in KaZaA and Grokster.

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Microsoft's Home Networking Group is preparing to beta test a new hardware and software product that will enable multiple wired and wireless PCs to share a broadband Internet connection. Although current details are slim, the beta is described much like current wireless gateways from companies such as Linksys and D-Link.

As Microsoft's first foray into networking hardware, this new product may prove vital to Redmond's efforts to dominate the newly-connected living room. Last month at CES, Microsoft announced new software designed to bridge the gap between personal computing and home entertainment. With devices from TiVo, Moxi Digital, SonicBlue, and even the company's Xbox sporting Internet hookups, it is no surprise that Microsoft plans to establish itself as a network contender. Microsoft's Tablet PC architecture is also set to make its debut later this year, and will rely heavily on wireless networking.

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Microsoft today announced it would expand the scope of its Shared Source Initiative and provide approximately 150 system integrators access to the Windows source code. Microsoft's support partners servicing at least 1500 Windows clients with a Premier Support Agreement -- a list which includes Compaq and Avanade -- are eligible for the new program. The extension is designed to give partners an in-depth understanding of the operating system's internals in order to implement more robust integration services and provide quicker resolution to support problems.

"By sharing our source code responsibly with our partners, we are committing our most valuable intellectual property to the belief that a vibrant and integrated software ecosystem is critical to the future of our global economy and IT performance," said Microsoft senior vice president Craig Mundie.

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Becoming the latest in a series of antitrust claims against the software giant, Be Incorporated today filed suit against Microsoft for "the destruction of Be's business resulting from the anticompetitive business practices of Microsoft." Be had said it was considering such action last August upon selling its technology assets to Palm, Inc. for mere pennies on the dollar. The lawsuit alleges that Microsoft used "illegal exclusionary" tactics to prohibit PC manufacturers from shipping computers with multiple preinstalled operating systems.

BeOS -- Be's multi-media desktop operating system -- had a devoted following, but weak sales and hardware support kept it out of the mainstream. Be planned on shipping BeOS with Hitachi PCs in late 1998, but the deal was canned when Hitachi realized its licensing with Microsoft restricted such dealings. Be struggled to gain market share, and at one point even offered a free "personal" version of BeOS over the Web before running out of cash.

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AOL has fired the latest salvo at Trillian users who continue to connect to its AIM service by forcibly kicking them offline, a move mirroring the company's action against MSN Messenger in the past. AOL had previously only made efforts to block users of the independent client from connecting, but Cerulean Studios has been quick to release patches that bypass the blocks.

Trillian users report receiving a message from "AOL Instant Messenger" before being cut off, stating: "You have been disconnected from the AOL Instant Messaging Service (SM) for accessing the AOL network using unauthorized software. You can download a FREE fully featured, and authorized client, here http://www.aol.com/aim/download2.html"

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