Nate Mook

Microsoft on Thursday announced its financials for the quarter closing out 2005, posting record revenue of $11.84 billion and a 9 percent increase over the previous year. Profit for the quarter topped $3.65 billion thanks to 14 percent growth in the company's Server and Tools division.

Microsoft also cited the Xbox 360 and the success of Windows XP in a growing PC market as reasons behind the record results. Operating income dipped 2 percent to $4.66 billion due to expanded marketing efforts like the one pushing the new Xbox console. Microsoft also returned $8.5 billion to shareholders during the quarter in the form of dividends and share repurchases.

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Scoring a big win for its alternative browser, AOL has inked a deal with Sony to distribute AOL Explorer as the default Web browser on all new VAIO desktop and notebook computers. The browser directs users to a Sony-branded AOL.com homepage, which includes links to technical support and accessories.

AOL Explorer is based on Internet Explorer, but adds advanced features such as tabbed browsing, Web thumbnails and a built-in RSS feed aggregator. A customizable side panel enables users to load third-party add-ons into the browser, such as a calendar or panel that displays incoming mail.

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While surprising analysts by reporting that third quarter fiscal year 2005 sales and profits had jumped to all-time highs, Sony's restructuring has not been without casualties: the company has ceased developing its AIBO and QRIO robots, and will halt all sales by the end of this quarter.

The product cancellations come as Sony attempts to cut costs and focus on areas where it dominates, such as LCD televisions. Sony's Bravia TV line has captured 30 percent market share worldwide. The electronics maker also plans to stop production of plasma televisions and in-car entertainment products in Japan. PlayStation 2 sales, meanwhile, remained high in the quarter and Sony offered no indication as to when it will launch the PS3.

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Google bolstered its library of video content on Thursday, adding game footage from 30 NBA teams. Users can purchase new and classic games for viewing on their PC at a cost of $3.95 USD each. Content from the NBA joins music videos and classic TV episodes, which can be streamed on demand for between $1.99 and $3.99.

"When people say, 'Wow, Kobe scored 81?” or 'Nash went for 20+ points and 15+ assists… again!' – now you (and I!) can reply, 'Yep – just caught it on Google Video.' So come watch the greatest players today play some of the greatest games ever," wrote Google Business Product Manager Nelson Cheng on the Google Blog.

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Version 8.1 of the Firefox based Netscape Browser was made available Wednesday, bolstering the software's spyware protection and adding a built-in RSS reader that displays news feeds directly in the browser. Netscape touts improved speed and security, while offering the ability to use IE's engine for compatibility.

The spyware protection in Netscape 8.1 automatically scans all downloads and blocks potential malware. A new security center has also been added to highlight the browser's safety features. AOL has additionally enabled support for multiple profiles in version 8.1, which will allow different family members or users to have separate settings, passwords and bookmarks.

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Online movie rental service Netflix announced Tuesday it planned to support both new high-definition DVD formats upon their launch later this year, pledging to carry all initial HD DVD and Blu-ray movie titles and make them available for customers.

The company acknowledges that initial adoption of the formats will be slow, but it believes high-definition formats will eventually replace standard DVDs as prices fall. Toshiba expects to launch its first HD DVD player in March, and Blu-ray players will likely follow in May.

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Google on Tuesday updated the satellite images in its Google Earth software and Google Local search, adding two more zoom levels that provide a close-up birds-eye view of locations around the world. The change comes after Microsoft's Windows Live Local added similar capabilities.

"Now for many areas around the world you can see a lot more detail than you could before," said Google Earth team member Chikai Ohazama. "Take a look at people standing at the gates of Buckingham Palace in London, or jump over the pond and see the Statue of Liberty in New York."

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After over three years, Google News is finally leaving its beta status behind and becoming a fully launched product. The site, which aggregates news stories from across the globe automatically, is available in 22 regional editions and 10 languages. With the graduation from beta, Google has added a feature that recommends stories based on previously read subjects.

"We've also added a section to show you the most popular stories in the Google News edition you are viewing (e.g., U.S.). Now you can see the top stories being published by editors across the web, as well as other stories popular with readers, plus topics that you track or are interested in -- all on one page," said Google News creator Krishna Bharat.

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Opera Software on Tuesday rolled out the final version of Opera Mini, a full Web browser designed to run on any mobile phone that supports Java. The software has been in trial mode since August and is available for download free of charge by loading mini.opera.com in a phone's WAP browser.

The Google Mini start page features a Google search box and customizable bookmark list. "With Opera Mini most people can start surfing the Web with the mobile phone they have today," says Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. "We are proud to be the first to offer full, mobile Web browsing to the majority of the world's mobile phone users."

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iMesh has tapped MusicNet to provide the digital music for its peer-to-peer legal download service, the companies announced Monday. MusicNet's library spans the four major record labels and more than 40,000 independent labels. The company currently supplies tracks for Yahoo! Music Unlimited.

"P2P continues to excite digital music consumers and iMesh delivers the most in-depth digital music experience available today to an active P2P community," said iMesh CTO Igor Magazinik. "Through the iMesh service, users are able to experience breadth and depth of content, music discovery, community and sharing features in a fully legal environment."

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Following news that Google refused to comply with a subpoena requiring the company to turn over search records from its database, much speculation swirled about the response from rivals MSN and Yahoo. MSN has broken its silence and now acknowledges that it did share search data, but no personal information.

The subpoena was handed down by the U.S. Department of Justice last summer, and was reportedly issued to gather data to support a child protection law that was struck down two years ago by the Supreme Court. Under that law, the government could punish pornography sites that made content easily accessible to minors.

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Tiger Telematics' European subsidiary filed for bankruptcy Monday after struggling to expand sales of its Gizmondo portable game device. The company plans to invest an additional $5 million in an attempt to restructure. It's not clear what affect the move will have on the Gizmondo's future.

"Gizmondo Europe Limited made a reduction in payroll of approximately 50% of monthly staff costs during the week prior to the court application to reduce overall operating expenses of the business and significantly improve its prospects for a successful turnaround," the company said in a securties filing.

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IBM and AOL announced at Lotusphere in Orlando on Monday an agreement to connect the Lotus Sametime instant messaging network with AIM and ICQ. IBM also announced a federation deal with Yahoo! Messenger and planned compatibility with Google Talk.

The agreement with IBM brings AOL's reach to 75 percent of all enterprise IM users and adds to past federation partners including Reuters, Jabber and Microsoft. AIM users will be able to add Sametime identities to their buddy lists and vice versa, along with reaching AOL's other EIM customers.

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AOL UK is looking to expand its reach into the homes of consumers by making an investment that could lead to the delivery of broadband based services such as IPTV and video on-demand. The company will spend 50 million GBP to gain access to 20 percent of UK homes in the first half of 2006.

The moves come as AOL's dial-up business continues to decline worldwide and the company investigates alternatives. The investment will be part of what's called Local Loop Unbundling (LLU), in which telecoms and Internet companies can replace British Telecom as the provider of services over a phone line.

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When it first launched in 2004, Google's Gmail was missing a key feature available in competing e-mail services and clients: a prominent delete button. Although Gmail offered deleting through a dropdown, Google felt users should never have to delete messages thanks to expanded storage. But the company has finally given in.

"Now there's an easy-to-find delete button for those messages you really don't want. For everything else, there's Archive," Google wrote on the About Gmail page Archive, which Google previously encouraged instead of delete, simply removes a message from the inbox and leaves it in "All Mail."

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