Taking a cue from Google's Gmail, which emphasizes search over sorting, Yahoo has expanded the search functionality offered by its Web mail service. To start, Search results are now broken down into five categories: Senders, Folders, Attachments, Message Status, and Date.

Searching within attachments was added based on feedback from users, says Drew Garcia, Senior Product Manager for Yahoo! Mail. "An email message is often just metadata around an attached document, which might be the heart of the content," Garcia wrote in the Yahoo! Search blog.

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While it struggles to compete with Apple in the marketplace, Creative is exploring a new avenue for dethroning the digital music king: patent litigation. Creative announced Tuesday it had been granted a patent covering the user interface for portable media players, including the iPod.

Specifically, the patent involves the method for selecting at least one track on a portable player as a user sequentially browses through a hierarchy of three or more screens on the display. For example, the patent would cover a user navigating from an artist, to a list of albums, to a list of songs on an album.

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Microsoft on Monday surprised MSDN subscribers with an unexpected download: WinFS Beta 1. The company also clarified its plans for the future relational file system technology, which has been the subject of much confusion since the feature was crossed off the list of additions to Windows Vista.

WinFS takes a SQL engine and marries it with NTFS, creating a "file system and relational database in one consistent storage engine," Quentin Clark, Director of Program Management for WinFS, explained to BetaNews. The technology stores metadata for all files on a system to facilitate organization and searching, as well as structured data such as contacts, calendars and more.

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On September 11, thousands of developers will flood downtown Los Angeles for Microsoft's 2005 Professional Developers Conference. Expectations are high, as the event will offer the first real peek into the inner workings of Windows Vista, along with sessions covering everything from WinFX to Whidbey, to Office 12.

Even if you won't be attending the sold-out PDC this year, you can still follow the event online. DVDs of keynotes and sessions will be available to purchase as well. BetaNews will be covering the conference live from Los Angeles, and Microsoft is also hosting PDC blogs via MSDN and Channel 9.

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Microsoft's next-generation WinFS file system has been the subject of much confusion over the past two years, and that apparently hasn't changed - even with Windows Vista Beta 1 out the door. The company is reportedly putting the finishing touches on a WinFS preview release, which will be introduced at next month's Professional Developers Conference.

WinFS, or Windows Future Storage, was originally slated to sit atop NTFS and track metadata for all files on a system to improve organizing, searching and sharing of information. Applications could also store data directly in WinFS, which is based on Microsoft's SQL Server 2005 technology.

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In order to rebuild its brand image while establishing new revenue streams, AOL has turned to its most valuable asset: AIM.

With Google's entry into the instant messaging space this week, rivals AOL and Microsoft are wasting no time planning their future moves. MSN Messenger 7.5 shipped with minor improvements on the road to version 8, while AOL is already mapping out its second generation Triton client for next spring.

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Hitachi has created the first 1-terabyte DVD recorder, which utilizes two 500GB hard drives to store up to 128 hours of high-definition television. The company's new lineup also comes in 160GB, 250GB and 500GB sizes, which Hitachi hopes will help it win market share from Matsushita and Sony.

The new recorders are expected to launch next month in Japan, and there is no plan to bring them to Europe or the United States. The problem, Hitachi says, is the lack of demand for DVD recorders outside of Asia. In the U.S. DVRs such as TiVo remain the device of choice while European consumers have been slow to adopt either technology.

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Intuit on Wednesday announced that its next iteration of QuickBooks, code-named Denali, is set to launch this fall. QuickBooks 2006 is the culmination of a multi-year development effort, the company says, and represents the accounting software's most significant launch since its 1992 debut.

With QuickBooks becoming too feature-packed, Intuit has returned to the basics by simplifying views of company data and combining tasks, reducing the need to hop from screen to screen. Inventory management and accounting controls have also been beefed up to prevent errors from being overlooked.

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When Google unveiled its instant messaging client yesterday, there was only one problem: Google Talk requires a Gmail account, which has been invitation-only since its beta debut in 2004. This changed on Thursday, however, as Google opened Gmail to anyone in the United States with a mobile phone.

The mobile phone requirement was designed to prevent Gmail accounts from being created by robots and stop spammers from signing up multiple times. Google will send an invitation code via SMS, which can then be used to register with Gmail. Only one account may be created per phone number.

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The reviews are in and the first beta release of Google Talk is receiving high marks from users. Although some are bothered by the client's current lack of features, many find the 900KB Google Talk refreshingly simple. Below is a selection of reviews from BetaNews readers.

Awesome program! Does have a ways to go to be a complete IM system but this is a great first release. The voice chat works amazingly well and it's so easy to use! - reets

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August 24, 1995 was a momentous occasion for the computer industry as Microsoft introduced Windows 95 at a gala launch event. The long awaited new operating system not only sparked the explosion of the Internet, but for the first time computers became inspirational tools that would make our lives better.

The Windows 95 launch took place on a 12-acre sports field at Microsoft's Redmond campus. It took 20 days and over 200 people to prepare for the festivities, and Bill Gates' address was beamed simultaneously to 43 other events in cities around the world - not an easy feat in 1995.

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Following minor delays, Sony has made available firmware version 2.0 for its PlayStation Portable, which most notably adds a full-fledged Web browser to the entertainment device. The update has been highly anticipated by U.S. PSP owners following its release in Japan, with some resorting to installing that version.

In addition to Web browsing, PSP firmware 2.0 adds support for watching video in 4:3 display mode, H.264 (AVC) video playback, new music formats, and WPA-PSK wireless security. The update may bring one unwelcome change for some PSP users, as it makes changes to the device's built-in security in order to thwart hackers from creating homebrew applications.

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As Microsoft's 2005 Professional Developers Conference draws ever closer, the company has put the finishing touches on its first Windows Vista Software Development Kit, which is now available on MSDN. The SDK includes documentation, samples, header files, and tools for developing on Windows Vista Beta 1.

"For the first time, the SDK provides support for using both managed WinFX and unmanaged Win32 Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)," Microsoft says. The kit will simply be dubbed "Windows SDK" upon release, as it includes both WinFX and Vista-specific documentation.

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These days its almost fashionable for larger technology companies to purchase anti-spyware firms, and EarthLink is not one to be excluded from the party. The Internet service provider said it will acquire Aluria Software, known for its Spyware Eliminator application.

Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in September, were not disclosed. Aluria counts approximately 20 million users across it applications, EarthLink said. The company also recently launched an anti-spyware program aimed at small businesses and corporations called Paladin.

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Speculation abound late Monday regarding Google's oft-rumored plans to launch an instant messaging network that would compete with AOL, MSN and Yahoo. The New York Times reported that a Google communications service would launch Wednesday, and the LA Times confirmed it would go by the name "Google Talk."

Although such rumors have long proliferated throughout the Internet and are usually taken with a grain of salt, Google has activated talk.google.com. In addition, a messaging service utilizing Jabber -- an open source instant messaging platform -- was found to be running on that sub-domain.

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