Just making an "end of week" deadline, Microsoft has kept its promise and has released Beta 2 of its graphical Web application development engine.

Download Silverlight 2.0 Beta 2 from FileForum now.

Though the US Federal Trade Commission has yet to issue a statement as of 1:30 pm EDT, Intel has acknowledged it has received a subpoena from the FTC, effectively formalizing its inquiry into Intel's US business practices in the CPU market.

Intel received the subpoena on Wednesday, the company said. The subject of that subpoena is not likely to be related to a small fine issued Wednesday by the Korean Fair Trade Commission, as that matter was related to rebates the company gave Korean customers.

BlackBerrys keep soaring in popularity among corporate IT spenders, while Palms continue to slide; and Apple iPhones are expected to pick up steam in the third quarter, say new survey results from analyst firm ChangeWave Research.

Among IT spenders planning to buy smartphones from July through September, 82% will invest in RIM BlackBerrys, ChangeWave Research analysts discovered in results released this week. That's a five-point leap from February in similar findings about anticipated future spending.

According to French financial daily La Tribune, Apple has received approval to build one of its eponymous stores in Paris. The location? Where else but under the glass pyramid in the Carrousel du Louvre.

It would mark the second piece of geometric glass architecture used by the Cupertino company, the first being the cube at the Apple's Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan, New York that first opened in May 2006.

With Gmail finally nearing the end of its nearly four year long beta, Google is looking to test out a few new features before it goes live.

A new tab has been added in the settings menu of Gmail called "Labs." Included there are 13 features that the user can either enable or disable, as well as links to provide feedback on the functionality.

Qik, a service that allows its users to stream video from their phones live on the site, has begun its invitation-only alpha period and extended the list of supported devices to include select Windows Mobile handsets.

The idea behind Qik is familiar: to give the user a platform upon which to broadcast and archive footage captured on his mobile device. The concept is being attempted by several competitors.

The FCC had hoped to vote on a proposal that would require the winner of a spectrum auction next year to build out a free wireless broadband network in June, but those plans have been hindered yet again.

US Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin has been one of the key proponents of the plan within the agency, which seems to borrow a lot from a plan first proposed by M2Z Networks last year.

The development suite that will come with the new XP kernel-based Windows Embedded standard -- which entered beta on Wednesday -- will indeed allow virtual OS instances to run as virtual machines on developers' desktops.

A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to BetaNews yesterday evening more details about the roadmap the company announced in April concerning future editions of Windows for embedded devices. On Wednesday, the company announced Windows Embedded Standard, which will give small device manufacturers a way to enable Internet Explorer 7 and Terminal Services-based implementations of applications such as the Office suite, implemented on thin handhelds and even the consoles of printers.

Innumerable Web sites have been inviting readers to rate and comment about articles and blogs for ages already. Now, Facebook has added a considerably rarer function: Users can give "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" to ads.

Judging from a particularly sophisticated example given by Facebook founder Rob Webb, Facebook members will also be able to leave feedback about why they like or dislike an ad, either by choosing a reason from a drop-down menu, or by creating a new reason not already on that list.

Restrictions have reportedly been loosened in the nation of Turkmenistan, the Southernmost nation of the former Soviet Union, and private citizens are gradually -- about 20 per day -- being connected to the Internet.

As a result of a development plan put forth by President Gurbanguli Berdymukhammedov, Turkmenistan has been moving toward becoming connected. Previously, only government employees, diplomats, and employees of major international corporations were allowed access to the Internet. But after Berdymukhammedov rose to power in 2006, he put repeated emphasis upon improving the nation's information infrastructure and social standing. In 2007, the first Internet cafe opened, and several dozen followed.

It was widely reported today that the European Commission approved the buyout of "widget maker" Trolltech, by Nokia. What isn't widely known is that Nokia has acquired something of real substance...and maybe even Nokia doesn't know it.

A statement from Brussels this morning indicates that the European Commission has completed its review of the proposed acquisition of embedded Linux development tools provider Trolltech by wireless device giant Nokia, a deal announced last January. It's clearing the acquisition, under the theory that should Nokia decide to limit Trolltech to producing tools only for Nokia equipment, one less tools provider in the market won't be much of a loss.

Time Warner Cable is being hauled into court by a Los Angeles city attorney over complaints of Internet and e-mail outages, TV line-up changes, and service delays. This while the head of TWC's regional office was given the heave-ho.

"Hundreds of thousands of Los Angeles residents were ripped off," said City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo in a statement. The city's lawsuit -- which accuses Time Warner Cable of creating "major havoc and distress" -- could cost the cable company tens of millions of dollars in civil fines.

Yahoo said it will join CBS' Audience Network on Wednesday, continuing the close relationship of the two companies.

With the addition of Yahoo to the list of outlets from which its off-air programs are streamed, CBS claims it will reach about 92 percent of US Web households -- by far the most of any content provider.

While Wal-Mart seemed to be firmly in the HD DVD camp early in the format war, it's now gearing up for a nationwide promotion to drum up interest in the format war's survivor.

With HD DVD out of the way, the world's largest retailer is now turning to Blu-ray and marketing it aggressively, even though the price of its players may be out of reach for a significant portion of its budget-conscious consumers.

An academic study charting the daily mobility of people based upon their mobile phone data has raised ethical concerns regarding privacy and nondisclosure.

The study was conducted by Northeastern University and recently published in the journal Nature. Cell phone usage data from a private European mobile phone carrier was used as the primary dataset for the study. Both the carrier and the nation in which the data was gathered were not named.