Computer manufacturer Toshiba is expected to release at least one notebook this year that uses the Cell Broadband Engine, a chip architecture that helps power the Sony PlayStation 3 game console.

Industry analysts indicate the Toshiba Qosmio G40 laptop will use the SpursEngine SE1000 chip, after a working prototype was introduced to the consumer market in January. Working samples of the SE1000 chip were made available at the beginning of last month.

While the company may be free of Microsoft, Yahoo is now facing pushback over its planned advertising deal with Google.

Even though no deal has been officially reached, the mention of discussions has some calling for government intervention over antitrust issues. Several interest groups across a wide variety of industries are asking the Justice Department to step in.

Redefining "staying together for the Kids," largely youth-oriented MVNOs Virgin Mobile and Helio have reportedly begun talks that could result in a merged entity.

As mobile phone saturation approaches, the market for mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) shrinks. In 2007, Amp'd Mobile went bankrupt, and Disney Mobile shut down.

In a newly-opened online showcase, search engine specialist Powerset is now previewing a contextual search engine seen by some as a possible threat to Google, Yahoo and other major players through its support for "conversational phrasing."

Although right now, Powerset queries Wikipedia only, rumors are circulating that investment bank Allen & Co. is shopping the emerging natural language search engine to potential buyers that might even include Microsoft, which decided to drop its recent attempt to take over Yahoo.

Texas is investigating Amazon.com to see whether the online retailer may owe four years of back sales tax for purchases made by customers in the state, but Amazon claims it has fully complied with the law.

At issue is a distribution facility located in Irving, Texas that the retailer has operated since 2006. Before 2006, Amazon utilized a third party to fulfill orders in the state. The Texas Comptroller's Office is looking into whether the Irving location means Amazon has a physical presence in the state.

Microsoft will now allow for a group of Live Messenger chat participants to watch a video at the same time.

Social video sharing is nothing new, but through a messenger client it is. While users won't be able to stream their own videos yet -- likely due to bandwidth issues as well as copyright concerns -- it certainly is a start.

Despite a complete revamp of its Zune portable media player last October and a new software update that brings TV downloads, sales of Microsoft's iPod rival have yet to increase.

In the two years since the device's launch, two million Zunes have reached customers. Although it took Apple's iPod more than two years to reach that same milestone, the industry has changed quite a bit. Apple dominates the market with a 71% share, and has sold 140 million iPods since the iconic player debuted in 2001.

Although a big WiMAX deal brought some good news to Sprint Nextel last week, the beleaguered wireless provider sounded a less happy note today, reporting the loss of about one million additional subscribers last quarter, along with a $505 million drop in revenue.

The number of subscribers for Sprint's current 3G services fell to 52.8 million for the first quarter of 2008, down from 53.6 million during the same period a year ago.

The persistent battle against junk e-mail is already difficult, with 95% of messages sent being spam, but a vulnerability in Gmail could inadvertently worsen the problem until fixed.

The Information Security Research Team (INSERT) has helped to uncover a security flaw that transforms Google's popular Gmail service into a spam machine by turning the Google SMTP servers into open SMTP replays.

EarthLink attempted to give Philadelphia a deadline of last Thursday to hand over control of its municipal wireless network in order to shut it down gracefully, however the city has so far pushed back the effort.

Wireless Philadelphia, the non-profit group tasked with management of the network, said that the service continues to operate across the city. It argues that EarthLink has no right to set any type of deadline for a handover, or shut the network off.

27-year Microsoft veteran Jeff Raikes, who heads the company's Office and business software division, is leaving to become CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the organization announced Monday.

Raikes will take the reigns from Patty Stonesifer, also a former Microsoft executive, who has served as CEO for the foundation since its inception in 1997. Stonesifer said in February that she planned to step aside by the end of the year. Raikes will begin full-time work for the Gates Foundation in September.

Microsoft announced on Friday that it has filed an appeal with the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg, contesting the antitrust fine demanded by the European Commision in February.

The landmark 899 million euro fine was the culmination of the European Commission's 2004 decision to require Microsoft to change its practices for the sake of fair competition in the EU. The Commission previously fined Microsoft €497 million for bundling Media Player into Windows, and not providing adequate Windows protocol interoperability information to open source developers.

An issue with how the Service Pack 3 update handles AMD chips will cause some Windows XP computers to continuously reboot. Microsoft says it is investigating, and provided removal instructions for those having problems.

The issues come in two forms: The first affects some systems with AMD chips and OEM XP images, while the other seems to affect certain AMD motherboards. Microsoft is looking into the problem and said it will advise when it has a solution.

RIM's just unveiled iPhone competitor, the BlackBerry Bold, looks likely to be available on multiple 3G wireless networks in each of many world markets, a prospect that could potentially impact Apple's policy of setting up exclusive relationships for its own device with carriers such as AT&T for the US and O2 for the UK.

Offering support for high-speed 3G networks, Wi-Fi (802.11/a/b/g), and integrated GPS, the BlackBerry Bold features a glossy metallic look. It also provides much more memory than RIM's current BlackBerry Curve model with 1GB built in. With the Bold, RIM is matching the screen resolution, but not the screen size, of the iPhone.

Many signs have long pointed to a 3G iPhone launch next month, and the speculation grew even louder over the weekend as Apple stopped selling the current 8GB and 16GB models from its online store.

The iPhone becoming "Currently Unavailable" from Apple followed UK wireless carrier O2 posting a message saying that it was temporarily no longer offering the device either. However, O2 later put back on sale the 16GB iPhone without further explanation.