In an online advertising and cable TV entertainment deal of sweeping proportions, Microsoft and Viacom will be teaming up with each other on both the Web as well as on Viacom's broadband network for at least five years.

Although the two companies have declined to disclose specific financial terms, Microsoft officials are projecting a base value of about $500 million in financial considerations and business services over the first five years of the pact, including revenue sharing provisions, guarantees, and content licensing agreements.

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We won't know exactly what bidders plan to spend for a lucrative chunk of spectrum upon which to build new wireless services, but we do know who the bidders are. And at least for now, there are a few surprises.

Thus far, the preliminary list of bidders in the US Federal Communications Commission's 700 MHz auction is a veritable cavalcade of small telecom companies, plus small and large companies alike looking to become telecom companies. Google Airwaves, Inc. is the least surprising, and perhaps most spotlighted member of the group thus far.

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The social networking site settled a suit that claimed it was sending out text messages to the former cellular phone numbers of Facebook users.

Lindsey Abrams of Patriot, Ind. claimed that she was receiving texts from the service, some with explicit content, and was being charged 10 cents each time. Facebook was said to receive a portion of that fee.

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DivX has announced that Sony's PS3 -- like Microsoft's Xbox 360 -- will now support the company's video format with the 2.10 firmware update, but who will use it?

While not fully certified, DivX says it expects Sony to give the PS3 console a full certification in the future.

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Already a partner with IBM and Sony in the development and production of the Cell BE processor that powers the PS3, Toshiba this morning stated it's joining IBM and its partners on HK+MG. But IBM says this is a different track.

Last week, IBM unveiled an expanded industry alliance that includes CPU manufacturer AMD, Chartered, Freescale, Infineon, Samsung, and new partner STMicroelectronics. Their objective is to pool their resources to make 32 nm CMOS chip production viable, using the high-k-plus-metal-gate technology that IBM raced against arch-rival to discover.

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In the latest of a long string of rumors surrounding Digg, some financial publications and bloggers are speculating that the online community is placing itself on the shopping block.

This morning, financial publications and bloggers including VentureBeat were speculating that the online community is placing itself on the shopping block. It has apparently hired Allen & Co., an investment bank specializing in media deals, to cook up an offer.

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ESPN, CBS, and Fox will be bringing full-length NCAA football bowl games to Verizon Wireless VCAST TV this month and next. Now fans can argue over who's really #1 on their small screens just as easily as on the big ones.

This morning, Verizon Wireless announced they will be providing access to college bowl games televised by ESPN Mobile TV, CBS Mobile and Fox Mobile Stations to V CAST TV, starting later this month.

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The FCC has approved the new LG smartphone, the KS20. This sleek handset takes its cues from LG's KE850 Prada phone, sharing a very similar design, but offering functionality over flash (no pun intended.)

Instead of running the KS20 on Prada's Macromedia flash-based UI, LG has equipped it with Windows Mobile 6, putting it in competition in the US with touch-screen devices from other companies, like HTC's popular Touch Dual.

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The head of a lucrative local phone venture conceived with Sprint's blessing, who once topped the ranks of AT&T, is returning to the fold to lead Sprint out of the roughest patch in its short history.

Dan Hesse, the former CEO of the original AT&T Wireless division, and who later helped Sprint to form a local phone operator that would be spun off to compete against it, has been tapped to return as Sprint Nextel's next CEO, replacing Gary Forsee.

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A small, Silicon Valley-based start-up with an AT&T heritage is now working side-by-side big partners such as Salesforce.com and Adobe in an effort to revolutionize voice calls as we know them today.

Dubbing itself "the Silicon Valley's first phone company," a small start-up named Ribbit has launched a beta test of Adobe Flash-based software aimed at cutting the time and expense around so-called "unified communications." Its objective is to enable people with only light programming skills to quickly build voice applications that will work across Skype VOIP, multi-carrier cell phones, instant messagines, and Wi-Fi calls.

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UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown had the unfortunate task Monday of disclosing yet another incident of data loss, this time on drivers with the British equivalent of a learner's permit.

Included in the data were names, addresses and other personal identification items. This time, however, no banking or credit card information was included.

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Apple's hardball tactics on revenue sharing seem to be a sticking point with both companies, although moving into the market is extremely important for the iPhone's success.

With 100 million cellular phone customers and the Japanese consumer's penchant for high-end and feature-heavy phones, Japan is a key market for the iPhone to break into.

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The publisher plans to follow up the best revenue year in its history with a major push for its Web services development environment, in an effort to shore up Flash's chances against Silverlight.

Adobe Systems Inc. is on a roll. In its quarterly conference call last night to announce record yearly revenues of $3.16 billion, Adobe officials said it plans to make available the commercial release of its emerging AIR Web development environment next year, along with other new products.

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Just days after it revealed its raincheck plan for its Wii console, Nintendo came clean about recent supply shortages causing the company a lot of trouble.

The Redmond, Washington gaming company seems to have been grossly unprepared for the heavy demand its Wii console has generated among consumers. In turn, those supply issues are causing headaches among executives trying to plan the Wii's future.

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Satellite radio company XM's fight against the Recording Industry Association of America over receivers with the ability to record content may finally be coming to a close.

This morning, Universal Music Group becomes the first RIAA member involved with this ongoing lawsuit to have reached a multi-year agreement with XM, making its music available for recording on current and future hardware. Further, UMG withdrew itself from the RIAA's complaint against XM.

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