Despite rumored talks between the company and Microsoft, 24/7 Real Media was acquired Thursday by UK ad agency WPP Group for about $649 million. The move further consolidates the growing online ad market. Last month, Google acquired DoubleClick while Yahoo picked up Right Media.

A report last month claimed Microsoft was considering making a $1 billion offer for 24/7 after the company put itself up for sale in April. WPP says it will retain 24/7's management and use the company to expand its geographic presence. "The transaction further validates the importance of emerging, digital media to the global advertising market," remarked 24/7 CEO David Moore.

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LOS ANGELES - Over the past two years, tracking the official status of Windows PowerShell with respect to Windows Server has been, to put it delicately, a juggling exercise. During PDC 2005, for instance, reporters were given official indications from two Microsoft sources that the radically enhanced command line-based management tool would be shipped with the next edition of Windows Server, and would not be shipped with Windows Server, on the same day.

So when recent statements were made by Microsoft officials that PowerShell would be shipped with Windows Server 2008 and included with the new public Beta 3, our initial reaction was preceded by the phrase, "Yeah, right." Although the tool is freely available for download and it has been received by veteran admins with open arms, whether it gets shipped with the operating system itself is actually a more important matter than it may seem on the surface.

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LOS ANGELES - Much of the talk among reporters and analysts here at WinHEC concerns oft-repeated claims emerging from AMD last week concerning preliminary estimates of the relative speed of its new "Barcelona" server processor generation, especially compared to Intel equipment.

Multiple sources have quoted slightly different variations on the claims they'd heard from headquarters, so this afternoon, during an interview ostensibly about hardware-based virtualization (more on that later), BetaNews sought to clarify the claim.

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LOS ANGELES - During this morning keynote sessions at WinHEC 2007, Microsoft general manager for Windows Server Bill Laing officially proclaimed Windows Server 2008 "the last 32-bit operating system" the company will ever release, for either servers or clients.

"We're in the middle of a transition to 64-bit computing," Laing told this morning's audience. It was inevitable that this would happen, he went on, but now's as good a time as any given the fact that memory prices are continuing to fall. Historically the transitions to 16-bit and 32-bit computing were difficult to make, he said - perhaps he could have called them excruciating. "But once we get through it, you look back and realize all the benefits, and realize it was the right thing for the industry.

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In a move that is sure to alienate Google traditionalists, the search company unveiled the biggest change ever to its homepage Wednesday, making a push toward what it calls "a universal search model." Believe it or not, the idea started with Britney Spears.

Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products and user experience, introduced the new design and search results page at the company's Searchology media event. The idea is simple: instead of having separate search results pages for the Web, images, news and more, the top results from each category are combined onto a single page.

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Sun Microsystems Chief Executive Jonathan Schwartz has some advice for Microsoft following its claim that open source software violates 235 patents held by the Redmond company. "You would be wise to listen to the customers you're threatening to sue - they can leave you, especially if you give them motivation," he says.

"No amount of fear can stop the rise of free media, or free software (they are the same, after all). The community is vastly more innovative and powerful than a single company," Schwartz added. "Open standards and open source software are literally changing the face of the planet - creating opportunity wherever the network can reach. That's not a genie any litigator I know can put back in a bottle."

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Microsoft is beta testing a new tool called SharedView that enables colleagues to share documents or demonstrate an application over a network or the Internet. Up to 15 people can join a SharedView session, although only one application can be shared at a time - not a full desktop.

WebEx and other services don't need to be scared just yet, however, as the service does not offer true collaboration - individuals must request control from the person who initiated the session. Users can still participate without control as each has a special pointer that can be used to highlight and discuss areas of the screen. SharedView requires Internet Explorer and a Windows Live ID.

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The Wi-Fi Alliance said Wednesday that it had certified the first 802.11n Draft 2.0 products, along with releasing a redesigned logo that all certified products would be eligible to use. The certification program is set begin in late June, however the first products would act as reference designs for future products it said. The Alliance also said the program would end uncertainty as to whether current 802.11n products would be interoperable.

Included in the list of devices to serve as the basis for interoperability testing are three access points from Cisco, Marvell, and Ralink; routers from Atheros and Broadcom; cards from Atheros, Broadcom, and Marvell; and a chipset from Ralink. "This milestone means that consumers and business users alike can feel confident that the 802.11n products they buy will deliver the user experience they require," Wi-Fi Alliance managing director Frank Hanzlik said.

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Microsoft announced Wednesday that it would be changing the advanced notifications it sends out the Thursday before each Patch Tuesday, adding more details of the vulnerabilities that are scheduled to be patched. The company previously released limited information, saying it was protecting customers.

Now, instead of simply grouping security bulletins by product and listing the maximum severity rating, Microsoft will in advance publish the severity, impact of vulnerability, detection information and affected software for each bulletin. Because it's simply a subset of the full Tuesday bulletin, the advance notice will also be at the same URL. More detailed information is available from the Microsoft Security Response Center.

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Apple's stock plunged over two percent Wednesday after technology news blog Engadget posted an unsubstantiated rumor claiming that both the iPhone and Leopard had been delayed.

The precipitous drop began after managing editor Ryan Block posted information "on authority" saying Apple had delayed the iPhone until October, and Mac OS X Leopard a second time until January 2008.

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Beginning Sunday, Toshiba will be offering a $100 USD instant rebate on its entry-level HD DVD player for a period of one month, with the savings eventually being available on any player it sells.

The promotion will run from May 20 to June 16. For the entire period, the $100 instant rebate is applicable to the HD-A2 model, bringing the price down to $299.99 USD. During the final week, the rebate applies to any player.

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eBay has been criticized for its participation in the "rampant trade" of ivory on its site, with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) saying 90 percent of the listings on the site for elephant ivory it found violate the site's own wildlife policies. The group is pushing the auction site to ban the trade of ivory on its pages entirely, as the elephant is facing extinction due to continuing trade of the valuable material.

A survey was conducted in eight countries, including the UK, Australia, China, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Canada and the USA, which found over 2,200 listings. IFAW argues that sellers are being permitted to list items without much oversight. Furthermore, few of the illegal items reported to eBay by the IFAW were removed, it claimed. "In general it is illegal to sell carved or uncarved ivory unless it is antique and accompanied by a proof of age certificate," the IFAW says.

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US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is asking the US Congress to pass new intellectual property legislation that would stiffen penalties as well as criminalizing "attempted piracy."

Called the Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2007, the bill has several key provisions that aim to change how piracy is prosecuted. As mentioned previously, one change is the go-ahead for prosecutors to charge somebody who intends to commit piracy but does not complete the act.

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Warner Music Group has sued Imeem, claiming the social networking site is allowing its users to share content from the label without permission. The suit, filed in US District Court in Los Angeles, is asking for an injunction against the site as well as monetary damages.

Each instance of a music video or song owned by WMG could cost the site as much as $150,000 if the courts rule in favor of the label. Warner also claims Imeem has done little to prevent its users from sharing content and is actively participating in the infringement.

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LOS ANGELES - A video just shown here during the Day 2 morning keynote session at WinHEC showed Microsoft's "crack" server team working hard on the critical task of naming its new server operating system. After considering such candidates as "Windows Server Server Edition" and "I Can't Believe It's Not Windows NT," the team leader ends up tinkering with the name "Windows Server 2003" on the whiteboard, changing the "3" to an "8."

The message of the video was well-taken: Microsoft's taking itself a little less seriously now, coming to grips with its own legendary geekiness.

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