Microsoft on Thursday announced plans for its 2007 MVP Global Summit, its annual meeting of Microsoft enthusiasts and developers that the company has placed a "most valuable professional" tag on. This year the company plans to recognize some of the over 2,000 MVPs who helped the company get Windows Vista, its first major operating system upgrade in five years, out the door.

This year's summit will take place from March 12 to 15 at both the Washington State Convention and Trade Center and on Microsoft's main campus in Redmond. The keynote speaker would be Microsoft chairman Bill Gates. "The MVPs serve as an inspiration, sharing their expertise and passion for technology communities with an unyielding drive to help others," MVP program head Sean O'Driscoll said.

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Through a two-year partnership with the British Film Institute, HP will assist the organization in creating a digital archive of more than 300 films and television shows. When it opens in March, the Mediatheque at BFI Southbank will have a catalog of films and videos spanning more than a century, it said. Another reason for the move is to digitize content to ensure it is preserved.

About 30 titles per month would be added to the digital archive, officals say. However, the groups will likely only put a small dent into the center's vast library, which includes some 230,000 films and 675,000 television programs - the biggest in the world.

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While an agreement reached between Apple and Cisco over the use of the iPhone trademark allows both companies to continue to use it, Cisco spokespersons have been non-specific this morning with regard to whether its Linksys division will continue to use "iPhone" with regard to its VoIP products.

Last December, just weeks ahead of Apple's iPhone announcement at Macworld -- which was easily the worst kept secret in consumer electronics -- Linksys re-christened some of its voice-over-IP products that had carried the CIT and WIP model numbers as "iPhone." Linksys claims ownership of the iPhone trademark, having gained those rights through an acquisition of original trademark older Infogear in 2000.

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Verizon said Thursday it had penned an agreement with Revver, the user-generated video site that pays its users to submit content. Videos would be made available through the telecommunications company's broadband service by the end of March, and on FiOS TV by the end of this year.

Revver already had signed a similar deal with sister company Verizon Wireless in November of last year.

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Although it has repeatedly denied it has any intention of taking on Microsoft Office, Google on Thursday introduced Google Apps Premier Edition, a fee-based version of its free Web-based word processing and spreadsheet applications for businesses.

For a $50 yearly fee per account, customers will receive the entire Google Apps package with additional business centric features, plus access to APIs, conference room scheduling for calendar, 10GB of e-mail storage, extended phone support, and mobile access to e-mail on BlackBerry devices.

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Charter has apparently implemented a feature that is similar to that which both VeriSign and EarthLink have instituted in the past to redirect unused domains to a company-produced page with advertising, its customers report.

According to users of the Web site broadbandreports.com, customers are sent to a search page that includes several advertisements across the top half of the page, with a search results page powered by Yahoo! Search.

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A seemingly simple case regarding whether Microsoft had the right to replicate speech recognition software it had licensed -- or rather, thought it had licensed -- from AT&T, and then sell that software abroad as a component of Windows Vista, has exploded into what is now extremely likely to become a landmark case in US patent and copyright law.

The US Supreme Court today took up oral arguments in Microsoft's appeal of a judgment against it in AT&T v. Microsoft, which has now become Microsoft v. AT&T in view of the appeal.

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The Nintendo Wii continues to be a consumer favorite, according to sales data for January released by the NPD Group Wednesday. Meanwhile, the aging PlayStation 2 edged out the Xbox 360 for the number two spot.

Nintendo's next-generation console remains a big hit, selling some 436,000 units during the month in the United States, and had two titles in the top ten bestselling games. That number isn't too far off from its December sales -- traditionally the highest selling month -- when it sold some 604,000 units.

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Wednesday marked an unusual entrant into the mobile phone space: National Geographic. The organization launched what it calls the "Talk Abroad Travel Phone," which is designed for individuals circling the globe. But worldwide roaming doesn't come cheap at 90 cents per minute.

National Geographic joined up with Playa del Rey, Calif. company Cellular Abroad to provide the service that works across borders by picking up local cellular carriers in over 100 countries. The phone number will stay the same in all locations, and the handset utilizes GSM technology, which is prevalent throughout South America and Europe.

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An electronic petition of the UK Prime Minister’s office that garnered 1,414 signatures calling flatly for a ban on the use of digital rights management techniques in all digital content, was not as flatly - though quite clearly - rejected on Monday. A December report commissioned by Her Majesty’s Treasury may have prompted the rejection, having assessed the state of the global intellectual property system, and having acknowledged its fitness for purpose with “a qualified ‘yes.’”

Clearly taking a stand on behalf of content rights holders, the PM’s office stated, “Many content providers have been embedding access and management tools to protect their rights and, for example, prevent illegal copying. We believe that they should be able to continue to protect their content in this way. However, DRM does not only act as a policeman through technical protection measures, it also enables content companies to offer the consumer unprecedented choice in terms of how they consume content, and the corresponding price they wish to pay.”

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Microsoft on Wednesday published a list of the applications that have received either "Certified for Windows Vista" or "Works with Windows Vista" status. Of the 787 listed, 103 are Microsoft's own products, indicating few software developers have completed the logo process.

104 applications thus far have been deemed "Certified for Windows Vista," including a number from Trend Micro, ArcSoft, CyberLink and Corel's CoreDraw. Software from Adobe, Symantec, McAfee and other major vendors has yet to make the list, which Microsoft says will be updated each week. The small number of applications could be why Microsoft is offering to pay up to $1,000 to a third party certification company for software developers to test their programs.

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Former Dell CEO Kevin Rollins, who was ousted by the computer manufacturer's board at the end of January and replaced by company founder Michael Dell, won't leave empty handed: Rollins will receive a severance package that includes $5 million in cash over the next two years.

Along with dropping his CEO post, Rollins is set to leave Dell's board of directors on May 4; the separation agreement was signed last week, Dell said in a filing with the SEC. Rollins joined Dell in 1996 and was appointed CEO in July 2004. During his tenure, however, Dell was unable to retain its status as the leading PC manufacturer due to increased pressure from Hewlett-Packard.

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Skype on Wednesday introduced a new product called Skype Pro across Europe, which combines discounts on Skype hardware and products with free domestic calling and features.

The offering will be made available initially in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Portugal, Spain and the UK, with expansion worldwide later in the year.

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A flaw discovered in Google Desktop Search last year could have opened up users to the risk of having their personal data compromised. However, the issue was fixed within weeks of its discovery.

Google says that it had no evidence the vulnerability was ever exploited. According to a statement by Massachusetts-based Watchfire, the security firm that discovered the flaw, an attacker would be able to gain access to sensitive data, and in some cases full system control.

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Adobe is bringing its video editing tools online through multimedia storage site Photobucket, which would make them available for free. The application would be based on technologies used in Adobe's Premiere product, it said.

The San Jose, Calif. company plans to announce additional partnerships with other Web properties in the future. Adobe hopes that by using the free Web-based versions of its software, users would be enticed to upgrade to pay versions of its Photoshop and Premiere products.

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