As expected, Disney announced Wednesday at CTIA Wireless in Las Vegas plans to launch its own cellular service in June utilizing Sprint Nextel's network. The company would sell phones with GPS functionality that would enable parents to locate their children using their cellphone or the Internet.

Disney Mobile will target the growing "tween" segment of the market, which covers children between the ages of 8 and 12. Two phones will be offered initially with features such as built-in cameras, text messaging, ring tones and exclusive Disney content for kids and their parents. Parents will be able to control how much their kids can talk, and give priority to family messages and phone numbers.

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AT CTIA WIRELESS MSNBC is expected to announce Wednesday a new application for Windows Mobile devices that would allow users of the Web site to access news and video content from PDAs and smartphones. Using technology from mobile application firm Action Engine, the service breaks new ground in the mobile delivery of news content.

The service will be provided free of charge through an innovative advertising model developed by both MSNBC and Action Engine. The two companies researched extensively on how to best deliver ads in a way that wouldn't scare off the consumer, and have settled on banner and video ads within the application

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Hoping to improve its online security offerings, McAfee on Wednesday announced that it had acquired SiteAdvisor. The Boston, Mass. based company maintains a database of Web sites that it tests for spyware, adware, spam, browser attacks, and online scams.

Each site is rated by a green, yellow or red icon based on those tests. McAfee says the acquisition would give an unprecedented level of security for those surfing the Internet when combined with the company's other products.

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Creative disclosed Wednesday that it expected to report a loss for the quarter ending March 31, which it blamed on falling prices of flash memory. The Singapore-based electronics marker will post a loss of between $55 to 65 million on revenue of $220 to 230 million. The company said the loss figures did not include a non-cash impairment charge of $25 million and $9 million to refocus its graphics business during the quarter.

Creative has struggled to stay competitive with Apple in digital media, and that has taken a toll on the company's bottom line, say analysts. "The sharp drop in memory prices had a significant negative impact on sales in March and resulted in lower revenues and gross margins and inventory write-downs in the period," Creative said in a statement.

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Hewlett-Packard and Cingular announced a deal on Wednesday to integrate the wireless carrier's Broadband Connect service into future HP laptops. The computer manufacturer previously signed a similar deal with Verizon for its EV-DO network. The feature will enable users to connect to the high-speed wireless service without an extra PC card.

Cingular's UMTS/HSDPA network offers download speeds of between 400-700 kilobits per second, with bursts to 1 megabit. BroadbandConnect is currently available in 16 markets covering 52 cities, and Cingular says it expects to cover most of the United States by the end of the year. HP isn't the only PC maker looking to integrate 3G support into notebooks; Sony and Lenovo plan such functionality as well.

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In a stunning move, Apple on Wednesday officially sanctioned the running of the Windows XP operating system on Intel-based Macs through the release of a software package. Called Boot Camp, the 86MB beta product provides a dual-boot sequence and the drivers necessary to run Windows.

"Apple has no desire or plan to sell or support Windows, but many customers have expressed their interest to run Windows on Apple's superior hardware now that we use Intel processors," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing.

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Web analytics firm Net Applications announced Monday that the open source Firefox browser has finally passed 10 percent market share, according to the firm's statistics for March. The 10.05 percent usage was up from 9.75 percent in February. Microsoft's Internet Explorer still holds a commanding lead with 84.7 percent of the market, Net Applications said.

However, according to another analytics firm, Firefox had already surpassed 10 percent market share last November. OneStat.com reported at the time that Mozilla browsers had reached 11.51 percent usage globally based on a sample of two million users from 100 companies.

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New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer is on the offensive once again, this time targeting Internet pop-up advertising company Direct Revenue LLC. The firm is being accused of illegally installing spyware on consumers' machines, and then causing the infected computers to show pop-up advertising through the program.

Direct Revenue reportedly bundled adware downloads such as VX2, Aurora and OfferOptimizer with games, browsers and other free software through third party distributors. Spitzer said these "drive-by downloads" were installed simply by visiting a malicious Web site, and enabled the company to monitor a user's Web activity and make pop-up ads appear.

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Microsoft on Tuesday made available through OEMs Windows Storage Server 2003 R2, a special version of the company's operating system optimized for file and print servers that comes with the Microsoft Distributed File System. The new release brings 64-bit support and other advanced management features that shipped in Windows Server 2003 R2.

Dell, IBM, HP and Fujitsu are among those OEMs who have deployed Windows Storage Server in their devices. Microsoft also announced on Tuesday support in R2 for the iSCSI standard, which was co-developed by the Redmond company and IBM. The technology will allow for software-enabled Storage Area Network (SAN) booting of Windows Server 2003.

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MobiTV said Tuesday that it had partnered with Microsoft to bring its service to Windows Mobile based devices, as well as Windows XP computers. The company will use Microsoft's digital rights management and codecs along with Windows Media Player to deliver its content.

The selection of Microsoft technologies would allow the service to deliver high-quality video content to smartphones, MobiTV said. Also, the company noted the decision was influenced by demand for support of the platform by its customers.

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Sony delivered its first Walkman MP3 players of 2006 on Tuesday with the introduction of new flash memory-based players for the European market. The players come in six different colors, and can offer three hours of battery life after three minutes of charging through special quick-charge technology.

The E Series Walkman players will come in three sizes: 512MB, 1GB and 2GB. All will be able to play MP3 and unsecured WMAs, as well as Sony's proprietary ATRAC format. The players would connect directly to the computer via an attached USB port.

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Media search company blinkx bolstered its arsenal of searchable video content Tuesday, inking a deal with MTV Networks to add programming from CMT, COMEDY CENTRAL, Logo, MTV and VH1 television channels. Users can pull up through blinkx shows such as VH1's "Web Junk 20," MTV's "Real World" and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."

"This agreement represents another step forward in making culturally relevant programming even more accessible on the Web, allowing audiences to find and watch inspiring entertainment as well as create their own at www.blinkx.tv's site," said Suranga Chandratillake, blinkx founder and CTO. blinkx had previously signed content deals with NBC, ABC and HBO. Video content is streamed in Windows Media 9 format.

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Microsoft said Tuesday it would expand its line of mice to include more affordable models with its proprietary High Definition technology built in. High Definition will improve mouse responsiveness, precision and make for smoother tracking, the company claims.

The first mouse to be released would be a re-launch of Microsoft's popular Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse. The new version would include the new technology, as well as feature a smaller receiver than its predecessor, making it easier to store away. The laptop mouse would retail for $29.95 USD.

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Apple's iTunes Music Store entered a new era on Tuesday, making available for pre-order tickets to the Red Hot Chili Peppers' North American tour. The tickets will be sold alongside a new double album entitled "Stadium Arcadium," which goes on sale May 9. Users will receive a code with the album purchase that can be used to buy tickets before they go on sale to the general public.

Apple joined up with Ticketmaster for the offering, and has priced the album at $19.90 USD. Exclusive videos and an audio interview will be made available to customers alongside the music tracks. Last month, Warner Music released the entire Red Hot Chili Peppers archive -- complete with unreleased tracks -- exclusively on iTunes.

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Virgin Mobile said that it had accepted a takeover offer from British cable provider NTL on Tuesday, which would create a telecommunications powerhouse combining high-speed Internet, mobile and landline phone service, and cable television. The company would use the Virgin brand name under a 30-year licensing deal.

NTL paid 962.4 million pounds ($1.67B USD) for Virgin Mobile after a four-month pursuit of the cellular service provider. NTL previously offered 817 million pounds ($1.4B USD) for the company, however shareholders rejected the deal. Virgin Mobile would continue to be based in the U.K., NTL said.

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