The FCC said Thursday that it had set May 10 as the date it would begin to sell airwaves that communications providers could use to provide advanced services to airline passengers. The frequencies would come from the phones in the back of airline seats, currently operated by Verizon. The airline industry says cheaper on-board telephones could result from the auction, or other wireless services could make use of the bandwidth.

Verizon plans to bid for the frequencies in the auction, which it says would take approximately one year to convert for use in wireless broadband. Other carriers, such as Cingular, have not commented whether they plan to bid. Also being considered by the FCC are plans to allow wireless phone use on planes. However, FAA approval would also be needed, and the agency has remained against such a change in policy.

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A $1.1 billion settlement against Microsoft was allowed to proceed earlier this week after a California appeals court dismissed a challenge by a plaintiff in the case. Under the settlement, a third of the unclaimed vouchers would be returned to Microsoft, while the rest would be given to California schools.

The original ruling was handed down by a San Francisco Superior Court in July 2003, and found Microsoft guilty of overcharging California consumers for its Windows operating system. Vouchers ranging from $5 to $29 were to be distributed among those who made a claim.

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Not long after making available a mobile version of Gmail, Google has launched a version of its personalized homepage for cell phones. Users can customize the page with content they select and view it wherever they go. The interface will automatically adjust depending on the screen size.

"We've designed a way for you to view the things that you really care about, from your Gmail inbox to news headlines, weather, stock quotes, and feeds (Atom or RSS)," said Google software engineer Abhijit Kalamkar. The mobile Web browser or phone must support XHTML in order to access the homepage.

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Microsoft has tapped open source advocate and Web 2.0 evangelist Tim O'Reilly to join Bill Gates in kicking off its first MIX conference in March. As previously reported, MIX is designed to showcase the company's renewed investment in the Web through development of new technologies and programs.

Windows Live, Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Vista will all play a central role in the conference, which is targeted at both the entrepreneurs, or strategic thinkers, and the "implementers" -- a group that includes developers and designers.

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Following in the footsteps of rivals Kodak and Canon, Nikon said it will scale back production of film cameras and cease making five of the seven models currently available. The moves come as the camera industry shifts its focus on a growing digital photography market.

Nikon will also cease production of lenses and accessories for traditional cameras, the company said in a statement on its Web site. "This also applies to most of our film camera bodies, interchangeable manual focus lenses and related accessories." Nikon expects film-related products to sell out completely by this summer.

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Mozilla on Thursday launched version 1.5 of its popular Thunderbird e-mail client. The release focuses on improving spam filtering technology, easing the software upgrade process, enhancing RSS and podcasting support, and improving overall productivity.

Since its inception in December of 2004, Thunderbird has been downloaded nearly 18 million times. The company says that this version is the result of feedback received from users over the past year.

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Three out of every four adults are now registered on the Federal Trade Commission's Do-Not-Call list, with a large majority saying they have seen a noticeable decrease in telemarketing calls. From January 2004 to the present, the number of adults registered climbed from 57 to 76 percent, a Harris Poll indicated.

18 percent of these registrants say they have received no calls since registration, with a majority, 61 percent, saying they receive far fewer calls. Only 7 percent say they either receive the same or more telemarketing calls since adding their names to the list.

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To celebrate the first birthday of the Google Mini, a search appliance designed for small to medium-sized businesses, Google on Thursday announced two larger capacity systems designed to meet the growing search needs of its customers.

"We've been delighted – even a bit overwhelmed – with its success," the company said in a statement announcing the new systems' availability. "Thousands of Google Minis now search websites and intranets all over the world. And they continue to find more and more content for customers everyday."

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Normally held on separate weeks to allow interested parties to attend both conferences, Macworld and the Consumer Electronics Show will start on January 8, 2007 and run for the better part of the week. Both CES and IDG, which runs Macworld, say the overlap is a result of a lack of available open dates at the venues where the events are held.

Both halls host dozens of conventions each year, and organizers must account for the amount of time it takes to assemble and tear down each convention, as well as holding the actual event itself. "The Las Vegas Convention Center and Moscone Center in San Francisco have busy schedules and available dates are determined by hall demand," the Dow Jones NewsWire reported Thursday.

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IBM, Toshiba and Sony on Wednesday announced that they had struck a five-year deal to continue developing the Cell microprocessor. The three had spent about $400 million over the past five years to build the first chip, which was used in the PlayStation 3, due out later this year. Plans are to look into ways of using the technology in televisions, audio equipment and in other video game consoles.

The next phase of the partnership will focus on technology to produce the Cell chip at 32 nanometers and smaller, the companies said. "By extending this relationship to the next-generation of process technologies and deepening our partnership at the research level, we expect to increase the pace of development for major technology advances," IBM semiconductor research vice president Lisa Su said in a statement. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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Research in Motion said Thursday that it had reached a deal with Google to bring the company's Google Talk and Google Local products to BlackBerry handhelds. The first devices with the capability built-in will appear in the spring.

Those who don't want to wait may download the applications as an upgrade to current BlackBerry models at no charge, the company said.

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Symantec is cleaning up a feature in Norton SystemWorks that uses a rootkit-like technique to hide a system folder from Windows. The technology works similar to Sony BMG's controversial rootkit DRM in the way it masks files and makes them invisible to the operating system.

The Norton Protected Recycle Bin feature adds a directory called NProtect, which stores temporary copies of files that users delete. The idea was to supplement the standard Windows Recycle Bin and enable users to recover files they removed accidentally.

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The Federal Trade Commission has filed an amicus brief in opposition of the proposed Netflix class action settlement. The company was sued for advertising "unlimited" DVD rentals and "one day delivery" when it couldn't guarantee either. The FTC says the settlement is not beneficial to consumers.

As previously reported, Netflix agreed to provide customers with a one-month service level upgrade free of charge. This means that Netflix users subscribed to the 3 DVDs at-a-time program will be upgraded to 4 DVDs at-a-time for one month. After the free month, customers must remember to downgrade their service manually or face higher fees.

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Despite pledging its support for Apple's platform, Microsoft has backed out of future releases of Windows Media Player for Mac, and the company's Web site now directs visitors to download a third-party application from developer Flip4Mac.

Flip4Mac develops Windows Media Components for QuickTime, an add-in for Apple's multimedia player. According to press release on its Web site, it appears as if the Windows Media division at Microsoft has given the company its full blessing to become the standard-bearer for Mac-based Windows Media playback.

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Some enterprising techies from New Jersey have apparently decided that if Apple won't build their own Macintosh tablet, they will. Using parts from the latest iBook laptops from the Cupertino company, the group plans to build 100 "iTablets" and sell them through eBay.

The first of these devices went on sale Wednesday, with a starting bid price of $1,500 USD. As of Wednesday afternoon Eastern Time, the device had not received any bids.

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