UPDATED Less than a month after it reached a $30 million settlement with South Korean Internet portal Daum, Microsoft has been fined another $32 million by the country's Fair Trade Commission. The Korean FTC has also ordered Microsoft to unbundle its instant messaging client and media player from Windows, and link to competing software.

Daum and RealNetworks had previously complained to the country's antitrust watchdog in 2001 about the bundling. Although both companies have recently settled with Microsoft and dropped their claims, the KFTC said it would continue its investigation.

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Sun on Tuesday ushered in a new era for the company by introducing a line of servers using its UltraSparc T1 processor, code-named Niagara. Rather than focusing on megahertz, Sun says, developers instead looked to pack more throughput onto each piece of silicon.

The first two servers to use the Niagara chip will be the SunFire T1000 and T2000 servers, introduced at the company's quarterly launch event in New York on Tuesday.

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Seven large radio conglomerates said on Tuesday that they had forged a strategic partnership aimed at accelerating the development and deployment of HD Digital Radio. Called the HD Digital Radio Alliance, the charter members will include Bonneville, Citadel, Clear Channel, Cumulus, Emmis, Entercom, Greater Media and Infinity.

The organization will help coordinate the rollout of the technology, as well as work to encourage adoption by automobile manufacturers. The companies also plan to help make the technology affordable, and aid in the marketing of HD digital radio products.

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Those eager to get a taste of the next Internet Explorer release with tabs and RSS support only need to wait a couple more months. A public beta of IE7 for Windows XP is slated to arrive in the first quarter of 2006, IE team head Dean Hachamovitch confirmed on Tuesday.

It's not clear if the public pre-release will be branded Beta 2; however, it does coincide with the expected Beta 2 launch of Windows Vista, which will also be open to the public. "We want to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to try a pre-release version of IE7 and tell us how it works with their web sites, their applications, their add-ons, and how they use the web overall," said Hachamovitch.

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After a year in beta testing, the update to Windows Server 2003 known as "R2" has been released to manufacturing, Microsoft senior vice president Bob Muglia announced in a webcast Tuesday morning. R2 will serve as an interim release between Windows Server 2003 SP1 and Longhorn Server, due in 2007.

R2 delivers many enhancements and several new components that Microsoft says customers have asked for since the operating system was released in April of 2003. However, the core of Windows Server 2003 SP1 has remained unchanged to facilitate faster deployment.

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Cingular on Tuesday introduced its answer to Verizon and Sprint's wireless broadband offerings by launching BroadbandConnect, the first HSDPA-based 3G cellular data network in the United States. The service will initially be available in 16 major metropolitan areas, with plans to expand the network rapidly in 2006.

The first cities to receive Cingular BroadbandConnect will be Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Portland, Ore., Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Calif., Seattle/Tacoma, and Washington D.C..

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UPDATED After filing suit against Zone Labs last week for alleged damage to its business, adware provider 180solutions has come under fire from all angles. The company has also been accused of letting partners slip its ad software onto users' PCs through illegal crack and porn sites. Now, 180 is promising to clean up its act.

On Tuesday, 180solutions announced it was ending the distribution of 180search Assistant and releasing Seekmo Search Assistant instead, which it says includes technologies to help reduce the number of unauthorized installations. Asserting its innocence, 180 claims its partners are the ones trying to defraud end-users.

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The fight between Sharman Networks, the owner of the Kazaa peer-to-peer service, and the Australian music industry intensified on Tuesday.

The record industry accused Sharman of failing to comply with a September mandate that it install filters to weed out copyrighted content. In turn, Sharman accused the record industry of attempting to sidestep the decision and have the service shut down altogether, which was not part of the ruling.

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Time Warner and Microsoft are close to an agreement on an advertising pact that would create a service similar to Google's AdWords program, sources close to negotiations told the Wall Street Journal Tuesday. However, there still is a chance talks could break down and AOL could opt to strengthen preexisting ties with Google.

The deal would ostensible combine the advertising departments of MSN and AOL's new portal business. An agreement is expected close to Christmas.

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Microsoft on Tuesday delivered the final release of MSCRM 3.0, which now falls under the company's new Dynamics line of business applications. The update replaces version 1.6 as Microsoft's solution to compete with more established CRM vendors including Oracle, Siebel Systems and SAP.

Dynamics CRM 3.0 comes in two flavors -- Professional and Small Business Edition -- and prices range from $440 to $1,761 USD. Microsoft has retooled the software so it closely integrates with Outlook and Office application interfaces. The release also brings Web access, and Microsoft will also offer a subscription-based hosted CRM service beginning January 1.

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Apple has beefed up its video downloads on iTunes through a deal with NBC Universal. The agreement brings 11 TV shows from NBC, USA Network and the Sci-Fi Channel, which include current primetime hits as well as classics such as 'Dragnet' and 'Knight Rider.'

iTunes now offers more than 300 different episodes for download across 16 television programs. Each show costs $1.99 and can be viewed on a PC or the new fifth-generation iPod, which can output to a TV.

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Nikon has expanded a battery recall for its high-end digital SLR D100, D70, and D50 cameras. In the initial announcement made last month, Nikon had omitted batteries distributed outside of the U.S. The voluntary recall stems from reports of the EN-EL3 battery short-circuiting and possibly melting.

"There have only been four confirmed reports of incidents of the problem worldwide, and while no injuries have taken place, Nikon Inc. has initiated this recall of the affected lot numbers as a reflection of its commitment to safety and product quality," the company said. A full list of affected part numbers and a replacement request form is available on Nikon's Web site.

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Three months after Vonage became the first Internet telephony provider to hit the 1 million subscriber mark, cable giant Time Warner has hit the milestone as well -- in a much shorter period. The company signed up 146,000 users in October and November alone.

Time Warner Cable's blazing entrance into the VoIP market has been aided by its cable markets across 27 states. The company offers the phone service in a "triple-play package" with TV and broadband Internet. Unlimited local and long distance calls run $39.95 USD per month, with E911 service provided at no extra charge to all customers.

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Tooltips, those little yellow popup boxes that provide information on a button or menu option, have become an indispensable part of the modern user interface. Now, Microsoft is looking to extend their usefulness by introducing what it calls "Super Tooltips" in the upcoming release of Office 12.

The next-generation Office suite from Microsoft is already slated to bring a major UI makeover. Standard toolbars have been replaced with task-oriented "Ribbons" that include features pertinent to the current job. But such a change will require a learning curve, which is where the new larger tooltips come in.

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Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich publicly expressed his frustration with a U.S. District Court ruling that struck down a new state law banning the sale of graphic video games to minors, and has vowed to appeal the decision.

Supporters of the ban argue that children are harmed by the exposure to such games and say something should be done so parents do not have to be concerned about their children purchasing video games with questionable material without permission.

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