- Microsoft and Brussels have started a new round of talks over a potential settlement of the software company’s antitrust travails in Europe. The resumption of what one person close to the situation described as the “on again, off again” discussions comes as the regulators move closer to imposing stringent penalties on Microsoft over its practice of “bundling” its Internet Explorer browser with the Windows operating system.
- Facebook showed off the power of its Connect service today, as about 1m of its users logged into sites like CNN, ABC and MTV to chat about the Michael Jackson memorial service. Some members were wallflowers, but others were chatty, posting upwards of 800,000 status updates through the partner sites. Twitter, no doubt, also experienced a boost during the memorial service, but Facebook clearly proved that it, too, could be a prominent forum for public discussion.
- Record labels and internet radio stations in the US declared an end to a two-year battle over royalties that the online services had said threatened their existence. SoundExchange, a non-profit performing rights organisation representing artists and labels, said “innovative, experimental new terms” had been agreed with “pureplay” commercial webcasters, typified by the Pandora music service.
- Telefónica announced a deal to be the exclusive mobile phone network in four European countries for the much-anticipated Palm Pre, the handset widely seen as the most significant challenger to Apple’s iPhone. The deal is a coup for Spain’s leading telecoms group, which beat off interest in the Pre from European rivals such as Vodafone.
- Sony entered the already-crowded netbook market with the introduction of the Vaio W, a 10.1 inch notebook it will sell for about $500. While most netbooks cost between $300 – $400, Sony is hoping to justify the higher price by giving the Vaio W a higher resolution screen, better WiFi and a separate memory stick slot in addition to the standard SD slot.
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