Tim Conneally

Microsoft Monday announced that it will be launching its "Multi-screen" Zune services in new international markets this fall. The expansion will bring the free Zune software version 4.7, Zune Marketplace with non-DRM MP3 and video downloads and movie rentals, and the Zune Pass subscription service to a total of 20 countries.

Only the UK and France will be open to all of these features, and the rest will vary between countries.

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This weekend, TechCrunch reported that popular social networking site Facebook was secretly creating its own branded mobile phone, and that executives Joe Hewitt and Matthew Papakipos were working on the project under the radar of most of Facebook's staff.

The report was quickly followed by a statement from Facebook denying the allegations:

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Thursday, the winners of the $10 million Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize were announced at a special ceremony at the Historical Society in Washington DC. The ten million dollar contest challenged 111 teams to create a clean, production-capable vehicle that could exceed 100 miles per gallon or its energy equivalent (MPGe).

The ten million dollar prize today was divided among three vehicle classes: $5 million for mainstream, and $2.5 million each for alternative side-by side, and alternative tandem.

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Windows Phone 7 is only a matter of weeks away, and Microsoft signified this by releasing the final version of the Windows Phone 7 Developer toolkit today.

This final version will let developers bring their applications up to speed for release in the Windows Phone Marketplace which will open in early October, and it also includes the Mobile Advertising SDK for app monetization, and the Bing Maps Control SDK for integrating Microsoft's mobile mapping data, as well as 'Metro' UI design control elements called Panorama (which stretches information out beyond the screen edges) and Pivot (which lets users arrange visual data in different ways.)

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Halo: Reach, the latest installment in Microsoft's wildly popular video game franchise, is proving to be the fastest-moving title in the series yet, Microsoft said on Wednesday.

In the first 24 hours that Halo: Reach has been available, it has pulled in more than $200 million in sales in the US and Europe, making it the fastest-selling game Microsoft has ever released.

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In addition to releasing the iOS 4.2 beta to registered Apple developers, Apple on Wednesday announced AirPrint wi-fi printing functionality that will be soon coming to consumers.

"AirPrint is Apple's powerful new printing architecture that matches the simplicity of iOS--no set up, no configuration, no printer drivers and no software to download," said Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, Philip Schiller in a statement Wednesday. "iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users can simply tap to print their documents or photos wirelessly to an HP ePrint printer or to a printer shared on a Mac or PC."

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Coinciding with Microsoft's launch of the Internet Explorer 9 beta, Adobe today rolled out a preview version of a new Flash Player it's calling "Square."

Because of the hot demand for a native 64-bit Flash Player, Square adds to the existent Linux 64-bit version by offering support for both Windows and Mac OS. Adobe says users of the previous 64-bit Flash Player for Linux will find this version to be faster and more reliable.

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Right on schedule, Microsoft has made the long-awaited Internet Explorer 9 beta available for download. The new version of Microsoft's popular browser offers support for the most cutting-edge Web technologies, a new look but familiar feel, and an overall faster browsing experience.

Much has been said about Internet Explorer's shift from leading browser innovation and market share, to playing second fiddle to Firefox. But Internet Explorer 9 looks to be ready to change things.

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Competing with the headline-stealing Nokia World 2010 in London today, mobile phone maker HTC held a press conference to announce two new Android smartphones, the Desire HD and Desire Z.

These new phones are interesting because they reveal a common theme to HTC's "Desire" label: they are, in effect, different versions of already-released HTC phones.

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At a press conference in San Francisco Tuesday, popular microblogging site Twitter co-founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams announced the site will be rolling out a new user interface similar to the one used by the critically acclaimed Twitter iPad app.

Like the iPad app, the new Twitter interface is broken into two columns, the left will be the usual view of your feed, and the right hand side will contain detail overlays. For example, when users include links to photos, video or music, the linked content is embedded in Twitter.com, shown in the right hand column. According to the site's founders, one quarter of the 90 million tweets that are sent every day contain links, that's 22.5 million daily reasons for users to navigate away from Twitter. This move will keep users of the Web interface more stuck to the site.

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Last week, Mac virtualization software company Parallels announced the latest version of its flagship software, Parallels Desktop 6. But the company had a secret up its sleeve: iPad compatibility.

Today at the DEMO fall 2010 conference, Parallels announced the Parallels Mobile app integrates with Desktop 6 and MyParallels to bring Windows and its highly desirable functions like printing, Flash, and Outlook compatibility to iOS.

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At the Intel Developer Forum Tuesday, Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson unveiled its two newest mobile broadband modules: one is the first embedded 21Mbps HSPA+ module, and the other is the first module optimized for use in tablets running on Intel's upcoming "Oak Trail" processors.

Intel's Oak Trail mobile processor platform will be the cornerstone of the forthcoming crop of Windows tablets, with products from Dell, Asus, MSI, Sony, Fujitsu, and Toshiba all expected in early 2011. The platform is ideal for tablets and netbooks, Intel claims, because it runs on 50% less power than its other Atom-based platforms.

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Microsoft on Monday announced the release candidate of Lync 2010 and Lync Server 2010, the products formerly known as Office Communications Server (and even further back, Office Live Communications Server) and group chat client Communicator.

Lync is Microsoft's new brand for the communications and conferencing software suite that unites enterprise voice calling, IM, group chat, audio and video conferencing, and screen sharing under a single interface, and allows for simple integration into enterprise deployments of Office, SharePoint, and Exchange.

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Love their devices or hate them, Motorola's Android smartphones are instant conversation starters. Whether it's with memorable advertising campaigns or unique form factors, the company's presence in the Android space is quite pronounced. Today, the company launches its 3.7" touchscreen Defy on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," the number one daytime talkshow, which just entered its 25th year on the air.

It's an unique premiere event for another distinctive Motorola Android phone.

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On Monday and Tuesday, YouTube will begin the trial of its live streaming TV platform, which uses the live Web-broadcasting technology that YouTube has already used for events such as the presidential inauguration and E3. The unique addition to this test will be the "Live Comment" feature, which lets users directly communicate with the broadcasters during their show.

YouTube partners Howcast, Next New Networks, Rocketboom and Young Hollywood will be the broadcasters participating in this two-day trial, and the first show begins at 8am PST/11am EST. Long-running video podcast Rocketboom will be the first show to take the plunge today, and instead of the usual three-minute episodic blast, Rocketboom is expected to do an hour-long episode in the fashion of a live TV variety show.

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