Corporate and legal

The Zune HD is a strong music player. It's got a lot of features I wish Apple would add to its iPod and iPhone lineup, particularly wireless sync and queuing. But with the impending release of the Windows Phone 7 Series, which will include full Zune HD functionality in its "Music + Video" hub, I've begun to wonder if Microsoft will phase out the Zune as a standalone music player.

Here's one clue: Microsoft developer Michael Klucher on Tuesday put up a blog post about the upcoming XNA Game Studio 4.0. Thus far, XNA Game … Read more

A familiar face might be causing a snag in Google's planned acquisition of mobile advertising company AdMob.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is currently asking Google advertisers and competitors for more information about the potential impact of the deal, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. Those companies--which weren't identified--are being asked to sign sworn statements that could potentially be used against Google in a court hearing blocking or altering the deal, according to the report.

After being caught flat-footed in Washington years ago by the backlash over the DoubleClick deal and proposed Yahoo search deal, Google came out swinging after … Read more

Mobile coupons are coming to mega-retailer Target, which will allow shoppers all over the U.S. to use their mobile handset to get discounts on all kinds of products.

The bar-coded coupons are available now. Shoppers interested in getting the mobile coupons must "opt in" and register on Target's Web site. They can also text the word "COUPONS" to 827438.

Once consumers are registered they will get text messages on their phones with links to a Web page that features various coupons. The program works with any phone that has a mobile browser and data … Read more

Ten years on, Mozilla has concluded that its open-source underpinnings are due for a refresh.

The Firefox browser and Thunderbird e-mail software are governed by the Mozilla Public License, which determines what rights and restrictions apply to programmers who want to use the software in their own projects, extend it in various ways, or just peek at the programming instructions that underlie the software.

"Version 1.1 of the Mozilla Public License has been in use by Mozilla and other projects for over a decade. The spirit of the license has served us well by helping to communicate some … Read more

Microsoft's year-old Elevate America program, which offers free technology training and certification, is coming to California.

The program was announced by Microsoft a year ago as the country was gripped by recession, with Washington state as the first government partner. Since then, other states have slowly been coming on board.

Seven states have already distributed training vouchers, while five are still in the process of issuing the vouchers, according to a map on Microsoft's Web site. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is set to detail California's participation in a Webcast due to begin at 10:15 a.m. PST. … Read more

Google's negotiations with the Chinese government over censorship and Internet search should produce a resolution "soon," Google CEO Eric Schmidt said Wednesday.

Schmidt, speaking at a media conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, declined to offer specifics on the status of those negotiations but said although "there is no specific time table" he expects a decision to happen soon, according to reports from the Associated Press and The Wall Street Journal. Google prompted a showdown with the government in January when it declared that it was no longer willing to offer a censored search … Read more

LifeLock has agreed to pay $12 million to settle charges that the company failed to protect customers against identity fraud as advertised and put customer data at risk.

The company was known for its bold marketing tactics, including one that backfired after Chief Executive Todd Davis put his Social Security number in ads to promote the company's service and then had someone use his identity to take out a loan in 2007.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and 35 state attorneys general had accused the Tempe, Ariz., company of deceptive business practices for making false claims to promote … Read more

Revealing a bit of previously hush-hush history that's relevant today, Sun Microsystems' former chief executive says that Apple CEO Steve Jobs threatened to sue Sun for infringing on its intellectual property in 2003 for a user interface design.

And that's not all: Microsoft's Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer also tried to get Sun to license Microsoft Office patents for use in OpenOffice, a move that would have made open-source distribution of the competing product impossible, Jonathan Schwartz said in a blog post Tuesday.

The anecdotes will be of interest at handset maker HTC, which Apple sued last week for patent infringement. … Read more

Microsoft's latest tweak to its browser ballot screen seems to have fixed a key programming flaw.

In response to antitrust concerns by European regulators, the company recently unveiled its browser ballot page to give European users a choice of browsers to install. But the company was criticized for using sloppy code that didn't adequately randomize the order in which each browser's icon and link displays.

The algorithm used is supposed to change the order of the browsers from left to right each time the page opens. That change occurred, but apparently not randomly enough. The code often … Read more