Microsoft's Internet-Over-TV Device Fails in FCC Testing

Technology companies eager to grab vacant airwaves and use them for high-speed Internet service first have to develop a gizmo that makes the conversion possible. They just can't seem to get it right. Last week, a prototype device broke down again -- the second time in seven months -- in the hands of the Federal Communications Commission. [More...]

New Yahoo Apps Turn Phones Into Mobile Social Networking Tools

Yahoo on Tuesday announced a new mobile phone service that integrates e-mail, instant messaging and social networks. Called "oneConnect," the service is expected to launch this spring, Marco Boerries, executive vice president for Connected Life at Yahoo, said Tuesday at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona. Its open architecture means users and other companies can eventually add many other applications to it. [More...]

IBM Boosts N-Series Storage to Handle Bigger Boatloads of Data

IBM announced a host of improvements to its line of storage offerings aimed at businesses large and small. The enhancements provide greater efficiency in tiered storage infrastructures that bring businesses increased cost savings, integrated data security and enhanced archival solutions, according to IBM. [More...]

IBM's New 3-D Game Challenges Students to Save a Dying Planet

IBM on Thursday unveiled a multiplayer 3-D virtual world and companion classroom materials designed to promote science and engineering education in high schools. "PowerUp" -- which asks players to try to save a planet in near ecological ruin -- gets its public release Feb. 16 at the start of Engineer's Week, an annual event designed to promote science education. [More...]

Helping Patients Wiihabilitate

Some call it "Wiihabilitation." Nintendo's Wii video game system, whose popularity already extends beyond the teen gaming set, is fast becoming a craze in rehab therapy for patients recovering from strokes, broken bones, surgery and even combat injuries. The usual stretching and lifting exercises that help the sick or injured regain strength can be painful, repetitive and downright boring. In fact, many patients say PT -- physical therapy's nickname -- really stands for "pain and torture," said James Osborn, who oversees rehabilitation services at Herrin Hospital in southern Illinois. [More...]

Nokia integrates Google into its search application

Nokia will integrate Google's search engine into its own search application on four of its latest phones unveiled at the Mobile World Congress, the companies said on Tuesday.

Google will appear on the N96, N78, 6210 Navigator, and the 6220 classic in select markets at first. Eventually, the option will be extended to other handsets in more than 100 countries, Nokia said.

Nokia has collaborated with Google before, although Google is increasingly encroaching on its partner’s turf.

In Barcelona this week, several chip manufacturers are displaying prototypes of mobile phones using Google's Android software stack. If other phone manufacturers embrace Android, it could eventually pose a challenge to Nokia's dominating share of the mobile market.

Nokia first integrated Google's search engine on its Internet tablet PCs. The company also enabled support for Google's YouTube video-sharing Web site on its popular N95 phone.

The Google search option will supplement Nokia's Search software, which is free to download and compatible with a range of the company's handsets. That search function can be used to find content on the phone as well as on the Internet.

Yahoo buys Maven Networks for $160 million

Yahoo has acquired Maven Networks for $160 million in a deal that will help the search provider boost its video advertising capabilities.

Media companies including Fox News, CBS Sports, and Sony BMG use Maven's platform to manage, distribute, and earn advertising revenue from their online video content. The platform includes an advertising insertion engine, as well as inventory management and reporting tools. Companies use it to post videos on their sites and insert interactive ads into the videos.

On Tuesday, Yahoo said it plans to contribute its display advertising sales force and technologies to Maven's platform to help publishers display more targeted ads in videos. The deal means that advertisers can buy video, search, and display ads through Yahoo, which believes that video is a fast-growing segment of the online ad market.

Maven has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Yahoo, which has established a Cambridge, Mass., office with the acquisition.

Yahoo makes the acquisition in the midst of an increasingly hostile attempt by Microsoft to buy the search company. In response to Yahoo's rebuttal of its buyout offer, Microsoft on Monday said that it thinks its offer was fair and that it might take the offer directly to Yahoo shareholders.