Upholding i4i’s patent infringement claim against Microsoft, a US Federal court judge placed an injunction on Microsoft Word on August 11, 2009. Judge Leonard Davis ordered that Microsoft pay the Canadian company i4i $290 million in damages and stop the sale of Word in the US, within 60 days of the pronouncement of the order, until the dispute is fully resolved. Microsoft Word’s default file format Office Open XML is at the epicenter of Microsoft’s dispute with i4i. The XML-based file format infringes i4i’s US patent number 5787449.

On Tuesday, Microsoft filed an appeal against the injunction. It is seeking a stay on the injunction, which it believes could cause "irreparable harm.” It has warned that the ban could force it to stop the sale of Microsoft Office for many months to come.

“Microsoft and its distributors face the imminent possibility of a massive disruption in their sales. If left undisturbed, the district court’s injunction will inflict irreparable harm on Microsoft by potentially keeping the centerpiece of its product line out of the market for months. The injunction would block not only the distribution of Word, but also of the entire Office suite, which contains Word and other popular programs," the company’s filing reads. Although Microsoft can take corrective steps by disabling the XML feature, it will have to cough up a lot of money for that exercise.

Symantec has published a list of the dirtiest 100 websites. The websites are said to contain around 18,000 threats apiece on an average. However, the average number of threats shoots up to 20,000 for the top 40 websites on the list, which has been compiled by Symantec’s Norton Safe Web service. Aladel.net, a US-based websites, alone houses 56,371 threats.

Although almost half of the websites are expectedly based around mature content, the remaining sites deal with a wide variety of subjects. Viruses dominate the list of threats found on these sites. Security risks and browser exploits are the other common threats found on them.  The owners of the websites that figure on the list must be feeling a sense of elation and achievement. As for the rest of us, we now know which sites not to visit.

Pepsi and CBS have enlisted the help of a Los Angeles-based company, Americhip, to deliver video ads in the print edition of Entertainment Weekly. Beginning with the September 18 issue of the magazine, video ads promoting CBS shows and Pepsi’s new drink, Pepsi Max, will be delivered to Entertainment Weekly readers in Los Angeles and New York using Americhip’s patented Video-in-Print technology. The ads will appear on a slender TFT LCD screen, all of 2.7 mm thick, with a 320x240 resolution. Video-in-print, which will be embedded into the magazine, can hold up to 40 minutes of video content. It runs on batteries that can be charged via a USB cable.

Apart from the eight uncanny people who bought the $999.99 “I Am Rich” app – an underwhelming screensaver - from the iTunes App Store last year, a vast majority happily devours the free and 99-cent apps. But the preponderance of 99-cent apps has made the App Store a cluttered warehouse, banished many quality apps to oblivion, and increased redundancy.  Furthermore, many top-notch developers are finding it difficult to set an honest price on premium apps, for they fear their honesty might render these apps unattractive. 

Microsoft plans to roll out Windows Marketplace for Mobile in October, 2009. The Redmond-based giant doesn’t want developers to lose out on revenue in a bid to maximize application downloads. According to a Tech Flash report, Loke Uei of Microsoft's mobile developer team feels the popularity of 99-cent apps doesn’t imply that 99 cents is a fair price. "I know, 99 cents is interesting -- yes, consumers like to pay 99 cents for applications. But 99 cents, come on, I think your app is worth more than that," Uei told developers at the inaugural WinMoDevCamp in Redmond.

Microsoft’s share of the mobile OS market has plummeted sharply in the last few years. It needs to  quickly mount a counter-offensive against its more dapper rivals in the smartphone market, if it is to prevent itself from being marginalized even further. According to Taiwanese rumor mill Digitimes, Microsoft does have a strategy to counter its rivals in the smartphone market.

A Digitimes report, based on insider information from sources at Taiwan handset makers, suggests that Microsoft has readied a dual-platform strategy to take on the Android platform and Apple's iPhone. Under this strategy, Microsoft will not withdraw Windows Mobile 6.5 from the market even after Windows 7 Mobile is released during the fourth quarter of 2010.  Instead, it will keep Windows Mobile 6.5 – a minor upgrade – on the market, albeit at a lower price point.

According to the sources, Microsoft plans to pit Windows Mobile 6.5 against Android, while reserving Windows Mobile 7 for the Apple iPhone.

The French fervidly guard their culture against any possible cultural transgressions by the Anglo-Saxon juggernaut. Four year’s ago, the French resolved to prevent Google from assuming control of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF), their national library. But they have finally ended their four-year resistance.

France’s national library has reached an agreement with Google over the digitization of its massive book collection that contains about 13 million books and publications. Google’s financial muscle is expected to quicken the digitization process.  Denis Bruckmann, director of collections at BNF, has blamed financial considerations for the library’s capitulation. However, the library does not intend to halt its own digitization efforts. 

Many financial savants grabbed their crystal balls and went into hiding when the economy went into freefall. Now that there are signs of recovery, they are again gazing into their crystal balls with renewed hope. According to many of them, including IMF’s chief economist Olivier Blanchard, the recession is behind us.

Tech honchos now believe that the IT industry would lead the recovery. According to a survey conducted by KPMG, two thirds of the 130 CEOs that were surveyed believe the IT industry would recover quicker than the US economy. Furthermore, a vast majority of CEOs feel 2010 would bring glad tidings for their industry. One can expect lesser job cuts in the near future as more than two thirds of tech bosses are not too keen on cost cutting.

The verbal proximity of Harris Corporation’s Centrio product name – used to sell a “breakthrough multiviewer” - to Intel’s Centrino brand name alarmed the chip maker to such an extent that it decided to sue the former. Last week, it initiated a lawsuit alleging that Harris Corporation’s Centrio trademark infringes upon its Centrino trademark.

Intel fears that people may confuse Harris Corporation’s Centrio trade name with its Centrino brand as they are “substantially and confusingly similar.”

According to Intel, it resorted to taking legal action after all its attempts to “resolve this dispute amicably with Harris” proved to be sleeveless. It doesn’t take a legal virtuoso to tell that when Harris Corporation’s lawyers get down to refuting Intel’s claims, they would draw the court’s attention to the disparateness between the respective products the two trademarks are associated with.

Food and beverage manufacturers have for long employed blind taste tests as a marketing gimmick. A Microsoft employee, Michael Kordahi, appears to have taken a leaf out of their marketing handbook. He has developed a website called Blind Search that lets the user query three different search engines simultaneously.

It presents the search results from the three search engines in as many unmarked columns. The user has to vote for the search engine that “best matches your search query.” The choice is between Google, Bing and Yahoo.

Google is the most popular browser with 41% votes, according to the data Kordahi has compiled hitherto. Bing is currently placed second with 31%, with Yahoo enduring the ignominy of the last spot with 28%. Given that Microsoft and Yahoo have inked a search engine partnership, it is interesting to note that the majority of the visitors actually dislike Google. Kordahi asserts that Blind Search is his personal initiative, independent from Microsoft’s influence.

In July, a company named NSS Labs conducted two tests to determine the most secure browser among Internet Explorer 8, Google Chrome 2, Apple Safari 4, Mozilla Firefox 3 and Opera 10 Beta. To Microsoft’s delight, Internet Explorer was adjudged the most secure browser.

It was found to have blocked 81% of live malware threats during the tests. The figure seems more imposing once you learn that the runner-up, Firefox 3, only managed to block 27% of malware threats. To boot, Microsoft’s browser also managed to block 83% of phishing URLs, with Firefox finishing second with 80%.

But Ars Technica has cast doubts over the veracity of the tests. The heavily lopsided nature of the results is not the only thing to blame for its skepticism. Amy Barzdukas, General Manager of Internet Explorer, told Ars Technica that the tests had been sponsored by Microsoft. Apparently, it ended up becoming the lone sponsor, as other companies didn’t respond to NSS Labs’ call for funding. Microsoft claims to have had no control over the results.

"We invited Google, Mozilla, Apple, Opera to participate, but they didn’t even bother to respond, except for Opera, which stated they “don’t really focus on malware," NSS Labs’ president, Rick Moy, told Ars Technica.

Gmail shed its beta tag in July, after having been around for five years. However, Gmail has acquired a different tag now: that of the third most popular webmail service in the US, at least according to internet research firm comScore. Gmail leapt past AOL to take the third spot during the month of July, a month in which it entertained 37 million unique visitors as opposed to 36.4 million users that visited AOL.

It now has Windows Live Hotmail – currently second with 47 million monthly unique visitors – well within its reach. Gmail’s unique visitors swelled by 25% during the first 7 months of 2009, while Hotmail only managed to increase unique visitors by 8%. Yahoo Mail is the most popular webmail service with 106 million unique visitors.

Japanese researchers have made a major breakthrough that could prove to be a watershed in the development of flexible OLEDs. Scientists from the Center for Future Chemistry at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan have concocted a “liquid-OLED.”

They have detailed their innovation in the latest issue of Applied Physics Letters. The “liquid-OLED” is named as such on account of its use of a liquid semiconductor layer. This latest technology could yield more pliant and reliable roll-up OLEDs compared to other technologies currently undergoing the rigors of testing and fine-tuning in other part of the world.

Singapore-based Suzuki Technology – not to be confused with its automobile-making namesake - has trotted out a 7-inch touchscreen netbook that can also double up as a tablet PC.  Its 7-inch display can be folded in a manner so as to overlie the keyboard. The Neutron 701 MNI enters tablet PC mode once the screen is folded to conceal the keyboard.

The 701 MNI may not be for tetchy users as it features an Intel Atom Z520 1.33GHz processor, which is infamous for its lack of speed. Other notable specs include up to 4GB RAM, an Expresscard Slot, three USB 2.0 ports, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a 1.3 MP webcam, and a quaint 56K modem. Suzuki still hasn’t divulged the price of the 701 MNI.

Windows 7’s XP Mode has attained RC status. The RC build of Windows XP Mode is available as a download on the Microsoft Windows website. Windows XP Mode is designed to work in concert with Windows Virtual PC (formerly Microsoft Virtual PC) “to help ease the migration process to Windows 7 by providing additional compatibility for their older productivity applications.”

Windows XP Mode ensures that applications designed for XP run seamlessly on Windows 7. Although legacy Windows XP apps run from within a virtualized environment, they can be accessed in exactly the same fashion as native Windows 7 apps.

Windows 7 users will have to ensure that their CPU supports Intel Virtualization Technology or AMD-V for Windows XP Mode to work. It is also important to check whether hardware virtualization, if supported by the CPU, is turned on or not. If this feature is disabled, it will have to be enabled in the BIOS settings.

Some manufacturers are trying their best to blur the line that separates netbooks from notebooks. According to a Commercial Times report, white-box netbook manufacturers in China have also turned their attention to producing netbooks with large displays. They are said to be manufacturing netbooks, with screen sizes in excess of 12 inches, based on AMD and VIA processors. According to the report, they are deliberately avoiding using Intel processors as the chip maker has placed restrictions on the screen size of Atom-toting netbooks. Besides, they are helped in making their choice by the fact that VIA processors are much cheaper than their Intel counterparts.

Mozilla is reveling in the phenomenal success of Firefox. The overwhelming response from internet users has established Firefox as the second most popular browser in the world. Now, Mozilla has added a fresh piece of notional silverware, marking yet another real world triumph, to its imaginary trophy cabinet. Mozilla announced earlier in the day that Firefox has surpassed the 1 billion downloads mark.

Half of those downloads have come in the past 17 months, a period that witnessed the launch of Firefox 3 and 3.5. Though savants expect Firefox to benefit from Microsoft’s decision to release Windows 7 with a browser ballot in Europe, Firefox architect Mike Connor doesn’t share their views. “The choice [when installing Windows] would be weird. There's no good UI [user interface] for that,” Connor had told PC Pro in an interview earlier this year.

Last week, Microsoft disappointed members of its invitation-only Windows 7 Technical Beta Program by announcing that they were not eligible for a free copy of Windows 7 Ultimate. But it has now made amends by announcing a complimentary copy of Windows 7 Ultimate for each one of them.

Microsoft will allow them to download the final build of Windows 7 Ultimate along with a key, beginning August 6, 2009. Those eligible can also opt for a boxed copy, however, such boxed copies are said to be limited in number. The complimentary boxed copies will become available after October 22, 2009.

The saga that began with Microsoft’s failed attempt to acquire Yahoo has finally culminated in a unique partnership, which puts Microsoft in charge of Yahoo’s search engine business and hands over the reigns of Microsoft’s online ads business to Yahoo.  However, the 10-year deal will not have any impact on the two companies’ respective display ads businesses. The partnership is expected to triple Bing’s U.S. market share to 28%.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is currently on cloud nine. "This is what I have basically been saying for the past 18 months: The world will be better served for consumers, advertisers and publishers, and there will be more competition for Google, if we can somehow figure out how to get Microsoft and Yahoo together in search,” he said in an interview.

It won’t be easy to figure out an effective way to merge Bing and Yahoo! Search into a single search solution. The two companies expect the deal to be fully implemented in the next 24 months. Though Yahoo hasn’t been promised any money upfront, it expects its annual operating profit to swell by $500 million due to this arrangement, as it won’t have to spend much on improving its search technology.

“Nobody gets it,” Ballmer remarked in a meeting with Wall Street analysts. He reckons people are confused as the deal does not involve any acquisition or merger. “Nothing got bought and nothing got sold. But there is a magical way to create revenue synergy and cost synergy by putting these two things together.”