Stories by: Laura Rohde

PalmOne has taken the term "interim" out of Ed Colligan's job title, making him the company's new chief executive officer (CEO) and president, the PDA (personal digital assistant) maker announced Monday. The move comes just days before PalmOne is expected to launch the first device in its new mobile manager range of handheld computing products.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) formally launched the Mobile Web Initiative at its WWW2005 Conference in Japan, on Wednesday, putting out a call for participants to join two working groups focused on making Web access from mobile devices as natural and easy as making a telephone call.

Philips Electronics will make semiconductors for consumer electronics devices capable of playing Windows Media audio and video files as part of a nonexclusive deal with Microsoft, the companies said Wednesday.

Nokia on Wednesday launched three new Nseries mobile handsets, hoping users will be seduced by the smart phones' built-in multimedia gadgets, which take print-quality pictures, read e-mail, play music, browse Web sites and display mobile TV.

Internet browser company Opera Software has added features for tighter security and the ability to surf the Web with voice commands in the latest version of its browser, Opera 8 for Windows and Linux, launched Tuesday.

Reuters Group was able to bring its instant messaging (IM) system back online early on Friday morning, after an outbreak of the Kelvir worm led the company to shut down the system for most of Thursday.

Online music company MusicNet has been sold to the private equity company Baker Capital for an undisclosed amount, it said Wednesday.

Digital cinema is coming to Ireland in a big way. A project is underway to install a digital cinema network throughout the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, with the aim of converting all its cinema screens to digital format.

Rambus and Infineon Technologies have hammered out a settlement that will end all pending lawsuits between the companies and start a licensing agreement for the use of the Rambus patent portfolio in Infineon products, the companies announced Monday.

In its latest move to expand beyond online auctions and to grow internationally, eBay late Tuesday said that it now runs Web sites offering free classified advertising in over 50 cities outside the U.S.

Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates will receive an honorary Knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday.