Microsoft fights losing battle

Following an announcement earlier this month that open source patents infringed on 235 of its patents, Microsoft executives say they are not itching to file lawsuits, but rather trying to make money from their intellectual property, reports LA Times.

To that end, they want distributors and users of open source programs to license the relevant Microsoft technologies, as Novell did last year.

Like a number of other firms, Novell sells "subscriptions" that combine Linux and other free programs with technical support.

Fifteen years after pioneering personal computers that nestled comfortably in a user's hand, Palm has done an about-turn, and said it would begin selling a two-handed laptop-size machine called the Foleo, reports NY Times.

The machine comes with a 10-inch screen and is meant to be a companion for a smartphone, according to one of Palm's founders, Jeff Hawkins.

The Foleo, which will be priced starting at $499, synchronises information with Palm and Windows Mobile phones, and can be linked wirelessly via phones to the Internet, although it comes with WiFi ability.

Apple met its self-imposed deadline, if just barely, by updating iTunes to version 7.2 and putting tracks and albums free of copy protection up for sale today, says Computerworld.

The new version of iTunes for Mac and Windows unveiled what Apple called iTunes Plus, music stripped of the copy protection or digital rights management (DRM) that normally locks music to a particular type of player device or limits the number of computers that can play the tracks.

Apple previously promised the unrestricted tunes would go on sale before the end of this month.

Apple is giving its floundering Apple TV content, through a deal the company has struck with Google's YouTube video streaming service, says Internet News.

Separately, and perhaps because of the YouTube deal, Apple said it will offer a second line of Apple TV units, this time with a 160GB hard drive. The original Apple TV unit with a 40GB drive will remain on the market.

Apple will offer a free software upgrade to Apple TV subscribers in mid-June. Once the device is patched, Apple TV will wirelessly stream videos directly from YouTube and play them on a user's TV.