“HTC and Microsoft have a long history of technical and commercial collaboration, and today’s agreement is an example of how industry leaders can reach commercial arrangements that address intellectual property,” said Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of Intellectual Property and Licensing at Microsoft. “We are pleased to continue our collaboration with HTC.”

“Precise location enables a broad ecosystem of innovative location services that enrich the end user smartphone experience,” said Christy Wyatt, corporate vice president of software and services product management for Motorola Mobile Devices. “By extending the vast capabilities of the Android platform, we enable developers and consumers to capitalize on a broader array of applications and services."

“BlackBerry Mobile Voice System 5 effectively provides a wireless extension of the corporate phone system to allow voice over Wi-Fi calling at work, public hotspots and home. It presents a great opportunity for companies to enhance the productivity of employees who are often away from their desks or working from home, such as workers in construction, hospitality, sales and professional services,” said Alan Panezic, VP, Platform Product Management at Research In Motion. “This latest release enables businesses to better leverage their investment in the corporate phone system, adapt to the growing demand by employees for more flexible work arrangements, improve workforce productivity and save costs on long-distance and international roaming charges.”

"Hubble is undoubtedly one of the most recognized and successful scientific projects in history," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Last year's space shuttle servicing mission left the observatory operating at peak capacity, giving it a new beginning for scientific achievements that impact our society."

"Small steps taken by many people can have a tremendously positive impact on the environment," said James Gowen, Verizon's chief sustainability officer. "Our goal is to have Verizon's 217,000 employees lead more sustainable lives at work and at home. And, through the use of our high-speed broadband networks and events such as this recycling day, help our customers and communities reduce their environmental impact."

The event is the culmination of the National Community College Aerospace Scholars pilot program. Students completed four Web-based assignments during the school year. Those who maintained a 95 average qualified for the experience at Johnson. After interacting with NASA engineers, the students will apply what they learned, and learn more about careers in science and engineering.

"This represents another innovative NASA project whereby community college students engage in actual engineering design and production – from concept to build-out – that simulate the process NASA uses in designing robotic explorers for solar system destinations," said Joyce Winterton, associate administrator for Education at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "It successfully demonstrates and furthers the participants’ academic knowledge in science, technology, engineering and mathematics,"

"NASA is very proud of the outstanding work these students already have completed, and we look forward to seeing their rover designs," said Deborah Hutchings, the program manager at Johnson. "These students have a unique opportunity to preview how a career in science, technology, engineering or math can lead them on a journey of space exploration."

“Today iPhone users have a choice, and, as the numbers show, they are eager to explore new and faster ways to surf the Web on the iPhone - especially during heavy Web traffic,” said Lars Boilesen, CEO, Opera Software. “With any widely available and frequently downloaded Opera product, we are appreciative of all the feedback we are getting, as it helps us to continually improve our product and better meet the needs of our users.”

Although we have delivered more than 500,000 iPads during its first week, demand is far higher than we predicted and will likely continue to exceed our supply over the next several weeks as more people see and touch an iPad. We have also taken a large number of pre-orders for iPad 3G models for delivery by the end of April.

"Since its launch less than three years ago, Flip Video has changed the way the world captures and shares video," said Jonathan Kaplan, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco Consumer Products. "The addition of the exciting new SlideHD to the Flip family allows consumers to take their life with them wherever they go and easily share those experiences with everyone around them."

Like Flip's popular Mino line, SlideHD lets users design their own camcorder to make it uniquely their own. Users can also choose from thousands of designs from artists, leading design firms, celebrities, and iconic brands, or they can easily upload their own image to create a one-of-a-kind camcorder.

Graphics in the new MacBook Pros have also been improved, featuring the new NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics processor, with 48 processing cores and up to 512MB of dedicated video memory in the 15-inch and 17-inch models. The 13-inch model receives the new NVIDIA GeForce 320M integrated graphics processor with 48 processing cores. Both graphics processors provide a significant boost in performance in all models, as well as being more energy efficient. Battery efficiency is also improved, with up to 9 hours for the 15-inch and 17-inch models and 10 hours for the 13-inch model on a single charge.

“Consumers are increasingly interested in accessing the content they love where they want and when they want,” said Dr. W. P. Hong, executive vice president of the Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics. “PlayReady is an integral technology component that will help us to deliver on our vision for connected entertainment and bring to life the kinds of seamless entertainment experiences that take full advantage of the digital medium.”

“We share Samsung’s dedication to deliver on the promise of making digital entertainment content available in more scenarios and on more devices,” said Steve Guggenheimer, corporate vice president of the Original Equipment Manufacturer Division at Microsoft Corp. “By pairing powerful software such as PlayReady with its broad line of impressive consumer electronics products, Samsung is poised to offer consumers exciting new ways to deliver, share and enjoy their digital content.”

Opera Mini, with more than 50 million users worldwide, enables fast mobile Web browsing by compressing data by up to 90 percent before sending content to the device, resulting in significantly improved page loading. Users of the app will notice an uptake in speed, especially on slower networks such as the 2G Edge network. Surfing the Web with the Opera Mini App on iPhone and iPod touch will also help users save money because of its data compression capabilities. This will hold especially true while the user is incurring roaming charges.

"We are delighted to offer iPhone and iPod touch users a great browsing experience with the Opera Mini App," said Lars Boilesen, CEO, Opera Software. “This app is another step toward Opera's goal of bringing the Web to more people in more places."

Through the partnership, the NOOK eBook Reader and accessories, along with NOOK and Barnes & Noble eBook gift cards, will be prominently featured in Best Buy’s 1,070 stores nationwide and online at www.bestbuy.com. As with Barnes & Noble stores, NOOK at Best Buy will be featured at a special in-store display where customers can see, try and buy a NOOK for $259.99. Best Buy will also eature Barnes & Noble’s free BN eReader on select PCs (laptops and desktops), netbooks, tablets and smartphones sold at Best Buy, giving customers access to shop Barnes & Noble’s eBookstore and enjoy their Barnes & Noble digital library anywhere they go.

“To date, we’ve limited NOOK distribution to Barnes & Noble retail and online stores and the customer response to our eBook Reader has exceeded our expectations. We have enormous respect for the Best Buy organization and its focus on providing technology solutions for millions of customers. We’re thrilled to bring NOOK, the BN eReader and our digital content expertise to Best Buy and its loyal consumer electronics-focused audience as a perfect complement to the book-loving Barnes & Noble customer,” said Kevin Frain, executive vice president of e-commerce, at Barnes & Noble.com. “Through this partnership, Best Buy customers will now have new and easy ways to access our expansive digital library on a variety of computing and mobile devices through BN eReader software and the Barnes & Noble eBookstore.”

“Barnes & Noble long ago established itself as a premiere bookseller and more recently as a genuine innovator in the digital content space. Our two companies share a clear vision for creating tools that give people the content they want, when and how they want it,” said Chris Homeister, senior vice president and general manager of the Home Entertainment Group at Best Buy. “We look forward to showcasing NOOK within our growing eBook Reader collection, and to helping customers discover the special appeal of this distinctive reading device and eBookstore solution.”

In addition to Star Trek (2009), those who have purchased the specially marked hard drives also receive an assortment of 20 Paramount Pictures movies pre-loaded on the FreeAgent Go 500GB ultra-portable drives that can be easily and securely unlocked through the online purchase of a license key. The films will be licensed for multiple devices to allow for portability and enjoyment of them on a desktop computer, laptop computer, or widescreen television, using the FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player.

“Seagate and Paramount Pictures are delivering major motion pictures to consumers in a unique and innovative solution. For years Seagate hard drives have been powering the devices that allow consumers to enjoy their digital libraries. Today, we are simplifying content delivery by giving consumers the ultimate flexibility in how they enjoy their movies all in a convenient package,” said Dave Mosley, executive vice president, Sales, Marketing and Product Line Management, Seagate.

To take advantage of this special offer, simply purchase a specially marked 500GB FreeAgent Go ultra-portable drive. After online registration of the drive, a promotional code will be provided for redemption at http://seagate.paramountshop.com. Redeeming the offer code provides the license key to unlock Star Trek (2009) and the option to purchase additional keys to unlock the remaining film titles that are pre-loaded on the drive.

A choice of up to 20 popular Paramount titles can be unlocked for a fee including: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, GI Joe, Shooter, The Hunt for Red October, The Italian Job (2003), Ghost, Patriot Games, Beowulf, Enemy at the Gates, The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Love Guru, Coach Carter, The Manchurian Candidate (2004), Nacho Libre, Jackass 2.5, A Plumm Summer, Carriers, Dance Flick, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

“Collaborating with Seagate on this massive movie pre-load reinforces our commitment to embrace technologies that give consumers choice and flexibility in how they access and purchase their digital entertainment. Paramount Digital Entertainment has created a powerful solution that allows companies like Seagate to offer a seamless experience for consumers to access and securely activate pre-loaded movies, ensuring that exciting films are available everywhere they wish to enjoy them,” said Malik Ducard, senior vice president, Digital Distribution, The Americas, Paramount Digital Entertainment. “And with over 38 hours of movie viewing enjoyment pre-loaded onto the portable device, we are offering consumers a great opportunity to jump start their digital libraries.”

"Building and maintaining messaging systems is the type of undifferentiated heavy lifting that AWS works to remove for our customers," said Adam Selipsky, Vice President of Amazon Web Services. "An easy-to-implement and highly scalable notification service like Amazon SNS will enable businesses to avoid building this component themselves. And, for entrepreneurs, Amazon SNS makes it operationally and financially viable to create new types of applications that are heavily reliant on push notifications."

“It feels great to have the iPad launched into the world—it’s going to be a game changer,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPad users, on average, downloaded more than three apps and close to one book within hours of unpacking their new iPad.”

"Kindle for iPad includes all the features customers love about Kindle for iPhone, including a massive selection of over 450,000 books, along with a beautiful new user interface tailored to the look and feel of iPad," said Jay Marine, director, Amazon Kindle. "Kindle for iPad is the perfect companion for the millions of customers who already own a Kindle or Kindle DX, and a way for customers around the world to download and enjoy books even if they don't yet have a Kindle."

"Welcome to the brave new post-PC era where a swoosh of fluidity replaces the traditional mouse-bound GUI. A new, truly revolutionary platform is rare, and a prize for entrepreneurs," said John Doerr, KPCB Partner. "We expect all ventures to have an iPhone & iPad strategy. We will fund many more ventures for iPhone & iPad, and the iFund will accelerate their success."

"Kleiner Perkins has done a terrific job at finding, funding and supporting great iPhone app developers," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We are thrilled that they are doubling the size of their fund, along with expanding it to now include iPad developers too."

“Ford and Microsoft both share a strong commitment to contributing to a better world. Today, we begin the next major step in our working together and leading the way for energy efficiency and environmental sustainability,” said Alan Mulally, Ford Motor Company president and CEO. “For Ford, this is a needed step in the development of the infrastructure that will make electric vehicles viable.”

Both companies agree that effective management of the energy ecosystem is critical for electric vehicles to be successful and for consumer interest to grow. Increasing numbers of electric vehicles, however, will have a significant impact on energy demand, because the addition of an electric vehicle to a household could effectively double home energy consumption while the vehicle is charging.

“Electric vehicles will play an important role in the global effort to improve energy efficiency and address the issues of climate change and sustainability,” said Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO. “But as the market for electric vehicles expands, it will have a significant impact on home energy consumption and demand across the nation’s energy grid. With Microsoft Hohm, Ford and Microsoft will deliver a solution that will make it easier for car owners to make smart decisions about the most affordable and efficient ways to recharge electric vehicles, while giving utilities better tools for managing the expected changes in energy demand.”

"NASA's Mars program is a prime example of what we call participatory exploration," NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said. "To allow the public to aim a camera at a specific site on a distant world is an invaluable teaching tool that can help educate and inspire our youth to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math."

Apple retail stores will offer a free Personal Setup service to every customer who buys an iPad at the store, helping them customize their new iPad by setting up their email, loading their favorite apps from the App Store, and more. Also beginning Saturday morning, all US Apple retail stores will host special iPad workshops to help customers learn more about the iPad.

“iPad connects users with their apps and content in a far more intimate and fun way than ever before,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We can’t wait for users to get their hands and fingers on it this weekend.”

Over the coming months, Google will be reviewing the responses to determine where to build. As the company narrows down its choices, they'll be conducting site visits, meeting with local officials, and consulting with third-party organizations. Once all of the data has been reviewed, Google will then announce their target community or communities by the end of the year.

Skype mobile allows Verizon Wireless 3G smartphone users with data plans to make and receive unlimited Skype-to-Skype voice calls to any Skype contact around the globe, send and receive unlimited instant messages with other Skype users, manage the Skype contact list directly from the mobile application, and call international phone numbers at competitive Skype calling rates.

John Harrobin, senior vice president of digital media and marketing, noted, “Skype mobile will change the way mobile consumers in the United States make and receive calls. With an ‘always on’ capability, Skype mobile on your 3G smartphone means you never have to miss a call or make an appointment to connect with Skype users around the world. With Skype mobile, we’re untethering Skype users from their PCs and enabling them to stay connected – on the best wireless network in the country.”

Pall said the new software includes a complete communications solution, with full enterprise telephony; a familiar and powerful way to communicate and collaborate using a simplified Communicator client that works with Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint Server and Microsoft Exchange; and a versatile platform that allows customers to embed communications in applications. In addition, customers will be able to use instant messaging, presence and other capabilities of the software both on-premises and in the cloud with Microsoft Office Communications Online.

Among the capabilities demonstrated, Pall showed how Communications Server “14” helps people find colleagues based on their expertise through a new skill search feature. The new skill search feature also helps people find when their colleagues are available to collaborate and, with a new location-awareness feature, where they are available. The new features easily initiate collaboration, and allow users to bring together the content, resources, and people needed to work together.

“With software at the center, innovation in this industry has accelerated, leading to the introduction of new capabilities that leapfrog traditional hardware-bound communications systems,” Pall said.

"Sprint continues to lead the 4G revolution as we introduce HTC EVO 4G to give our customers an experience that is unlike anything available in wireless to date," said Dan Hesse, Sprint CEO. "Not only is this feature-rich device incredible on our Sprint 3G network, but Sprint 4G speeds will take mobile multimedia, including live video streaming, gaming and picture downloads, to a whole new level."

The HTC EVO 4G features a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor , an 8.0 megapixel auto-focus camera with HD-capable video camcorder and a forward-facing 1.3 megapixel camera, built-in mobile hotspot functionality that allows up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices to share the 4G connection. The phone also features Android 2.1, and a custom Web browser which is optimized for HTC EVO 4G's large display and Sprint 4G speeds.

As with all of Amazon's Kindle apps, the new tablet apps will include Amazon's Whispersync technology that automatically synchronizes your last page read, bookmarks, notes and highlights with Kindle and Kindle-compatible devices, such as a PC, Mac, iPhone, and BlackBerry. Customers can start reading on one device and, pick up where they left off on another. The new apps will also allow users to create bookmarks, notes, and highlights, and view annotations you created on your Kindle.

"Kindle for Mac is the perfect companion application for customers who own a Kindle or Kindle DX," said Jay Marine, director, Amazon Kindle. "For those customers around the world who don't yet have a Kindle, Kindle for Mac is a great way to instantly access and read the most popular new releases as well as their old favorites."

Kindle for Mac features Amazon's Whispersync technology that automatically saves and synchronizes bookmarks and last page read across devices. Whether customers are reading Kindle books on a Kindle, Kindle DX, or one of the free Kindle applications, they can always have their reading with them and never lose their place. With Kindle for Mac, a customer can read some on their Mac, read some on their Kindle, and always pick up where they left off. Several features will be added to the Kindle for Mac app in the near future, according to Amazon, including full text search and the ability to create and edit notes and highlights.

"HTC disagrees with Apple's actions and will fully defend itself. HTC strongly advocates intellectual property protection and will continue to respect other innovators and their technologies as we have always done, but we will continue to embrace competition through our own innovation as a healthy way for consumers to get the best mobile experience possible," said Peter Chou, chief executive officer, HTC Corporation. "From day one, HTC has focused on creating cutting-edge innovations that deliver unique value for people looking for a smartphone. In 1999 we started designing the XDA and T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition, our first touch-screen smartphones, and they both shipped in 2002 with more than 50 additional HTC smartphone models shipping since then."

"Yahoo is in a unique position to combine our deep expertise in content and aggregation technology to offer a highly personalized social experience," said Bryan Lamkin, senior vice president, Consumer Products Group, Yahoo!. "Sports has been among the earliest online categories to experience rapid social proliferation, and the combination of Citizen Sports leading products with our world-class sports experience on Yahoo! Sports is a win-win for sports fans globally."

Millions of people currently use Citizen Sports' social and mobile products to play fantasy sports, fill out brackets, check live scores and read up-to-the minute news on sports including football, hockey, soccer, baseball, racing, rugby, hockey and cricket. Yahoo Sports' content will be integrated into these products, creating a seamless experience for sports fans wherever they are.

"Citizen Sports was founded with the intent to enable fans to access news, scores and fantasy games on the platform of their choice," said Mike Kerns, founder and CEO of Citizen Sports. "We look forward to becoming a part of Yahoo and bringing our social experiences to their 600 million users around the globe."

“NAVIGON MyRegion gives our customers the power of choice to only access the areas they use, enabling a customized and tailor-made navigation experience at a price built for all budgets,” said Gerhard Mayr, NAVIGON vice-president worldwide mobile phones and new markets. “At the same time we are providing our customers the peace of mind of being able to upgrade to additional regions and cross country navigation later on, independent of additional downloads.”

The Panasonic Touch the Future Tour, which will visit 15 cities across the US over the next five weeks, will appear in popular, high-traffic venues in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Scottsdale, AZ, and Washington, DC.

"Panasonic has really raised the bar in consumer electronics for 2010," said Bob Perry, Senior Vice President, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company. "From the launch of the world's first VIERA Full HD 3D Home Theater Systems, to IPTV-enabled HDTVs with Skype video calling, to LUMIX Digital Cameras and Camcorders that make it easy for anyone to capture crisp, clear memories, there has never been a more exciting time for consumers to take their home entertainment experience to a new level. Many people may have heard about these new advances but we want to give consumers across the US a chance to experience it all for themselves and see first-hand how it can enrich their lives."

“Android users should not have to compromise when it comes to surfing the Web on their phones. Opera Mini will give Android users a fast and cost-efficient access to their favorite Web sites and services,” said Dag Olav Norem, Vice President of Products, Opera Software.

"Everyone here at OnLive is just incredibly excited about this milestone. It’s the realization of a dream that we knew would be a huge undertaking, but also one that would change everything," said Perlman.

OnLive will allow games to be played as a pure media experience on virtually any device, with the same flexibility and instant-play experience that people have become familiar with from online video and music services. Gamers, for instance, never have to worry about upgrading hardware to get the best performance out of their games, because OnLive handles the load on the backend. Initially, the company will be offering the OnLive Game Service for PCs and Macs through a small browser plug-in, with the availability of the MicroConsole TV adapter expected to be announced later in the year.

“The New York City Department for the Aging is deeply committed to improving the quality of life for older New Yorkers, and this partnership with Microsoft and Selfhelp Community Services in creating the Virtual Senior Center is one more step toward making New York City the most age-friendly city in the nation,” said Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, commissioner of the New York City Department for the Aging (DFTA). “Senior centers are the social hub for many older New Yorkers, and this new model — the Virtual Senior Center — has shown us that technology will help seniors age in place and remain integrated into the community by bringing that same senior center experience into the home.”

The Virtual Senior Center demonstration project — jointly undertaken by Microsoft, the New York City DFTA and the Department of Information Technology & Telecommunications (DoITT), and Selfhelp Community Services — links six homebound seniors (ranging in age from 67 to 103) to Selfhelp’s Benjamin Rosenthal Senior Center in Flushing, Queens. Each of the six seniors’ homes is equipped with a desktop computer running Windows 7 as well as a touch-screen monitor, a small video camera, a microphone and broadband Internet service.

This 100G accomplishment, which occurred on February 25th, used emerging network technology to transmit data over a 1,520-kilometer optically amplified section of the Verizon network in the north Dallas area. The multivendor demonstration validated the maturity of the standard supporting 100G transfer rates, which is scheduled to be ratified by the IEEE and ITU-T in June.

"With IP traffic on the Verizon network growing year over year, 100G is critical to continuing to satisfy customers' demands, which drive the capacity requirements of our core network," said Mark Wegleitner, senior vice president of technology at Verizon. "Verizon has already deployed 100G on a segment of our European network, and trials such as this allow us to refine relevant technologies and push 100G closer to widespread deployment."

This Verizon trial demonstrated end-to-end traffic flow, including live video traffic, through a 100G interface on the Juniper T1600 Core Router to the NEC SpectralWave DWDM system, which was equipped with 100G real-time coherent transponders. The connection between the router and the DWDM system was achieved through an IEEE standard-compliant 100GBASE-LR4 client interface, using 100G CFP optical transceiver modules from Finisar Corp.

Beginning March 12, US customers can pre-order both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G models from Apple’s online store or reserve a Wi-Fi model to pick up on Saturday, April 3, at an Apple retail store.

“iPad is something completely new,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’re excited for customers to get their hands on this magical and revolutionary product and connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.”

iPad lets users browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more. The new device is 0.5 inches thick, weighs 1.5 pounds, and delivers battery life of up to 10 hours.

iPad also features a Multi-Touch interface, large screen, and an almost full-size “soft” keyboard. The App Store on iPad lets you wirelessly browse, buy and download new apps, and iPad includes 12 new apps designed specifically for the device, including the new iBooks app. iPad will also run almost all of the more than 150,000 apps on the App Store, including apps already purchased for your iPhone or iPod touch. Developers are also creating new apps designed for iPad that take advantage of its Multi-Touch interface, large screen and high-quality graphics.

The iTunes Store is also included in the iPad, giving users access to over 12 million songs, over 55,000 TV episodes and over 8,500 films including over 2,500 in high definition.

iPad will be available in Wi-Fi models on April 3 in the US for a suggested retail price of $499 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB, $699 for 64GB. The Wi-Fi + 3G models will be available in late April for a suggested retail price of $629 for 16GB, $729 for 32GB and $829 for 64GB. iPad will be sold in the US through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers. International pricing will be announced in April.

“We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”

"The emerging picture from the multiple measurements and resulting data of the instruments on lunar missions indicates that water creation, migration, deposition and retention are occurring on the moon," said Paul Spudis, principal investigator of the Mini-SAR experiment at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. "The new discoveries show the moon is an even more interesting and attractive scientific, exploration and operational destination than people had previously thought."

During the past year, the Mini-SAR mapped the moon's permanently-shadowed polar craters that aren't visible from Earth. The radar uses the polarization properties of reflected radio waves to characterize surface properties. Results from the mapping showed deposits having radar characteristics similar to ice.

"After analyzing the data, our science team determined a strong indication of water ice, a finding which will give future missions a new target to further explore and exploit," said Jason Crusan, program executive for the Mini-RF Program for NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate in Washington.

"...The Rocket Project is giving a group of highly dedicated science students the rare opportunity to take their ideas beyond the surface of the Earth and actually reach for the stars. We could not be prouder of the role Sony VAIO technology is playing in making their ideas come to life,” said Alberto Escobedo, Director of Brand Messaging at Sony.

“We’re grateful to all of our customers for helping us reach this amazing milestone,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Internet Services. “We’re proud that iTunes has become the number one music retailer in the world, and selling 10 billion songs is truly staggering.”

“Our Sony Style stores are often used as a test ground for new products and technology before they become available through our authorized retail network,” said Linda Turner, SVP of Sony Style retail stores. “Being able to demonstrate a new technology like 3D allows us to gain valuable insight into consumer reaction which we share with our engineers.”

"Let me try to capture the enormity of this integration in 140 characters or less: We're turning the key to the online social universe -- you will find the most personally relevant experiences through Yahoo!," said Bryan Lamkin, senior vice president, consumer products group, Yahoo!. "We're also simplifying people's lives by bringing their social worlds -- and the world --- together for easy access."

"The information in one single tweet can travel light-years farther with this Yahoo! integration," said Twitter cofounder, Biz Stone. "Tweets in more places brings relevance where and when you need it most."

VUDU is built into a growing number of broadband-ready TVs and Blu-ray players, and delivers instant access to thousands of movies and TV shows directly through the television. Customers with broadband Internet access and an Internet-ready TV or Blu-ray player can rent or purchase movies, typically in high-definition, without needing a connected computer or cable/satellite service.

"The real winner here is the customer," said Eduardo Castro-Wright, vice chairman for Walmart. "Combining VUDU's unique digital technology and service with Walmart's retail expertise and scale will provide customers with unprecedented access to home entertainment options as they migrate to a digital environment."

VUDU has licensing agreements with almost every major movie studio and dozens of independent and international distributors to offer approximately 16,000 movies, including the largest 1080p library of video on-demand movies available.

"We are excited about the opportunity to take our company's vision to the next level," said Edward Lichty, VUDU executive vice president. "VUDU's services and Apps platform will give Walmart a powerful new vehicle to offer customers the content they want in a way that expands the frontier of quality, value and convenience."

"We are pleased to have entered into this patent license agreement with Amazon.com," said Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel for Intellectual Property and Licensing at Microsoft. "Microsoft's patent portfolio is the largest and strongest in the software industry, and this agreement demonstrates our mutual respect for intellectual property as well as our ability to reach pragmatic solutions to IP issues regardless of whether proprietary or open source software is involved."

"We're excited to welcome the On2 team to Google and to continue to enhance the video experience for users on the web," said Sundar Pichai, Vice President of Product Management at Google. "Through rapid innovation in browsers and web standards, the Internet is becoming the leading platform for development. We believe On2's engineering talent and technology will be an incredible asset for us as we work to improve this platform."

"Since the launch of our popular Kindle for iPhone app last year, customers have been asking us to bring a similar experience to the BlackBerry, and we are thrilled to make it available today," said Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. "Kindle for BlackBerry is a great way for customers to continue reading their current book wherever they are - in between meetings, at the grocery store or waiting in the doctor's office. We think customers are going to love how easy and fun it is to read their Kindle books on their BlackBerry."

IEEE, the world’s largest professional association with more than 395,000 members in 160 countries, aims to advance innovation and technological excellence of the global community by equipping its members with access to Microsoft student programs and technology, as well as explain the benefits of IEEE membership to science, technology and engineering students who are currently using Microsoft software and solutions.

“Engineers make tremendous contributions to society by creating technologies that drive global economic growth,” said Walid Abu-Hadba, corporate vice president of the Developer & Platform Evangelism Group at Microsoft. “The Microsoft-IEEE collaboration will provide aspiring engineers around the world with tools and resources to convert their innovative thinking into marketplace innovation by equipping today’s technical students for tomorrow’s jobs.”

To help students better reach their goals, Microsoft and IEEE will work together to provide IEEE student members with access to the latest Microsoft servers, development tools and eLearning — with privileged access to more than 300 software titles as part of the MSDN Academic Alliance, a subscription service traditionally available only through educational institutions. The two organizations will also help lead science, technology, engineering and math students to job opportunities with Microsoft partners and customers through the Microsoft Students to Business program.

“IEEE’s collaboration with Microsoft furthers our mutual efforts to provide students and young professionals in technology fields with resources and skills that will prepare them for the future,” said Cecelia Jankowski, managing director, IEEE Member and Geographic Activities. “IEEE student members will benefit from access to free Microsoft software, training and opportunities to connect to the Microsoft community through speaker invitations, connections to Microsoft-sponsored student clubs, and increased access to internship and job opportunities.

To highlight this service, SPAN is offering a virtual tour of its new online community on March 3, 2010, at 6:00 pm (EST). SPANnet.org features a "My Page" section which provides users a personal profile, links to their other web resources, photos of book covers, a comment wall, and their own blog.

The "Groups" section of the community unites members in discussions ranging from book production to publishing entrepreneurship, and E-Books to Digital Printing. The site also offers a forum, chat room, and video/photo posting services.

SPAN's Executive Director, Scott Flora says: "Our association has always provided profitable benefits to our members, and the goal of the new online community is to contribute in an even larger way to the success of authors and publishers. I invite everyone to join us for this virtual tour of our online community by registering at SPANnet.org/page/virtual-tour-webinar"

"Available exclusively from T-Mobile, the HTC HD2 is like putting Blockbuster in your pocket," said Kevin Lewis, senior vice president of digital entertainment at Blockbuster. "T-Mobile and HTC have a long history of partnering to deliver innovative, cutting-edge products - and we're glad to provide customers the latest way to enjoy entertainment from Blockbuster."

Consumers will be able to download and watch new releases with the multi-screen mobile movie application, which is part of a multichannel offering to connect customers with more than 100,000 movies, television shows and games. Available at launch, customers will be able to buy or rent movies digitally, and download them to their smartphone via Wi-Fi, while on-the-go, and without the use of a computer. Following launch, the application is planned to let customers access actual store inventory and update their mail queues.

With the support of the Blockbuster digital library, users can buy a title on their HTC HD2 phone and watch it on a BLOCKBUSTER On Demand enabled TV set or Blu-ray disc player and even be able to return to their HTC HD2 to finish. In addition, there are no monthly fees. Customers are able to buy or rent as they go.

The two companies have created an exclusive, easy-to-use Skype mobile offering for 3G smartphones. Verizon Wireless 3G smartphone users with data plans can use Skype mobile to make and receive unlimited Skype-to-Skype voice calls to any Skype user around the globe, call international phone numbers at competitive Skype Out calling rates, send and receive instant messages to other Skype users, and remain always connected with the ability to see friends’ online presence.

Initially, Skype mobile will be available on Verizon Wireless 3G smartphones with data plans, including the BlackBerry Storm 9530, Storm2 9550, Curve 8330, Curve 8530, 8830 World Edition and Tour 9630 smartphones, as well as DROID by Motorola, DROID ERIS by HTC and Motorola DEVOUR.

“Skype mobile on Verizon Wireless changes the game. For Verizon Wireless’ more than 90 million customers, Skype mobile adds great value because we’re effectively giving customers with smartphones and data plans the option to extend their unlimited calling community to hundreds of millions of Skype users around the globe. And you’re not limited to using a single type of phone; we’ll have nine smartphones ready right at launch in March,” said John Stratton, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless.

Josh Silverman, chief executive officer of Skype, said, “People want to take their Skype conversations with them wherever they go, whether it’s on a PC, TV or increasingly mobile phones. Verizon Wireless will give US consumers the best Skype experience on mobile phones and will truly change the way people call their friends and family internationally.”

“Today, I’m proud to introduce Windows Phone 7 Series, the next generation of Windows Phones,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “In a crowded market filled with phones that look the same and do the same things, I challenged the team to deliver a different kind of mobile experience. Windows Phone 7 Series marks a turning point toward phones that truly reflect the speed of people’s lives and their need to connect to other people and all kinds of seamless experiences.”

With Windows Phone 7 Series, dynamically updated “live tiles” show users real-time content directly, just by glancing at Start. Additionally, every Windows Phone 7 Series phone will come with a dedicated hardware button for Bing, providing one-click access to search from anywhere on the phone. Other features include Windows Phone hubs, which bring together related content from the Web, applications and services into a single view to simplify common tasks. Windows Phone 7 Series includes six hubs, including People, Pictures, Games, Music + Video, Marketplace, and Office.

"This is going to be sensational," said Richard R. Fisher, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "SDO is going to make a huge step forward in our understanding of the sun and its effects on life and society."

The sun's dynamic processes affect everyone and everything on Earth. SDO will explore activity on the sun that can disable satellites, cause power grid failures, and disrupt GPS communications. SDO also will provide a better understanding of the role the sun plays in Earth's atmospheric chemistry and climate.

“Millions of people love using iPhoto to organize, edit and share their digital photos,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Aperture 3 is designed for both professionals who edit and manage massive libraries of photos and iPhoto users who want to take their photos further with easy-to-use tools such as Brushes and Adjustment Presets.”

With consumers using more platforms than ever – including TV, PCs and mobile phones – to view high-definition video, NBC needed reliable network bandwidth to effectively deliver live and recorded Olympic Games content. Under a seven-event contract through 2012, AT&T is providing a managed private networking solution that connects NBC's space in the International Broadcast Center (IBC) production facilities at the Olympic Winter Games with NBC facilities in the U.S. Through this networking arrangement, AT&T is able to transfer bandwidth-intensive, high-definition video from the Vancouver Games to NBC's U.S. facilities, which are then able to distribute the coverage on televisions, AT&T mobile phones and NBCOlympics.com for video streaming of events.

“Cloud computing can transform how research is conducted, accelerating scientific exploration, discovery and results,” said Dan Reed, corporate vice president, Technology Strategy and Policy and eXtreme Computing at Microsoft. “These grants will also help researchers explore rich and diverse multidisciplinary data on a large scale.”

The goal of the new program is to make simple yet powerful tools available that any researcher can use to extract insights by mining and combining diverse data sets. Microsoft will provide cloud computing research projects identified by NSF with access to Windows Azure for a three-year period, along with a support team to help researchers quickly integrate cloud technology into their research. Windows Azure provides on-demand compute and storage to host, scale and manage Web applications on the Internet through Microsoft datacenters. Microsoft researchers and developers will work with grant recipients to equip them with a set of common tools, applications and data collections that can be shared with the broad academic community, and also provide its expertise in research, science and cloud computing.

“We’ve entered a new era of science — one based on data-driven exploration — and each new generation of computing technology, such as cloud computing, creates unprecedented opportunities for discovery,” said Jeannette M. Wing, assistant director for the NSF Computer and Information Science directorate. “We are working with Microsoft to provide the academic community a novel cloud computing service with which to experiment and explore, with the grander goal of advancing the frontiers of science and engineering as we tackle societal grand challenges.”

Designed and built by Graham Hawkes, of Hawkes Ocean Technologies, Necker Nymph represents a new class of high-performance, positively buoyant vehicles which safely extend the overall capabilities of scuba, while offering the unique experience of underwater flight. Unlike all conventional subs which use ballast to sink in the water, Necker Nymph uses downward 'lift' on the wings to fly down to depth.

Available either when chartering Necker Belle, a luxury 105 foot catamaran, or when staying on Necker Island, the Necker Nymph allows passengers to fly side-by-side with dolphins and whales, or glide over reefs. The open cockpits offer 360 degree viewing for occupants, and dives can last up to two hours.

Motorola DEVOUR will feature: