Online auction powerhouse eBay (EBAY) has entered the booming digital music download marketplace, but not with used MP3s.

As part of its ongoing investment in search technology, Microsoft has acquired Lookout Software, a two-person company specialized in e-mail and desktop search.

America Online Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. are teaming up to link their separate instant messaging services for use in the workplace, the first major step by the industry leaders to enable computer users to communicate with one another no matter which of the three systems they use.

A federal judge in San Francisco on Wednesday denied motions to dismiss lawsuits claiming past Napster investors like Bertelsmann AG and venture capital firm Hummer Winblad kept the song-swap site going, costing the music industry $17 billion in lost sales.

When videogame executives talk about online gaming, Kathy Schnirch isn't the kind of player most have in mind. But Ms. Schnirch, a 47-year-old mother in Lenexa, Ky., is where the real action is today.

Debra Gibb has had a high-speed Internet connection in her home longer than anyone she knows. In late 1996, when Time Warner Cable began trials here for its cable modem service, Ms. Gibb leapt at the chance to become one of the first residential broadband users in the nation. She was beta tester No. 6 in San Diego, she said.

Google has quietly introduced a new feature to its popular browser toolbar that lead you to never type in a full URL again.

More businesses, already battling spam and viruses, are watching for outbound e-mail that contains sensitive information or breaks laws. About 30% of 140 businesses with more than 1,000 employees check outgoing mail, says a June survey by Forrester Consulting, the first time it has issued such a report.

A Vietnamese court sentenced a 73-year-old former colonel to 19 months in prison on Wednesday for using the Internet to criticize government policies as Hanoi expands a crackdown on cyber dissidents.

iTunes Europe customers may finally be able to download tracks from The White Stripes and Franz Ferdinand as their music labels inch toward a deal this week with Apple Computer Inc., a source said on Tuesday.