Will the dissolution of a key group developing e-mail authentication standards stop the technology from being adopted by marketers? Groups representing e-mail service providers and marketers say no.

Aaron Delwiche, an assistant professor at Trinity University in San Antonio, often gathers students in his Games for the Web class in an unlikely classroom: the metaverse known as Second Life. It's not unusual for teachers and students to use an online environment like a chat room to meet. But Delwiche and a few other college professors are taking advantage of Second Life's fully three-dimensional virtual world and are the first to teach classes in a world where the students can fly, change body types at will and build fantastical structures that can float in the sky.

Microsoft Corp. filed nine new lawsuits against spammers who send unsolicited e-mail, including an e-mail marketing Web hosting company, the world's largest software maker said on Thursday.

The Google franchise could be coming to a Web browser near you--if all the recent clues add up, that is. Evidence is growing that may support rumors that the preeminent search company plans to introduce a Google-branded Web browser down the road. Among the clues are a domain-name registration, a patent application and several recent hires.

Google expanded its local search offerings north of the border with the launch of Google Local Canada and the integration of local search results into Google.ca.

Add eBay to the steadily growing list of major firms that are exploring the digital music download market. Web giant Yahoo! and software titan Microsoft are just two of the most recent notable entrants seeking to dethrone Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store. Now eBay is taking some tentative steps of its own. Today, the Internet auction powerhouse will announce a deal with a startup, PassAlong Networks, whereby PassAlong will sell digital downloads via its own Web site and through an online storefront on eBay.

A Pentagon-run Web site intended to make it easier for Americans overseas to vote by absentee ballot has been modified to broaden access to the site, the Defense Department said on Wednesday.

Consumer electronics giant Sony Corp. said on Thursday it is mulling a major strategic shift to make digital music devices that play MP3 song files.

If you're one of about 200 million people using older versions of Windows and you want the latest security enhancements to Internet Explorer, get your credit card ready. Microsoft this week reiterated that it would keep the new version of Microsoft's IE Web browser available only as part of the recently released Windows XP operating system, Service Pack 2. The upgrade to XP from any previous Windows versions is $99 when ordered from Microsoft. Starting from scratch, the operating system costs $199.

Voting activist Bev Harris and a computer scientist say they found more vulnerabilities in an electronic voting system made by Diebold Election Systems, weaknesses that could allow someone to alter votes in the election this November.