Sony Electronics, a unit of Sony Corp. said on Thursday that it has talked with XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. about music devices, though no satellite radio deals are in place.

If being normal means signing a conventional wireless contract, Virgin Mobile USA is urging U.S. Hispanics to steer clear. This is the pay-as-you-go carrier's first integrated campaign aimed at the fast-growing minority group.

What comes to mind when you think of wireless Web surfing? It may not be security, or lack of it. There are nearly 30,000 public wireless "hot spots" in the United States at places such as parks and cafes, but there's more to consider than just where to log on. The convenience comes with a caveat.

MSN's Sender ID e-mail authentication program for e-mail sent to Hotmail users gets under way today. Some e-mail delivery firms and the Direct Marketing Association alerted e-mail marketers of the program's implementation. Notification was provided by the DMA late last week while the e-mail delivery firms informed their customers yesterday.

Web search leader Google Inc. is developing an online payment system but not a direct rival to eBay Inc.'s PayPal, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said on Tuesday. Schmidt spoke after several days of heated speculation over reports that Google was working on a potential rival to PayPal, eBay's popular online payment system.

The Screen Actors Guild's bitter infighting claimed another victim Tuesday as members of the national executive committee voted to reject the recently negotiated video game contract against the wishes of members and the negotiating committee.

The National Football League said on Monday that it has been in discussions with a number of large U.S. wireless providers about delivering video clips of game highlights to mobile phones.

Twenty-eight floors above the traffic-choked streets of China's most wired city, blogger and tech entrepreneur Isaac Mao sums up his opinion of Microsoft and its treatment of the Chinese bloggers with one word. "Evil," says Mao. "Internet users know what's evil and what's not evil, and MSN Spaces is an evil thing to Chinese bloggers."

Internet analysts' reactions were mixed to the news that Google plans to start an online payment system this year to rival eBay's PayPal. Though Google has not officially announced what observers are calling the "Google Wallet" program, news reports said the service would be an electronic payment system similar to PayPal, with declining balance accounts allowing consumers to buy on Web sites instead of using their credit cards to pay for merchandise on the sites.

IGN Entertainment, an Internet company that focuses on the video game industry, is up for sale and could fetch nearly $850 million, The Post has learned. The company has been making its pitch to virtually every big media company, while at the same time has also considered going public, sources said.