Your impression when tuning in to CNN's The Situation Room for the first time is likely to be, "Geez, there's a lot going on here." There is. And much of it involves technologies familiar to internet regulars, but mostly unheard of in the context of TV newscasts. Launched in August and modeled after the White House Situation Room -- where presidents confer with advisers on fast-moving matters of utmost importance -- CNN's Situation Room has become something of an R&D lab for news-gathering technology.

With Google's book-scanning program set to resume in earnest this fall, copyright laws that long preceded the internet look to be headed for a digital-age test. The outcome could determine how easy it will be for people with internet access to benefit from knowledge that's now mostly locked up -- in books sitting on dusty library shelves, many of them out of print.

A year ago, executives at the media-buying agency Initiative Media, conducting what they called a buzz survey to try to determine which network television series had a chance to break out as the new season commenced, stumbled on some data that left them scratching their heads. That record of anticipating great early reaction to a couple of emerging hits has put new emphasis on the tracking surveys that networks and advertising agencies conduct to measure advance interest in the new crop of network series.

Microsoft Corp. is making some of the features on its Internet division site, MSN, available to outside software developers as it takes on Google Inc. in the Web-based information and services market. Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, is encouraging software developers to write programs that tap into MSN, hoping such programs will increase the number of visitors to MSN properties in the same way millions of Web users are attracted to Google's search, e-mail, news and other services.

Yahoo's latest online news project is called "The Hot Zone" and is billed as a much-needed look at war-torn regions that have drawn scant mainstream media coverage. But the title could just as easily describe the trouble the media giant could encounter as it ventures for the first time into original news reporting.

Retailers need to intensify branding and personalization in e-mails to snare more customers, according to a study released at Shop.org conference in Las Vegas this week. Silverpop, Atlanta, studied 175 retailers' e-mail marketing programs and found that 48 percent included neither the brand nor the company name in the subject line of their e-mails. Fewer than one-third included either the company or product name in the subject line.

John Gaffney, COO of Havas' Media Planning Group USA, has been let go, according to sources, though a company representative confirmed only that Gaffney had left the agency.

A video iPod would be more about storage than portability, but the device could have a significant impact on the entertainment business.

America Online is adding its considerable weight to the podcasting phenomenon, offering visitors to AOL.com a full complement of podcasting tools and featured content. The move comes as online advertisers and marketers keep an eye on podcasting, both as a potential medium for sponsorship and as a vehicle for branded content.

In a deal that would unite two of America's corporate giants as partners in the Internet business, Time Warner is in advanced discussions to sell a stake in America Online to Microsoft. According to two sources familiar with the matter, Time Warner is in talks with Microsoft about selling the stake in AOL and then combining it with Microsoft's Web unit MSN.