January 28 - 4:30pm EST   Danger and its hardware partners may be preparing a major update to the Sidekick LX that turns it into an advanced media and social networking device, a survey given to a Hiptop3 reader suggests. When asked about smartphones, the reader says she was reportedly presented with an image that shows an Sidekick LX 2009 that centers on an unusually sharp, 854x480 3.2-inch display. It would also have other hardware firsts for Sidekicks, including 3G data, GPS with turn-by-turn navigation and a 3.2-megapixel camera with both flash and video capture. [full story]

January 10 - 2:05pm EST   Besides its first computers, ViewSonic has also used CES to introduce its first 3D-capable displays and a round of photo frames. Heading up the line is the VX2265wm FuHzion. The 22-inch panel can output a stereoscopic 3D image viewable with NVIDIA's GeForce 3D Vision and uses its extra refresh to generate a 120Hz 2D picture that restores some of the detail lost in fast-moving images. [full story]

December 5 - 1:10pm EST   Microsoft has hired an ex-Yahoo executive to run its Online Services Group, the company has announced. Qi Lu -- who until recently was the executive VP of engineering for the Search and Advertising Technology Group at Yahoo -- will assume his new role on January 5th, where he will report directly to CEO Steve Ballmer. His responsibilities should involve directing Microsoft's efforts in online search and advertising, which are centered around Windows Live. [full story]

August 4 - 12:05pm EDT   Yahoo investors at the company's shareholders meeting have voted to keep executives suggested through a last-minute deal with activist investor Carl Icahn. The vote keeps nearly all of the existing leaders of the company and showed an unexpected level of confidence in particularly vocal opponents of Microsoft's initial takeover bid for Yahoo, including company CEO Jerry Yang and chairman Roy Bostock, who respectively earned 85.4 and 79.5 percent votes in favor of their remaining in place. [full story]

July 10 - 8:40am EDT   Creative on Thursday took the wraps from the ZEN X-Fi, the company's first-ever wireless player and its first competitor to the iPod touch and Zune. The device succeeds the original ZEN and includes a new, nine-point control pad key to using the device online over Wi-Fi: Wireless LAN versions can use a phone-style text entry system to chat online using Windows Live or Yahoo instant messaging. The network access also gives the X-Fi the ability to stream music and video directly from a home computer on the local network, although a rumored Internet streaming feature doesn't reach the finished product. [full story]

May 19 - 8:20am EDT   Microsoft's proposed partial deal with Yahoo may see a buyout of the company's search platform in a bid to create a new, alternative challenge to Google, according to tips from those purportedly aware of the negotiations. Rather than buy out all of Yahoo or else strike a license deal, Microsoft will buy Yahoo's core search business and may complete a transaction as early as this week. [full story]

May 12 - 8:35am EDT   Research in Motion today continued a string of announcements for its Wireless Enterprise Symposium with word that it will start offering Microsoft's key Windows Live services on its smartphones. Both Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger will be available from the software and will only require a single sign-in to access both services when they sign in. The BlackBerry's trademark "push" technology will apply to Hotmail and will deliver mail almost in real-time to the phone, complete with full HTML and an optional separate inbox; Live Messenger in turn will have the same multi-chat and emoticon options as with other clients. [full story]