In the latest move in the battle between publishers and search engines, HarperCollins Publishers said yesterday it would create its own digital library of all of its book and audio content and make it searchable by consumers on the Internet. Web users will be able to search the HarperCollins archive via search engines like Google and Yahoo or the specialized programs of retailers like Amazon.com.

HarperCollins Will Create a Searchable Digital Library

NBC Universal has begun selling downloadable television shows, from ``Law & Order'' to ``The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,'' on Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes store, the companies said on Tuesday in the latest attempt by a major network to reach beyond the traditional TV audience.

NBC, Following ABC, Will Sell Programs on iTunes

As an era of ordering TV shows at the push of a button gets underway, new challenges are clouding the landscape in the year ahead: What business models are going to work and who is going to get paid what?

Looking for the Proceeds in TV-on-Demand

Mr. Denson, who works for Verizon Communications, and Mr. York, his counterpart at AT&T, are playing starring roles in their companies' risky forays into the TV business. In the latest twist in an accelerating technological free-for-all, the Baby Bells are trying to shore up their flagging fortunes by muscling their way into what was until just a decade ago the bailiwick of cable companies. Rarely competitors in the past, cable operators and telephone companies are now scrambling to be the one-stop shop that will gladly accept your monthly payments to watch television, use the phone and have high-speed Internet access.

aka data, data and data.

Apparently ATT (SBC) is rolling out Microsoft's IPTV platform. Ick. Apparently in early trials, they needed a server per every 10 users for channel changing to be sufficiently responsive.

And this is a case where you control the whole network and can provision bandwidth so IP multicast could actually work...

Calling Out the Cable Guy

"What fresh hell is this?"

According to literary legend, that's the way Dorothy Parker used to greet phone callers, and while I haven't dialed up any music biz execs lately, I wouldn't be at all surprised by a similar greeting if I did.

Music Biz Blues

But Crotty said the big winner in the video game wars is IBM, since its microprocessors power all three of the new consoles from the industry's heavy hitters.

Little wonder IBM wasn't about to bend over backwards to keep Apple on board...

Microsoft loses money on each Xbox; IBM chip key

TiVo, the maker of digital video recorders, plans to announce a new feature on Monday that will let TiVo owners watch recorded television shows on Apple's video iPods and on Sony's handheld PSP game machine.

TiVo to Transfer Shows to iPods, Sony PSP

The company has also softened the colors hoping to give the 128-year-old AT&T name a face-lift. The company ditched block letters for a curved, lower-case Avenir typeface to portray a kinder, gentler telecommunications behemoth.

The old logo "was very 1980's," said Karen Jennings, the senior executive vice president of human resources and communications, which oversees the company's advertising. "The lower-case face will signal that we're open and approachable."

A Newly Merged Company Maintains a Familiar Globe

I.B.M. announced an agreement Thursday establishing an Indian outsourcing company, HCL Technologies, as the first design center outside I.B.M.'s own walls for its Power Architecture chips.

India Concern to Design I.B.M. Chips

But now Google is up more than 350% since its public offering last year and the stock opened at $401.68 Thursday. Many investors clearly expect the stock to continue its upward trajectory. Volume in out-of-the-money Google calls is rising, indicating that people expect the stock to keep jumping.

Lately, the shares were at $402.13, up $3.98, or 1%.

Google Walks Past $400