Microsoft and MCI said they'll soon offer a service that lets customers place calls from their personal computers to regular phones.
But the service will permit only outbound calls at first, even as rivals Yahoo (YHOO) and America Online allow instant messaging users to receive calls from conventional phones as well as to call out.
Microsoft (MSFT and MCI (MCIP) said they will begin a test run of the service in the United States this week. Broader availability is set for the first half of next year.
The service will use technology from Teleo, a small startup Microsoft acquired in August. Teleo's internet telephony software lets people make voice calls by clicking on phone numbers appearing on web pages.
It's the latest offering to use VOIP technology. Calls are broken into data packets that get routed over the internet, an approach that is cheaper and more efficient than the traditional circuit-switched phone system.
Microsoft and MCI's new service, which the companies call "MCI Web Calling for Windows Live Call," will allow users of MSN Messenger, Microsoft's instant messaging service, to call land lines or cell phones. Microsoft said it was working to add additional capabilities, including inbound calls.
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Controlled urge: Viacom's (VIA) MTV Networks and Microsoft will develop a new digital music service.
The service, to be called Urge, is due to launch in 2006, the companies said in a joint release, and will be integrated into a new version of Microsoft's Windows Media Player.
Plans call for the service to offer more than 2 million songs for download from major labels and independents, as well as original content and MTV Networks programs.
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Xwhat?: Microsoft's new Xbox 360 video game console got a lukewarm welcome in Japan on its debut weekend with fans buying fewer than half the games available in stores.
Microsoft, which started selling the Xbox 360 in Japan on Saturday, is trying to break into the world's second-largest video game market and challenge the longtime dominance of Sony's (SNE) PlayStation.
Microsoft sold 62,135 machines over the weekend, or just 39 percent of the 159,000 consoles it is estimated to have shipped to stores.
The figures indicate a slower start than the original Xbox, which failed in Japan. The first Xbox sold about 123,000 units in the first three days of its launch in 2002.
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No-fly zone: Hewlett-Packard jumped into the business of providing the technology -- and building the rooms -- for large companies to hold virtual face-to-face meetings regardless of the distance between participants.
HP's Halo Collaboration Studio offers a nearly immersive environment where people can see each other, talk and collaborate remotely as if they were in the same room. The underlying network, built and serviced by HP, minimizes delays and never crosses the public internet.
Developed in partnership with DreamWorks Animation SKG, the rooms are targeted at large corporations that are looking to cut down on the amount of time and money spent flying people to different locations. Each room costs roughly $550,000 with an $18,000 per month fee though the charges vary with the number ordered.
The idea originated in the aftermath of Sept. 11 as airlines cut back on flights, security was ratcheted up and travel became more of a time-consuming headache, said Jeffrey Katzenberg, DreamWorks Animation's chief executive.
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Compiled by Keith Axline. AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
