One of my favorite things about the iPhone is the unlimited data plan I get from AT&T. Even with the mediocre EDGE speeds I get on the current iPhone, unlimited data means that I can read all the emails, view all the web pages, and play all the games I want on the cellular network. So, I was very disappointed to see that not all countries getting the iPhone on July 11 will have this option.

Perhaps the most prominent case on the map is Canada, where the iPhone 3G is being distributed through Rogers Communication. On Friday, Rogers announced its iPhone plans, which notably lack an unlimited data plan. Via Rogers, the best you can do is a plan with 2GB of data included, which will run you CDN$115 a month (currently about $113.81 in U.S. dollars).

3 Examine Platform Options

Once you know what level of access you need to support and how the hardware will be used day in and day out, comes the time to pick the best platform. Current Analysis' Avi Greengart said, "There is no best platform, but there are several good ones to choose from. The best for one will not be the best for another, and vice versa."

Greengart cuts to the chase and recommends that you "do whatever your senior executive says to do." He's not kidding. "From a practical standpoint, a newbie IT manager will learn the hard way if he/she doesn't follow an executive's wishes. Just because you [in IT] know that Google's Android is a completely untested platform doesn't mean you should tell your executive 'No' if they get one at Best Buy [when it's released] and ask you to support it."

Still smarting from a failed attempt to buy Yahoo! (YHOO), Microsoft (MSFT) is trying another tactic to gain on Google (GOOG) in Web search.

Yahoo is offering its full account of the company's recent acquisition talks with Microsoft.

The company issued a filing on Monday to the US Securities and Exchange Commission which included a copy of a presentation to shareholders. In the presentation, Yahoo makes its case for opposing a takeover bid by Carl Icahn and a defense of its actions in the ill-fated negotiations with Microsoft.

Shareholders will vote in August on whether to keep the current board or replace the members with a group hand-picked by Icahn, who has vowed to pursue a full sale to Microsoft.

Adobe Systems is working with Google and Yahoo! to improve the accuracy of searches for Flash ads and media by delivering an optimized version of its ubiquitous player.

Google is today expected to start offering searches of media content using a version of the player that'll help search engines index content using Adobe's Flash file format (SWF). Improved search from Yahoo! has been promised, although, as yet, there is no shipment date.

Adobe told The Register it's talked to different groups inside Microsoft to use the version of Flash Player with that company's struggling Live Search service. No agreement has been reached, and negotiations are no longer active, Adobe said.

Microsoft of course has a corporate axe to grind with Adobe. Microsoft has an online media content creation and runtime environment alternative to Adobe's Flash and AIR, called Silverlight. Not so long ago, it also attempted to rival PDF with XML Paper in Office.

At the heart of Adobe's offering is what it called an "optimized" version of Flash Player that sits on a search engine's server and checks for Flash at the same time as HTML. The player contains APIs to simulate the firing up of the content on a web page as part of the search. Without this, search engines can only index static text and links within SWF files.

Eric Wittman, director of client distribution and business development for Adobe, said improved SWF search would help users of Google and Yahoo! find content like ads authored in Flash.

That's important for Adobe, since it's trying to increase the appeal of Flash and AIR as media content authoring and runtime environments in the era of rich internet applications (RIAs).

Yahoo on Monday filed its shareholder pitch with the Securities and Exchange Commission as its proxy fight with activist investor Carl Icahn gathers steam. Much of the presentation was designed to “correct the record” on everything from the company’s compensation plan to how the Microsoft bid went down. But Yahoo does make a new case that Icahn isn’t exactly the panacea for shareholder value.

A major Hollywood studio and online search engine Google Inc on unveiled separate moves on Monday to put movie and TV-like content on the Web, highlighting the way in which both see the Internet as critical to reaching customers.
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Sony Pictures Entertainment, a unit of Sony Corp, said it plans to make the Will Smith action film "Hancock," which opens on Wednesday, available online to owners of the Web-connected Sony Bravia TV before the movie goes out on DVD.

eBay got more than it bargained for on Monday when it was slapped with a hefty fine for turning a blind eye to the selling of faux merchandise on its online auction site, according to the court ruling.

A French court ordered the California-based online auctioneer to pay 39.9 million euros ($62.9 million) to the luxury goods company LVMH for allowing the sale of counterfeit goods on its site.

"We are very satisfied with this ruling," an LVMH spokeswoman told Forbes.com. EBay (nasdaq: EBAY - news - people ) said it would appeal the decision.

In an important announcement that could have a major impact on Google's future in video, the New York Times is reporting that Seth MacFarlane, the creator of "Family Guy," will start "Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy", which Google will syndicate (using AdSense) to thousands of Web sites that fit with MacFarlane's target audience. Instead of a static ad, Google will place the video clip on the site.

Interesting, huh? Not only has the company found a way to bring video to the Web and finally make some money on it, but it has nothing to do with YouTube.

Yahoo is offering its full account of the company's recent acquisition talks with Microsoft.

The company issued a filing on Monday to the US Securities and Exchange Commission which included a copy of a presentation to shareholders. In the presentation, Yahoo makes its case for opposing a takeover bid by Carl Icahn and a defense of its actions in the ill-fated negotiations with Microsoft.

Shareholders will vote in August on whether to keep the current board or replace the members with a group hand-picked by Icahn, who has vowed to pursue a full sale to Microsoft.