Google has partly scrapped a browser plug-in project called O3D, instead throwing its full weight behind a 3D Web graphics technology called WebGL that got its start at Mozilla. The move has the potential to simplify the effort to bring hardware-accelerated 3D graphics to the Web, an idea that has appeal to those trying to refashion it as a foundation for applications such as games.

"Cloud computing" is so overused and overhyped that it doesn't really mean anything anymore. It's has become kind of a vague "what comes next in IT" label, with no specific meaning, applied indiscriminately to whatever the latest vendor to stop by wants to sell us today.

I now hear this complaint with great regularity--but I don't entirely agree. Sure, every vendor is eagerly "cloud washing" whatever products or initiatives they have to fit in with the latest buzzhype. And the "cloud" term is thrown around with pretty reckless abandon.

LAS VEGAS--The new Windows Phones have a lot of things that prior versions of Windows Mobile haven't had, most notably a cool factor.

But one thing that the 7 Series devices won't have--at least not this year's crop--is the ability to broadly copy and paste items. As earlier noted by Engadget, Microsoft confirmed on Tuesday that developers shouldn't expect to have access to a clipboard to allow users to copy and paste. Nor will Microsoft's own Office applications have copy and paste.

iPhone and iPod Touch owners could breathe a sigh of relief when Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad. Apple's highly anticipated tablet computer would not, after all, require purchasing all new applications. Instead, everything in the App Store would automatically work on the iPad. As Jobs explained, tapping one button on the iPad screen transforms apps made for the 3.1-inch iPhone/iPod Touch screen to a snugger fit on the 9.7-inch iPad.

Simple, right? For the iPad owner, sure.

For those who doubted that Microsoft was serious in its effort to re-engage with the Web, it's time to put the skepticism aside.

At its Mix conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Microsoft gave programmers, Web developers, and the world at large a taste of things to come with its Web browser.

Sure, Adobe Systems spends a lot of effort developing and promoting its Flash technology. And sure, a lot of thenew "Open Web" technologies are a competitive threat to Flash.

But that doesn't mean Adobe isn't interested in HTML5 and CSS3--the updates to Hypertext Markup Language for describing Web pages and to Cascading Style Sheets for Web page formatting--that are two of the most important parts of that Open Web work.

Google on Thursday released a version of its Latitude mobile application for the iPhone. But Apple, curiously, has decreed that it be a Web-based app and not a native iPhone app, which has raised some eyebrows.

In announcing Latitude for iPhone, a Google blog post noted that the application works much the same way as on other platforms like Android, Symbian, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile.

Open JDK7 / JDK7 Release: Milestone 4

The last milestone (M3) was released during the JavaOne time frame and since then, the teams have been making progress by fixing bugs and forward porting changes from the other JDK trains to JDK7.

The forward port work was from the JDK 6u10 through 6u14 trains. For now JDK 7 is finally in sync with the JDK 6u14 updates. Some of the features in the forward port included: The new Java Plug-In, Java Kernel, Quickstarter, Patch-in-place, Deployment Toolkit and related installer features.

PayPal Will Be Bigger Than Ebay.com, CEO Says

PayPal is just over a third of eBay's revenue at the moment, but the online payment service will ultimately be bigger than the company's flagship e-commerce site, its chief executive said Thursday.

"PayPal is a business that will be bigger than eBay," CEO John Donahoe said in a talk at the Fortune Brainstorm: Tech conference here.

Can IT Help Build Smart Cities?

Technology has the potential to help build smarter, greener cities, but whether it will is another matter.

That was the take-away from a panel discussion Wednesday at Fortune's Brainstorm: Tech conference here.

The need for cities that use less energy is clear. Although cities occupy just 2 percent of the world's geography, they account for 75 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emmissions, according to Clinton Climate Initiative Chairman Ira Magaziner.