Another role could soon be added to the many already performed by home gateway devices: identifying video pirates.

Home gateway manufacturer Thomson SA plans to incorporate video watermarking technology, which it also developed, into future STBs (set-top boxes) and other video devices. The watermarks, unique to each device, will make it possible for investigators to identify the source of pirated videos.

The founder and former CEO of Japanese Internet portal Livedoor was found guilty of violating securities laws and sentenced to two and a half years in prison in one of the biggest cases of corporate abuse for Japan in recent years.

The word that means "quick" in Hawaiian has jumped to the mainland -- and all over the world -- with its inclusion in the Oxford English Dictionary. "Wiki," a moniker that signals a type of Web site open for anyone to edit, joins 287 other words in the latest edition of the prestigious dictionary.

Internet portal Yahoo and online auctioneer eBay announced a wide-ranging search and advertising pact designed to withstand Google's encroachment.

As part of a multi-year partnership set to begin testing over the next several months with a full roll-out later this year, Yahoo and eBay inked exclusive agreements on key technologies as well as co-branded tools enabling them to expand their reach.

Google has announced that it will accept no fewer than a whopping 630 open source projects for this year's Summer of Code. The number is up from last year's 410 projects.

Google's Summer of Code initiative provides sponsorship funding for students to work at mentoring open source projects over the summer. Chris DiBona, open source program manager at Google, told internetnews.com that Google received nearly 6,400 applications this year. The increased number of awarded projects this year corresponds with an increase in the number of mentoring organizations.