Apple's iPhone debuts at month-end

Apple will start selling its iPhone on 29 June, a debut that will test whether the company's design success with Mac computers and iPod media players can carry over into mobile handsets.

Apple announced the date on Sunday with three television commercials showing off the phone's large touch-screen and ability to watch video, play music and display photos. The ads can also be seen on the company's Web site.

A company spokesman confirmed the date.

Google is making its controversial engine available to publishers interested in putting it on their Web sites, reports PC World.

This is the first time Google's Book Search service has been available outside of its main site in the Google.com domain.

This co-branded search program benefits Google because the search engine will now be available more broadly. Meanwhile, publishers benefit by offering an additional search service to their Web site visitors.

Just when SD/MMC memory cards had become widely supported in mobile electronics such as cameras and phones, along comes a new standard. Fortunately, this one has a real advantage for users, says ITWire.

The MultiMediaCard Association's new miCard has dual interfaces. One set of contacts mirrors the normal MMC arrangement, while a new set provides direct compatibility with USB 2.0.

The 12mm wide by 1.95mm thick miCard is sized to plug straight into a USB connector.

Microsoft's Live Search now includes full-text searching of in-copyright books from a range of publishers, according to ITWire.

Live Search Books (in beta) carries out a full-text search and generates a results list showing title, author, year of publication and a snippet containing the search terms.

Hovering over one of these entries brings up a pane containing cover art, additional publication details and a summary of the book, along with a graphical indication of where the search terms are located.