InfoWorld reports that Verizon Wireless will roll out a fast cellular data service in many large U.S. cities during this summer. The service, called BroadbandAccess, is based on CDMA2000 1x EV-DO (Code Division Multiple Access Evolution-Data Only). Nationwide, Verizon now offers voice and data services on CDMA2000 1x, which delivers roughly the speed of a dial-up Internet connection.

PC World reports that Sheryl Crow, Dr. Dre, and Alicia Keys were among the major recording artists who backed Carly Fiorina on stage at the Consumer Electronics Show, where the Hewlett-Packard chairman and CEO took perhaps the toughest stand yet by a technology industry executive against digital music piracy.At a conference where products for recording and sharing digital content are in abundance, Fiorina said HP is determined to help stamp out the illegal copying of music and video by building tough protection technologies into virtually all its consumer products.

Emirates is now adding a wireless LAN email service on some aircraft. Tenzing is working with Europe’s Airbus S.A.S. and a division of Matsushita Electric Industrial to equip Emirates’ new Airbus A340-500 jets with Wi-Fi LANs. Tenzing’s software supports a wide variety of email clients including any POP3 client, and can support some types of corporate virtual private networks. The company probably will offer support for IBM Lotus Notes mail in the next few months.

InternetNews.com reports that Yahoo is getting closer to adding a Rich Site Summary aggregator to its My Yahoo service, a move that could provide a major boost to the XML format for content syndication. Separately, NewsGator Technologies has launched a new service that would push RSS aggregation beyond the desktop and on to HTML-enabled mobile devices. NewsGator, which markets an enterprise-focused RSS aggregator within the Microsoft Outlook client, said the new Online Services product would allow synchronization of RSS subscriptions between multiple machines, Web browsers, POP3 email clients and mobile devices like cell phones and PDAs.

Elecronic House reports that Bill Gates envisions a world where people can seamlessly access all of their digital music, movies and information from any device in any location at any time. In his keynote address at CES, Gates unveiled MSN Premium, which offers email features that bring the organization and planning tools of Microsoft’s Outlook program into Web-based Hotmail accounts.

Bill Gates opened up the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas by introducing technology that allows users to take their Windows Media Center PCs and any digital photos, music and video running on the platform, and display them on TVs or other entertainment devices. The Globe and Mail reports that the devices would hook up to a TV and connect to the Media Center PC through a wired or wireless computer network.

CRN reports that Sony executives said the company was poised to deliver LCD-TVs with improved definition; new performance in optical recording with a dual-channel, DVD recorder featuring 24X dubbing speed; wireless DVD systems for distributing audio and video; and location-free TV, which, in a network, will send streaming audio from a central PC or device into a handheld viewing screen.

Franklin Electronic Publishers today introduced new Rolodex Electronics organizers as part of their E-Z FILE and Touch FILE series. Franklin’s unique Rolodex Electronics touch-screen PDA’s feature Pumatech’s highly acclaimed Intellisync Software, which allows for two-way synchronization between the handheld and PC with renowned applications like Microsoft Outlook.

Smart Watches for MSN Direct are now shipping for broad retail availability, as announced by Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates during his keynote address at the 2004 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Smart Watches, manufactured by Fossil Inc. and Suunto, utilize MSN Direct to receive personalized content including news, weather, personal messages, calendar appointment reminders and stock quotes. Subscribers to MSN Direct service can receive personal messages via MSN Messenger and calendar appointment reminders from Microsoft Outlook.

NewsGator Technologies, known for its news aggregator that plugs into Microsoft Outlook, is reaching beyond the single email client with a new service offering. eWeek reports that NewsGator Online Services is a set of tools for reading content from RSS and Atom syndication feeds via the Web, through any POP3-compliant email client and on mobile devices that support HTML.