Hosted work program

Microsoft, long known for catering to the geekiest of programmers, on Friday introduced a Web mashup builder for the rest of us. The hosted service, called Popfly and now in alpha testing, gives consumers a visual way to create a Web site or add features, such as mashups, to existing blogs or personal pages. Mashups are Web applications that combine content from more than one source. Popfly includes a builder tool that allows people to create an application by dragging and dropping block icons onto a design page. These blocks represent tasks or services, such as a widget that displays photos in a slide show, with which a person can build. Microsoft has created blocks for photo-sharing Web sites and mapping Web services. Behind these block icons are JavaScript, XML (Extensible Markup Language) and Silverlight code, which people can modify. ***

newsmaker Having conquered the desktop, Microsoft now has its eye on your telephone. The software maker last year set out its ambition to become a serious player in the telephony market, announcing plans to turn its corporate instant-messaging software into a program that can also manage telephone functions. Jeff Raikes, the veteran Microsoft executive who helped establish Office as one of the company's most profitable products, recently stepped in to take over leadership of the telephony business. Raikes says his unit's investment in telephony research and development is second only to the R&D investment in Office itself. Raikes on Wednesday will lay out Microsoft's telephony plan at VoiceCon, an industry conference in Orlando, Fla. He spoke to CNET News.com by phone ahead of his speech. ***

Akamai Technologies filled out its hosted application lineup on Monday with the introduction of four applications designed for e-commerce Web sites. The applications give companies the option to run their Web site's search, user registration and other e-commerce tools on a host network, Akamai said. The companies would pay for the service depending on customers' usage of these tools. The release is part of Akamai's push to expand its business beyond its Web content delivery services, which use a global network of data centers to speed up delivery of graphics and other Web graphics. Last year, the Cambridge, Mass.-based company ***