Video collaboration

IBM said that it will invest more than a $1 billion over the next three years in the unified communications market, setting up another race between the computing giant and its rival Microsoft. At a conference at it Somers, N.Y., headquarters on Monday, executives outlined the company's strategy to garner more revenue from communication and collaboration products, including its Sametime instant messaging and Lotus collaboration suite. The $1 billion over the next three years represents "substantial growth" over current investment levels and represents the rapid growth of the market overall, said Bruce Morse, vice president of unified communications at IBM. ***

Microsoft is forging ahead with new development software that can link Web services to offline applications, among other things. The Microsoft Sync Framework, when integrated into applications, lets Web services be used offline and can synchronize music, videos, images, and other files between PCs and devices. Microsoft has released a new test build of its software as a community technology preview. The software has built-in support for synchronizing relational databases and file systems, including Microsoft's NTFS and FAT, between devices over any network. While Microsoft doesn't specify where the software might be used in its own product lineup, it could make for an interesting companion to an offline-compatible version of Silverlight that company execs say will eventually debut. ***

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--To IBM, today's virtual worlds like Second Life and World of Warcraft are simply a glimpse of the future Web, with the same potential to transform business and society as the first waves of the Web. IBM hosted an event at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab on Friday, where experts offered insights into how virtual worlds can be applied to make businesses more effective and address societal problems. MIT Media Lab Director Frank Moss spoke about how virtual worlds will change identities.(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET Networks) The daylong event brought together IBMers, academics, media and representatives from businesses exploring virtual worlds, including those from entertainment, retail and the hotel industry. ***

You know 37 Signals for their famous Basecamp project management application, and the Ta-da List to do manager. Get ready for their new application, a Contact manager called Highrise, likely to be released very soon. Highrise is a shared contact manager, and similar to Basecamp, and is built around the concept of collaboration. It can be used as a personal contact directory, or as a shared address book between co-workers. The application can be used to keep track of contacts, what they said, and make notes attached to contacts. It sounds like a fully rounded address book application that is done right is going to make a lot of people more productive. ***