In a curt statement, Microsoft said Friday it is appealing the 899 million Euro ($1.3 billion) antitrust fine leveled by the European Union. "We are filing this appeal in a constructive effort to seek clarity from the Court. We will not be saying anything further," the company stated.

The Federal Trade Commission reported today that video game retailers are getting much better about checking IDs before selling M-rated games, such as "Grand Theft Auto IV." That's the Entertainment Software Ratings Board's "mature" rating, suitable only for people 17 and over. I experienced this first hand when I got carded while trying to purchase "GTA IV" at the Game Stop in Northgate Mall last night.

Following this post, which highlighted excerpts from the interview Fox Business News scored with Bill Gates and Warren Buffett earlier this week, here's a video segment.

Take-Two Interactive today announced that "Grand Theft Auto IV" sold about 3.6 million units in its first day of sales. That works out to about $310 million. But here's the thing: Those are global sales figures. When Bungie and Microsoft delivered "Halo 3" last fall, they touted first-day sales of $170 million, but that was only in the U.S.

The long-expected tie-up between Clearwire and Sprint Nextel on WiMax technology is close to happening, the Wall Street Journal is reporting this afternoon.

The deal, valued at $12 billion, would put the merged venture under the Clearwire name and be headed by Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff, the Journal reported on its Web site. Craig McCaw, the wireless pioneer who has led Clearwire's development after a series of earlier wireless enterprises, will be chairman.

The WiMax marriage has been discussed for some time, but was tabled last year as Sprint was hit by financial problems. But the talks were restarted under new Sprint CEO Dan Hesse, a onetime top executive in Seattle-based wireless and broadband companies.

The venture has drawn investments from top technology and broadband companies, including Intel, Google, Comcast and Time Warner.

The Journal said an announcement of the deal could come as early as Wednesday

Beginning Sept. 1, Adam Warby, will become the second CEO of Avanade, an 8-year-old Seattle-based IT consulting company founded by Microsoft and Accenture. Warby, who has served as executive vice president of sales and marketing, and general manager of the company's European and Americas markets, will replace Mitch Hill, who has led the company since the beginning, Avanade announced today.

Yahoo announced the date of its shareholder meeting yesterday. It will be held on Thursday, July 3. Before Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer withdrew his bid to buy the company and took his finger off the hostile-takeover trigger, the announcement of Yahoo's meeting date was a much anticipated moment in the acquisition story.

Microsoft is improving the social network behind its Zune media player and online service, and adding TV shows and other video content to the Zune store.