Cupertino, Calif. - Apple (NASD: AAPL) on Tuesday named Mark Papermaster as its senior vice president of devices hardware engineering, effective April 24. Papermaster, most recently a vice president at IBM, will lead Apple's iPod and iPhone hardware engineering teams. Apple said that litigation between IBM and Papermaster over a competition clause has been resolved.

San Francisco - A federal judge has ordered Apple's (NASD: AAPL) new head of engineering for its iPhone and iPod teams, Mark Papermaster, to cease working for the company while the court examines whether his employment at Apple violates a competition clause in the contract with his former employer, IBM, Reuters reports.

New York - Linden Lab, creators of the "Second Life" virtual world, and IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced on Tuesday a successful test of virtual world interoperability, during which avatars were "teleported" between the Second Life Preview Grid and an OpenSim virtual world server. An open standard for interoperability would allow users to cross freely from one world to another in a seamless transfer, just as they can go from one website to another on the Internet today, the companies said.

New York - IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Linden Lab, creator of the "Second Life" online virtual world, announced on Thursday that they will collaborate on the development of "enterprise solutions for security-rich, custom virtual world creation and collaboration" on the Second Life Grid platform. The platform allows organizations to create a public or private virtual environment using Linden Lab's 3D online virtual world technology.

It seems that everything that can command consumer attention — websites, software applications, social networking, video games, reality TV — is being monetized through advertising. So why not books? Especially in dynamic digital formats? Tim O’Reilly argues no:

London - IBM (NYSE: IBM) has applied for a U.S. patent on a system that would serve advertising during DVD playback, The Register reports. "Whenever a DVD is to be played, a certificate is consulted to determine whether the content of the DVD should be played with or without commercial interruptions," the patent reads. "If the certificates provide for commercial interruptions, then commercials can be obtained from an online service that renders commercials on demand, or from the DVD itself."

Foster City, Calif. - Sony Computer Entertainment America on Thursday cut $100 off the price of its 80GB PlayStation 3 in the U.S., which will now sell for $499, and also said it will begin selling the new 40GB model for $399, beginning Nov. 2.

Washington - The Smithsonian Institution has launched the website for its new National Museum of African American History and Culture, which is seeking user-generated content including essays, recorded oral histories and eventually video, the Associated Press reported.

Armonk, N.Y. - With corporate employees using online virtual worlds such as "Second Life" to actually conduct business, IBM has issued basic rules of conduct governing appropriate behavior online, the Associated Press reported. Through their avatars, or online characters, individuals have begun to conduct meetings and demonstrate product ideas, according to the report. Among the rules issued by IBM to its employees that use online world's for business: "Don't discuss intellectual property with unauthorized people. Don't discriminate or harass… Be a good 3D Netizen." The company does not have an avatar dress code, the report said.