ReadWriteWeb

While the rest of the world was caught up with Google Buzz, Apple was quietly granted a patent for a virtual reality App Store. The store patent encompasses details such as seasonal and time-based lighting, color schemes and a basic storefront representation. A few bloggers have already criticized the patent as a relic from SecondLife past, the store may have more use when we consider it in the context of the XBox Live marketplace.

Capitol Hill is abuzz as Comcast and NBC Universal defend their merger in an antitrust investigation before the Senate Judiciary Committee. While a number of interest groups are commenting on the potential acquisition, Boxee CEO Avner Ronen's blog post offers some hints at how the merger could affect the environment for web TV startups.

Savvy content publishers are celebrating the announcement of what may be a potentially lucrative revenue stream. Yesterday morning, net television provider Boxee wrote about its plans to launch an upcoming payment platform. Content partners will have a chance to offer pay-per-view and subscription media as one click purchases from the remote.

Microsoft, in a new report about Internet usage in Europe, predicts that the Internet will overtake TV as the most consumed form of media in Europe by the middle of next year. Broadband connections in Europe have grown by 95% in the last five years and the average European now spends about 8.9 hours per week online. Microsoft also predicts that over the next 5 years, usage patterns will shift away from traditional PCs to other web enabled devices like game consoles, IPTV, and mobile phones.

Google Latitude is out, giving your friends the ability to tell where you are (or at least where your mobile phone is) 24/7. You can, of course, opt out in whole or in part - updating your location manually, or concealing it altogether. Which should prevent certain awkward conversations ("If that's my mother, tell her I'm not here!")... but maybe at the expense of triggering others ("Exactly why weren't you on Latitude tonight while you were 'working late'?").

Google today made its own contribution to solving the PC to TV problem with the release of Google Media Server. The Windows-only software works in conjunction with Google’s desktop search application - Google Desktop - to locate various media (photos, music and video) stored on your PC and make it available for streaming over a home network to any UPnP compatible or DLNA ‘certified’ device, such as a PlayStation 3.