Opera Software CEO Jon von Tetzchner has begun his cross-Atlantic swim after the browser beat its download target.

Tetzchner said last week that he would swim from Norway to the United States if Opera 8 was downloaded a million times in its first four days of release. Because this target was exceeded over the weekend, the executive has agreed to keep to his promise.

“Although I blatantly admit that my promise was based more on joy and enthusiasm than my swimming abilities and physical health, I will do my very best to keep it,” he said in a statement.

Swimming to America (Source)

Tetzchner entered the “freezing Oslo fjord” on Monday and started swimming toward the United States, the company said. Opera’s public relations manager, Eskil Sivertsen, is rowing an inflatable boat alongside Tetzchner “as an act of guilt after making the CEO’s statement public,” according to the Opera Web site.

It remains to be seen whether the CEO will actually complete the ambitious journey.

Source: News.com

After revving the engine for quite a while, Microsoft is hoping to take 64-bit computing into the fast lane.

The software maker, which has been tooling around with the 64-bit version of Windows for the better part of two years, is announcing the general availability of the long-awaited product later on Monday. The company will start selling 64-bit editions of both Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP Professional.

The new Windows won’t be showing up on retail shelves, though. Customers who buy a desktop or server with a 64-bit chip will have the option of getting the new operating system, while people who own an existing 64-bit machine will have the option of trading in their old 32-bit Windows for the 64-bit upgrade.

Source: News.com

Google is taking a big step toward becoming an online banner-advertising network as the market for brand ads heats up.

Beginning Monday, the search giant will start allowing advertisers to display animated image ads on third-party partner sites–a first for Google and a departure from company co-founders’ early stance against such Web advertising. (Google itself still shows only text ads on its site.)

Google will also allow advertisers to designate on which third-party Web sites their ads will appear, whether it’s large partner sites like The New York Times or smaller pages.

Finally, to take advantage of the program, advertisers must bid for placement on a cost per impression (CPM) basis, as opposed to Google’s stock in trade cost-per-click (CPC) search ads. CPMs are modeled more closely to brand advertising like TV commercials in which marketers pay based on the number of people who see the ad. In contrast, marketers pay only for CPC ads when people click.

Source: News.com