The number of Internet users is rising, but not everybody has access to the Web

Internetnews.com writes that “[s]ome 747 million people aged 15 or older used the Internet worldwide in January 2007, a 10 percent increase from the same month a year ago, according to new research from comScore Networks.”

The Washington Post reports that “China is at the top of a list of countries blocking Internet access, and Russia and Venezuela have shown serious regression in several areas, mainly in centralizing power in the executive branch, according to State Department officials who released the department’s annual human rights report yesterday.”

According to CNetNews.com, “[d]eparting from tradition, Microsoft this year opened up the first day of TechFest to about 300 outsiders, allowing customers, partners, government officials and reporters to get the first look at dozens of projects cooked up by the company’s 800-person research unit.”

In another Microsoft story, Yahoo!News writes that “Microsoft Corp. [expects] the shift by business organizations to Web-based phone systems running on its software to generate ‘billions’ of dollars in revenue for the company, a top executive said on Tuesday.”

“This week, hundreds of top university officials will gather in San Francisco as the Association of University Technology Managers meets to mull the promise and perils of this process known as technology transfer”, reports SFGate.