BOULDER -Web-based mapping software company MyOnlineMaps has launched a Web site where people can create maps.

The Boulder-based company provides the tools at www.myonlinemaps.com where subscribers can create data-driven maps. There is a free version, a basic version with a subscription fee of $144 or a plus version for $288. The type and number of maps the user creates determine the version.

The company allows its subscribers to create national, regional, state and county maps that can be used in presentations and documents. Subscribers can create maps by uploading data to a private area of the site - they can also use a variety of public data.

"Creating data-driven maps can be tedious and expensive when using most mapping software," said Patrick Kelly, co-founder of MyOnlineMaps, in a statement. "We think our users will enjoy producing high-quality maps in a more simple environment at a relatively low cost."

MyOnlineMaps has a link on its site to a blog that gives examples of how the maps work.

BROOMFIELD - Level 3 Communications Inc. announced today that it acquired Servecast Ltd., an Irish online streaming media company, for about $45 million in cash.

Servecast provides streaming media, video and other digital content via the Internet for corporate and sporting event clients.  It also helps clients with digital rights management and security.

The acquisition will enable Level 3 "to manage and distribute online video content in multiple formats to meet the increasing demand for high-quality video over the Internet," a company press release said.

Broomfield-based Level 3 (Nasdaq:LVLT) is an international communications company operating one of the largest communications and Internet backbones in the world.

BOULDER - The Deep Impact Flyby spacecraft built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp. in Boulder will return to service for two NASA Discovery assignments, the Deep Impact Extended Investigation, or DIXI, and the Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization, EPOCh, together known as the EPOXI mission.

Deep Impact completed its initial mission on July 4, 2005, when the Flyby spacecraft released its impactor spacecraft to create the encounter with the Comet Tempel 1. The Flyby then maneuvered away from the comet's debris and has since been orbiting around the sun in hibernation mode.

The DIXI mission will send the Flyby spacecraft to the unexplored comet Boethin on Dec. 5, 2008. As it passes the comet, the spacecraft's infrared spectrometer will map the comet's surface. While in route to comet Boethin, the EPOCh mission will use the Deep Impact telescope to learn more about Jupiterlike planets orbiting nearby stars and search for evidence of Earth-size planets.

ARMONK, N.Y. - IBM is helping the open-source software community by granting developers access to a number of its patents concerning IBM specifications and protocols.

Free access to these patents is a way to make it easier for more computing devices and software to be compatible with one another, according to IBM (NYSE: IBM). Previously, all adopters of these specifications and protocols needed to secure royalty-free licensing terms from IBM.

The move, which IBM believes is the largest of its kind, is designed to spur industry innovation and standards development while discouraging litigation.

"IBM is sending a message that innovation and industry growth happens in an open, collaborative atmosphere," said Bob Sutor, IBM's vice president of open source and standards, in a statement. "Users will adopt new technologies if they know that they can find those technologies in a variety of interchangeable, compatible products from competing vendors. We think customers will like this added assurance for the open standards upon which they have come to depend."

ARMONK, N.Y. - IBM is helping the open-source software community by granting developers access to a number of its patents concerning IBM specifications and protocols.

Free access to these patents is a way to make it easier for more computing devices and software to be compatible with one another, according to IBM (NYSE: IBM). Previously, all adopters of these specifications and protocols needed to secure royalty-free licensing terms from IBM.

The move, which IBM believes is the largest of its kind, is designed to spur industry innovation and standards development while discouraging litigation.

"IBM is sending a message that innovation and industry growth happens in an open, collaborative atmosphere," said Bob Sutor, IBM's vice president of open source and standards, in a statement. "Users will adopt new technologies if they know that they can find those technologies in a variety of interchangeable, compatible products from competing vendors. We think customers will like this added assurance for the open standards upon which they have come to depend."

LOVELAND - Organizers of BIXPO are taking booth reservations and seeking sponsors for the two-day business event to be held Sept. 19-20 at The Ranch in Loveland.

The third annual business and industry exposition features a trade show at the First National Bank Exhibition Hall, an after-hours networking event and a lineup of speakers. 

The Boulder County Business Report, Northern Colorado Business Report and the Wyoming Business Report are presenting BIXPO.

A Front Range Economic Update, a free half-day of seminars, will be presented on Wednesday, Sept. 19, in the Thomas F. McKee 4-H Community Building.

A Speaker Series will be presented on Thursday, Sept. 20, featuring Joe Pine, co-author of "Experience Economy" and "Authenticity"; Mark Hoog, author of the Growing Field book series and a United Airlines pilot; and Susan Graham, a personal business coach presenting "Everything is Negotiable."
 
Cost of a 10-foot by 10-foot booth is $950, or $750 if paid for prior to the event.

For more information on booth rentals or becoming an event sponsor, call the Business Report at 303-440-4950 or visit www.bixpo.com.