Etc...

Mike Rowe 1, Microsoft 1 (tie)

If you've been following the saga of the software giant and the British Columbia teenager who ended up in its crosshairs, be advised that it has a happy ending. Oh, you haven't? Well, in a nutshell, lawyers for Micro-soft served Mike Rowe with a 25-page cease-and-desist order (and threatened further legal action) for daring to register his small website design business under the domain name mikerowesoft.com. Not unless I'm paid $10,000 to rename the site, he fired back. Perhaps due to the glare of news media attention - not to mention the potential for public relations damage - the company then offered such goodies as full reimbursement for his expenses, a free subscription to its product-development site, a tour of its Redmond, Wash., headquarters, and an Xbox console. The deal was accepted, and the small business soon will have a new URL: www.mikeroweforums.com.

Although he now plays for Spain's Real Madrid team, British soccer icon David Beckham remains the most popular celebrity in his native country, results of a new survey show. But the list is dominated by American film stars and musicians. University of Leicester researchers quizzed 2,500 people for a study on fan obsession with public figures. The top 10 celebrities in Britain, according to the survey:

1. David Beckham (British soccer star)
2. Brad Pitt (American actor)
3. Justin Timberlake (American singer)
4. Michael Jackson (American singer)
5. Jennifer Lopez (American actress-singer)
6. Robbie Williams (British singer)
7. Orlando Bloom (British actor)
8. Britney Spears (American singer)
9. Keanu Reeves (American actor)
10. Angelina Jolie (American actress)
- Associated Press