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James Cameron was thinking beyond the big screen when he created the alien world of Pandora. The "Titanic" director worked in tandem with video game developer Ubisoft Montreal on the game based on his upcoming sci-fi epic "Avatar."

Opening Dec. 18, the film stars Sam Worthington as a paralyzed human soldier who takes on the form of an exotic blue-skinned alien species called Na'vi on their home world Pandora, a remote paradise teaming with freaky flora and fauna.

"James Cameron did

Personal computer maker Lenovo Group said Friday it is joining the race to develop products that link phones and PCs by buying back a mobile phone business that it sold last year.

Lenovo, the world's fourth-largest PC maker, sold its mobile unit to focus on computers but said the technologies are now converging, creating a "significant growth opportunity."

The company, based in Beijing and in Morrisville, N.C., said it paid $200 million in cash and stock to acquire its former mobile

The iPhone's arrival in South Korea is generating considerable buzz among consumers and industry watchers amid expectations it will shake up a market dominated by world-beating domestic manufacturers.

"I can't wait to get my iPhone," said Na Hae-bin, a 30-year-old market researcher at an Internet company, who reserved one as soon as he could. "My heart was beating fast."

Judging from pre-orders that started Nov. 22, Apple Inc.'s hit communications device appears set to make serious

Internet retailers hope the convenience of the Web, plus discounts and deals, spur still-nervous shoppers to spend more online this holiday season _ even as traditional retailers brace for mediocre sales.

Internet analysts at comScore Inc. expect online retail revenue to rise 3 percent to $28.8 billion for the months of November and December. That includes the Web sites of traditional retailers, such as Macy's, but excludes auctions, travel and large corporate purchases.

Meanwhile,

People you know have spent small fortunes on shiny new smart phones such as the iPhone 3GS, a BlackBerry or the Droid. But the devices still don't have all the features they want.

The battery runs out too quickly when they surf the Web, watch a movie or play a video game. They wish the phone offered turn-by-turn directions like a true GPS unit and without monthly payments. A tripod would come in handy when they want to take a group photo on the phone for Facebook.

All these holes

Time Warner Cable Inc. is asking the public for help as it tries to curtail increases in the programming fees it has to pay to carry cable channels and broadcast stations on its systems.

The nation's second-largest cable TV operator unveiled an advertising campaign Wednesday asking cable subscribers to vote online on whether it should "roll over" or "get tough" in negotiations over the fees.

Time Warner Cable said it would use the results of the survey in upcoming contract renewal

Covestor Investment Management and kaChing are online ventures that seek to challenge traditional mutual funds. Borrowing ideas from social networking, the startups help connect small investors with individuals the companies deem top money managers. The investors can choose a manager to follow, and make trades in a brokerage account based on the managers' market moves.

A look at the companies:

NAME: Covestor Investment Management

OPERATIONS: London and New York

FOUNDERS:

New cars have been tuning themselves for the better part of two decades now, so it should feel less impressive that Gibson has built a guitar that can smoothly do the same.

And yet when you strum the Dark Fire for the first time, causing its tuning pegs to spin like the ghost of Stevie Ray Vaughan is twirling them over your shoulder, your "wow" knob goes to 11. The perfect pitch it attains in about three seconds is a nice bonus, too.

Released in the past year, the Gibson Dark Fire

If you're unhappy with your mutual fund, you can easily find another. After all, there are nearly 8,000 to choose from.

But is that thinking too narrow? That's the case a couple startups are trying to make.

Companies like Covestor Investment Management and kaChing are betting they can tap into the disenchantment of a select group committed enough to do the investment homework most of us are unwilling to take on. Another requirement: Investors must be willing to try a radically different

An Italian prosecutor demanded jail time Wednesday for four Google executives charged in absentia with defamation and violating privacy for allowing a video to be posted online showing an autistic youth being abused.

Prosecutor Alfredo Robledo is seeking a one-year term for three executives for violating privacy, and six months for a fourth for defamation in the case. Sentencing is expected Dec. 23.

"This prosecution is akin to prosecuting mail service employees for hate speech letters

Online advertising revenue in the U.S. fell 5.4 percent in the third quarter from a year ago, as the sputtering economy kept its tight grip on even the fastest growing segment of industry, according to a report released Wednesday.

But there's a glimmer of hope: Revenue was up 1.7 percent from the second quarter, the first sequential increase since late 2008, the industry trade group Interactive Advertising Bureau said in a report prepared by PriceWaterHouseCoopers LLP.

In the third

What would the holidays be without bickering between siblings? AT&T and Verizon are swamping TV with ads attacking facets of each other's wireless networks. While the ads stick fairly close to the truth, there's a lot they don't say.

AT&T Inc. has been running ads with actor Luke Wilson checking off points in AT&T's favor over Verizon Wireless. It's the continuation of a spat that started a month ago, when Verizon started airing cheeky commercials that highlighted how its fast,

Shares of Blue Coat Systems Inc. rose Wednesday after the security hardware and software maker reported better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter results and third-quarter earnings expectations.

Blue Coat shares were up $1.06, or 4.1 percent, to $26.73 in afternoon trading.

Late Tuesday, Blue Coat reported adjusted earnings of 29 cents per share on $120.4 million in revenue; analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected adjusted earnings of 26 cents per share on $120.1 million in revenue.

The

The Internet can be a powerful medium for politicians to get their message across but it is also a vital means for civilians to have a say in what politicians do, participants in a political conference say.

Andrew Rasiej, founder of the Personal Democracy Forum series, said tools such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube help people organize "in order to have an impact on the political process and to petition governments to be more responsive to their everyday needs."

Saturday's conference

The European Parliament has endorsed new telecom rules that would give phone and Internet users more rights and allow them to appeal to national courts if they are cut off for illegal file-sharing.

The rules endorsed Tuesday are part of a broad telecommunications package that also aims to boost competition for Internet and phone services. As a last resort, telecom companies could be required to separate their infrastructure and services businesses, giving other companies a shot at providing

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said Tuesday that if elected governor, her education plan would focus on bringing more technology to the classroom, recruiting and retaining teachers, lowering the high school dropout rate and helping school districts find ways to save money.

Hutchison, who is challenging Gov. Rick Perry in the Republican primary for governor in March, unveiled her plans in a biotechnology lab at the Collin County Community College District in the Dallas suburb of Plano.

"Now

What would the holidays be without bickering between siblings? AT&T and Verizon are swamping TV with ads attacking facets of each other's wireless networks. While the ads stick fairly close to the truth, there's a lot they don't say.

AT&T Inc. has been running ads with actor Luke Wilson checking off points in AT&T's favor over Verizon Wireless. It's the continuation of a spat that started a month ago, when Verizon started airing cheeky commercials that highlighted how its fast,

Google Inc. is apologizing for a racially offensive image of the first lady that appears at the top of the list when users search for pictures of Michelle Obama on its site.

Google placed a text ad above the image titled "Offensive Search Results" that states "Sometimes our search results can be offensive. We agree."

Users who then click on the ad are directed to a letter from Google that explains its results "can include disturbing content, even from innocuous queries" but notes

Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday said its chief financial officer is departing at the end of the year and will be replaced by the man now responsible for the books at the division that produces Microsoft Office and other business programs.

CFO Chris Liddell led an effort this year to slice $3 billion in costs at Microsoft after it became clear the technology sector would not be immune from the effects of the economic meltdown. The plan included Microsoft's first mass layoffs, wage freezes as

Facebook has created a dual-class stock structure designed to give founder Mark Zuckerberg and other existing shareholders control over the company.

The move could be seen as laying the groundwork for an initial public offering, though the social network said Tuesday it had no plans to go public "at this time."

The dual-class structure is what Google Inc.'s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, created to keep voting control over that company before it went public in 2004. Google's

Data storage company EMC Corp. has lowered its 2009 profit forecast because of a $100 million charge it will take this quarter from a restructuring of international subsidiaries.

The company says the restructuring won't result in layoffs.

EMC said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that its forecast for fourth-quarter earnings per share is now 16 cents, down from 21 cents previously. It expects to earn 50 cents per share for the full year, down from 55 cents.

Earnings

Google is documenting Iraq's national museum and will post photographs of its ancient treasures on the Internet early next year, Google chief Eric Schmidt announced Tuesday.

The museum was ransacked in the chaotic aftermath of Saddam Hussein's ouster in April 2003, and only reopened to visitors early this year. Schmidt, who toured the museum with U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill on Tuesday, said it was important for the world to see Iraq's rich heritage and contribution to world culture.

"The

European Union antitrust regulators on Tuesday dropped a monopoly abuse probe into wireless chip maker Qualcomm Inc. after mobile phone companies withdrew complaints about high royalty fees.

Broadcom Corp., NEC Corp., Nokia Corp., LM Ericsson, Panasonic Mobile Communications and Texas Instruments Inc. backed off complaints they made in October 2005 that Qualcomm broke agreements among patent holders to keep costs at reasonable levels for key WCDMA patents used in third-generation phones.

Qualcomm's

Barnes & Noble on Tuesday posted a larger second-quarter loss than last year and lowered its profit forecast for this quarter in anticipation of weak holiday sales and high costs of launching its electronic book reader, the Nook.

The company's shares fell $1.47, or 6.3 percent, to $22.06 during midday trading. They have traded between $12.64 and $28.78 the past year.

Barnes & Noble launched the Nook, a competitor with Amazon.com's popular Kindle, last month and said the device

Nokia Corp. said Tuesday it is axing 220 jobs at research and development units in Japan as the world's largest mobile phone maker continues to cut costs.

Last week it announced 330 job cuts in Finland and Denmark at its R&D operations that globally employ 17,000 workers.

The company's stock closed down 1.5 percent at euro8.93 ($13.37) on the Helsinki Stock Exchange.

The announcement came a month after Nokia reported its first quarterly loss since it became the world's biggest

Hewlett-Packard Co.'s cost-cutting and push into new markets is helping soften the blow from weakness in the company's mainstay businesses.

HP on Monday reported big revenue declines in four of its main divisions _ PCs, servers, software and printers _ in the latest quarter. A bright spot was technology services, a division HP beefed up last year with the $13.9 billion acquisition of Electronic Data Systems and which posted better profits. HP is eliminating 24,600 jobs as part of that takeover.

HP's

Hewlett-Packard Co.'s cost-cutting and push into new markets is helping soften the blow from weakness in the company's mainstay businesses.

HP on Monday reported big revenue declines in four of its main divisions _ PCs, servers, software and printers _ in the latest quarter. A bright spot was technology services, a division HP beefed up last year with the $13.9 billion acquisition of Electronic Data Systems and which posted better profits. HP is eliminating 24,600 jobs as part of that takeover.

HP's

One area where Hewlett-Packard Co. is expanding aggressively is computer networking, the home turf of market leader Cisco Systems Inc. Earlier this month HP announced plans to buy Cisco competitor 3Com Corp. for $2.7 billion to supplement HP's own line of networking gear.

The move is part of HP's push into more profitable areas than personal computers, which supply a third of HP's revenue but only 15 percent of its operating profit, numbers that continue to shrink as PC makers cut prices

Networking gear maker Brocade Communications Systems Inc. said Monday its fourth-quarter profit fell 6 percent as hefty costs offset a surge in revenue, but reiterated its guidance for fiscal 2010.

Net income in the three months ended Oct. 31 fell to $33.6 million, or 7 cents per share, from $35.6 million, or 9 cents per share, a year ago. The company said the cost of goods sold ballooned to $250.9 million from $153.4 million, while research and development, sales and markeing and legal

Independent label artists Bjork and Tom Waits are coming to MySpace Music.

The joint venture between the News Corp. social networking site and major recording companies said Monday it signed a deal with London-based Merlin, a music rights licensing agency that represents more than 12,000 independent labels.

Several indie label groups had complained that the music streaming service launched in September 2008 without their participation.

Merlin nominees will now get to participate

Retailers are thinking beyond Cyber Monday _ a holiday marketing promotion many push for the Monday after Thanksgiving _ and trying to spin their discounts into into Cyber Weekends or even Cyber Weeks.

Target, Walmart, Toys R Us and others will be running online sales throughout the holiday weekend, with additional sales on Nov. 30, or Cyber Monday. J.C. Penney will offer online sales for items such as clothes and electronics on Monday and Tuesday, and Walmart.com will offer deals starting

A Canadian woman on sick leave for depression said Monday she would fight an insurance company's decision to cut her benefits after her agent found photos on Facebook of her vacationing, at a bar and at a party.

Nathalie Blanchard said Monday she was diagnosed with major depression and was receiving monthly sick-leave benefits until payments dried up this fall.

When Blanchard called her insurance provider, Manulife, to find out why, she says she was told the Facebook photos showed

Patent holding company Klausner Technologies Inc. on Monday said it's suing Motorola Inc. and the maker of BlackBerry smartphones for allegedly violating its patent for visual voicemail.

Klausner said Motorola uses visual voicemail on its "Cliq" cell phones. Other Motorola phones with visual voicemail already are under license from Klausner.

Visual voicemail lets callers see a list of voicemail messages and choose which ones to retrieve first.

The company also said Research

Micros Systems Inc., which makes software for the restaurant and hospitality industries, said Monday Chief Financial Officer Gary Kaufman will retire on March 31, 2010.

Micros said corporate controller Cynthia Russo will replace Kaufman as CFO. Kaufman held the post for almost 16 years, while Russo has been with Micros since 1996.

Laura Fitton's ascent has been staggering: In less than a year, she's become mayor of nine different places in several different states, all without giving any speeches or kissing any babies.

Instead, Fitton has gone out. A lot. And that's allowed her to build an empire in the world of a rapidly growing Internet startup called Foursquare, which rewards users with points and virtual "mayorships" for checking in on their cell phones when they're out and about.

Foursquare is the brainchild

The chief executive of Fox Filmed Entertainment said Monday the U.S. should join France in cutting off the Internet connection of users who repeatedly download copyright-protected films.

CEO Jim Gianopulos said Internet piracy is the single biggest threat to the film industry worldwide, and independent films are the hardest hit.

"The bad news is that the Internet is big, and it's anonymous," Gianopulos told a news conference in Athens.

But he said Internet service providers

While U.S. newspapers are losing subscribers at a staggering rate, a few dailies stand out because their circulation is rising. But they aren't necessarily selling more copies.

Here's why: Since April 1, new auditing rules have made it easier for newspapers to count a reader as a paying customer.

These looser standards are especially helpful to a newspaper if it sells an "electronic edition." That can include a subscriber-only Web site, such as what The Wall Street Journal has, or

Will it be Ellen DeGeneres, Dr. Phil or Dr. Oz? Maybe none of the above. The announced shutdown of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in two years creates room for a new queen (or king) of daytime television.

Until that day when Winfrey's 7 million or so daily viewers start looking for something else to do, preparing to claim that audience will be one of the biggest competitions in television.

"You haven't had a time period like this open up in 25 years," said Larry Gerbrandt, an analyst for

Apple Inc's iPhone is coming to South Korea this week, a local carrier announced Sunday, bringing the iconic communications device to one of the world's most sophisticated mobile phone markets.

KT Corp. began accepting orders for the iPhone both online and in stores Sunday and service will start Nov. 28 as part of an official launch, said Alice Park, a spokeswoman for the country's second-largest mobile carrier.

The announcement ends a long wait in South Korea, which has lagged behind

The flurry of initial public offerings this week is confirmation that this fall's rebound in the market wasn't a fluke and sets the stage for more companies to raise money through IPOs in 2010. But the response to two of the newly public companies shows that investors continue to be careful about where they place their bets.

This week was the second-biggest for new issues _ with five IPOs _ since the market began heating up in mid-September. There have been 22 new offerings so far this

A deal for Comcast Corp. to buy a controlling stake in NBC Universal and create one of the most powerful media companies in the world is taking longer than expected as the current owners tussle over price.

Comcast, the largest cable TV operator in the United States, wants NBC Universal largely for its lucrative cable channels, but it isn't likely to raise its offer to General Electric Co., which first needs Vivendi SA to sell its minority stake.

If GE had to pay Vivendi more for that

Consumers who haven't yet ordered Barnes & Noble's electronic book reader, the Nook, won't see one before Christmas.

The earliest that anyone who orders the $259 device on Friday _ or later _ will receive it is Jan. 4, 2010, the nation's largest bookseller said Friday.

"While we increased production based on the high consumer interest, we've sold out of our initial nook allotment available for delivery before the holidays," the company said in a statement. Preorders exceeded its

A lawsuit in Wisconsin is bringing a fresh challenge to the practice of paying for keywords on Google and other search engines to boost one company's link over a rival's.

The practice has occasionally prompted a rival to file legal challenges alleging trademark infringement. Now a Wisconsin law firm is trying a new angle _ accusing its competitor of violating privacy laws.

Habush Habush & Rottier is one of Wisconsin's largest law firms, specializing in personal-injury cases.

Microsoft Corp. is giving away nearly 24,000 vouchers to North Carolina residents who want to improve their computer skills so they can improve their lot in the work force.

Gov. Beverly Perdue and the software giant announced Thursday in Charlotte the state's portion of Microsoft's Elevate America program. The company wants to offer technology training to 2 million Americans over the next three years.

The 23,700 vouchers will be distributed over the next 90 days. They will provide

European Union regulators said Friday that they have extended until Jan. 27 a deadline to wrap up their antitrust review of Oracle Corp.'s planned $7.4 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems Inc.

The European Commission said Oracle had asked for more time "in order to have the opportunity to further develop its arguments in response to the Commission's concerns."

The EU executive gave them an extra six working days.

Regulators sent a formal charge sheet to Oracle earlier this

Some of the computer industry's biggest players _ such as IBM Corp., Intel Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. _ have wowed Wall Street this fall with stronger-than-expected profits.

Dell Inc. didn't join them Thursday.

The company reported a 54 percent drop in net income and a 15 percent decline in revenue in its latest quarter, both steeper than analysts had forecast.

Dell's shares fell $1.43, or 9 percent, to $14.44 in morning trading Friday.

The numbers show that Dell isn't

A group of major national research libraries says users now can search the full text of 1.6 billion pages from 4.6 million digitized volumes.

Last year, the University of Michigan and 24 other research libraries launched the HathiTrust Digital Library. The consortium said Thursday it's offering full-text search capability to all digitized works. Access to non-copyright books started in 2008.

The group says it adds hundreds of thousands of volumes monthly.

Participants include

Sony's new online service connecting the whole range of its gadgets to downloadable content like movies and games should help build brand loyalty, a top executive said Friday.

Executive Vice President Kazuo Hirai said the service, set for launch next year, highlights an advantage that Sony has over rivals like Samsung Electronics Co. and other manufacturers that don't produce their own content. Sony's business empire spans gaming, electronics, movies and music.

"That's the kind of

Some of the computer-industry's biggest players _ such as IBM Corp., Intel Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. _ have wowed Wall Street this fall with stronger-than-expected profits.

Dell Inc. didn't join them Thursday.

The company reported a 54 percent drop in net income and a 15 percent decline in revenue in its latest quarter, both steeper than analysts had forecast.

Dell's shares fell almost 6 percent in extended trading.

The numbers show that Dell isn't fully benefiting

President Barack Obama has answered questions submitted by a celebrated Cuban blogger, saying he isn't interested in "talking for the sake of talking" with Raul Castro and indicating he won't visit the island until the communist government changes its ways.

In an unusual written response to Yoani Sanchez, who has gained international acclaim for daring to criticize her government online, Obama also said it is up to Cuba to act if it wants normal relations with Washington, saying that a

A key element of Dell Inc.'s turnaround strategy has been a vow not to cut prices as aggressively as rivals just to keep market share. The tactic has allowed competitors such as Acer Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. to steal business from Dell, and this fall Dell lost its ranking as the world's No. 2 PC maker.

Dell reported Thursday that its net income dropped 54 percent in the latest quarter while revenue dropped 15 percent. The company's CEO, Michael Dell, discussed the company's pricing

A federal judge on Wednesday denied a request by AT&T Inc. to force competitor Verizon Wireless to pull its "There's a Map for That" commercials.

But the judge scheduled a Dec. 16 hearing to give the AT&T attorneys another chance to make their case.

AT&T filed the lawsuit in federal court in Atlanta earlier this month and asked for a temporary restraining order and a permanent injunction to stop the ads. It contends they are misleading and amount to deceptive trade practices.

Verizon

Sony said it aims to be profitable in gaming and flat-panel TVs by the fiscal year ending March 2011, pushing 3-D technology as a way to showcase its strength in entertainment and surface from deep losses.

"Our work is already bearing fruit," Chief Executive Howard Stringer said Thursday in outlining Sony's turnaround strategy at the electronics giant's Tokyo headquarters. "We still have more work to do."

The maker of the PlayStation 3 game console is headed for its second straight

Chinese online gaming company NetEase.com Inc. said Wednesday that its third-quarter profit rose on higher revenue from online games.

However, the results fell below analyst expectations, sending NetEase's American Depositary Shares tumbling $3.69, or 9.1 percent, to $37.10 in after-hours trading. They closed earlier down $1.25, or 3 percent, at $40.69.

NetEase said that revenue from online games rose to $113.6 million from $98.9 million last year, though advertising service revenue

Semiconductor maker Semtech Corp. on Wednesday reported a third-quarter loss due to a charge related to its acquisition of Sierra Monolithics Inc.

For the fiscal quarter that ended Oct. 25, Semtech reported a preliminary loss of $20.9 million, or 34 cents per share, compared with a profit of $11.5 million, or 19 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. When excluding a $32.8 million tax charge related to Semtech's acquisition of Sierra, which was also announced Wednesday, Semtech earned

Semiconductor maker Marvell Technology Group Ltd. said Wednesday that it named Ta-lin Hsu to its board.

Hsu is the founder and chairman of private equity firm H&Q Asia Pacific. He is also on the board at Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. and Fabrinet. He is the vice chairman of Give2Asia.

Marvell shares rose 33 cents in after-hours trading, after finishing regular trading down 33 cents at $16.09.

You might call him the Mickey Mouse of video games. He's reminiscent of a doughnut, round and sweet and comforting. He's also a vessel, devoid of a real personality so you can live vicariously through him.

Mario, the pot-bellied Italian plumber with a penchant for rescuing princesses, collecting golden coins and gobbling magic mushrooms, has been around for nearly three decades. And even though he hasn't changed much, the latest game he stars in, the newly released "The New Super Mario

Semiconductor maker Semtech Corp. said Wednesday that it agreed to buy fellow chipmaker Sierra Monolithics Inc. for $180 million in cash.

Semtech said that it will pay Sierra shareholders $180 million when the deal closes. It will get $8 million worth of Sierra employees' existing unvested options and will grant employees equity incentives valued at up to $12 million.

Semtech, which is based in Camarillo, Calif., said it will pay for the acquisition with cash reserves and expects

In a Nov. 17 story about job cuts at Verizon Communications Inc., The Associated Press, relying on a labor union report, erroneously reported that Verizon is laying off more than 1,000 employees in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

In response to AP's query, a Verizon spokesman on Tuesday confirmed that layoffs were occurring. On Wednesday, the spokesman said Verizon has a "surplus" of employees in the area and is giving people a chance to leave voluntarily through buyouts. The spokesman

DirecTV Group Inc. chose the vice chairman of PepsiCo Inc. as its chief executive Wednesday, filling a vacuum created when its former chief left just as the nation's largest satellite TV provider was in the midst of a spinoff.

Michael White, 57, will take the CEO position on Jan. 1. He replaces Chase Carey, who left to become News Corp.'s president and chief operating officer on July 1.

White, who is also chief executive of PepsiCo International, was scheduled to retire from his positions

JPMorgan Chase is letting Facebook users help decide how to give away $5 million.

The idea is to get small, local charities on Chase's radar _ ones that don't have the operating budget to go around asking for grants but do a lot of good work in their communities.

The "Chase Community Giving" program will let Facebook users choose from more than half a million charities that have an operating budget of less than $10 million apiece. Examples include the Children's Diabetes Foundation

Sony Corp. says some customers who pre-order its newest e-reader may not get the gadget in time for the holidays.

The company said Wednesday it's trying to ship the $399 Reader Daily Edition for the holidays. But because interest has exceeded expectations, the company can't be sure that everyone who buys one will get it by Christmas.

Sony unveiled the Reader Daily Edition in August and planned to release it for the holidays. Like rival Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle, the Daily Edition will

IBM Corp. said Wednesday it signed a contract extension worth 300 million pounds ($500 million) with a British government agency that licenses drivers and registers their cars.

IBM said the deal extends an existing 10-year contract with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency by another three years, until September 2015.

The contract covers projects such as upgrading the agency's computer systems and setting up the technical infrastructure for an electronic payments system for drivers

The video game "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" is blasting its way into entertainment history.

After hauling in the biggest-ever first-day sales total last week, the game continues break records.

Activision Blizzard Inc., which released the game Nov. 10, said the latest game in its "Call of Duty" franchise made $550 million in worldwide sales during its first five days. That would put it over the $500 million record set last year by "Grand Theft Auto IV," from Take-Two Interactive

A New Jersey man will serve a 366-day federal prison term for conducting a cyber attack on Church of Scientology Web sites in January 2008.

At a hearing Wednesday in Newark 19-year-old Dmitriy Guzner (duh-MEET'-tree GOOZ'-nuhr) of Verona also was sentenced to two years' probation after his release from prison.

Guzner pleaded guilty in May to computer hacking charges.

Prosecutors say Guzner attacked Scientology Web sites as part of Anonymous, an underground group that protests

Palm Inc. is fighting harder than ever to snag a chunk of the smart phone market, and just six months after releasing the stylish Pre it's back with a lighter, more petite and affordable version called the Pixi.

It's too bad such a good-looking phone is so aggravating to use.

With its trim candy bar-shaped body, full keyboard and $100 price tag (with a two-year Sprint Nextel contract and $150 in rebates), it's clear that Palm is aiming the Pixi at younger, text messaging-savvy consumers.

The

Chinese astronomers have signed on to participate in the development of the world's largest telescope that will be built atop a Hawaii volcano, a group said Tuesday.

The Thirty Meter Telescope, the group spearheading the project, said the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has joined as an observer. It is the first step of a process expected to lead to the NAOC becoming a full partner and financial contributor.

"We believe that the Thirty Meter

With Cyber Monday, the unofficial start of the Internet holiday shopping season nearing, a Senate committee Tuesday condemned three online companies, saying they are tricking consumers into signing up for subscription services they don't want.

Internet companies Affinion, Vertrue and Webloyalty are using aggressive sales tactics to scam millions of customers, the Senate Commerce Committee said.

According to a committee report, the three companies enter into agreements with other more

A Beijing court has ordered Microsoft Corp. to stop selling some versions of its Windows operating system in China in a licensing dispute with a local supplier.

The order Monday said Microsoft exceeded its rights under licensing agreements with Zhongyi Electronic Ltd., a Beijing company that developed Chinese character fonts used in the software.

Microsoft must stop selling versions of Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 with Zhongyi's fonts, the Beijing People's

Stung by an embarrassing electronic leak last month revealing ethics investigations into dozens of lawmakers, Congress moved Tuesday to prohibit federal employees from using the same type of Internet file-sharing software blamed for the disclosure.

The Secure Federal File Sharing Act, introduced in the House, would bar government employees and contractors from downloading, installing or using so-called peer-to-peer file sharing software such as Limewire without official approval. The bill

South Korea's telecommunications regulator cleared the way Wednesday for the launch of Apple's iPhone, amid reports the hit device could reach consumers by the end of this month.

The Korea Communications Commission gave its approval at a meeting of its commissioners and the phone can be launched anytime, said spokesman Lee Sang-hun.

Local service providers KT Corp. and SK Telecom Co. have been in talks with Cupertino, California-based Apple Inc. regarding the introduction of the smartphone.

The

Scientists say they've made a breakthrough in their pursuit of computers that "think" like a living thing's brain _ an effort that tests the limits of technology.

Even the world's most powerful supercomputers can't replicate basic aspects of the human mind. The machines can't imagine a wall painted a different color, for instance, or picture a person's face and connect that to an emotion.

If researchers can make computers operate more like a brain thinks _ by reasoning and dealing

Concur Technologies Inc., which makes corporate expense-management software, said Tuesday its fiscal fourth-quarter profit rose as revenue got a boost from a 13 percent increase in subscription revenue.

The company also announced its chief financial officer, John Adair, will retire at the end of the current fiscal year.

For the three months ended Sept. 30 earned $5.9 million, or 11 cents per share, up 4 percent from a profit of $5.6 million, also 11 cents per share, in the same period

With Cyber Monday, the unofficial start of the Internet holiday shopping season nearing, a Senate committee Tuesday condemned three online companies, saying they are tricking consumers into signing up for subscription services they don't want.

Internet companies Affinion, Vertrue and Webloyalty are using aggressive sales tactics to scam millions of customers, the Senate Commerce Committee said.

According to a committee report, the three companies enter into agreements with other more

Design and engineering software maker Autodesk Inc. said Tuesday its business looks "increasingly stable" despite posting a sharp drop in third-quarter profit.

But the company forecast fourth-quarter adjusted earnings below Wall Street's expectations and shares tumbled in after-hours trading.

For the three months ended Oct. 31, the company earned $29.5 million, or 13 cents per share, down from a profit of $104.5 million, or 46 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. Excluding

Wireless technology developer InterDigital Inc. said Tuesday it expects fourth-quarter revenue between $75 million and $76 million, which falls slightly below Wall Street's expectations.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters are expecting, on average, sales of $77.5 million.

The outlook "reflects some weakness" in royalties from the company's Japanese licensees, offset by a full quarter's contribution from its new licensee, Pantech, and solid sales by its smart phone licensees, the company

At least for the moment, the world's fastest supercomputer is devoted to solving scientific questions that may save the planet _ climate change, renewable energy, new medicines _ rather than advances in nuclear weapons that might blow it up.

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory's high-performance Jaguar XT5 computer, built by Seattle-based Cray Inc., was named Monday as the fastest on the planet in the latest semiannual TOP500 list of the world's most powerful supercomputers.

After a

What word sums up 2009? How about unfriend?

That's the New Oxford American Dictionary's 2009 Word of the Year. It means to remove someone as a friend on a social networking Web site such as Facebook.

Each year Oxford University Press tracks how the English language is changing and chooses a word that best reflects the mood of the year.

Oxford lexicographer Christine Lindberg says unfriend has "real lex appeal."

Finalists for 2009 also included netbook, which is a small

Social-networking site Twitter plans to end a service that links prominent message posters with new users, a service that was criticized in California because of perceived unfairness toward GOP gubernatorial candidates.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said Monday the San Francisco-based company will overhaul its "suggested users" list, which links Twitter users with a pool of about 500 celebrities, sports figures and politicians they might want to follow.

"That list will be going away,"

Penn State, Indiana and Missouri are the first schools to participate in a USA Today initiative meant to test how students respond to electronic versions of printed newspapers.

The "e-Edition" is free for students, faculty and staff. USA Today says it's identical to the newspaper's print edition but with additional interactive and exclusive content. For instance, the Penn State edition, which officially launched last week, includes a university-themed story selected and written by the school.

Newspapers

The founder of a Tibetan literary Web site was sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of disclosing state secrets, an overseas monitoring group said Tuesday.

Kunchok Tsephel, 39, was convicted and sentenced Nov. 12 after a closed-door trial at the Intermediate People's Court of Gannan prefecture in southwestern Gansu province, according to reports from Tibet received by Tibetan exiles, said the International Campaign for Tibet, a Washington D.C.-based advocacy group.

Some of the

Hackers are increasingly targeting law firms and public relations companies with a sophisticated e-mail scheme that breaks into their computer networks to steal sensitive data, often linked to large corporate clients doing business overseas.

The FBI has issued an advisory that warns companies of "noticeable increases" in efforts to hack into the law firms' computer systems _ a trend that cyber experts say began as far back as two years ago but has grown dramatically.

In many cases,

Vietnam's growing legions of Facebook users fear that the country's communist government might be blocking the popular social networking Web site, which has become difficult to access over the past few weeks.

Facebook has more than 1 million users in Vietnam, and the number has been growing quickly since the company recently added a Vietnamese language version of the site.

Over the last week, access to Facebook has been intermittent in the country, whose government tightly controls

Bamboo has sprouted all over. It's being used everywhere from floorboards to tableware to inline skates and T-shirts, as consumers increasingly seek out products considered gentler on the Earth.

Now, computer maker Dell Inc. is using the fast-growing member of the grass family as a replacement for paper, plastic and plastic foam packaging materials.

Starting Tuesday, the molded cushions that protect two of Dell's computer models from damage during shipping will be made of crushed

YouTube is trying to help shrinking newsrooms expand their video coverage without increasing their payrolls.

The assist comes in the form of "YouTube Direct," a free tool made for media interested in amateur video of calamities, protests or other newsworthy events. The application was debuting Tuesday as a way for news organizations to solicit and show videos on their own Web sites.

As the Internet's most popular video site, YouTube already has become a prime outlet for so-called

Multimedia software developer Avid Technology Inc. on Monday reported final, corrected third-quarter results that show its revenue was slightly lower than what it had originally reported in October.

The company posted a smaller third-quarter net loss, even as revenue declined, as the year-ago results were weighed by a large impairment charge.

Avid said Monday it recorded a net loss of $17.2 million, or 46 cents per share compared with a loss of $66.4 million, or $1.80 per share, in

Internet phone service provider Vonage Holdings Corp. has agreed to pay $3 million to 32 states to settle an investigation into some of its business practices.

In a filing Monday with the Securities Exchange Commission, the company said it also agreed to provide refunds to affected customers.

Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said his office received complaints from consumers who said they found it difficult to cancel their service with Vonage amid pressure from the company to

Penn State, Indiana and Missouri are the first schools to participate in a USA Today initiative meant to test how students respond to electronic versions of printed newspapers.

The "e-Edition" is free for students, faculty and staff. USA Today says it's identical to the newspaper's print edition but with additional interactive and exclusive content. For instance, the Penn State edition, which officially launched last week, includes a university-themed story selected and written by the school.

Newspapers

Ralph Roberts knew he was onto something big when people ran after his cable TV trucks in Tupelo, Miss., asking for a visit to their homes.

It was 1963. Roberts had been looking for new ventures after selling his belt-and-suspenders company. He bought American Cable Systems for $500,000 _ an opportunity that had been mentioned to him by a business acquaintance he came across while strolling down a Philadelphia street.

American Cable Systems, which served 1,200 subscribers, was one

Key events in Comcast Corp.'s history:

1963 _ Ralph Roberts buys American Cable Systems, a 1,200-subscriber cable TV operator in Tupelo, Miss., for $500,000.

1969 _ Company renamed Comcast _ from "communications" and "broadcast."

1972 _ Comcast shares trade publicly.

1988 _ Following a number of acquisitions, Comcast buys 50 percent of Storer Communications Inc. to become the nation's fifth-largest cable TV operator with more than two million subscribers.

1990 _

A Morgantown-based company is getting help from the state to develop technology that will help researchers identify disease-specific proteins.

The West Virginia Jobs Investment Trust announced Monday that it has completed a $1.7 million equity and debt financing in Protea Biosciences Inc.

Protea Chairman and CEO Steve Turner says the financing will allow the company to bring the technology to market next year.

Turner says Protea has doubled its work force to 30 full-time employees

A North Dakota utility regulator is praising new computer software that's intended to help utility ratepayers reduce their energy use.

Public Service Commissioner Tony Clark says the Microsoft Hohm (Home) software may help development of the so-called "smart grid."

Under the smart grid concept, energy prices could vary by the time of day, and by how much demand there was for energy at any one time. Customers could save money by shifting their electricity and natural gas use to off-peak

President Barack Obama is telling Chinese students that unrestricted Internet access in the United States is a source of strength and an open exchange of information makes all countries stronger.

Obama on Monday told a town hall-style meeting that societies benefit when citizens are able to go online, spread information and share opinions. Obama says that discussions hold government accountable and help citizens think for themselves.

Obama says he opposes limits on Internet and communications

Social-media site Twitter plans to scrap its hand-picked list of "suggested users" to follow after controversy erupted over the selection of people on the list, a company executive said Monday.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said the company was seeking a more systematic way to introduce its prominent posters, including sports figures, celebrities and politicians, to newcomers to the site.

"That list will be going away," Stone told reporters on the sidelines of a conference for young

Some 2,000 employees in Finland's technology sector will begin a strike in two weeks time if no agreement is reached in labor talks with company managers, union leaders said Wednesday.

The weeklong strike, due to start Dec. 1, would affect certain units at engineering firm ABB, mobile phone maker Nokia Corp., shipbuilder STX Finland and engineering group Rautaruukki.

Negotiations between the Union of Salaried Employees and the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries have broken

Eight decades after pioneering the concept of broadcasting, NBC is on the verge of a startling move that illustrates broadcast television's decline.

Cable TV operator Comcast Corp. is expected to buy a controlling stake in NBC Universal, perhaps as early as this week, bringing the network of Johnny Carson, Jerry Seinfeld, Bob Hope, Milton Berle and Tom Brokaw under the corporate control of the company that owns the Golf Channel and E! Entertainment Television.

"This is highly symbolic,"

Intel Corp. said it has no plans to close a factory in Jerusalem on Saturdays, despite violent protests by ultra-Orthodox Jews who accuse the chip maker of desecrating the Jewish Sabbath.

About 1,500 protesters demonstrated Saturday outside the company's facilities, located in Jerusalem's Har Hotzvim industrial zone near ultra-Orthodox areas. Intel spokesman Kobi Bachar said Sunday the protests were sparked by the opening of a new facility at the site.

But he said the company has

The three original broadcast networks still around today can all be traced back to the National Broadcasting Co.

NBC began as a radio network in 1926, formed by General Electric Co., Westinghouse Electric Co. and Radio Corporation of America after buying broadcast assets from AT&T.

RCA became sole owner in 1932, until GE bought it back in 1986.

NBC initially ran two radio networks but had to shed one of them in 1943 under pressure from the government. The spinoff became

Some key dates in NBC's history:

1926: National Broadcasting Co. formed by General Electric Co., Westinghouse Electric Co. and Radio Corporation of America after buying broadcast assets from AT&T. Launches first permanent radio network in United States.

1931: Experimental TV broadcasts begin from atop Empire State Building.

1932: RCA becomes sole owner of NBC.

1939: NBC begins regular television broadcasts in New York, with opening of World's Fair.

1941: NBC