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Internet radio company Pandora Media Inc. reported higher-than-expected revenue in the latest quarter, with losses in line with analysts' forecasts, as the number of subscribers who pay for ad-free listening more than doubled to exceed 2.5 million. Pandora predicted that it may break even in the current quarter after adjusting for one-time costs, and it predicted annual earnings and revenue that exceeded Wall Street forecasts. Its stock jumped in after-hours trading. The upbeat results reported...

Two men accused of killing a high school freshman who refused to let go of his iPad were like wild animals ambushing a weak victim, a prosecutor said Thursday. Michael Samual Solid and Jacob "Jake" Dismont stood in shackles before a judge as Chief Deputy Clark County District Attorney Robert Daskas cited convenience store video he said shows Solid and Dismont planning the fatal robbery. Members of the dead teen's family wept softly in the courtroom gallery. Daskas compared Solid, 21, and Dismont,...

Computer maker Lenovo Group said Thursday its latest quarterly profit rose 90 percent as sales of smartphones and mobile computing technology expanded. Lenovo said it earned $127 million, or 1.22 cents per share, in the three months ending March 31. Revenue rose 4 percent over a year earlier to $7.8 billion. Lenovo ranks a close second behind Hewlett-Packard Co. as the biggest maker of personal computer makers but growth in that market has slowed as consumers shift to mobile Web surfing on smartphones...

Google Inc.'s new music service offers a lot of eye candy to go with the tunes. The song selection of around 18 million tracks is comparable to popular services such as Spotify and Rhapsody, and a myriad of playlists curated along different genres provides a big playground for music lovers. The All Access service represents Google's attempt to grab a bigger piece of the digital music market as more people stream songs over mobile phones. Such services are also meant to further wed smartphone users...

Hewlett-Packard is still scrambling to meet the growing demand for more versatile and less expensive mobile devices as a slump in its personal computer sales deepens, but the company's cost-cutting measures and focus on more profitable areas of technology appear to be easing the pain. The conflicting signs of further deterioration and potential recovery emerged in Hewlett-Packard Co.'s latest quarterly report released Wednesday. Even as HP's revenue declined at the fastest rate yet in a nearly...

Will gamers want One? After four years of development, Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One entertainment console and touted it as an all-in-one solution for playing games, watching TV and doing everything in between. Microsoft wants the Xbox One to be central to your living room, so it packed the new Xbox with such features as the ability to change TV channels through voice commands. Although the device won't go on sale until later this year, at a price that hasn't been disclosed yet, Microsoft invited...

Clearwire wants to accept a richer buyout offer made by Sprint this week and is recommending that shareholders vote in favor of it. Sprint upped its bid by 14 percent to $2.5 billion Tuesday for the wireless data network operator. Some shareholders have opposed the deal, including Crest Financial, which spurned the latest bid as well. Sprint Nextel Corp. is offering $3.40 per share for the half of Clearwire Corp. that it does not already own. Its previous offer, from December, was for $2.97...

Hewlett-Packard will provide an update on its efforts to rise above the sinking PC market when it releases quarterly earnings Wednesday after the closing bell. The quarter will likely reveal how far HP still must go. Revenue is expected to fall, which would make it the seventh consecutive quarter of comparable declines. Management has already predicted shrinking profits, although job cuts and other money-saving measures may have helped HP dodge the huge profit declines suffered by its rival,...

Sony's CEO Kazuo Hirai says the electronics giant's board will discuss a proposal by U.S. hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb to spin off up to 20 percent of its movie, TV and music division. Hirai was asked about the proposal at a corporate strategy presentation Wednesday. He did not give a timetable for a decision, and would not give his own opinion about the suggestion raised by Loeb, who is CEO of hedge fund Third Point LLC. "This will be deliberated by the board and we will come up with a response,"...

Will gamers want One? After four years of development, Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One entertainment console and touted it as an all-in-one solution for playing games, watching TV and doing everything in between. Microsoft wants the Xbox One to be central to your living room and packed the new Xbox with such features as the ability to change TV channels through voice commands. Although the device won't go on sale until later this year, at a price that hasn't been disclosed yet, Microsoft invited...

Now that tech darling Apple Inc. has been dragged front and center into the debate over the U.S. tax code, lawmakers are hoping that the spotlight on such a high-profile company could be the catalyst for Congress to take action to close loopholes or reform the law. At a hearing Tuesday, members of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations grilled Apple CEO Tim Cook over allegations that the company's Irish subsidiaries help it avoid billions in U.S. taxes. It was a moment of high drama,...

Far-reaching legislation to grant a chance at citizenship to millions of immigrants living illegally in the United States cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on a solid bipartisan vote Tuesday night after supporters somberly sidestepped a controversy over the rights of gay spouses. The 13-5 vote cleared the way for an epic showdown on the Senate floor on the measure, which is one of President Barack Obama's top domestic priorities yet also gives the Republican Party a chance to recast itself...

Microsoft is the last of the three big video game console makers to unveil its latest gaming system. The unveiling comes nearly eight years after the Xbox 360 went on sale. It follows last fall's debut of Nintendo's Wii U and a preview in February of the upcoming PlayStation 4 from Sony. Each machine has a set of features designed to draw gamers away from rival consoles. There's one thing all three have in common, though: They are about more than gaming and include entertainment services such...

A high-tech startup is wading into the gun control debate with a wireless controller that would allow gun owners to know when their weapon is being moved _ and disable it remotely. The technology, but not an actual gun, was demonstrated Tuesday at a wireless technology conference in Las Vegas and was shown to The Associated Press in advance. It comes at a time when lawmakers around the U.S. are considering contentious smart gun laws that would require new guns to include high-tech devices that...

It's one thing to say tech geniuses don't need degrees. After all, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg all dropped out of college. But now we've got David Karp, who doesn't even have a high school diploma. Karp, 26, founded Tumblr, the online blogging forum, and sold it to Yahoo for $1.1 billion. Which raises the question: When is it OK for a wunderkind to drop out of school? Some folks in Silicon Valley and elsewhere say a conventional education can't possibly give kids with outsize...

The meeting on a sunny Havana square was a little bit revolutionary for Cuba's revolution. And for U.S. diplomacy as well. Dozens of young bloggers and tweeters gathered to talk about their place in a socialist society whose leaders have referred to the Internet as "a wild colt" to be tamed and make access difficult for all but a few. Among them were some of the staunchest defenders of Fidel and Raul Castro's communist system. And there, too, stood what many consider their chief foe, in the guise...

German software giant SAP AG said Tuesday it plans to recruit people with autism to take make full use of their talents to process information. Autism is a developmental disorder characterized by difficulties in communicating, emotional detachment and rigid or repetitive behavior. But some people with mild autism can perform complex mathematical tasks much better than the average population. "SAP sees a potential competitive advantage to leveraging the unique talents of people with autism, while...

As a teenager, Tumblr CEO David Karp would canvass the streets of New York City's Upper West Side, offering to build websites for local businesses. After his freshman year of high school, the precocious, computer-savvy kid decided to drop out altogether to devote more time to his passion for technology. A few years later, Karp built Tumblr _ the wildly popular blogging forum _ from his tiny childhood bedroom, hunched over his laptop with bags of Tostitos. And on Saturday, the 26-year-old technology...

Yahoo Inc. lured Marissa Mayer from Google in July to become its fifth CEO in as many years. Her task: Help the Internet pioneer regain its stature after years in a financial funk. In her 10 months leading the company, she has overseen a redesign of Yahoo services and orchestrated several acquisitions, including a deal to buy online blogging forum Tumblr for $1.1 billion. Here are some of the milestones on her watch: _ ALIBABA: In September, Yahoo completed a long-awaited, $7.6 billion deal for...

An Internet entrepreneur and former Wall Street derivatives analyst contends central Idaho's Sun Valley resort and the Twitter Inc. social media site heisted his handle. Leonard Barshack, who in the 1990s founded the Internet email listing service Bigfoot, is suing Twitter and the Sun Valley Co., demanding they return the handle "SunValley." Barshack filed the lawsuit in Idaho's 5th District Court with his lawyer and wife, Erin Smith, this month, arguing he began using the Twitter handle in April...

Private equity firm Blackstone Group LP, along with Pactera's CEO and other managers, have offered to take Pactera private in a deal that values the Chinese technology consulting and outsourcing firm at $680.4 million. Shares rose 31 percent Monday. Through Friday's close, before news of the offer, Pactera's stock had lost about two-thirds of its value over the past year. Blackstone and the group of Pactera leaders are offering $7.50 for each U.S.-traded share of the company that they don't already...

Rival online takeout services Seamless North America and GrubHub on Monday announced plans to combine and create a new company covering more than 20,000 restaurants in 500 cities across the U.S. Financial terms were not disclosed and it's unclear what the combined company will be called. GrubHub CEO Matt Maloney will become CEO, while Seamless CEO Jonathan Zabusky will serve as president, the companies said in a joint statement. Brian McAndrews, an independent director on the Seamless board,...

The Supreme Court has affirmed the authority of federal regulators to try to speed local government decisions on proposals to build or expand cell phone towers. The court voted 6-3 Monday to uphold an appeals court ruling in favor the Federal Communications Commission. The case involves complaints to the FCC by telecommunications companies and the wireless industry that local authorities are delaying the placement and construction of wireless service facilities. The FCC said that local jurisdictions...

Two men have been arrested in the killing of a teenage boy over an iPad in Las Vegas, police said Sunday. Jacob Dismont, 18, and Michael Solid, 21, were booked Saturday into the Clark County jail on charges of open murder, robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery. According to investigators, Marcos Arenas, 15, was walking down a street with the iPad on Thursday when a passenger got out of a vehicle and tried to steal the device from him. Dismont is accused of trying to wrest the tablet away...

It was supposed to be our IPO, the people's public offering. Facebook, the brainchild of a young CEO who sauntered into Wall Street meetings in a hoodie, was going to be bigger than Amazon, bigger than McDonald's, bigger than Coca-Cola. And it was all made possible by our friendships, photos and family ties. Then came the IPO, and it flopped. Facebook's stock finished its first day of trading just 23 cents higher than its $38 IPO price. It hasn't been that high since. Even amid the hype and...

Last year, Apple added a visually stunning option to its MacBooks: screens with ultra-high resolution. These "Retina" displays reveal four times as much detail as any Windows laptop screen ... until now. Toshiba just released a new laptop line with a Retina-level display. Does this mean Windows users can let go of MacBook envy? Sort of. The jump in resolution with the Toshiba Kirabook comes with significant compromises, however: Most notably, it's LOUD. If you tax the processor on the machine...

NewsRight, an organization created to turn unauthorized publishers of newspaper content on the Internet into licensed customers, said it is disbanding and transferring its operations to Moreover Technologies, which monitors how Moreover's clients are portrayed in the media. NewsRight said that Moreover will get the NewsRight brand and will offer new contracts to the organization's current customers. Moreover is working with BurrellesLuce, another media monitoring company, to expand NewsRight's...

Facebook made its debut on the stock market a year ago on May 18 in one of the largest IPOs in history and the biggest for any Internet company. The social network's market value was more than $100 billion. Now, Facebook's stock is trading roughly 30 percent lower and has not hit its IPO price of $38 per share. Today, Facebook is valued at around $63 billion. In the year since its initial public offering, Facebook has launched a slew of new features, including search features and a deep integration...

A clutch of Twitter accounts and a blog maintained by the Financial Times were hacked Friday, the latest in a series of cyberattacks claimed by the Syrian Electronic Army, a pro-government group which has regularly targeted media organizations it sees as sympathetic to the country's rebels. A few of the FT's dozens of Twitter feeds and blogs broadcast messages supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad and attacking Syria's opposition. One described the Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra as terrorists...

The Canadian government has launched an aggressive campaign to lure Silicon Valley tech workers frustrated by U.S. visa policies northward, just as Congress wrestles with a long-sought overhaul of America's immigration system. Canada's minister of citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism, Jason Kenney, arrived in the San Francisco Bay area Friday for a four-day visit aimed at snapping up talent for his country's high-tech economy by offering startup entrepreneurs a new visa. "I think everyone...

A Russian-financed search engine seeking to challenge Google's dominance in Vietnam is redirecting queries for some politically sensitive terms to the American company's search engine, apparently as a way of avoiding government anger or legal liability for sending surfers to sites containing criticism of the ruling party. The move Thursday follows an Associated Press story on the well-funded start up, Coc Coc, which noted it didn't seem to be censoring results. The shift illustrates the difficulties...

A homeless, hatchet-wielding hitchhiker who became an Internet hero earlier this year was arrested Thursday for allegedly beating a New Jersey lawyer to death inside his home. Caleb "Kai" McGillvary, whose star turn as "Kai the Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker" came after he intervened in an attack on a California utility worker, was arrested at a Philadelphia bus station, Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow said. "I believe that everyone is a little safer with this person off the streets,"...

Dell's financial decay worsened during its latest quarter as the company slashed its personal computer prices in response to the growing popularity of smartphones and tablets. The dismal performance announced Thursday provided the latest evidence of a technological shift that is making it difficult to sell laptop and desktop machines. Until recently, consumers had regularly replaced machines with faster ones every few years. The money is going instead to powerful, more convenient mobile devices...

To the U.S. technology industry, there's a dramatic shortfall in the number of Americans skilled in computer programming and engineering that is hampering business. To unions and some Democrats, it's more sinister: The push by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg to expand the number of visas for high-tech foreign workers is an attempt to dilute a lucrative job market with cheap, indentured labor. The answer is somewhere in between, depending as much on new technologies and the U.S. education system's ability...

U.K. lawmakers subjected search giant Google to blistering criticism Thursday, accusing the U.S. Internet company of playing games with Britain's tax rules to avoid paying what it owed. In his second appearance before Parliament in roughly six months, Google Vice President Matt Brittin tried to defend his company's complex corporate structure to a committee of skeptical U.K. politicians, many of whom seemed unconvinced by his assertion that Google was being transparent about how it paid its bills....

Apple says its customers have downloaded more than 50 billon applications from its App Store since its launch in 2008. Apple Inc. said Thursday that the 50 billionth download was a game called "Say the Same Thing" by Space Inch. The App Store had 500 apps when it first opened. It now has more than 850,000 individual apps for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The store hit the 10 billion downloads mark in early 2011 and 25 billion in March 2012. The 50 billion milestone does not include updates...

New Zealand's highest court ruled Thursday that it will hear an appeal by Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom and three colleagues as they seek to avoid extradition to the United States. The appeal to the New Zealand Supreme Court involves a ruling on evidence and represents one strand of the complex legal case against executives from the file-sharing site. U.S. prosecutors shut down Megaupload last year, accusing the executives of racketeering by facilitating massive copyright fraud. Dotcom says he's...

For Google CEO Larry Page, happiness is a warm computer. "Technology should do the hard work so people can get on doing the things that make them happiest in life," Page told a crowd of 6,000 software developers and entrepreneurs who flocked to San Francisco Wednesday for the opening day of Google's annual showcase for its latest breakthroughs. In the latest display of its technological prowess and sweeping ambition, Google is rolling out another wave of products and services that will test how...

Google used its annual conference for software developers to unveil several new products, services and features. They include enhancements for online games, maps, search, music and photos and are meant to help the company cement its role in people's technological lives. Here's a look at some of the announcements made at Wednesday's keynote at Google I/O. ___ MUSIC STREAMING: All Access will blend songs you have already uploaded to your online libraries with millions of other tracks for a $10...

Rebel fighters battled regime troops inside the walls of the sprawling central prison compound in Syria's largest city Wednesday, hours after blowing open the gate with twin car bombs in an attempted jailbreak, activists said. The orchestrated assault began at dawn, but by nightfall, the rebels had not dislodged regime forces or freed some 4,000 prisoners held there, according to two pro-opposition monitoring groups. Across Syria, the Internet was restored after a blackout of more than eight...

Google Inc. unveiled a streaming music service called All Access that blends songs users have already uploaded to their online libraries with millions of other tracks. Google made it available in the U.S. Wednesday for $8 a month to early birds who sign up for service before June 30. In addition to a 30-day free trial, the offer shaves $2 off the price of popular paid subscription plans from Spotify and Rhapsody. The service is an attempt by the world's dominant Internet company to carve itself...

Netflix shares are trading at levels not seen since 2011 when it lost hundreds of thousands of customers after hiking prices for people who wanted continued access to DVDs as well as its streaming service. The company's stock jumped another 4 percent Wednesday to a 52-week high and are up nearly 40 percent since the start of the month. The cost of a company share is actually rising more sharply than the lead up to the all-time high near $305 reached in July 2011, right before the change the subscription...

Vietnam's booming Internet scene is littered with failed startups that tried to take on Google and other entrenched U.S web companies. That's not deterring a newly launched Russian-Vietnamese outfit which believes it can unseat the American search engine in this fast-growing Asian market and also contend with a jittery, authoritarian government seeking to clamp down on freedom of expression online. Like Google rivals elsewhere, Coc Coc, or "Knock Knock" in English, believes the ubiquitous search...

Research In Motion Ltd. unveiled a lower-cost BlackBerry aimed at consumers in emerging markets, stepping up its efforts to regain market share lost to Apple's iPhone and Android devices powered by Google's software. The lower-cost gadget, called the Q5, is the company's third smartphone to run the new BlackBerry 10 system. It will have a physical keyboard, something that sets RIM's devices apart from Apple's iPhone and most Android phones. RIM CEO Thorsten Heins said the "slim, sleek" device...

Google is expected to use its annual software developers' conference to showcase the latest mobile devices running on its Android software, while also unveiling other features in its evolving product line-up. The gathering, scheduled to begin Wednesday morning in San Francisco, provides Google Inc. with an opportunity to flex its technological muscle in front of a sold-out audience of engineers and entrepreneurs who develop applications and other features that can make smartphones and tablets...

A federal judge has dismissed a movie company's Internet piracy complaint against 34 Oregonians, saying the company was unfairly using the court's subpoena power in a "reverse class-action suit" to save on legal expenses and possibly to intimidate defendants into paying thousands of dollars for viewing a movie that can be bought or rented for less than $10. The suit involves the 2012 movie "Maximum Conviction" starring Steven Seagal and Steve Austin, the Medford Mail Tribune reported ( http://bit.ly/15JnmQd...

The U.S. hedge fund manager renowned for shaking up Yahoo Inc. has set his sights on Sony Corp., proposing that the Japanese electronics giant spin off up to 20 percent of its movie, TV and music division and use the money to strengthen its ailing device manufacturing unit. Sony rejected the plan, but analysts latched onto the idea as a way for Sony to unlock hidden value. Sony's U.S.-traded shares closed up $1.87, or 9.9 percent, at $20.76 on Tuesday after hitting a 52-week high of $22.22 earlier...

As the Twitterverse expands with millions of users, it can be hard to have a unique voice. Nicole Richie doesn't have that problem. Some examples: "'It's 8:30am & I've already gotten into 5 fights' - thugs, and parents of toddlers." "This therapist is going to be GREAT for me once I stop lying to him." "I'm gonna dress up as an iPhone so my husband pays attention to me." Tweets like that earned her not only millions of followers but the attention of production company Telepictures, which...

Aereo, the startup that offers live television broadcasts over the Internet starting at $8 a month, said it will start service in the Atlanta market on June 17, following an expansion to Boston on Wednesday. Until this week, the service had been available only in the New York City area. Aereo said Tuesday that it will offer 27 Atlanta-area broadcast channels, plus the Bloomberg TV cable channel. Service will be limited to residents of 55 counties in Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina. Those...

The following list represents the top streamed tracks on Spotify from Monday, May 6, to Sunday, May 12: UNITED STATES 1. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton, "Can't Hold Us" (Macklemore) 2. Daft Punk, "Get Lucky _ Radio Edit" (Columbia Records) 3. Imagine Dragons, "Radioactive" (Interscope Records) 4. Justin Timberlake, "Mirrors" (RCA Records) 5. P!nk, "Just Give Me a Reason" (RCA Records) 6. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz, "Thrift Shop" (Macklemore) 7. Icona Pop feat....

The following list represents the most viral tracks on Spotify, based on the number of people who shared it divided by the number who listened to it, from Monday, May 6, to Sunday, May 12, via Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and Spotify. 1. Lorde, "Royals" (Lava Music/Republic Records) 2. Mariah Carey, "Beautiful" (The Island Def Jam Music Group) 3. Falling in Reverse, "Alone" (Epitaph) 4. Tamar Braxton, "The One" (Epic/Streamline Records) 5. Bingo Players, "Rattle (Sexy Lady)" (Republic Records)...

The CEO of BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion will deliver a keynote speech amid speculation that he'll introduce a lower-priced version of the BlackBerry at the company's annual three-day conference in Orlando, Fla. CEO Thorsten Heins is set to speak Tuesday morning. RIM unveiled new, versatile BlackBerrys earlier this year after delays allowed Apple and others to dominate the smartphone market. The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, had been the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people...

The country's four biggest cellphone companies are set to launch their first joint advertising campaign against texting while driving, uniting behind AT&T's "It Can Wait" slogan to blanket TV and radio this summer. AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint and T-Mobile will be joined by 200 other organizations backing the multi-million dollar ad campaign. The campaign is unusual not just because it unites rivals, but because it represents companies warning against the dangers of their own products....

Dell board members say they need more details from investor Carl Icahn if he wants them to seriously consider his latest challenge to Michael Dell's $24.4 billion plan to take the computer maker private. Icahn and prominent Dell shareholder Southeastern Asset Management said last week they want to keep Dell Inc. publicly traded and give shareholders $12 in cash or more shares. But a Dell board special committee said in a Monday letter that the proposal comes with many unanswered questions. They...

The French government is considering creating a new tax on smartphones and tablets in a bid to raise millions to support the creation of digital cultural content inside France. The proposal, handed to President Francois Hollande Monday, outlines a 1 percent tax on the sale of Internet-compatible devices, targeting companies such as Google, Apple and Amazon. The tax would yield about 86 million euros per year. The revenue would help cultural industries create French content such as music, images...

Every time Los Angeles exhales, odd-looking gadgets anchored in the mountains above the city trace the invisible puffs of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases that waft skyward. Halfway around the globe, similar contraptions atop the Eiffel Tower and elsewhere around Paris keep a pulse on emissions from smokestacks and automobile tailpipes. And there is talk of outfitting Sao Paulo, Brazil, with sensors that sniff the byproducts of burning fossil fuels. It's part of a budding effort...

One of the biggest critics of Michael Dell's plan to take the company he founded private has launched a fresh challenge to that $24.4 billion bid and says the slumping PC maker needs new leadership. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has teamed with Dell's largest independent shareholder, Southeastern Asset Management, to pitch a deal that would let Dell shareholders keep their stake in the company and give them either $12 per share in cash or additional shares. Icahn and Southeastern say this alternative,...

Japanese consumer electronics giant Panasonic Corp. on Friday reported a near-record net loss of 754 billion yen ($7.5 billion) for the fiscal year through March due to restructuring costs and slumping sales, but predicted a return to the black this year as it prunes unprofitable businesses. The Osaka-based company, which makes Viera TVs and Lumix digital cameras, has been battered by plunging prices, the strong yen, an ailing TV business and intense competition from the likes of South Korea's...

The Washington state Administrative Office of the Courts was hacked sometime between last fall and February, and up to 160,000 Social Security numbers and 1 million driver's license numbers may have been accessed during the data breach of its public website, officials said Thursday. Court officials said they have only confirmed that 94 Social Security numbers were obtained and they don't believe the larger number was compromised, but they wanted to alert the public to the possibility as a precaution....

Roger Corman's campy B movies, children's shows like "Sesame Street" and "Inspector Gadget," and inspirational monologues by celebrities _ these are among the offerings on 30 channels that will soon require a paid monthly subscription on YouTube. Although the world's largest video site has rented and sold movies and TV shows from major studios since late 2008, most people watch videos on YouTube for free. It's the first time YouTube is introducing all-you-can-watch channels that require a monthly...

AT&T is launching a prepaid cellphone service _ Aio Wireless. The new subsidiary will offer nationwide wireless service to value-conscious customers interested in unlimited talk, text and data plans without an annual contract. Aio launches Thursday in select stores in Houston, Orlando, Fla., and Tampa, Fla. AT&T plans to roll out the service in multiple markets across the U.S. over the next year. The company will offer three rate plans ranging from $35 to $70 a month. Dallas-based AT&T...

A U.K. budget airline will create an artificial volcanic ash cloud over Europe this summer to test ash detection technology. The experiment aims to avoid the kind of chaos that paralyzed air traffic during eruptions three years ago. Thursday's announcement was made by easyJet, which acquired a ton of ash collected in Iceland by scientists in the months after the 2010 eruptions for its test. Air travel was virtually suspended for days in Europe and millions of passengers were left stranded because...

The satellite TV broadcaster Dish Network fell short of Wall Street expectations for the first quarter and shares slid to a three-week low Thursday. Dish last month put in a $25.5 billion bid for cell carrier Sprint Nextel Corp., attempting to derail a competing bid from Japan's Softbank Corp and vault itself into the market for mobile entertainment. Nomura analyst Mike McCormack said the earnings miss was driven by the higher cost of setting up new subscribers with set-top boxes. Dish introduced...

Sony Corp. is back in the black for its fiscal fourth quarter, recording a 93.9 billion yen ($948 million) profit, with big help from a weaker yen that boosts overseas earnings. The Japanese electronics and entertainment company also dragged itself back to profit for the fiscal year ended March 31, following four straight years of red ink. It reported Thursday annual earnings of 43 billion yen ($434 million), a reversal from a loss of 457 billion yen ($5.7 billion) the previous year _ the worst...

The planned repair for broken seismic safety rods on the new span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge could cost between $5 million and $10 million, a state transportation official said Wednesday. Officials still don't know whether the repair will be done in time for the span's scheduled Labor Day opening, but say it's still possible. A decision is expected May 29. California Transportation Commission Executive Director Andre Boutros told a meeting of the Bay Area Toll Authority that the...

Don't worry, Pinterest fans: Your sprawling virtual pegboards of wedding dresses, handmade jewelry, craft projects and food porn haven't changed dramatically. They're just easier to manage. The popular link- and photo-sharing website has rolled out an update, one offering people simpler navigation and new ways to arrange their boards to fit their needs. Although the haphazard spirit of Pinterest remains, the site is much less overwhelming. I wasn't a Pinterest user before, so the redesign gave...

Signs are growing that the sustained surge in cyberattacks emanating from China is imperiling its relations with the U.S., lending urgency to fledgling efforts by both governments to engage on the issue. The Pentagon this week said China appeared to be cyberspying against the U.S. government, the first time it has made such an assertion in its annual report on Chinese military power. A bill introduced in the Senate on Tuesday would require the president to block imports of products using stolen...

AOL Inc. said Wednesday that its first-quarter net income jumped 23 percent, helped by an increase in global advertising revenue. But its adjusted earnings fell short of Wall Street predictions and AOL shares slumped more than 9 percent in midday trading. The New York-based internet company earned $25.9 million, or 32 cents per share, for the three months ended March 31, up from $21.1 million, or 22 cents per share, in the same quarter of 2012. Excluding one-time items, the company said it posted...

T-Mobile US Inc., the last of the major U.S. carriers to start carrying iPhones, is selling them at a brisk pace, it reported Wednesday. T-Mobile US, the No. 4 U.S. carrier, said it has sold half a million iPhones since it started on April 12. That puts its sales at roughly the same rate as Sprint Nextel Corp., the No. 3 carrier, which has far more customers. The company said late last year that it planned to sell the iPhone, which helped it keep customers in the first three months of the year....

Revenue gains at Disney's parks and movie studio led to a 32 percent increase in net income during the January-March quarter. The results, which topped analyst expectations Tuesday, showed that the company's record-setting investments in a new cruise ship and multiple theme park upgrades last year are starting to pay off. Net income grew to $1.51 billion, or 83 cents per share. Factoring out one-time items, adjusted earnings came to 79 cents per share, beating the 77 cents expected by analysts...

Federal regulators on Tuesday warned several companies that the quick, easy background checks they are providing online might violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The Federal Trade Commission sent warning letters to 10 businesses, including sites like 4Nannies.com and USA People Search, after FTC staff posed as employers and creditors looking for information that could be used to deny a person a job, an apartment or even insurance. The law requires that companies providing information to potential...

Microsoft is preparing an update to Windows 8 for release later this year. It says the changes are designed to address complaints and confusion with the new operating system. Windows 8 is the most radical overhaul of Microsoft's operating system since Windows 95 came out nearly two decades ago. It was revamped to embrace the types of touch-screen controls popular on smartphones and tablet computers, devices that are siphoning sales from the desktop and laptop PCs that have been Microsoft's traditional...

Another space industry heavyweight has signed on to use New Mexico's Spaceport America _ Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, Gov. Susana Martinez announced Tuesday. It agreed to a three-year lease to do testing of its "Grasshopper" reusable rocket in southern New Mexico. SpaceX is one of the leading developers of rockets and spacecraft and is one of the companies the $209 million taxpayer-built spaceport project has been trying to recruit. "We've done a lot of work to...

Intel workers secretly taped a "Kick Me" sign to the back of a co-worker as a prank, then kicked the confused man a number of times as employees at the Rio Rancho Intel plant laughed hysterically at the episode, according to a federal lawsuit. The Intel employee, Harvey Palacio, said in the complaint recently filed in Albuquerque that once he suspected something was taped on his back during the August prank, he went to senior staffer Randy Lehman to ask if something was there. "Lehman said turn...

Shares of Aruba Networks fell sharply before the opening bell Tuesday after the company nearly halved its third-quarter adjusted profit expectations and cut its outlook for revenue as well, just a week before it reports earnings. Shares of the wireless communications company were halted briefly after tumbling by double digits. The company cited a delay in orders from customers as it released new projections. "We attribute this weakness primarily to a challenging economic environment worldwide,"...

Microsoft is retooling the latest version of its Windows operating system to address complaints and confusion that have been blamed for deepening a slump in personal computer sales. The tune up announced Tuesday won't be released to consumers and businesses until later this year. The changes, part of a software package given the codename "Blue," are a tacit acknowledgment of the shortcomings in Windows 8, a radical overhaul of Microsoft Corp.'s ubiquitous operating system. With the makeover it...

Congress is considering legislation that would give states the ability to require out-of-state retailers to collect sales taxes. If the measure passes, consumers would lose a loophole that has resulted in years of tax-free online shopping. Out-of-state merchants would have to collect statewide sales taxes on Internet, mail-order and other purchases _ as well as any county and local sales taxes. Why is this necessary? And what will this mean for your online purchases? Here's a guide: Q. Don't...

Disney is not giving up on "Star Wars" video games after all. A month after shutting down game production at Lucasfilm subsidiary LucasArts, The Walt Disney Co. said Monday that it had entered multi-year deal with Electronic Arts Inc. to develop new "Star Wars" video games. According to a statement, EA will develop games for a "core gaming audience" while Disney will retain the right to develop titles for mobile devices, social platforms and online. Terms were not disclosed. Disney is aiming...

Adobe says it is moving to a subscription-based model for the software package it sells to designers, Web developers, video editors and other creative professionals. Adobe Systems Inc. said Monday that it will not release new versions of its Creative Suite software package. Instead, the maker of Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat, is shifting focus to Creative Cloud, which makes its software available through a monthly subscription that starts at $50 for an individual. Scott Morris, a senior...

TV-over-the-Internet startup Aereo wants a federal court to declare its service legal across the nation. Aereo takes free signals from the airwaves and sends them over the Internet to paying subscribers. Federal courts in New York have been issuing preliminary rulings declaring that Aereo's service is permitted under copyright law. CBS Corp., however, threatened a lawsuit in Boston after Aereo announced plans to start service there next week. The Boston court would not be bound by New York's...

Shares of BMC Software climbed before the opening bell on new reports that a team of private equity firms may attempt to buy the information technology company as soon as Monday. There were several reports that Bain Capital LLC and Golden Gate Capital Group were close to finalizing an agreement to buy the Houston company in a deal valued at more than $6.5 billion. Representatives of BMC, Bain Capital and Golden Gate Capital did not immediately return calls Monday seeking comment about the possible...

MediaTek Inc., Asia's largest chipset designer, said Monday its first quarter profit grew 51 percent from a year earlier, boosted by China's flourishing smartphone market. The Taiwanese company's net profit totaled 3.7 billion New Taiwan dollars ($125 million) in the January-March period on revenue of NT$24 billion. MediaTek helped fuel the sales growth of China's low-cost handsets by providing integrated, customized chipsets that significantly shorten the time and cost of marketing a new product....

Disturbed by the nationwide epidemic of cellphone robberies and thefts, law enforcement officials across the country are looking to the wireless industry to help find a cure. In San Francisco, where half the robberies were phone-related last year, District Attorney George Gascon is calling on major companies in nearby Silicon Valley to create new technology such as a "kill switch" to permanently and quickly disable stolen smart phones, making them worthless to thieves. The prosecutor said he's...

Here's a look at some key energy terms and technologies. HORIZONTAL DRILLING: Companies used to drill wells straight down into the earth to tap pools of oil and gas that had formed over millions of years. Now they can drill down and then change the angle to follow thin layers of source rock, reaching more oil and gas with each well. SOURCE ROCK: Wide, thin layers of sedimentary rock, like frosting in the middle of a layer cake, that are interspersed with oil and gas. In the past, drillers had...

Technology created an energy revolution over the past decade _ just not the one we expected. By now, cars were supposed to be running on fuel made from plant waste or algae _ or powered by hydrogen or cheap batteries that burned nothing at all. Electricity would be generated with solar panels and wind turbines. When the sun didn't shine or the wind didn't blow, power would flow out of batteries the size of tractor-trailers. Fossil fuels? They were going to be expensive and scarce, relics of an...

An experimental, unmanned aircraft developed for the U.S. Air Force went hypersonic during a test off the Southern California coast, traveling at more than 3,000 mph, the Air Force said Friday. The X-51A WaveRider flew for more than three minutes under power from its exotic scramjet engine and hit a speed of Mach 5.1, or more than five times the speed of sound. The test on Wednesday marked the fourth and final flight of an X-51A by the Air Force, which has spent $300 million studying scramjet...

Technology companies have begun releasing their earnings reports for the latest quarter. The reports come as consumers shift their spending toward tablets. Here is a summary of recent earnings and reports for selected technology companies and what they reveal about the state of spending and the overall economy. _ April 5: Estimates from Samsung Electronics Co. show that operating profit for the first quarter grew 53 percent from a year earlier to 8.7 trillion won ($7.7 billion), outpacing expectations...

Wireless companies have started to release their earnings reports for the latest quarter. Here is a summary of reports and related developments for selected wireless companies and what they reveal about their own and the industry's prospects. _ April 15: Dish Network Corp. offers $25.5 billion in cash and stock for Sprint Nextel Corp. in an attempt to snag the U.S. wireless carrier away from its Japanese suitor, Softbank Corp. If the Dish deal goes through, it would create a unique combination...

Companies providing gadgets, components, services and related software have begun releasing their earnings reports for the latest quarter. The reports come as consumers shift their spending toward phone and tablets and away from traditional PCs. Here's a look at how selected companies are faring. _ April 5: Estimates from Samsung Electronics Co. show that operating profit for the first quarter grew 53 percent from a year earlier to 8.7 trillion won ($7.7 billion), outpacing expectations for what's...

U.S. Cellular, the only major U.S. wireless carrier to resist the iPhone, says it's going to start selling it this year. CEO Mary Dillon announced the reversal Friday on a call with investors and analysts. She didn't specify exactly when the company would start selling Apple's phone, or what models it would carry. A year and a half ago, Dillon said U.S. Cellular Corp. had the opportunity to carry the phone but rejected it because it was too expensive. The iPhone is more expensive than most smartphones,...

Samsung Electronics Co. says the U.S. Department of Defense has approved using Samsung smartphones for its networks. The South Korean company said Friday the Galaxy S4 smartphone has become the first Android device to meet the security requirements set out by the U.S. government, allowing government and military officials to access the Defense Department's networks with the S4. Samsung is making a big push to enter the smartphone market for governments and enterprises dominated by Research In...

Alibaba founder Jack Ma, the billionaire who has run the Chinese e-commerce giant since 1999, says he's getting "a bit old" for the Internet. That's what the outgoing chief executive told a charitable event in Santa Monica Thursday as he pledged $5 million toward a China-based fund that supports environmental conservation projects outside China. "I'm young for new things but I'm a bit old for the Internet," the 48-year-old said. Ma's gift doubles the amount raised for the China Global Conservation...

When the doors open for Free Comic Book Day _ an annual event that's grown in stature from a few stores to some 2,000 worldwide _ publishers and purveyors of tales of heroes and villains will court new readers who, despite the ease of digital displays, are making time for and spending money on comics printed on paper. Retailers say the turnout and scope of the event, which began in 2002, is giving them and the industry a chance to tout their success by giving away 4.6 million comic books featuring...

Alibaba founder Jack Ma, the billionaire who has run the Chinese e-commerce giant since 1999, says he's getting "a bit old" for the Internet. That's what the outgoing chief executive told a charitable event in Santa Monica Thursday as he pledged $5 million toward a China-based fund that supports environmental conservation projects outside China. "I'm young for new things but I'm a bit old for the Internet," the 48-year-old said. Ma's gift doubles the amount raised for the China Global Conservation...

Barnes & Noble is teaming up with Google to vastly increase the number of apps available on its Nook HD tablets. The bookstore chain says it will add Google's Play app store to its 7-inch Nook HD and 9-inch HD+ products in the U.S. and U.K. via a software update Friday. The move expands the number of apps available from the roughly 10,000 the Nook already offered in its own store _ such as Angry Birds and Netflix _ to 700,000-plus apps and games offered on Google Play. And it comes after a...

Alibaba founder Jack Ma, the billionaire who has run Chinese e-commerce giant since 1999, says he's getting "a bit old" for the Internet. That's what the outgoing chief executive told a charitable event in Santa Monica Thursday as he pledged $5 million toward a China-based fund that supports environmental conservation projects outside China. "I'm young for new things but I'm a bit old for the Internet," the 48-year-old said. Ma's gift doubles the amount raised for the China Global Conservation...

LinkedIn's rapidly rising stock got demoted late Thursday after the online professional networking service released a forecast calling for its earnings growth to slow later this year as the company hires more workers, invests in data centers and tweaks the way that it shows online ads. The predicted deceleration overshadowed another stellar performance during the first three months of the year. As has been the case in every reporting period since LinkedIn Corp. went public two years ago, both...

Intel, one of the pillars of Silicon Valley, is following its traditions and promoting an insider to the job of CEO. The world's largest chipmaker is tasking Chief Operating Officer Brian Krzanich with steering it through an industry shake-up that is seeing tablets and smartphones overshadow Intel's base in personal computers. Intel announced Thursday that Krzanich will replace Paul Otellini on May 16. Six months ago, Otellini, 62, announced his surprise decision to resign and will end a nearly...

Americans are saying CUL8TR to text messaging, a wireless industry group says, as Internet-based applications such as Apple's Messages are starting to take over from what was once a cash cow for phone companies. CTIA _ The Wireless Association said Thursday that Americans sent 2.2 trillion text messages last year, down 5 percent from 2011. That's still 19 text messages per person per day. Text messages vaulted into the U.S. mainstream in 2007, despite often costing 10 cents each. Costs came down...