Reuters - Computer hackers are exploiting fears over bird flu by releasing a computer virus attached to an email passing itself off as containing avian flu information, warned Spainish computer firm Panda Software.

AP - The Web site of a stem cell research center in Seoul was overloaded Tuesday when it began formally accepting applications from patients seeking to benefit from cloning technology, an official said.

TechWeb - IBM signed an OEM agreement to make Neterion's Xframe II adapters a standard element in its xSeries servers.

TechWeb - The vendor expanded its datacenter virtualization platform to include support for systems using Opteron processors and for IBM's blade servers.

TechWeb - Sirius Satellite Radio has extended to 2012 its exclusive contract with DaimlerChrysler.

TechWeb - ActiveShopper.com releases a Firefox plug-in that lets users search the Web site for bargains directly from the open-source browser.

AP - Personal computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd. said Tuesday its profit rose 22 percent in the July-September quarter, but analysts said investors were looking for stronger results following its acquisition of IBM Corp.'s PC business.

USATODAY.com - U.S. communications regulators Monday unanimously approved Verizon Communications' purchase of MCI and SBC Communications' acquisition of AT&T after intense wrangling over protecting consumers and Internet access.

USATODAY.com - Star Wars fans with a spare 13-plus hours (not counting extras) can now watch the groundbreaking saga from start to finish.With Tuesday's release of Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (Fox, $30), all six films are on DVD.

USATODAY.com - Sprint Nextel introduced a music store for cellphones Monday, the first to offer direct-to-phone wireless downloads. Sprint's store offers music downloads for $2.49 each, compared with 99 cents a song at Apple's iTunes Music Store or RealNetworks' Rhapsody.

PC World - AXE technology fights viruses, malware at the root of any operating system.

Macworld.com - As Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs leads his company to record quarterly revenue and earnings, competitor Dell Inc., led by Michael Dell, will miss its third-quarter revenue guidance. Dell company officials blame lower than expected sales for the shortfall, which will be the second straight financial quarter the company will miss its revenue projections.

Reuters - Research In Motion Ltd. launched on Tuesday the first version of its BlackBerry e-mail device produced through a recent partnership with Intel Corp., the world's biggest chipmaker.

PC World - 10g Express Edition runs under Linux, 32-bit Windows (with some limits).

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three top U.S. cable operators on Monday reached a deal to resell wireless phone services with Sprint Nextel S.N to compete against telephone operators entering the video market, sources familiar with the situation said.

TORONTO (Reuters) - Research In Motion Ltd. RIM.TO RIMM.O launched on Tuesday the first version of its BlackBerry e-mail device produced through a recent partnership with Intel Corp. INTC.O, the world's biggest chipmaker.

PC World - Dual-Itanium BL60p will ship next year with choice of HP-UX or Linux.

AFP - China's largest computer maker Lenovo reported a 13.45 percent increase in first-half net profit, boosted by the contributions from its recently acquired IBM personal computer unit, but its shares slumped over seven percent by the market close.

MacCentral - The U.S. Supreme Court has decided not to hear a Microsoft Corp. appeal in the software company’s ongoing Web browsing patent dispute with the University of California and Eolas Technologies Inc.

AP - There are, by now, a slew of BlackBerry-like cell phones with typewriter keyboards for mobile e-mail. But none, including Palm Inc.'s popular Treo, has yet mustered a following that resembles the malady affectionately known as 'CrackBerry' addiction.

Reuters - A British man was jailed for four years on Tuesday for masterminding an eBay internet auction swindle which stole computer account details from users and assumed their identities.

Reuters - OnAir, a European firm backed by planemaker Airbus that aims to introduce in-flight mobile phone service in 2006, said it expected a key framework agreement on coordinating telecoms regulations by February.

Macworld.com - With the announcement in early September of the iPod video and new iMac, Apple Computer gave users two new applications: Front Row and Photo Booth. Unfortunately, the applications, Apple said, would only be available on the new iMac and had no plans to put them on any of their other products.

AP - Sun Microsystems Inc. said Tuesday that its first-quarter loss narrowed slightly and sales grew 3.7 percent as the server and software maker benefited from a revamped product line.

NewsFactor - The m7100y, Hewlett-Packard's (NYSE: HPQ) media-center desktop designed for those wanting both Tivo-esque home-entertainment functions and a powerful computer, is best summed up as all-encompassing and overpriced. There is not a task too difficult or demanding for the m7100y, but this power and adaptability does not come inexpensively.

AP - So Dell Inc. isn't immune to the vagaries of the personal computer business either.

Ziff Davis - Market watchers are projecting that PC sales are going to start slowing next year, right at the time that Microsoft is set to launch its next-generation Windows release. Microsoft officials say they aren't fazed, but analysts see some potential adoption hurdles on Redmond's horizon.

AFP - Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, unveiled Web services based on its flagship Windows and Office products as part of its strategy to deliver software over the Internet and cash in on a fast-growing market that has been staked out by smaller rivals.

NewsFactor - In outlining its plans for the near term, open-source specialist Red Hat (Nasdaq: RHAT) said it will focus on integrating virtualization technology and support for 'stateless' Linux in forthcoming versions of its enterprise product.

Reuters - Computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc. on Tuesday posted a quarterly net loss that narrowed slightly from a year ago as revenue rose nearly 4 percent, helped by its acquisition of data storage equipment maker Storage Technology Corp.

NewsFactor - Apple Computer (Nasdaq: AAPL) has released an upgrade to its Tiger operating system. The update includes several bug fixes and some entirely new features.

Reuters - Shares of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. tumbled 15 percent to a new low on Tuesday after the video game publisher again lowered fiscal 2005 targets and also issued a warning for fiscal 2006.

InfoWorld - Steve Guggenheimer is the new general manager of Microsoft's Application Platform Development & Marketing group, which focuses on application platform strategy and markets the company's development tools, the SQL Server database and BizTalk Server business process integration software.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Intel Corp. INTC.O has restarted a factory after spending $2 billion to retool it with the latest technologies that will let it produce more powerful chips more efficiently and at a lower cost.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O, the world's largest software maker, on Tuesday said it is embarking on a major new way of doing business in which it offers its software as free online services, funded by advertising, while seeking to fend off rivals like Google Inc.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc. SUNW.O on Tuesday posted a narrower quarterly loss, but revenue was just shy of Wall Street targets the company said, adding that customers might be waiting for new products.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Top U.S. satellite television operator DirecTV Group Inc. DTV.N said it plans to launch its first original programing series.

AP - Sun Microsystems Inc.'s first-quarter loss narrowed and sales grew 3.7 percent as the server and software maker benefited from two acquisitions that helped boost the company's top line.

AP - Speakers at the University of Georgia's Unwired 2005 Conference predicted Tuesday that U.S. agriculture is on the verge of a technological revolution that will allow farmers to complete many of their chores from laptop computers in their homes or tractors.

AP - Microsoft Corp. unveiled a new strategy Tuesday to move software and services online, seeking to fend off a growing threat from Google Inc. and other nimble upstarts born on the Internet.

BusinessWeek Online - As the brains behind the video games at Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto has shown a knack for inventing games that kids would get hooked on. In 1985, his Super Mario Bros. -- the world's hottest-selling game ever -- was the first with a scrolling screen, which expanded the playing space vertically, not just horizontally. The next year, he came up with the labyrinthine fantasy world called The Legend of Zelda, which could take skilled gamers hours, and sometimes weeks, to complete. And in the 1990s, his Super Mario 64 was the first console title with 3D graphics. ...

AP - Intel Corp. has reopened an Arizona factory after an 18-month, $2 billion upgrade aimed at simultaneously boosting PC microprocessor supplies while lowering the cost of making each chip.