TechWeb - TransMedia's latest software offers the potential to access more files than the iPhone and the chance to work with wireless carriers beyond AT&T.

AFP - Google said on Wednesday it would begin routinely purging its data banks of information that identifies search engine users in order to better shield their anonymity.

TechWeb - The No. 1 computer maker's certification of Novell's Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 could mean it's ready to mainstream the open source operating system.

AP - A year after his Internet empire came crashing down, turning Japan's most famous dot-com mogul into a business pariah and celebrity defendant, Takafumi Horie and a captivated nation will learn Friday whether his name will be cleared.

TOKYO, March 15 (Reuters) - Maverick designer Emiko Miki married high-tech with tradition in her latest fashion collection, which she says showcases what Japan's got to offer.

Reuters - Maverick designer Emiko Miki married high-tech with tradition in her latest fashion collection, which she says showcases what Japan's got to offer.

Reuters - Shares in Swedish online ad firm Tradedoubler slumped in opening trade on Thursday after AOL, the online unit of Time Warner Inc, withdrew its 215 crown per share offer, worth around $900 million.

AP - Vodafone Group PLC and India's Essar group on Thursday reached an agreement to jointly manage a leading Indian mobile phone company in which the British mobile carrier is buying a controlling stake.

HANOVER, Germany (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics on Thursday unveiled an upgraded version of its ultra mobile personal computer (UMPC) in a move to boost disappointing sales.

InfoWorld - Intel plans to further reduce the size and power consumption of its mobile microprocessors over the next year or so, paving the way for computers that are smaller and consume substantially less power, a company executive said Thursday.

AFP - The world's biggest high-tech fair opened its doors on Thursday showcasing the must-have computer, telecommunications and consumer electronics products of the future.

USATODAY.com - LOS ANGELES - - Priya Sanghvi wants an Apple iPhone from AT&T's Cingular Wireless when it comes out in June, and she is already strategizing how to get it. Now a Verizon Wireless customer, she's exploring a range of options, including trying to wrestle with Verizon to let her out of her contract early, using one of the new online swap services to dump the remaining months of the contract, or even just paying the $175 early-termination fee.

InfoWorld - AOL has withdrawn its offer to buy TradeDoubler after failing to get enough of the online marketer's shareholders to approve the acquisition.

BusinessWeek Online - As communications companies battle for customers by upgrading their cable networks to adapt to new media, the Hickory, (N.C.) based CommScope, Inc. has been selling more of its cable. After the company said it will announce stronger than expected results from the first three months of this year, investors piled into the shares on Mar. 14.

InfoWorld - EMC's RSA division plans to launch a new service next month that will help financial institutions take down Web sites associated with malicious Trojan Horse software.

InfoWorld - Microsoft demonstrated Dynamics Live CRM, its planned hosted customer relationship management software, during the closing Wednesday keynote given by CEO Steve Ballmer at its Convergence show in San Diego.

HANOVER, New Hampshire (Reuters) - The Cool Robot is square, squat and slow, but its utilitarian beauty is clear to polar researchers who want a sturdy non-human helper to carry instruments over vast stretches of the Arctic and Antarctic.

HANOVER, Germany (Reuters) - Vodafone, the world's most international cellphone carrier with over 200 million subscribers, showed Internet-calling for cellphones with Skype, which it said it may launch in the future.

PC World - Intel plans to further reduce the size and power consumption of its mobile microprocessors over the next year or so, paving the way for computers that are smaller and consume substantially less power, a company executive said Thursday.

AFP - European Information and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding said on Thursday she expected a deal on trimming the high cost of using mobile phones abroad by the end of June.

PC World - Just when BenQ Corp. thought the worst of its mobile phone woes were behind it, Taiwanese prosecutors raided its offices and hauled away three executives for questioning over alleged insider stock trading related to when it revealed losses incurred from BenQ Mobile GmbH & Co. OHG.

AP - Cisco Systems Inc. said Thursday that it has agreed to acquire the online meeting company WebEx Communications Inc. for about $3.2 billion in cash.

Reuters - For-profit education provider Apollo Group said on Wednesday that it paid $15 million for Insight Schools, the online high school provider it bought in January.

InfoWorld - Vodafone Group and India's Essar Group have reached an agreement on running Hutchison Essar, the Indian mobile phone operator in which Vodafone plans to acquire a controlling interest.

Reuters - Vodafone, the world's most international cellphone carrier with over 200 million subscribers, showed Internet-calling for cellphones with Skype, which it said it may launch in the future.

AP - Red Hat Inc. has unveiled the latest version of its Linux operating system as the open-source software company continues to combat Microsoft's market-dominating Windows platform.

Reuters - Network equipment maker Cisco Systems said on Thursday it would buy WebEx Communications Inc. , which specializes in software that helps businesses collaborate, for $2.9 billion.

Reuters - Teenagers are being joined by more people aged in their 20s and 30s on social networking Web sites as the trend of socializing online continues to expand, according to a survey on Wednesday.

HANOVER, Germany (Reuters) - The Blu-ray disc association said on Thursday it aimed to become replace the DVD media storage format within three years.

FRANKFURT/HANOVER (Reuters) - Intel and Infineon Technologies AG announced partnerships with BMW and Hyundai Motor Co. on Thursday, reflecting the growing importance of electronics in cars.

Reuters - Intel and Infineon Technologies AG (IFXGn.DE) announced partnerships with BMW and Hyundai Motor Co. (005380.KS) on Thursday, reflecting the growing importance of electronics in cars.

InfoWorld - Cisco Systems announced Thursday it will buy the online conference provider WebEx Communications for $3.2 billion to sell collaboration tools to small and medium businesses.

AFP - Britain's Vodafone announced Thursday it had sealed a deal with India's Essar group for management control of Indian mobile firm Hutchison Essar following its winning 11.1-billion-dollar bid.

Reuters - Massively multiplayer online video games, or MMOs, are largely considered the realm of fantasy geeks.

HANOVER, Germany (Reuters) - The Blu-ray disc association said on Thursday it aimed to replace the DVD storage format within three years.

PC Magazine - A disastrous 2006 for Intel still wasn't enough for the chip giant to drop off its perch as the top semiconductor manufacturer of 2006. AMD and Hynix showed sharp year-over-year revenue gains, climbing dramatically in a survey of sales figures released Thursday.

Reuters - The Blu-ray disc association said on Thursday it aimed to replace the DVD storage format within three years.

AP - Crazy-sounding ideas for saving the planet are getting a serious look from top scientists, a sign of their fears about global warming and the desire for an insurance policy in case things get worse.

Reuters - Advertiser spending in U.S. newspapers and on their Web sites fell 2.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006 as a surge in Internet ad sales failed to offset the waning popularity of print editions, according to data released on Thursday.

NewsFactor - Red Hat released Wednesday a new version of its Linux operating system, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (RHEL 5). The new OS, which the Raleigh, North Carolina-based company said is more of a platform, is accompanied by RHEL 5 Advanced Platform for servers and an updated Enterprise Desktop.

InfoWorld - Cisco announced on Thursday plans to acquire online collaboration service WebEx for $3.2 billion, giving the network equipment giant a foothold in the software-as-a-service market.

InfoWorld - A new Google gadget lets users embed the company's Talk instant-messaging service in Web pages, expanding the reach of the product, which was originally introduced as a downloadable PC application.

InfoWorld - International roaming fees within the European Union will be regulated before mobile phone users set off on their summer holidays, the European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, Viviane Reding, said Thursday.

AP - Wireless technology companies Broadcom Corp. and Qualcomm Inc. have settled a patent dispute involving cell phone chips less than a week before the case was scheduled for trial.

PC World - Microsoft Corp. will to extend its Xbox Live online gaming and entertainment network to Windows in May as part of its plan to offer more Web-based services through its desktop OS.

PC World - International roaming fees within the European Union will be regulated before mobile phone users set off on their summer holidays, the European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, Viviane Reding, said Thursday.

AP - There will be plenty of opportunities to follow the March Madness tournament from your work desktops — CBS is offering free streaming video, and other sites organize office pools and give you the latest scores.

InfoWorld - Another role could soon be added to the many already performed by home gateway devices: identifying video pirates.

InfoWorld - Security vendor Trend Micro will release a new version of its mobile security software for Nokia smartphones next month that adds a built-in firewall and improves malware detection, the company said Thursday at Cebit in Hanover, Germany.

PC World - Document and mail management vendor Pitney Bowes Inc. said Thursday it plans to acquire MapInfo Corp., a provider of location intelligence software and services, for about US$408 million in cash.

NewsFactor - Microsoft announced on Wednesday that it is acquiring TellMe Networks, a company specializing in nationwide directory assistance, enterprise customer service, and voice-enabled mobile search.

Reuters - A French court handed the chairman of Groupe Partouche, one of France's leading casino operators, a suspended prison sentence and 40,000 euros ($52,860) fine on Thursday for breaking laws limiting online gaming.

InfoWorld - Skype has released a new version of its Internet telephony and instant messaging software that adds a feature to let users create business reviews and another one to sell expertise as the eBay subsidiary promotes interaction among its users.

Reuters - McDonald's Corp. said on Thursday it was putting pictures of ordinary consumers who eat at the hamburger chain on its packaging, tapping into a media and Internet trend focused on real people.

InfoWorld - Although Microsoft may be overlooked in the SaaS (software as a service) arena, the company is a leader in this space and views subscription-based software as a way to enhance revenues, a Microsoft official said at the OpSource SaaS Summit 2007 in Monterey, Calif. on Thursday.

Reuters - Teenagers are being joined by more people aged in their 20s and 30s on social networking Web sites as the trend of socialising online continues to expand, according to a survey on Wednesday.

Reuters - Massively multiplayer online video games, or MMOs, are largely considered the realm of fantasy geeks.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s Wii was the best-selling video game console in the United States in February, console makers said on Thursday, citing sales results from market research firm NPD.

Reuters - Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s (7974.OS) Wii was the best-selling video game console in the United States in February, console makers said on Thursday, citing sales results from market research firm NPD.

AFP - Sony announced on Thursday that its PlayStation 3 video game consoles will be enhanced to join a supercomputing network researching causes of cancer, Alzheimer's and other incurable diseases.

Reuters - Massively multiplayer online video games, or MMOs, are largely considered the realm of fantasy geeks.

PC World - Forget speech-recognition software: How about typing a letter just by thinking it?

InfoWorld - In an apparent attempt to boost its disappointing Web search market share, Microsoft is giving financial incentives to large enterprise customers whose employees use Microsoft's Live Search engine.

AP - Dot-com mogul Takafumi Horie will appeal his guilty verdict in a closely watched Japanese Internet trial, his defense lawyer said Friday.

NewsFactor - Cisco Systems, best known as a manufacturer of networking hardware, is taking a major step into the software applications field.