DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp. on Wednesday announced a partnership with MapQuest.com that would allow OnStar customers to send their destinations from MapQuest's Web site to OnStar-equipped GM vehicles.

AP - Sun Microsystems Inc. put together its first back-to-back profitable quarters since the dot-com bust, but its shares plunged on fears its core server business is slowing.

TechWeb - The chipmaker claims the missing e-mails were the result of "human error" but adds it has alternative sources to retrieve any important data.

AP - Verizon Wireless is introducing a BlackBerry e-mail phone that's compatible with the cellular technology more common in other countries in addition to the standard used on the company's U.S. network.

TechWeb - The subsidiary that owns and manages Hitachi's patent portfolio claims LG's plasma display panel products infringe on seven Hitachi patents.

Reuters - General Motors Corp. on Wednesday announced a partnership with MapQuest.com that would allow OnStar customers to send their destinations from MapQuest's Web site to OnStar-equipped GM vehicles.

Reuters - Worried your husband-to-be is already married?

Reuters - International Business Machines Corp. plans to start selling products from smaller rival MySQL AB, a developer of an open-source database that is used to help run Web sites, including Yahoo Inc. , Google Inc. and YouTube.

AFP - Malaysia's information ministry will create a unit to monitor and counter what it says are lies being spread on the Internet about government policies, reports said Wednesday.

AP - The online social networking site MySpace and reality TV producer Mark Burnett are teaming to launch the search for an independent presidential candidate.

AFP - Japan's Sharp Corp. on Wednesday reported a fourth consecutive year of record profits thanks to fast-growing sales of flat-screen televisions and mobile phones.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Nokia , the world's biggest handset maker, and mobile telecoms carriers have solidified a global initiative to turn mobile phones into wallets, a wireless telecoms interest group said on Wednesday.

DUBLIN (Reuters) - The rising popularity of text messaging on mobile phones poses a threat to writing standards among Irish schoolchildren, an education commission says.

Reuters - The rising popularity of text messaging on mobile phones poses a threat to writing standards among Irish schoolchildren, an education commission says.

Reuters - Nokia (NOK1V.HE), the world's biggest handset maker, and mobile telecoms carriers have solidified a global initiative to turn mobile phones into wallets, a wireless telecoms interest group said on Wednesday.

PC Magazine - The new Verizon BlackBerry 8830's killer feature is dual CDMA/GSM functionality, which makes it Verizon's first global BlackBerry.

Reuters - China Telecom Corp. has given Google Inc. the right to offer advertising on over 400 Web sites owned by the Chinese firm, the companies said on Wednesday.

DUBLIN (Reuters) - The rising popularity of text messaging on cell phones poses a threat to writing standards among Irish schoolchildren, an education commission says.

HELSINKI (Reuters) - The world's top cell phone maker Nokia said on Wednesday it and its license users have shipped more than 100 million smartphones using Nokia's S60 software platform.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Motorola Inc said on Wednesday that its venture arm invested in privately held Vocera Communications, a supplier of wireless badges that allow retail and healthcare workers to communicate with each other.

Reuters - The world's top cell phone maker Nokia (NOK1V.HE) said on Wednesday it and its license users have shipped more than 100 million smartphones using Nokia's S60 software platform.

Reuters - The rising popularity of text messaging on cell phones poses a threat to writing standards among Irish schoolchildren, an education commission says.

InfoWorld - The next time you splurge on a double latte and sip it while browsing the Internet via the cafe's Wi-Fi, beware of the "evil twin."

AP - Apple Inc., on a tear with its popular iPod players and Macintosh computers, is expected to report strong quarterly results Wednesday but will face lingering worries over the role its iconic CEO played in its stock options backdating troubles.

Reuters - Motorola Inc said on Wednesday that its venture arm invested in privately held Vocera Communications, a supplier of wireless badges that allow retail and healthcare workers to communicate with each other.

InfoWorld - CollabNet has acquired SourceForge Enterprise Edition (SFEE) from VA Software, adding to its range of collaborative software development tools.

InfoWorld - CA has signed up outsourcing vendor Achievo to support its Chinese customers. The agreement, announced Tuesday, represents a shift for Achievo, which has so far focused its efforts on software development using .Net and Java for corporate clients, rather than vendor support.

USATODAY.com - In creating an online role-playing game based on J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, game developer Turbine wanted to make sure it was not too intimidating for newcomers to the massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) genre.

DUBLIN (Reuters) - The rising popularity of text messaging on cell phones poses a threat to writing standards among Irish schoolchildren, an education commission says.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. nuclear reactor builders will likely have to weigh the potential for a commercial aircraft strike when they design new plants, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said on Tuesday.

STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - The European Parliament adopted a measure on Wednesday to harmonize criminal punishments across the European Union for the first time as part of a crackdown on the multi-billion-euro fake goods industry.

(Corrects misquote in paragraph 8 to 'mobile' from 'cell')

InfoWorld - The chip assembly sector is still ripe for buyouts, despite a decision by The Carlye Group not to acquire chip maker Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE), an ASE executive said Wednesday.

Reuters - Nokia (NOK1V.HE), the world's biggest handset maker, and mobile telecoms carriers have agreed on a global initiative to turn cell phones into wallets, a wireless telecoms interest group said on Wednesday.

Reuters - The rising popularity of text messaging on cell phones poses a threat to writing standards among Irish schoolchildren, an education commission says.

AP - Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. are introducing a BlackBerry e-mail phone that's compatible with the cellular technology more common in other countries in addition to the standard used on their own U.S. networks.

PC World - Healthy demand for flat-panel televisions and mobile phones helped Japan's Sharp Corp. achieve record sales and profits for a fourth straight year, the company said Wednesday.

InfoWorld - French mobile phone operator Orange sought Wednesday to deflect attention from European Commission plans to regulate roaming fees, with the introduction of new tariffs for the calls its customers make and receive while traveling abroad.

PC World - In a move to strengthen its response to security threats, Microsoft Corp. is opening two labs to study the growing amount of malicious software circulating on the Internet, security executives announced Wednesday.

PC World - Red Hat Inc. said Tuesday it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the business of MetaMatrix Inc., a provider of data management and integration software.

InfoWorld - In a move to strengthen its response to security threats, Microsoft is opening two labs to study the growing amount of malicious software circulating on the Internet, security executives announced Wednesday.

PC World - SAP AG and Microsoft Corp. have underscored their commitment to their Duet partnership, jointly developed software that integrates Microsoft's desktop Office suite with SAP's back-end mySAP enterprise applications.

AMSTERDAM/HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia , the world's biggest handset maker, and mobile telecoms carriers have agreed on a global initiative to turn cell phones into wallets, a wireless telecoms interest group said on Wednesday.

NewsFactor - IBM has opened another door for Linux. This week, the Armonk, New York-based company released an open beta of a virtual Linux environment that allows thousands of x86 Linux applications to run without any modification on Power-based IBM System p servers.

AP - Some of the latest mobile phones in Japan come with motion sensors that let users detect motion or play action games like those on the Nintendo Wii console.

AP - Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. are introducing a BlackBerry e-mail phone that's compatible with the cellular technology more common in other countries in addition to the standard used on their own U.S. networks.

PC World - Stanford University's Folding@home distributed computing project has seen its capacity more than double in the last month thanks to the addition of idle processor cycles from hundreds of thousands of PlayStation 3 consoles.

AP - The Web hosting site Photobucket has resolved a dispute that led to a partial block by the popular online hangout MySpace.

AP - Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. are introducing a BlackBerry e-mail phone that's compatible with the cellular technology more common in other countries in addition to the standard used on their own U.S. networks.

PC World - A group of computer dealers filed a complaint about Sun Microsystems Inc. with a U.K. government body that regulates business practices on Monday.

AP - Ireland's youth are becoming increasingly poor spellers and writers, and their love of text messaging on cell phones is a major reason why, according to the government's Education Department.

AP - Mac users have been blessed with an easy-to-use tool for searching deep inside documents, not just their file names. So it struck me as odd that Google Inc. would be offering similar software.

NewsFactor - Red Hat, a leading vendor of open-source solutions, announced on Tuesday the acquisition of MetaMatrix, whose data-management solutions can help stimulate the use of Red Hat's JBoss middleware for service-oriented architectures (SOAs).

InfoWorld - The growth of IPTV and other network-based entertainment services is likely to change the face of home networking and could affect enterprises, according to Gartner.

AP - A remixed version of last year's 'Guitar Hero II' music game for the PlayStation 2 has finally been released for the Xbox 360.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc. Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said on Wednesday the company's iPhone is on track to ship in late June.

InfoWorld - Verizon is hoping to appeal to the international business traveler -- a customer segment that it may have struggled to attract previously -- with a new BlackBerry designed to work around the world.

AP - Acer Inc., one of the largest computer makers in the world, launched a recall Wednesday of about 27,000 laptop batteries, becoming the latest company to warn of faulty Sony-made lithium-ion batteries that could overheat and cause a fire.

AdWeek.com - NEW YORK WPP Group has continued expanding its stake in emerging ad platforms by investing in online video firm VideoEgg.

AP - Qualcomm Inc. on Wednesday posted a 22 percent increase in fiscal second-quarter profits on strong sales of its chips that run mobile phones.

Reuters - Apple Inc. Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said on Wednesday the company's iPhone is on track to ship in late June.

Reuters - Actor Alec Baldwin, embarrassed by a ranting phone message to his daughter that surfaced on the Internet, has asked to be freed from his TV show to spend more time with family, a person close to the situation said on Wednesday.

Reuters - Wireless technology and chip developer Qualcomm Inc on Wednesday posted higher quarterly profit and revenue and raised its estimate for full-year earnings on strong demand for its chips for mobile phones with high-speed Internet connections.

Reuters - British rocker Pete Townshend on Wednesday unveiled an Internet-based software program that will help music fans compose personalized tracks at the click of a button.

InfoWorld - Sun is introducing a new platform for streaming on-demand video over IP networks to put movies into the hands of customers more efficiently than cable, DVDs-by-mail, or the corner video store.

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. released its next-generation Windows Server 'Longhorn' software for public testing on Wednesday and said the product is on track for a debut in the second half of 2007.

AP - Hynix Semiconductor Inc., the world's second-largest manufacturer of computer memory chips, said Thursday its first-quarter net profit rose 45 percent as sales soared.

NewsFactor - Sony's PlayStation 3 has made its name as a game machine, but now it's also becoming famous as a protein-folding machine. One month after Stanford University's Folding@home project brought PS3 machines into its distributed network to process medical research about proteins, Stanford is saying that the machines have doubled the project's processing power.

InfoWorld - Just six months after saying Acer laptop PC users would not need to replace any batteries amid a massive global recall, a company subsidiary announced a recall for 27,000 batteries in the U.S.

InfoWorld - Not to be outdone by laptop rival Sony, Dell yesterday announced the availability of SSD (solid-state drive) technology for its Latitude D420 and D620 notebooks.

PC World - Just six months after saying Acer Inc. laptop PC users would not need to replace any batteries amid a massive global recall, a company subsidiary announced a recall for 27,000 batteries in the U.S.

PC Magazine - Just as Sony seemed to be putting its battery recall behind it, Acer announced on Wednesday it would be recalling close to 27,000 of its Sony-made lithium-ion laptop batteries.

Reuters - Microsoft Corp. released its next-generation Windows Server "Longhorn" software for public testing on Wednesday and said the product is on track for a debut in the second half of 2007.

NewsFactor - As anyone who has searched online for music lyrics knows, the accuracy of the information provided is erratic at best. That's not particularly surprising. Many Web pages of unauthorized lyrics have been retyped by fans from the liner notes, or, sometimes, transcribed from the music itself.

AP - The first public 'beta' release of Microsoft Corp.'s next-generation Windows Server operating system, code-named Longhorn, is now widely available, the company said Wednesday.

PC World - Microsoft Corp. is posting the final beta and first publicly available and feature-complete version of Windows Server "Longhorn," marking the final time the product will be available for testing and feedback before the long-awaited server update is available later this year.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission decided on Wednesday to seek more public comment on how the sale of valuable wireless airwaves will work, a move that could delay the start of the auction.

AFP - Nintendo's Wii console is as effective as more traditional videogames for burning calories, but players are running the risk of injury by not warming-up properly, according to British experts.

Reuters - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission decided on Wednesday to seek more public comment on how the sale of valuable wireless airwaves will work, a move that could delay the start of the auction.

PC World - Carnegie Mellon University researchers say building robots doesn't have to be rocket science. They've unveiled a set of recipes for building Internet-controlled robots with off-the-shelf parts.