TechWeb - The company is combining its NonStop database engine with its Integrity and ProLiant servers and its StorageWorks hardware and software.

AFP - French voters have turned mildly optimistic about living standards and having jobs but are suspicious of economic signals barely a week before the final vote in a presidential election.

AP - A convincing twin of Darth Vader stalks the beige cubicles of a Silicon Valley office, complete with ominous black mask, cape and light saber.

FT.com - Edward Whitacre has timed his departure impeccably. From humble beginnings as chief executive of SBC Corporation, he went a long way towards re-creating Ma Bell during his aggressive 17-year deal spree (hoovering up Pacific Telesis, Ameritech, Southern New England Telecommunications, AT&T Wireless, AT&T itself and BellSouth (NYSE:BLS)).

PC World - Cofounder David Filo tells discusses the search portal's evolution, and its challenges as it expands internationally.

VIENNA (Reuters) - With the precision of a surgeon, Andreas Rupp carefully wraps sensor strips around a 21-tonne bell in Vienna's famous St Stephen's Cathedral.

AP - In the rampant real estate speculation of the Las Vegas valley three years ago, people lined up outside Pulte Homes sales offices overnight as if they were waiting for the release of the latest video game console or hot new movie.

CHANDIGARH, India (Reuters) - Fed up with traffic snarls and scarred roads, a software engineer in India's flagship IT hub of Bangalore took to the streets in protest last year -- doodling on his laptop while trotting along on a bullock-cart.

Reuters - Fed up with traffic snarls and scarred roads, a software engineer in India's flagship IT hub of Bangalore took to the streets in protest last year -- doodling on his laptop while trotting along on a bullock-cart.