CNET - WASHINGTON--Representatives from industry, government, and advocacy groups agreed on Thursday that the Internet needs to be open and widely available throughout the United States. The question is how to get there.

CNET - Equifax on Thursday introduced it's first information card or I-card, Equifax Over 18 card. I-cards are envisioned to be the online equivalent of a driver's license, passport, or similar ID. The basic idea is that customers would have an electronic wallet with various information cards that would allow customers to bypass typing in user names and passwords.

Reuters - U.S. sales of videogame hardware and software rose 18 percent in October from a year earlier, after falling 7 percent in September, as Nintendo Co Ltd's Wii console sold over 800,000 units, market researcher NPD reported on Thursday.

Reuters - A senior U.S. lawmaker plans to introduce a bill in January that would bar Internet providers like AT&T Inc from blocking Web content, setting up a renewed battle over so-called network neutrality.

Reuters - Videogame sales are expected to be strong this year and in 2009, despite the economic troubles that have hurt some retail stores that sell the games, industry executives said on Thursday.

Reuters - Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices stood firm on its financial forecast on Thursday, one day after Intel cut its fourth quarter revenue forecast by 14 percent, sparking fears about the PC industry.

PC Magazine - We've compiled a collection of AMD's 2009 product roadmaps for your reference, including those from FoundryCo, the temporary name of the manufacturing business AMD will spin off. Inside: all of AMD's processor code names through 2011, including its platform plans.

PC Magazine - Advanced Micro Devices will launch its Phenom II X4 microprocessor at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this coming January, executives at AMD's annual analyst meeting said Thursday.

Reuters - A British woman is divorcing her husband after discovering his online alter-ego was having an affair with a virtual woman in the fantasy world of Second Life, media reported on Friday.

PC Magazine - Security vendor AVG said Thursday that the company will offer a free year of service, after its antivirus software misidentified a key Windows system file as malware.

AP - Sun Microsystems Inc. plans to cut up to 6,000 jobs, or 18 percent of its global work force, as sales of its high-end servers have collapsed.

Reuters - Top cellphone maker Nokia Oyj said the world's mobile phone market would be weaker than it expected in the fourth quarter due to the economic slowdown and was set to fall further in 2009.

AP - Nokia Corp., the world's largest cell phone maker, has downgraded its outlook for industry mobile device volumes for the fourth quarter, citing the economic crisis and currency volatility.

CNET - Apple has captivated the general public with the iPhone, but has it convinced the business world to take the plunge?

AP - The traditional White House radio address is going virtual.

Reuters - Sun Microsystems Inc . said on Friday it will cut 5,000 to 6,000 jobs, as the economic crisis compounds the company's struggles with depressed demand for its high-end business computers.

Reuters - Top handset maker Nokia Oyj said on Friday the world's mobile phone market would fall in the fourth quarter and next year as economic slowdown crimps consumer demand around the world.

AFP - Tickets for the upcoming inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States are the hottest in town -- but don't go looking for them on eBay.

Reuters - Alarmed at the growing number of attacks off Somalia, international merchant shipping is edging closer to doing the unthinkable in peace time: by-passing one of world's most vital trade routes.

PC Magazine - A free app for the iPhone, developed by the search giant, is available for free through the iTunes app store. It converts spoken questions into Google searches. And yes, this has been done before, many times.

NewsFactor - Microsoft says it has realized several key metrics it set for the Live Search cashback program it launched in May. The program was designed to help merchants maximize their advertising investments and drive more sales by providing consumers with a cash incentive to buy online.

NewsFactor - Sun Microsystems on Friday said it will lay off 15 to 18 percent of its workforce. The announcement comes as part of a series of changes the company is making as it continues an uphill struggle.

AP - Shares of Activision Blizzard Inc. and Electronic Arts Inc. declined Friday after October's video game retail sales report from the NPD Group showed a disappointing performance in the music genre.

InfoWorld - By?? the first half of 2009, Citrix will make its XenDesktop and XenApp client and server software for remote access to Windows applications available for the iPhone.

AFP - Google is reportedly weighing into the Internet voice search arena with a free application that lets iPhone users surf online by speaking queries.

AP - A virtual affair is ending a real-life marriage in southwest England.

AP - A one time dot-com billionaire from Las Vegas has been sentenced to nine years in prison for defrauding investors in his software company in 2001.

AP - The economic downturn might be pushing Sun Microsystems Inc., one of the storied names in computing, to the brink of extinction.

NewsFactor - Google is pushing its voice-recognition technology to Apple's iPhone first, before devices running its own Android mobile platform.

PC Magazine - Steam in its current form -- a PC game store and Xbox Live-esque community service -- does a lot of what Microsoft talked about doing years ago.

CNET - You know an e-mail is going to be juicy when its subject line is 'CONFIDENTIAL' and it starts out: 'I would prefer not to have this discussion on email.'

NewsFactor - A lawmaker is bringing the issue of net neutrality back into the spotlight. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) plans to introduce a bill in January that would stop Internet service providers from blocking and managing certain Internet content.

AP - SUN DOWN: Still not fully recovered from the dot-com bust eight years ago, Sun Microsystems Inc. is being walloped by this economic downturn. In response the company plans to cut as many as 6,000 jobs — 18 percent of its work force.

AP - Movie studio executives on Friday presented the best-case scenario for a winter holiday surge in the purchase of high-definition Blu-ray players as their best hope to keep the U.S. home video market's decline from accelerating past 3 percent or 4 percent this year.

PC Magazine - The latest effort to spin the recession comes from Microsoft, who commissioned the 'Xbox 360 Holiday Entertainment Survey 2008'. As you have probably guessed, the study concludes that the economic crunch translates into this being a great time to buy an Xbox 360.

CNET - President-elect Brack Obama's transition team on Friday announced who will lead the transition project's review of the Federal Communications Commission, the office of the United States Trade Representative, and a number of other agencies, departments, and executive offices.

AFP - Microsoft, which has made billions of dollars selling packaged software, has opened its first online store in the United States offering its ubiquitous programs for downloading.

AP - A flashy Las Vegas entrepreneur who became a billionaire at the height of the dot-com bubble was sentenced Friday to nine years in prison for stock fraud, capping a seven-year investigation that led to seven convictions.