Reuters - Global sales of semiconductors are likely to fall 2.2 percent in 2009 due to weak demand for electronics worldwide, industry group World Semiconductor Trade Statistics said on Tuesday, reversing its May forecast of 5.8 percent growth.

Reuters - The global semiconductor market is likely to shrink by an annual 2.2 percent in 2009, industry group World Semiconductor Trade Statistics said on Tuesday, reversing its May forecast of 5.8 percent growth.

AP - The One Laptop Per Child project is set to resume its Give One Get One promotion for its kid-friendly computers Monday with logistics help from Web retailer Amazon.com Inc.

AP - National Geographic, best known for its yellow-framed magazine and often breathtaking nature shows, is getting into video games.

Reuters - National Geographic is getting into the video game business. Through its for-profit unit National Geographic Ventures, the nonprofit National Geographic Society is set to announce Tuesday that it has created National Geographic Games.

Reuters - A milestone was reached last week in the crossover from Internet to TV when Sci Fi Channel gave an early second-season pickup to 'Sanctuary,' making it the first TV show based on an online series to accomplish the feat.

Reuters - China took another step toward its long-cherished goal of operating high-speed telecoms services, with China Mobile (0941.HK) dishing out over $4 billion of deals and smaller rival Unicom (0762.HK) hoping to win a 3G license soon.

CNET - With the announcement Monday that Jerry Yang would step down as its chief, Yahoo's search for a new CEO will not only be closely watched by its investors but also the folks at Microsoft, according to sources.

InfoWorld - Two years ago this month, Microsoft forged its controversial partnership with Novell that, among other things, had the two companies agreeing not to sue each other over intellectual property issues, in part to protect Suse Linux users over any patent litigation from Microsoft.

PC Magazine - Although Microsoft launched its third version of the Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio on Monday, don't expect the software maker to actually produce its own robots. But what does the future hold? Microsoft's general manager of its robotics studio explains.

InfoWorld - JavaFX, Sun Microsystems' entrant in the rich Internet application (RIA) space, is nearly ready for prime time and, by the way, the company is making money off of Java, company officials said Monday afternoon at the Adobe Max 2008 conference in San Francisco.

Reuters - Chipmaker ON Semiconductor Corp on Tuesday dropped its hostile offer to acquire Atmel Corp , leaving bidding partner Microchip Technology Inc to look for other ways to pursue a deal with Atmel.

AP - Hewlett-Packard Co. surprised Wall Street on Tuesday by saying its earnings will be slightly above analysts' expectations, going against the grain as other technology bellwethers have slashed forecasts and posted weak results in the sagging economy.

CNET - With the Monday evening announcement that Jerry Yang would step down as its chief executive, Yahoo's search for his replacement will not only be closely watched by its investors but also by the folks at Microsoft, according to sources.

Reuters - Chipmaker ON Semiconductor Corp dropped its hostile offer to acquire Atmel Corp on Tuesday, leaving bidding partner Microchip Technology Inc to look for other ways to pursue a deal with Atmel.

NewsFactor - The much-anticipated Google voice-search application for Apple's iPhone, which was trumpeted to be available for download on Friday, has arrived on Apple's App Store a bit later than expected. A reviewer says the application is okay, but needs some fine-tuning.

AP - A wireless affiliate of Sprint Nextel Corp. has pulled its request that an Illinois judge block the planned spinoff of Sprint's new broadband network.

PC Magazine - The Mozilla creators of the popular open source Firefox browser are offering a supplementary web application that helps users customize the browser to their specific needs.

NewsFactor - Intel has rolled out the first iterations of its highly anticipated Core i7 processor. Available at prices starting at $284, the new chips for desktop PCs sport new technologies to boost performance on demand while maximizing data throughput.

CNET - Consumer spending on e-commerce sites grew just 1 percent during October compared with the same month a year ago, according to ComScore.

CNET - Internet security isn't a top concern among most average people, says a report released Tuesday by Unisys. What concerns most people is National Security, followed by financial worries.

AP - Mobile officials are considering providing free, wireless Internet services in the downtown district, joining the ranks of other cities with free wi-fi for roving laptop users on Main Street.

AP - With Jerry Yang quitting as Yahoo Inc.'s chief executive, the Internet company's board will confront pivotal questions as it looks for a new leader.

Reuters - International Business Machines Corp said on Tuesday that it plans to acquire privately-owned Transitive Corp, whose technology helps businesses use software on IBM computers that was designed to run on rival systems.

NewsFactor - National Geographic on Tuesday announced a new twist for the science and educational organization -- video games.

Reuters - Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc and South Korea's KT Freetel Ltd will jointly develop a smart phone with free software from Google Inc for launch next year, the Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday.

PC Magazine - Google's Mobile App with Voice Search was pushed several days to hammer out some last minute kinks, but most problems seemed to have been smoothed out when AppScout took it for a test drive Tuesday.

AP - Facebook plans to start charging for verifying applications built for the social network — an optional process that has upset some developers despite the company's assurances it will bring plenty of positive benefits.

InfoWorld - Adobe Systems at its Adobe Max 2008 conference Tuesday heralded a slew of new technologies, including links between its Flex application development platform and Microsoft's Visual Studio software development platform.

Reuters - Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc and South Korean partner KTF Co will jointly develop a smartphone using Google Inc software for launch next year, the Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday.

AP - Google Inc. has opened an online photo gallery that will feature millions of images from Life magazine's archives that have never been seen by the public before.

AFP - The US space agency NASA said it successfuly conducted a first test of a deep space communications network modeled on the Internet.

Reuters - Microsoft Corp said Wednesday it will discontinue sales of its subscription PC security service and instead offer free software to help protect computers from viruses, spyware and other threats.