PC World - Hints of progress toward Apple's goal of selling the iPhone in China have appeared on its own Web site and that of a Chinese government organization.

PC World - Swimwear and suntan lotion? Check. Camera? Check. Camera charger? No need. There's a lot to remember when packing for vacation but a new digital camera from Casio could mean one less thing in your baggage.

AP - Chinese officials have invited Taiwanese companies to supply selected mainland cities with ultra-bright, energy-saving LED lights, the latest in a series of big business deals between the rivals.

Reuters - Will digital downloads kill the videogames store? That's the multibillion dollar question facing retailers from Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Target Corp to GameStop Corp, as Internet distributors continue to grow.

AFP - A South Korean court ruled US software giant Microsoft breached fair competition rules but dismissed suits seeking compensation.

AP - Chinese state media on Thursday issued an unprecedented defense of newly required Internet filtering software that must be packaged with every computer sold in China starting next month, after a public outcry at home and abroad.

AP - A South Korean court Thursday rejected compensation claims filed by two software companies against Microsoft Corp.

Reuters - Hewlett-Packard Co, the world's biggest PC maker, will help sell online backup services from Symantec Corp, which is looking to expand its consumer business beyond its line of Norton security products.

Reuters - Soon after getting a green laptop distributed free to Aboriginal school children in hopes of combating illiteracy and truancy, Jericho Lacey learned his computer was good for more than just homework.

PC World - France's highest legal authority has ruled as unconstitutional a government plan to cut off, without trial, Internet users accused of copyright infringement.

Reuters - BOSTON (Reuters) Microsoft Corp is getting ready to unveil a long-anticipated free anti-virus service for personal computers that will compete with products sold by Symantec Corp and McAfee Inc.

AP - First local police in Monterrey lost their assault rifles after an armed confrontation with federal agents while protesting the arrest of cops for alleged gang ties. Now officers in Mexico's third-largest city will be stripped of cell phones.

Reuters - Qualcomm Inc raised its quarterly profit and revenue targets as it forecast better-than-expected mobile phone chip sales, but said it remains cautious due to the weak economy.

PC World - Fans of the classic 'Doom' series may want to preorder the new iPhone 3G S immediately, because the venerable first-person shooter game is coming to the smartphone next week.

PC World - Got a four-year-old Mac? Forget the newest version of OS X; Apple’s Snow Leopard will only be supported on Intel CPUs. Got a PC from 2001? Windows 7 just might run on it. I tested a below-spec PC with the latest version of Windows and saw surprising results.

PC World - The line starts here: Both Apple and AT&T have announced details on where, when, and how to get a shiny new iPhone 3G S, when the device starts shipping on June 19.

AP - A survey sponsored by broadcasters says nearly 2.2 million households that rely on antennas for their TV reception are unprepared for the shutdown of analog TV signals on Friday.

Reuters - A Chinese lawyer has demanded a public hearing to reconsider a government demand that all new personal computers carry Internet filtering software, adding to uproar over a plan critics say is ineffective and intrusive.

Reuters - Qualcomm Inc raised its current-quarter profit and revenue targets on stronger sales of mobile phone chips, but its warning that shipments would fall next quarter dampened investor enthusiasm.

Macworld.com - Linkinus is an IRC (Internet Relay Chat) client that brings 21st century style to what some consider to be an aging way of chatting online. Version 1.0 brought unique features like a group chat view and in-line media embedding. The version 2.0 upgrade brings more than 100 new features.

PC World - Microsoft will soon launch a public beta version of its new free security software product for Windows 7, Vista, and XP Service Pack 3 customers. The antivirus program, which is code-named Morro, will replace Windows Live OneCare, Microsoft's retail security suite, which will be discontinued at the end of this month.

Macworld.com - [Disclaimer: This post is thoroughly inconsequential and is just intended to brighten up your mood after AT&T’s lackluster performance during WWDC this past Monday. Please regard it with the same lighthearted spirit with which it was written.]

NewsFactor - While consumers wait to find out how much AT&T is going to charge for iPhone 3GS data packages -- and how much the wireless carrier will ultimately charge existing iPhone customers to upgrade to the third generation of the market-shaking device -- Apple is setting new pricing standards in the smartphone industry.

Reuters - Spin magazine is going crazy with its July issue, celebrating the 25th anniversary of Prince's 'Purple Rain' with a comprehensive oral history of the film and album and a free downloadable tribute that features nine bands doing song-for-song covers of the record's classic tracks.

AFP - IBM on Thursday opened a Global Rail Innovation Center in China where industry leaders, researchers, and universities can collaborate on new railroad technologies.

PC World - Microsoft is getting ready to offer Windows users a free antivirus product (code name Morro), something it should have built into one of its operating systems a long time ago. But, of course, Microsoft never makes things simple. So the big question is will Morro be worth the price?

PC Magazine - AMD has begun shipping its 'Conesus' processor as part of a new Hewlett-Packard notebook, as well as a new processor, the Turion Neo.

AP - AOL said Thursday it bought two companies that build community-based Web sites, marking its first acquisitions since former Google advertising chief Tim Armstrong took the helm of the struggling Internet company.

Reuters - News Corp's MySpace refused to comment on Thursday on a report the previous day that said the online social network will fire a 'massive' number of employees.

Reuters - Microsoft Corp said on Thursday it would ship the newest version of its Windows operating system in Europe without its Internet Explorer web browser, in a move to counter European regulators' concerns that the company unfairly forces out competition from other browser makers.

Reuters - A political coup in New York's statehouse can be traced back to an incident in which a top lawmaker so enraged a wealthy backer by peering at e-mails on his BlackBerry that his patron engineered his ouster.

Reuters - The U.S. government's new technology czar said on Thursday that new mobile phone applications could spur private investment in high-speed Internet connections, but Washington would also play a leadership role.

AP - A judge has dismissed a patent-infringement lawsuit against Nintendo over the company's Wii video game machine.

PC World - Hewlett-Packard will start shipping Symantec's Norton Online Backup on its notebook and PC computers.

AP - Microsoft Corp. said Thursday it will make a separate version of the Windows 7 computer operating software for Europe that does not include its Internet Explorer Web browser, as it tries to head off another antitrust scuffle with regulators there.

AP - It's not just TV viewers who will be relieved when analog broadcast signals are shut down Friday, sparing them from incessant reminders about converter boxes. Some business are eagerly awaiting the end of a process that began in 1987, when the shift to digital broadcasts was proposed.

AP - Yahoo Inc. has lured a chief financial officer away from one of its Silicon Valley neighbors, filling a key piece of the new management team that's vying to end the Internet company's three-year stretch of mostly declining profits.

AFP - Microsoft on Thursday said regulatory wrangling has prompted it to strip Internet Explorer Web browsers from copies of its Windows 7 operating system to be sold in Europe.

NewsFactor - As it gets ready to launch a new operating system, Microsoft confirmed Wednesday that it is getting ready to release a free anti-virus service later this year.

Macworld.com - OpenOSX announced WinTel 3.0 on Thursday, the latest update to the company’s program allowing Mac users to run other operating systems on their computers.

PC World - Revised forecasts from Qualcomm and Texas Instruments and excitement around the Palm Pre and Apple's iPhone 3GS this week helped raise some hopes for the second half of the year in the wake of a somber report on first-quarter component sales.

PC World - It may be a Father’s Day special, but Wal-Mart’s $128 special for a Magnavox Blu-ray player is another indication of the mainstreaming of the high-def disc format.

PC World - Memory cards based on a new specification will boost storage of consumer electronics to as much as 2TB, the SD Association said Thursday.

PC Magazine - Cell phone-based viruses and security threats are not yet a major threat in the U.S. thanks to the variety of mobile operating systems, but they will have their day in the sun in this country, so consumers need to be vigilant, a Symantec executive said Thursday.

PC Magazine - Aneesh Chopra, President Obama's pick for chief technology officer, made an appearance at the Consumer Electronics Association's annual New York gathering Thursday to reiterate Obama's call for the private sector to help government innovation.

AP - U.S. video gamers spent less on games, hardware and accessories in May compared with a year ago, a sign that this year's release schedule couldn't compete with Take Two Interactive's 'Grand Theft Auto IV' last spring.

AP - Yahoo Inc. has hired a cost-cutting specialist as its new chief financial officer, signaling the Internet company's determination to weed out the bureaucracy that has been dragging down its profits for the past three years.

AFP - US videogame sales declined by 23 percent in May from a year ago, falling below one billion dollars for the first time since August 2007, market research firm NPD Group reported on Thursday.

Macworld.com - Apple delivers a blockbuster WWDC full of fabulous hardware and software announcements, so everyone’s happy, right?!

AFP - Microsoft said regulatory wrangling has prompted it to strip Internet Explorer Web browsers from copies of its Windows 7 operating system to be sold in Europe.

Reuters - Broadcaster Televisa said on Thursday it wants to offer mobile phone services in Mexico, elbowing into the market dominated by billionaire Carlos Slim.

AP - Dish Network Corp. and Fisher Communications, Inc. say they've squashed their legal dispute and that Fisher stations in seven markets have return to Dish's satellite TV service.

PC World - While Microsoft's Internet Explorer faces healthy competition with other browsers among consumers, in the enterprise it has long remained the de facto standard. But that could soon change as rivals -- particularly Mozilla and Google -- add features to their browsers that make them better suited for use across corporate desktops.

AP - Starting in the morning and going into the night, TV stations across the U.S. planned to cut their analog signals Friday, ending a six-decade era for the technology and likely stranding more than 1 million unprepared homes without TV service.