PC World - The PlayStation 3 Slim gaming console from Sony Computer Entertainment is not only smaller and cheaper, but adds hardware enhancements that make it speedier, including a new Cell microprocessor.

PC World - Nokia plans to roll out a micro financing program for mobile phones across 12 states in India.

Reuters - China Mobile (0941.HK), the world's largest mobile carrier by subscribers, said on Thursday that its average revenue per user (ARPU) would trend downward in the second half, as competition heats up in the market.

AFP - Abhishek Choudhary is a typical college student. Like millions of other teenagers, whenever he wants to listen to the latest Bollywood tune, he logs on to his computer and downloads it for free.

Reuters - German politicians are drawing on the lessons of the U.S. presidential campaign by embracing the Internet and experimenting with townhall meetings, but what worked for Barack Obama seems to be backfiring here.

AFP - India's top mobile phone company Bharti Airtel on Thursday extended until the end of next month merger talks with South Africa's flagship MTN cellular firm aimed at creating an emerging market giant.

Reuters - YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley is putting some of his fortune into Formula One as primary investor in the new U.S. F1 team due to enter the sport next season.

AP - China Mobile Ltd., the world's biggest phone company by subscribers, said Thursday its first-half profit rose just 1.4 percent from a year earlier as growth slowed due to competition and an economic slump.

Reuters - If it's raining outside or hurricane season is in full swing, it won't just be real-life sports games affected but also sports video games with real-time weather starting to impact virtual players.

PC World - Research In Motion is set to bring full Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight support to the company's BlackBerry phones. The BoyGenius Report blog claims RIM will introduce the new functionality sometime next summer, together with more powerful handsets.

AP - China's Defense Ministry launched its first official Web site Thursday, part of an effort by the normally secretive military to be more transparent.

AP - GameStop Corp., the world's largest video game and entertainments software retailer, posted disappointing fiscal second-quarter results on Thursday and lowered its full-year earnings forecast, citing fewer hit video games and cautious consumers. Shares tumbled in morning trading.

Macworld.com - PopCap Games on Thursday confirmed that its hit casual game Plants vs. Zombies will be coming out for the iPhone and iPod touch in late 2009. It’s already available for Mac OS X and Windows.

AP - Fans have swamped the Web site offering tickets for next month's global Michael Jackson tribute in Vienna.

Macworld.com - Despite anecdotes of Steve Jobs’s capricious treatment of Apple employees, it seems he doesn’t want anybody else to have them. Reports surfaced earlier this month that Cupertino struck a deal with Google that the companies wouldn't hire away each other's employees. Now comes news Jobs may have attempted to make a similar agreement with smartphone rival Palm.

PC World - Microsoft will reportedly push two mobile operating systems at once in an effort to battle Google's Android and Apple's iPhone, but are two heads better than one?

Reuters - The world is gripped by a flu pandemic and it's up to you to stop it -- that is, if you choose to play a new game developed by a Dutch medical center and available online for free.

NewsFactor - Apple has released MacBook Pro Drive Firmware Update 2.0, which 'reduces certain infrequent noises made by 7200-rpm drives.' Reportedly, some 500GB drives were beeping and briefly freezing.

Reuters - Luring new audiences by moving away from traditional gaming consoles is more crucial than ever as the downturn curbs consumer spending in a sector once seen as recession-proof, analysts and executives said.

Macworld.com - Beatlemania is sweeping the Apple rumor community—again!—but that’s not the only thing that makes it seem like 1964 all over again—the tablet rumors practically need their own Warren Commission. And the Macalope asks, is the iPhone still the man you married?

NewsFactor - Iconic Apple CEO Steve Jobs may woo Apple customers and fans, but a suggestion he made to executives at rival Palm to stop recruiting each others' employees has people angry.

AP - Unify Corp., a provider of data management and e-mail archiving software, said Thursday it named Tim Bacci to its board of directors.

PC World - Twitter has inexplicably gone offline midday Thursday (ET), with the Twitter.com homepage delivering 503 server errors indicating temporary overloading or server maintenance. All told, the service appears to have been offline for approximately 20 minutes. As of this writing service has been restored. A glance at real-time Twitter search engine Twazzup showed a 20-minute gap in posts on a popular trending topic.

NewsFactor - The European Commission is looking into reports of overheated Apple iPhones and iPods causing damages. It has asked Apple to provide information on possible dangers from its popular products.

AP - Business software maker Oracle Corp. said Thursday it has received the Justice Department's approval to move forward with its $7.4 billion acquisition of former dot-com-era star Sun Microsystems Inc.

AFP - Nearly half of US employers research the online profiles of job candidates on social networks such as Facebook, MySpace or LinkedIn, according to a new survey.

AP - Personal finance and business software maker Intuit Inc. on Thursday said it expects a wider fiscal first-quarter loss than Wall Street analysts forecast.

PC Magazine - Good news, Apple iPhone users: AT&T has upgraded its 3G network in New York City to use its large swathe of older 850-MHz spectrum, company spokesman Mark Siegel said today. A similar upgrade for San Francisco is currently in progress, he added.

Reuters - U.S. telecommunications regulators on Thursday sought public comment on how to define 'broadband,' a step that could impact how the industry delivers Internet services to consumers.

PC World - Those who grumble about AT&T's lousy 3G coverage may be finding less reason to complain before long.

Reuters - If it's raining outside or hurricane season is in full swing, it won't just be real-life sports affected but also sports video games with real-time weather starting to impact virtual players.

Macworld.com - On Wednesday, Apple released two updates to its Apple Remote Desktop () desktop management software.

AP - Sales management software maker Salesforce.com Inc. said Thursday its fiscal second-quarter profit more than doubled as the company added thousands of new customers and grew its revenue.

Reuters - U.S.business software maker Salesforce.com Inc posted better-than-expected quarterly results and raised its outlook for the full year, sending its shares up 9 percent on Thursday.

PC World - A majority of college-bound students gearing up for school will not consider buying a Mac laptop, a study reveals. Instead, students are gravitating toward affordable netbooks from a variety of manufacturers, according to Retrevo, a consumer electronics website, that conducted the study.

AP - Three of Google's largest rivals are joining a coalition to oppose a legal settlement that would give the Internet search leader digital rights to millions of copyrighted books.

AFP - The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has teamed up with private aid groups and technology companies to develop an online map tracking election-related incidents in Afghanistan.

Reuters - A Chinese court has jailed four people for spreading their bootleg 'Tomato Garden' version of Microsoft's Windows XP program, in what the Xinhua news agency called the nation's biggest software piracy case.

AP - The nonprofit organization that operates the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia has received a $500,000 grant from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to expand its work bringing free educational content to people around the globe.

AP - Business software maker Oracle Corp. said Thursday it has received the Justice Department's approval to move forward with its $7.4 billion acquisition of former dot-com-era star Sun Microsystems Inc.

AFP - The first US retreat for Internet addicts has opened its doors, welcoming a teenager that was captive to World of Warcraft online role-playing videogame.