PC World - People in most of the Western world will start seeing price reductions on Xbox 360 game consoles Friday, but Japan and the rest of the Asia-Pacific region will have to wait.

PC World - If you're traveling to Paris, France anytime soon, consider taking Metro Paris Subway 3.0 along for the trip. This 99-cent iPhone app integrates an augmented reality feature (called Your New Eye) that will show you where the closest Paris subway stations are, relative to your current location, as an overlay atop a live video feed from the iPhone's built-in camera.

PC World - A special Windows 7 upgrade package for households with more than one PC is now available for pre-order online ahead of schedule and at a discount from Microsoft's previously announced price.

PC World - The PC market is likely to see steep growth in the years ahead, similar to the growth witnessed in the phone market after the introduction of mobile phones, an Intel executive said on Thursday.

AFP - The Beatles rock-and-roll invasion that conquered the music scene in the 1960s has been reborn in a hotly-anticipated assault on the world of videogames.

AFP - US high-tech giant Apple and China Unicom on Friday announced they had reached a multi-year deal to launch the widely popular iPhone in the world's largest mobile market later this year.

InfoWorld - New releases of Apple's Mac OS X operating system are highly anticipated because each one upgrades the Mac platform in the best way. That is, for Mac users, a new Mac OS X release is always like getting a new computer. Apple generally brags of hundreds of new features folded into each release, and post-upgrade exploration is an enjoyable exercise that marks cultural and design differences between the Mac and the PC.

Reuters - China Unicom, China's No.2 mobile carrier, said on Friday it had sealed a deal to sell the wildly popular iPhone in China, giving iPhone maker Apple access to the world's largest mobile market.

AP - If you've ever wanted to battle 'The Terminator,' talk smack as 'The Godfather' or get in the shower with a 'Psycho,' now you can — without having to move to Hollywood.

AP - China Unicom Ltd. said Friday it will sell Apple Inc.'s iPhone in China this year, ending months of rumor about when the hit phone would make its long-delayed debut in the world's most populous mobile market.

ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is launching legal actions against media in Italy and abroad, including Britain, France and Spain, for libel in their coverage of his private life, his lawyer said on Friday.

SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) - New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's office said on Thursday it did not expect federal prosecutors to bring charges in a legal probe that led him to withdraw his nomination for a post in President Barack Obama's Cabinet.

AP - China Unicom Ltd. said Friday it will sell Apple Inc.'s iPhone in China this year, ending months of rumor about when the hit phone would make its long-delayed debut in the world's most populous mobile market.

Reuters - Apple's iPhones will go on sale later this year in China, the world's largest mobile market, its partner China Unicom confirmed on Friday, after the country's No. 2 mobile carrier posted first-half profits that fell 45 percent yet beat expectations.

PC World - China Unicom has reached a 3-year deal with Apple to offer the iPhone in China, it said Friday, confirming rumors that have swirled for months.

PC World - An attack by a Chinese online game provider meant to cripple the servers of its rivals ballooned to cause an Internet outage in much of the country in May, according to police.

Reuters - Apple's iPhone will go on sale later this year in China, the world's largest mobile market, but its partner China Unicom (0762.HK) may find selling the phone carries its own burdens.

AP - Today, young movie-watchers look increasingly like Molly O'Connor. A junior at the University of Dallas, she still goes to the cinema occasionally, but is often just as happy to hunker down on a bed or a couch with friends to watch a downloaded movie on a laptop that's perched on a nearby desk or a chair.

AP - Intel Corp. raised its third-quarter revenue forecast above Wall Street's expectations Friday, citing strong demand for its chips and giving another signal that business is improving for one of the world's biggest technology companies.

Reuters - Intel Corp raised its outlook for third-quarter revenue on Friday, citing stronger-than-expected demand for its microprocessors and chipsets and offering the latest signal that demand for computers is on the upswing.

AP - Apple Inc. will get to sell the iPhone in the world's biggest cell phone market now that it has reached a deal with a Chinese wireless carrier, China Unicom Ltd.

AP - France's top trade official is meeting Friday with the financial director of Apple France to discuss several recent claims by iPhone users that their phone screens cracked or exploded.

AP - Even during tight budgetary times, a growing handful of state governors are proving too wary to accept laptop computers that have shown up at their offices this month, unsolicited.

Macworld.com - To conserve power and reduce your electrical bill, you should shut down your computer or put it to sleep when not in use. But that’s easier said than done if your Mac acts as a server for files, photos, music, or other resources.

AFP - US technology giant Apple on Friday rejected reports that overheating batteries had caused some of its iPhone devices to explode in users' hands, blaming incidents in France on 'external pressure'.

AFP - Intel raised its forecast for third quarter revenue on Friday, sending the share price of the world's biggest computer chip maker sharply higher in early trading on Wall Street.

NewsFactor - The rumors are true -- Apple will distribute an iPhone 3G in China. On Friday, China Unicom announced the exclusive deal to sell Apple's smartphones in the world's most populous nation, a move that will expose the iPhone to the largest mobile consumer market in the world.

Macworld.com - Now Software has announced the release of Now X, a new group calendar and contact management software suite for Mac OS X and Windows. Now X costs $130 for a new license (an introductory price—the regular price is $150), or $50 to upgrade from Now Up-to-Date 5.

PC World - Welcome to the day after Microsoft lowered the price on its $300 Xbox 360 Elite, wrinkling its brow and lowering its horns to meet Sony's slimmer, $100 cheaper PlayStation 3 in battle.

PC World - Apple made it official Friday, announcing it will sell the iPhone 3G in China over the next three years. But the question now is, how many of China's 1.3 billion citizens will want or can afford the iPhone?

AP - An appeals court on Friday overturned a rule that said a cable TV company could not serve more than 30 percent of the nation's subscribers. The verdict was a victory for the largest cable company, Comcast Corp., which has 26 percent share and sued to block the rule.

Macworld.com - Literature & Latte released Scrivener 1.52 earlier this week, but before I delve into the two big features of this point release, a little background on what Scrivener is. Scrivener is a word processor and a project management tool crammed into one. You can outline, keep research, and write your book all in one handy dandy app (and I should know, I’ve written two books with Scrivener).

AP - Hurco Companies Inc. a computer control and software maker, reported a loss in its fiscal third quarter on lower sales volumes.

Macworld.com - Snow Leopard day is finally here, and forecasts call for the deluge of application compatibility updates to continue throughout the day. However, there are some specific programs that are currently incompatible with Snow Leopard—so incompatible, in fact, that 10.6’s installer will move them into a folder called Incompatible Software on your hardware.

AP - Intel Corp. raised its third-quarter revenue forecast above Wall Street's expectations Friday, citing strong demand for its chips and giving another signal that business is improving for one of the world's biggest technology companies. Intel shares rose 4 percent.

Reuters - Film website Flixster launched a new version of its iPhone application 'Movies' this week, highlighting how technology and the Web are bringing Hollywood directly to fans and bypassing traditional information outlets like newspapers.

NewsFactor - In what may be a move to appear like less of a walled garden, Apple approved the Spotify steaming-music application for the iPhone this week. Spotify announced the news Friday with gratitude for the iPhone maker.

Macworld.com - If you’re using a Palm OS-based PDA or smartphone and you plan to upgrade to Snow Leopard, you’re going to need third-party software if you plan to synchronize your Mac data to the device. Snow Leopard breaks compatibility with Palm’s moribund Palm Desktop software once and for all. Fortunately, Mark/Space says that its Missing Sync for Palm OS has been tested to work with the operating system.

PC World - Facebook updated its popular iPhone app, delivering lots of improved features for the official iPhone Facebook 3.0 rev. But sadly, Facebook fails to deliver everything a mobile Facebook warrior could want.

PC World - The partnership between Apple and China Unicom to offer the iPhone in China has been officially announced. At first blush it seems like a coup for Apple to crack the vast China market, but can Apple deal with a communist bureaucracy even more notorious for doublethink, misinformation, and black-box secrecy than Apple itself?

AP - Apple sought to reassure the French government on Friday that several recent cases of iPhones cracking and allegedly shattering were not caused by product defects, but were the result of improper handling by users.

AP - An appeals court overturned a rule that said a cable TV company could not serve more than 30 percent of the nation's subscribers. The verdict Friday was a victory for the largest cable company, Comcast Corp., which has 25 percent share and sued to block the rule.

NewsFactor - The Federal Communications Commission launched three formal Notices of Inquiry on Thursday through which it will closely scrutinize the mobile wireless market in the United States. The commission said it expects the three interrelated probes to lay the groundwork for future public policy-making that fosters innovation and investment, promotes competition, and ensures that consumers have all the information they need to make intelligent wireless purchasing decisions.

AP - CHIPS UP: Intel Corp. raised its third-quarter revenue forecast. It now expects sales between $8.8 billion and $9.2 billion. Its last guidance, on July 14, was for revenue in the range of $8.1 billion to $8.9 billion. Analysts were expecting $8.55 billion in revenue before Friday.

PC World - Fueling hopes that the hardware sector will bounce back from the recession in the second half of the year, Intel Friday said its expectations for third-quarter revenue are higher than its prior forecast due to stronger-than-expected demand for processors and chipsets.

NewsFactor - In what may be a move to appear like less of a walled garden, Apple approved the Spotify steaming-music application for the iPhone this week. Spotify announced the news Friday with gratitude for the iPhone maker.

AP - Chatter about ensuing plans permeates any graduation, though it's not common for the talk to surround which class projects will receive venture capital funding.

NewsFactor - Businesses, nonprofits, libraries, hospitals and state and local governments have applied for more than $28 billion in funds for broadband projects from the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service.

InfoWorld - Rally Software Development, which offers a hosted service and onsite software for application lifecycle management for agile programming teams, is connecting its platform to Oracle's JDeveloper IDE for Java development.

NewsFactor - Intel has joined Dell and Hewlett-Packard in seeing a technology recovery ahead, led by consumer PC purchases. Stronger than expected demand for its microprocessors caused the chipmaker to raise its revenue forecast for the third quarter to about $9 billion, up from its July forecast of $8.1 billion to $8.9 billion.

AP - Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio was recently frustrated trying to get a cell phone signal on a rural stretch of Interstate 10, so he tweeted it.

AFP - Argentina will adopt the Japanese standard for high-definition television (HDTV) over its competitors from Europe and the United States, officials said Friday.

Macworld.com - A colorful game developed by Gamesmith, Joyland Bounce has you collecting stars as you try to navigate through the challenging twists and turns of the game’s many stages. Apparently, the moon and stars have fallen from the sky, and it’s up to you to round them all up. Sound easy? Well, you character is a small orange ball who bounces off everything. So guiding him can be a bit of a challenge.

AP - Business software provider SPSS Inc. said Friday it will hold a special meeting of shareholders Oct. 2 to vote on selling the company to IBM Corp.

AP - Sun Microsystems Inc. recorded a $147 million loss while sales eroded 31 percent in the April-June period, likely the server and software maker's last full quarter as an independent company.

Reuters - Sun Microsystems Inc reported a fourth quarter loss on Friday, as the computer server maker's planned acquisition by Oracle Corp nears expected completion.

PC World - Apple says it's not to blame for a series of exploding iPods and iPhones, according to a report published on Friday. The company has been under fire, so to speak, for devices overheating and shattering across Europe and the U.K.

PC World - The FCC has begun a three-pronged probe into the wireless industry. The inquiry is partially a response to recent controversies with Apple and Google, but it is more about a shift in ideology and the maturity of the wireless industry as a critical part of the communications backbone.

AFP - Music and Internet worlds merged on San Francisco's posh Nob Hill as insiders brainstormed about industry rocking Web 2.0 trends from social networking to smart phones with cameras.