PC World - A court in Texas has ordered Microsoft to pay communications software maker VirnetX US$105.75 million after a jury found it guilty of willful infringement of two patents belonging to the company.

Reuters - Shares of Intel Corp jumped 4 percent to their highest in more than a year on expectations that robust Asian sales and a rebound in corporate spending will help the chipmaker beat current-quarter earnings estimates.

Reuters - As if a Porsche isn't enough of a status symbol, the German luxury sports car company's subsidiary, Porsche Design, is marketing a mobile phone that's exclusive to Porsche owners.

AFP - A group of 27 Chinese advertising agencies have sent Google a letter calling for talks over compensation for possible business losses if the Internet giant pulls out of the country.

AFP - A study released on Wednesday indicated that the market for mobile device software programs should rocket to 17.5 billion dollars (US) within three years.

AP - Chinese companies that sell advertising on Google's China search engine have appealed for information on its future and say they might want compensation if it is shut down.

InfoWorld - When Oracle completed its acquisition of Sun Microsystems a few weeks ago, one of the pledges the company made pertaining to its newly acquired Sun technologies was to make the Java Community Process -- the community-wide process for amending official Java specifications -- more participatory.

PC World - Qualcomm said on Wednesday that it is has filed an application to bid in India's auction for licenses for broadband wireless access (BWA) in the 2.3 GHz band, to promote the TD-LTE (Time Division Long Term Evolution) standard.

Macworld.com - Another handful of popular apps has disappeared from the App Store. But this time, the decision appears to have been made by the developer and not Apple.

PC World - Suddenly this week, Research In Motion began looking vulnerable. Still the top smartphone maker for U.S. customers, the BlackBerry company was stung when a new study revealed that 39 percent of its users would just as soon have an iPhone.

AP - PayPal, a unit of online auction site operator eBay Inc., plans to double its staff in Asia to 2,000 by the end of the year, president Scott Thompson said Wednesday.

Macworld.com - Among the most popular accessories for the iPhone, iPod, and MacBook lines are films and coverings designed to protect the screen from scratches; some products also fight glare and offer privacy protection.

PC World - When Sony launched its PSP Go last year the company had high hopes. The device was supposed to help PlayStation Portable shipments increase by almost a million units for the year and spearhead Sony's digital download push into the portable gaming market. But things haven't gone according to plan.

PC World - The portable fantasy-series prequel Disney and Final Fantasy wonks have been waiting for will finally ship this summer, says Square Enix, which should prompt a bit of Snoopy dancing. The PlayStation Portable-exclusive Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep debuted in Japan this January, but US fans were left wondering when--or if--the game would make its way stateside.

AP - PayPal, the online payments unit of Internet auction site operator eBay Inc., plans to double its staff in Asia to 2,000 by the end of the year.

Newsarama.com - God of War III From: Sony Santa Monica, SCEA Reviewed on: PlayStation 3 (exclusive) Reviewed by: Lucas Siegel

PC Magazine - Verizon Wireless has finally unveiled an Android 2.1 update for the Motorola Droid, which will finally give the handset feature parity (at least from a software perspective) with the Google Nexus One.

NewsFactor - In a further consolidation of the customer relationship management (CRM) space, Pegasystems on Tuesday agreed to acquire Chordiant Software for $161.5 million in cash. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter.

AFP - Unidentified hackers struck the computerized system used to transmit voting data in Colombia's legislative elections, disrupting the vote count, the private contractor responsible for the system charged Wednesday.

PC World - Windows Phone 7 Series will not come with cut-and-paste functionality, according to a wide number of reports citing information Microsoft reportedly revealed during a Q & A session at its MIX10 conference late Tuesday. Microsoft believes that people don't need copy-and-paste on their phones, according to Engadget.

Reuters - Plenty of people download music from the Internet every day, but illegal downloading has a huge economic impact and could put more than one million people out of work by 2015, experts say.

Macworld.com - Remember Apple’s iWork.com? The free service, which debuted in beta form at last year’s Macworld Expo, let users share their iWork files for viewing, commentary, and downloading by others. Of course, it didn’t actually let you edit those hosted files and the service as a whole hasn't really caught on. But after a year of little movement on the project, the company released several new features on Tuesday.

PC World - Verizon says on Thursday it will update its Motorola Droid phone to the latest Android 2.1 software juicing the handset with multitouch pinch-to-zoom capabilities and adding live wallpaper. Verizon customers have been eagerly awaiting the update ever since Motorola said the upgrade would occur in early February in 'one week' - but it never happened.

NewsFactor - In a further consolidation of the customer relationship management (CRM) space, Pegasystems on Tuesday agreed to acquire Chordiant Software for $161.5 million in cash. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter.

AP - Vice President Joe Biden was planning a visit to a North Carolina company enjoying rapid sales of its light-producing semiconductor chips the Obama administration is offering as an example of manufacturing job growth from energy-efficient products.

PC World - Petite, that's how you might describe this rumored Xbox 360 motherboard, snapped and leaked on Chinese site A9VG's message boards and picked up by Kotaku. The motherboard reportedly packs the CPU and GPU onto a single chip--that'd be it purportedly hiding under the CoolerMaster fan--whereas existing Xbox 360 boards position the CPU and GPU across from each other at the board's center (see below).

AP - A U.S. appeals court ruled Wednesday that a northeastern Pennsylvania prosecutor may not pursue felony charges against a teenage girl who appeared in a racy cell-phone photo.

AFP - Yahoo! made a play for more sports fans on Wednesday with the purchase of Citizen Sports, a startup that makes sports-related applications for Facebook and Apple's iPhone.

Macworld.com - The appearance of third-party video-recording iPhone apps from vendors such as Qik was an oasis in the desert to owners of original iPhones such as myself. But in the case of the popular Qik Video Camera, which recently disappeared from the App Store, perhaps the oasis is nothing more than a mirage.

PC World - One of the many potential pitfalls that could spell the demise of the 3D TV consumer market are the glasses. They're going to be expensive, proprietary, and a general barrier to having a seamless 3D movie experience with the family. One company, XpanD is looking to nip that problem in the bud by announcing universal 3D active glasses that will work on almost any 3D HDTV set.

PC Magazine - Much has been written about the HTC HD2, which looks to be the best Windows Mobile 6.5 device ever conceived based on its specs alone. And if that's enough for you, terrific. But Windows Phone 7, Android, and the iPhone OS are also rapidly moving forward.

PC Magazine - For a while now, Google has offered itsGoogle Apps For Business (and Education) customers sync services with Outlook and Blackberries, and last year, it introduced a migration tool for users of Lotus Notes. As of today, the company is finally getting serious about taking over the office productivity tools world with the Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Exchange utility.

PC Magazine - Twentieth Century Fox on Tuesday set Earth Day, April 22, for the DVD and Blu-ray release of 'Avatar'. But fans will have to wait until November for another disc with all the usual extras, and even longer for a 3-D version.

AP - Shares of Blockbuster Inc. sank 30 percent Wednesday after the video rental chain warned that it may have to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

AP - Yahoo is buying a fantasy sports company that was co-founded by an MIT graduate whose blackjack card-counting skills helped him win millions of dollars and spawned a film and a best-selling book.

NewsFactor - Cisco on Wednesday released a new network architecture that promises secure wired and wireless communications, energy management, and optimized video-application delivery -- all at a lower cost. Dubbed Cisco Borderless Access, the latest version of the company's Borderless Networks architecture includes a new series of fixed-switching product lines: the Catalyst 3560/3750-X Series and 2960-S Series. The new lines come with lower prices than traditional Cisco switches.

AFP - The US may be barking up the wrong tree by trying to force China to revalue its currency as it could fuel a rise in prices of favorite American products such as the iPhone and even plunge the Asian giant into social unrest, some analysts warned Wednesday.

InfoWorld - Oracle's commitment to Java and the ubiquity of the technology were stressed Wednesday by Java founder James Gosling in a presentation that also centered on the recently released Java Enterprise Edition (EE) 6 specification.

AP - Vice President Joe Biden plans to visit a North Carolina maker of light-producing semiconductor chips that the Obama administration is offering as an example of the potential for job growth in manufacturing energy-efficient products.

NewsFactor - Intel is pushing its Xeon Processor 5600 series as the most secure data-center processor on the market. The company launched the server and workstation chips on its 32nm logic technology, which relies on second-generation high-k metal gate transistors to boost speed and lower energy consumption.

Macworld.com - On Wednesday, developer Amro Mousa from Return7 posted on Twitter that Apple has now added the ability for developers to schedule a sale window for their iPhone applications, allowing them to temporarily schedule a different price. Macworld has independently confirmed the new feature.

Macworld.com - On Wednesday, Google’s Nexus One went four for four with the U.S.’s major cell phone carriers as Sprint announced that it too would add the Android-based smartphone to its lineup in the near future.

PC World - Unlike the guy in your building who likes to talk about how his Amiga was better than any computer sold today, AT&T's new Zero cell-phone charger knows when to stop.

AP - Viacom and YouTube likely will be forced to expose business secrets and other previously confidential information Thursday when reams of court documents are expected to be unsealed.

AP - Verizon is accusing Cablevision of infringing on its patents for digital set-top boxes, as competition for video subscribers in the New York area heats up.

Reuters - Tiger Woods return to pro golf for the Masters tournament next month is being celebrated by more than fans as EA Sports will launch the final commercial version of its online golf game named after the world's top golfer that week, the company's president said on Wednesday.

InfoWorld - Microsoft revealed this week at its Mix10 conference for Microsoft-oriented Web developers that its forthcoming Windows Phone 7 mobile OS will not include a clipboard capability for copy-and-paste operations -- at least not in the first version.

PC World - Should teenagers who illegally download music, films and the like in their bedrooms be treated like criminal gangs counterfeiting everything from life-saving drugs to Gucci handbags?

NewsFactor - After rolling out its latest operating system on its exclusive Nexus One smartphone in January, Google will now release Android 2.1 for a top competitor: the Motorola Droid, which is distributed by Verizon Wireless.

NewsFactor - IBM is going deeper into the cloud. On Tuesday, the Armonk, N.Y.-based company announced beta versions of an expanded commercial cloud-based service for software development and testing, on both public and private clouds.

PC World - After an international take-down effort, a rogue ISP responsible for controlling large numbers of computers infected with data-stealing code is down for the moment, but it may be reconnecting with the Internet, according to security researchers.

Macworld.com - Fancy a bundle? MacUpdate has announced the release of its Promo Spring Bundle 2010, which includes 10 different Mac apps for the low, low price of $50.

AP - A man fired from a Texas auto dealership used an Internet service to remotely disable ignitions and set off car horns of more than 100 vehicles sold at his old workplace, police said Wednesday.

AP - Seattlepi.com, the online successor to the print version of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, celebrates its first birthday Thursday with music, free cupcakes and cheap beer.

Reuters - Google Inc's Nexus One smartphone will soon be available to subscribers of Sprint Nextel Corp, the second U.S. wireless service provider to announce an agreement to support the touchscreen phone.

AFP - YouTube said Wednesday that 24 hours worth of video are being uploaded to the video-sharing site every minute.

AP - Diebold Inc., a maker of ATMs and security systems, said Wednesday that Kumar Pavithran will lead its integrated services, global software development and global professional services teams.

Reuters - Google Inc is working with Intel Corp and Sony Corp to develop a new class of Internet-enabled televisions and set top boxes, according to a media report.

Macworld.com - Jerome York, a 13-year-veteran of Apple’s board of directors, has been hospitalized after suffering a brain aneurysm, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The Journal, citing a person familiar with the matter, says that York is “in very serious condition” at Pontiac Osteopathic Hospital in Pontiac, Mich.

PC World - Acquia hopes to make a hosted version of its Drupal open-source content management system widely available in about three months, the company's CTO said Wednesday.

Reuters - Cellphone developer HTC Corp said it is confident it can fight off a recent technology patent infringement lawsuit from iPhone maker Apple Inc and promised to issue a formal response in the next few weeks.

PC World - Several major U.S. Internet companies, including Google and Facebook, need to 'step up' and better protect consumer privacy or face tougher penalties from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, a commissioner said Wednesday.

AFP - Computer hackers are targeting Facebook users with an email scam that attempts to steal their passwords, Web security firm McAfee said.