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AP Technology NewsBrief at 3:35 p.m. EDT(AP Online Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Survey: Nearly every kid a video gamerCHICAGO (AP) _ Katherine Graden doesn't really like shoot-'em-up video games. She prefers games on her Wii system that test her fitness and agility _ the ones her guy friends tease are her "sissy games." "I'm like, `Fine! Go play your violent games. I'll stick with mine,'" the high school freshman from Chicago says, chuckling. Dell shares sink on warning about weak demandSAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Hurting from price cuts and an expensive restructuring, Dell Inc. rattled investors Tuesday with another warning, this time that corporate spending on technology is weakening further. By most measures, the technology sector has been chugging along fine, which is why Dell's announcement caused uncertainty about whether the problem is specific to Dell or indicates broader problems in the market. Forrester boosts 2008 tech spending forecastNEW YORK (AP) _ For the technology sector, it's a case of good news now and so-so news later. Forrester Research on Tuesday raised its estimate of what U.S. companies and government agencies will spend on information technology this year. Forrester envisions the market to grow 5.4 percent, up from a May prediction of 3.4 percent growth. HP surprises Wall Street with size of EDS job cutsSAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ When Hewlett-Packard Co. announced five months ago it was acquiring technology-services firm Electronic Data Systems Corp., Wall Street expected big layoffs from the combined company. But the size of the job cuts _ 24,600 jobs over the next three years, nearly 8 percent of HP's 320,000-employee work force _ came as a shock when HP laid out its plans Monday for integrating EDS. Best Buy to acquire music-sharer NapsterCHICAGO (AP) _ Napster Inc., the online music community that rose from a dorm room project to became the scourge of the global recording industry, is being purchased by Best Buy Inc. for nearly $127 million as the electronics retailer tries to boost its digital music business. The $2.65 per share all-cash deal announced Monday is nearly double the music network's Friday closing price but a small sum to pay for Best Buy, which gets access to Napster's 700,000 subscribers who pay a monthly fee to access digital music catalogs. Take-Two sinks after EA says it won't buy companyNEW YORK (AP) _ Now that a potential buyer has walked away, the video game publisher behind the popular "Grand Theft Auto" series could remain an independent company for the foreseeable future. Analysts who follow Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. seemed to agree Monday it is unlikely that another serious suitor will come forward _ especially one that would be willing to offer as much as larger rival Electronic Arts Inc. did before abandoning talks over the weekend. Current TV to broadcast `tweets' during debatesNEW YORK (AP) _ Current TV is handing over feedback on the upcoming presidential debates to those who make up so much of the network's programming: its audience. During the debates, the network bent on viewer-created content will broadcast Twitter messages _ or "tweets" _ from viewers. In close to real time, Current will display comments on the screen while Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama face off. Social networking coming to revamped Journal siteNEW YORK (AP) _ The Wall Street Journal is borrowing elements from popular Internet hangouts like Facebook as it seeks to boost usage. WSJ.com, one of the few news sites to restrict many of its stories to paying subscribers, is changing its layout to help nonpaying visitors navigate and identify free, ad-supported content. Those visitors will see a different home page from users who sign in as subscribers. Newspapers cry foul over Yahoo-Google ad dealPARIS (AP) _ The World Association of Newspapers says it opposes a pending deal on advertising between Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc. The Paris-based group wants European and U.S. regulators to block the deal on antitrust grounds. WAN says the agreement would reduce the cost of paid search advertising and lower revenues for newspapers' and others' Web sites, which receive payment from the online giants. Program turns to online masses to improve patentsWASHINGTON (AP) _ Some of the biggest players in the technology industry complain that the U.S. patent system is broken _ putting too many patents of dubious merit in the hands of people who can use them to drag companies and other inventors to court. And Blaise Mouttet, a small inventor in Alexandria, Va., thinks he knows why. The problem, he said, is that "there are too many lawyers and not enough inventors involved with the patent system." Copyright ? 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |