Reuters - Computer hackers are exploiting fears over bird flu by releasing a computer virus attached to an email passing itself off as containing avian flu information, warned Spainish computer firm Panda Software.

Reuters - China has declared war on scams using mobile phone short messages that promise everything from fake cash prizes to sexual services to contract killings.

AP - Yahoo Inc. has redesigned its online maps to make it easier to get driving directions to multiple destinations and find local merchants — the latest move in the company's duel with Internet powerhouse, Google Inc.

TechWeb - An increasing number of people worldwide are accessing email and other data services through their mobile phones, but many also worry about price.

TechWeb - Customers have used Amazon.com's review feature to slam a Sony CD implicated in a security and copy-protection brouhaha.

TechWeb - FolderShare allows subscribers to create a private peer-to-peer network to synchronize files across multiple devices and access or share files with other people.

Reuters - Microsoft Corp., the world's largest software maker, has emerged as the lead suitor for a stake in Time Warner Inc.'s Internet unit America Online (AOL), according to a report by The New York Times.

AFP - Apple Computer customers in Mexico and the United Kingdom have joined the legal crusade to make the Silicon Valley company pay for allegedly defective screens on new iPod nano music players, lawyers said.

Reuters - IBM on Tuesday launched a set of software tools it hopes will spur wider interest in its upcoming Cell microprocessor that is key to the computing giant's return to profitable chipmaking.

AP - Forget shuffleboard, needlepoint and bingo. Web logs, more often the domain of alienated adolescents and home to screeds by middle-aged pundits, are gaining a foothold as a new leisure-time option for senior citizens.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. has reached a $30 million settlement with South Korea's Daum 035720.KQ over an antitrust suit, but regulators will continue to review their case against the world's largest software maker.

TechWeb - IBM claims it has crushed the competition and broken records with its WebSphere Application Server software.

AP - If some of the numbers being cited about identity theft are to be believed, it's just a matter of time before some unseen cyberhustler steals your name, empties your bank account and wrecks your financial reputation. You can almost hear the maniacal laughter.

AP - Looking to leapfrog its rivals, computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc. announced a server chip that it claims will deliver more performance while requiring less electricity than competing microprocessors.

AP - Microsoft Corp. is developing software for high-performance computers often used in engineering and science research, in a move that puts the company in another head-to-head battle with open-source developers.

TechWeb - IBM said it's Microelectronics Division was recognized for more than four decades of innovation in semiconductor technology, including significant breakthroughs such as the development of multicore-processor integration, DRAM, the use of copper on-chip wiring, silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology and high-speed silicon germanium chips.

Reuters - Cingular Wireless said on Thursday it redesigned its wireless Web offerings with a ticker service and options that make it easier to get news and weather on phones.

AP - Google Inc.'s share price crossed the $400 threshold to a new all-time high Thursday, marking a gain of nearly $100 a share in the four weeks since the Web-search giant reported impressive quarterly financial results.

BusinessWeek Online - It's the kind of notoriety that comes with a $2.6 billion buyout. Since Luxembourg-based Internet telephone startup Skype Technologies was gobbled up by online marketplace eBay Inc. for that princely sum in September, Skype has added 12 million more users, for a total of 66 million -- and has attracted a boatload of closer scrutiny.

SEOUL (Reuters) - LG Electronics Inc. 066570.KS, the world's number two maker of plasma display panels (PDP), said on Sunday it might add another production line in 2007, almost doubling existing capacity.

Reuters - Clear Channel Communications Inc. on Monday said 200 radio stations would, by the end of the month, be upgraded to air high definition digital broadcasts featuring CD-quality music as it aims to protect its market share from rival satellite radio services.

Reuters - More than 200 hard-core video game fans braved rain and chilly temperatures in Manhattan to be among the first to get their hands on Microsoft Corp.'s new Xbox 360 video game console, which went on sale in North America on Tuesday.

AP - A video game master from Kansas City, Mo., won a $150,000 prize on Tuesday by besting a rival in the Cyberathlete Professional League World Tour Grand Finals.

AFP - More American consumers are leaving their cars at home and shopping online for the holidays in the face of high fuel costs, giving an extra boost to Internet shopping, analysts say.

AFP - British supermodel Kate Moss has scored a lucrative deal with a mobile phone operator as she swiftly rebuilds her cocaine-shaken career, The Sun newspaper reported.

TechWeb - The University of Minnesota is hoping that providing full PC and e-mail access will motivate more students to exercise.

Reuters - Microsoft will have around 300,000 of its new Xbox 360 games console available for its European launch on December 2, a Microsoft executive said in an interview published on Sunday.

AP - Sony Corp. has become the latest of the video game console makers to announce parental controls in it newest machine, according to the Entertainment Software Association.

NewsFactor - Nokia's (NYSE: NOK) first Linux-powered handheld product, the 770 Internet Tablet, is dedicated solely to Web browsing, media playing, and e-mail.

AP - Looking to boost the number of computers whirring away in living rooms, Intel Corp. on Wednesday unveiled its first list of companies whose products are expected to work with the chip maker's upcoming Viiv entertainment PC platform.