IBT Staff Reporter

Technology magazines, facing dwindling advertising and lost luster for big-ticket gadgets, may be turning their attention to helping readers make home improvements or beef-up devices they already own.

As a deep recession strips Americans of their jobs, homes and investments, the 2009 U.S. tax season promises to see a large uptick in first-time delinquent income taxpayers.

President Barack Obama made nearly $2.5 million in 2008 from the sales of his two best-selling memoirs, according to tax information released by the White House on Wednesday.

Six large U.S. banks could pocket nearly $10 billion in federal subsidies if they modify troubled home loans and are able to save homeowners from foreclosure, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

The U.S. government will release some results of its bank stress tests in May with the goal to stabilize the ailing banking sector, the White House said on Wednesday.

The Treasury Department on Wednesday declined to label China a currency manipulator, retreating from tough talk last year when a campaigning Barack Obama said Beijing had kept its currency's exchange rate unfairly low.

On Wednesday consumer product shares rose in a late rally as the recession revealed signs that it could be coming to an end.

U.S. oil and natural gas drilling activity dropped 22 percent from a year ago in the first quarter of 2009, reaching levels not seen since 2004, the American Petroleum Institute said Wednesday.

Life is not getting easier for the American consumer, according to three big companies whose wares range from fast food to consumer goods to credit cards.

On Wednesday the Federal Reserve said despite the continued weakness in the U.S. economy, the rate of the economic shrinkage was lowering.

AT&T is in negotiations with Apple to extend its exclusive deal to carry the iPhone in the U.S. from 2010 until 2011, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Technology magazines, facing dwindling advertising and lost luster for big-ticket gadgets, may be turning their attention to helping readers make home improvements or beef-up devices they already own.

Internet search firm Google Inc took its widest-ever lead in the U.S. search market in March, according to new figures released on Wednesday by comScore.

Latin American leaders and executives urged governments in the region on Wednesday to stop erecting trade barriers, saying the financial crisis was a chance to tackle problems that have long hindered the region's competitiveness.

Drafts of Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert's classic tale of adultery and thwarted dreams, are being shown online for the first time thanks to a mass effort to transcribe the originals.

The central Italy region ravaged by an earthquake more than a week ago will need at least $16 billion for rebuilding, the country's interior minister said.

U.S. consumer prices fell in March, posting their first 12-month drop in nearly 54 years, and industrial production slipped further, according to data on Wednesday that underscored the severity of the recession.

The Treasury Department on Wednesday declined to name China a currency manipulator, backing down from tough talk last year when Barack Obama, then campaigning for president, said Beijing was keeping its currency unfairly low.

Stocks rose on Wednesday amid numerous signs the recession could be abating and data from American Express signaled the ability of some consumers to pay their bills is stabilizing.

Goldman Sachs said it expects bottlers Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc and Pepsi Bottling Group Inc to benefit from accelerated soda sales, new distribution agreements and a possible fall in commodity prices.

Online retailer Amazon.com Inc said on Wednesday it would stop controversial targeted advertising company Phorm from using its Web pages to gather data on Internet users.

Microsoft Corp confirmed on Wednesday a report that it had received a one-week extension from EU antitrust regulators to respond to charges that it had sought to thwart rivals by bundling its web browser with Windows systems.

You can’t believe what your supervisor just said: “Our company is feeling the impact of the economic nose dive. So we’re going to have to eliminate your position, effective today. Now let’s take a minute to review your severance plan.”

On Wednesday the Treasury Department in its most recent monthly survey reported a larger decrease in bank lending rate to consumers.

A 13-year-old boy who police say was caught red-handed a block away was accused on Tuesday of robbing a bank in Peoria.

The Obama administration wants to ensure that legislation being crafted by Congress to fight global climate change does not violate international trade rules and backfire on U.S. exports, the top U.S. trade official said in a letter to a Republican lawmaker.

Spam e-mail contributes severely to the emission of green house gases into the earth's atmosphere, according to research and calculations released Wednesday by anti-virus software maker McAfee Inc.

Oil prices fell marginally on Wednesday as government data showed U.S. crude stocks last week were at the highest level since September 1990.

France's parliament will vote again on a government-backed bill to crack down on Internet piracy, a proposal that was rejected the first time around in an embarrassing defeat for the ruling UMP party.