IBT Staff Reporter

Gone are the days of leaving the comfort of your home to rent a DVD.

Copper Futures declined nearly 3 percent, the lowest drop in six weeks, as worries of an economic recession grew after an official report showed sales at U.S. retailers fell surprisingly in December.

Apple has been a frequent target of environmental activists who claim its products are harming the Earth, but today the company unveiled a new more environmentally friendly laptop.

The dollar on Tuesday, reaching its lowest level against the yen in two years after a report about slow retail sales triggered concerns that the U.S. economy will go into recession.

Apple Inc. unveiled the world's thinnest laptop on Tuesday, as well as new software upgrades to its iPhone and iPod Touch, and buffed up its iTunes software with online movie rentals.

The dollar regained its footing by the New York afternoon following earlier selling against the euro, sterling and yen. A sluggish retail sales report for December was the catalyst for the greenback’s drop to multi-year lows versus

Apple Chief Steve Jobs unveiled the company's latest addition to its Mac family on Tuesday with the new MacBook Air Computer, calling it the world's thinnest notebook. Speaking at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, Jobs confirmed persistent rumors of an ultra-thin and lightweight laptop. The computer has an Intel Corp. processor that is smaller than the chips in other systems, weighs 3 pounds and has 2 Gigabytes of memory, he said.

Oil prices fell more than $2 a barrel below $92 on Tuesday after the U.S. government reported a decline in retail sales and Saudi Arabia's oil minister said the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries could increase output.

The dollar extended its declines against the euro and yen on Tuesday after data showed U.S. retail sales for December were below market expectations.

Ahead of Apple's CEO Steve Jobs keynote speech at San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center at the 24th annual Macworld convention, speculation on about what the next Apple -gee-wiz product persists. With nearly 50,000 attendees and 390 exhibitors, Macworld is a buzz prior to Steve Jobs' product announcements, from Apple including new gadgets and software for Apple devices. The only possible hint is a banner throughout the convention center with the cryptic line, There'...

Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs takes the stage today at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco where many are expecting him to unveil the company's smallest notebook computer ever.

Wireless service provider Clearwire Corp said on Tuesday that it would offer its customers applications such as e-mail and calendar from Web search leader Google Inc.

Toyota Motor Corp on Monday threw down the gauntlet to GM in a race for the next green car.

TCL Corp 000100.SZ began sending BlackBerry handsets to partner China Mobile in 2007's fourth quarter, suggesting the launch of the popular email device in China is just around the corner.

Citigroup Inc., the nation's largest bank by assets, reported the company's biggest quarterly loss and slashed dividends on Tuesday as loan defaults in recent quarters forced it to write down the value of subprime-mortgage investments by $18 billion.

Consumer electronics maker Toshiba Corp said on Monday it is slashing prices of its HD DVD format players by between 40 to 50 percent as major Hollywood studios move to embrace Sony Corp's Blu-ray format high definition DVDs.

Dream Big is the theme of the National Retail Federation's annual conference taking place this week and that is likely to be what many U.S. retailers will do to survive 2008 -- dream big of greener pastures.

Copper Futures rose on Monday after the dollar slipped, which also drove investments into other commodities such as gold and oil.

Under growing pressure from law enforcers and parents, MySpace agreed Monday to implement several security measures to protect young users from sexual predators and bullies.

Google, along with a set of other companies, was cleared by federal regulators to bid for a highly desired chunk of wireless spectrum on January 24.

Citigroup will announce at least a $10 billion injection and a write-down of as much as $20 billion in mortgage-related investments when it announces its fourth quarter earnings tomorrow, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Shares of Apple rose more than 3 percent on Monday ahead of eager anticipation for tomorrow's Macworld expo in San Francisco, which will likely bring with it new product announcements that could push the company's outlook even higher than last year's strong effort.

Sprint Nextel Corp. plans to lay off several thousand employees, according to a media report Monday.

International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) posted strong results for its fourth fiscal quarter on Monday, beating analysts expectations on good results from its international divisions and boosting the overall tech sector.

Crude oil rose over $1 on Monday after the dollar dropped against the euro, and strained relations between the U.S. and Iran raised worries about crude supply.

Gold futures rose to a new record on Monday, closing above $900 an ounce for the first time following a dip in the dollar, which increased demand for the precious metal as an investment alternative.

The dollar fell near its all-time low on Monday on speculation poor results from major U.S. banks this week will prompt the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.

Ahead of Macworld Expo tomorrow where Apple, Inc. is anticipated to announce its own movie-rental business, online rental service Netflix Inc. said Monday its subscribers will be able to stream as many movies and television shows as they want online for no additional charge.

Gold surged to a historic high above $910 an ounce, as investors rushed to buy the metal on further weakness in the dollar and expectations of a sharp cut in U.S. interest rates.