ELECTRONICS

Hewlett-Packard Co. in the third quarter continued to expand its lead over rivals in the global PC market, while Taiwan based Acer saw the largest increase, displacing Dell as the world's No. 2 notebook maker.

Suited executives, grungy teens and even some savvy grannies are already using Wi-Fi to wirelessly link their laptops to the Internet. It may not be long before the short-range high-speed technology is just as popular for those looking to connect music players, phones, cameras, game consoles and more.

Microprocessor maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) sees pricing in the chip market remaining competitive, and aims to return to profitability soon, Chief Executive Hector Ruiz said on Thursday.

Apple began selling its iPhone in France on Wednesday exclusively through carrier Orange.

AMD, Freescale seem to be losers revealed a research company, iSuppli Corp. in its 2007 projected rankings. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Freescale Semiconductor Inc. are most likely to drop out of the top 10 with best 2007 sales.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics said on Wednesday oversupply of memory chips used in personal computers was expected to ease in 2008 as growing demand for portable gadgets prompts a shift in production to flash chips.

The world's top cellphone maker Nokia is expected to issue new profit targets at next week's investor day in Amsterdam and to tout its plunge into Internet services.

Game console makers, Microsoft and Nintendo, were under attack from Greenpeace as the environmental activist group said they are taking too long to remove toxic chemicals from their products.

High definition movie DVDs in the Blu-ray format have outsold the rival HD DVD standard in Europe this year, breaking the 1 million barrier and constituting 73 percent of all HD movie discs sold.

Sony Corp said sales in Japan of the new version of its PlayStation Portable (PSP) game gear reached 1 million units in the two months since its launch, hitting the 1 million mark at a quicker pace than the original model.

T-Mobile's parent company in Germany has appealed a court ruling that would forbid tying customers into a two-year contract when they by one of Apple's iPhones, according to a report.

A non-profit's dream of giving away laptops to millions of kids in developing countries, bridging the technology divide, is being derailed in part by competition from well-known companies such as Intel and Microsoft, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

Private and company use of the Internet could lead to erratic operation of the information network within 3 years unless $137 billion in new infrastructure is put in place to prevent shortages, according to a new study.

The cost of Thanksgiving is soaring, according to investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co, which may help explain the gloom among U.S. consumers as they head into the holiday season.

Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Yahoo Inc. announced Tuesday they reached a licensing deal that will allow Yahoo portal users to upload music or video files from the record label.

The European Commission hit Sony Corp and two other Japanese producers of videotape with fines totaling nearly 75 million euros ($109.8 million) on Tuesday for fixing prices

Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest personal computer maker, on Monday reported a better-than-expected 28 percent rise in quarterly profit as notebook PC sales increased. The company also said its board authorized an $8 billion additional share buyback program. Net income was $2.16 billion, or 81 cents per share, for its fiscal fourth quarter ended October 31, compared with $1.7 billion, or 60 cents per share, a year earlier.

Amazon.com unveiled a hand held digital reader on Monday that it hopes will boost sales by helping its customers download books, newspapers and other media.

Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Development Co said on Friday it had bought 8.1 percent of U.S.-based Advanced Micro Devices Inc, the second-largest maker of computer processors.

Etihad Etisalat (Mobily), Saudi Arabia's second mobile phone firm, said on Saturday it would spend at least 4 billion riyals ($1.07 billion) in the next two years building broadband and wireless networks.

China Unicom, one of the largest communications companies in China, is willing to discuss introducing Apple’s popular iPhone to the Chinese market, a management person of China Unicom Ltd. said on Wednesday.