TECHNOLOGY

A bill to reduce the likelihood of massive damage awards in patent disputes took a step forward on Thursday with approval by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Merck & Co warned investors that it could no longer vouch for its long-term profit forecast due to pressure to curb prices on its drugs and dimmed hopes for an experimental blood clot treatment.

A Canadian regulatory ruling that effectively stops small Internet providers from offering unlimited downloads must be revised, Industry Minister Tony Clement said on the social networking site Twitter.

Some Verizon Wireless customers complained they were unable to buy its iPhone online, but the company said sales were mostly running smoothly on its first day of Internet orders for the long-awaited phone.

Mobile operator Vodafone on Thursday accused the Egyptian authorities of using its network to send pro-government text messages to its subscribers, without clear attribution.

Hewitt-Packard joins Samsung, which announced yesterday that it was offering refunds.

Egyptian authorities sent out anonymous mass texts via Vodafone network, statement says.

Some Verizon Wireless customers complained they were unable to buy its iPhone online, but the phone company said sales were mostly running smoothly on its first day of Internet orders for the long-awaited phone.

The iPad-only digital newspaper from News Corp., The Daily, touted to usher in the age of subscription-based revenue model on the web space, has been launched by Rupert Murdoch and Apple Vice President of Internet Services Eddy Cue at a press event at New York's Guggenheim Museum.

Nintendo developer Shigeru Miyamoto confirms new entry in the series.

More companies are hopping on the NFC contact-less bandwagon.

Strong demand from emerging markets and from smartphone users helped cellphone operators Vodafone and TeliaSonera lift sales last year and give cause for confident outlooks for 2011.

Despite having recorded a two-fold jump in the second quarter earnings from a year ago, News Corp. seems to be in no mood to carry on the load of MySpace and is set to sell the social networking site.

AT&T is set to unveil a new mobile hotspot application that lets smartphone customers tether multiple devices via Wi-Fi connection. The feature will first be available on February 13 to select smartphone customers, starting with the launch of HTC Inspire 4G, the company said.

Cost-cutting is keeping Sony Corp's profits on track for its full-year target but investors say more inspiration and a hit product is needed to restore growth to a company once a symbol of Japan's high-tech might.

Strong demand in India and improving conditions in Europe helped Vodafone , the world's largest mobile operator by revenue, to post higher third-quarter service revenues and nudge up its profit forecast for the year.

In the coming days, 4G smartphones are expected to flood the market. But with all the excitement of getting the latest and greatest tech, it sometimes pays to think about the pros and cons.

Strong demand in India and improving conditions in Europe helped Vodafone , the world's largest mobile operator by revenue, to nudge its outlook higher and post third-quarter service revenues at the upper end of forecasts.

Japan's Sony Corp <6758.T> posted a 5.9 percent fall in October-December operating profit on Thursday as a price war hit its television unit and a stronger yen weighed, but it beat analysts' expectations.

Canadian schools and colleges will soon stop worrying about adding books to its libraries, as they will have access to thousands of eBooks from Random House of Canada through a partnership with OverDrive.

News Corp and Time Warner both posted higher revenue and profit in the December quarter, boosted by surging advertising revenue at their cable network units.

Rupert Murdoch, among the most ardent defenders of the traditional press, has staked his reputation on a risky bet that for just 14 cents a day he can save the news business with tablet devices like Apple's iPad.

Spotted at Rupert Murdoch's splashy digital newspaper launch on Wednesday: a prototype of Apple's newest iPad.

AOL Inc suffered sharp declines in quarterly advertising sales and dial-up subscriptions, driving overall revenue down 26 percent and showing the struggling Internet company has yet to turn the corner.

The Oregon Trail and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? are coming back on Facebook with a new social twist.

Google Inc has fixed some shortcomings in its tablet computer strategy, as the Internet search giant steps up efforts to break into a nascent market dominated by Apple.

Asian exporters of computer and communications equipment in 2009 boosted their grip on the sector during the global financial crisis and now hold two-thirds of the trade, figures issued on Wednesday showed.

Microsoft, not Yahoo! is to blame for the issue, the statement says.

Ericsson will launch mobile phone banking services, it said on Wednesday, hoping to capture a big chunk of a market it estimates will be worth an annual 20 billion euros ($27.7 billion) by 2015.