02. News

January 29, 2010 Russia free to sell weaponry to Iran: exporter Moscow is free to sell weaponry to Tehran, the head of Russia's state arms exporter said on Thursday.

January 29, 2010 North Korea says detains American for trespassing North Korea said on Thursday it had detained an American who crossed into its territory from China on Jan. 25 and was interrogating him.

January 28, 2010 SEC Votes for Corporate Disclosure of Climate Change Risk Political feuding over global warming reached the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday when commissioners, divided on party lines, voted to encourage companies to disclose the effects of climate change on their business.

January 28, 2010 Bacteria rebuilt to make oil Researchers have engineered a common type of bacteria to produce biodiesel and other goodies from plain old plants. The microbial trickery, detailed today in the journal Nature,

January 26, 2010 Ford to build next Explorer at Chicago Assembly Both the governor and Ford executives will attend, the source said. A Ford spokeswoman declined to comment.

January 26, 2010 Climate Change's Latest Storm It's been a good week for the future of Life as We Know It. First the keepers of the climate-science consensus admitted that the Himalayan glaciers are not on the verge

January 25, 2010 Credit-Card Owners, Your Change Is in the Mail Most people don't expect much good news when opening mail from a credit-card company. But this month, you may be receiving notices bearing good tidings related to fees, grace periods and other policies.

January 25, 2010 'Avatar' passes 'Titanic's' overseas record After six rounds on the foreign circuit, "Avatar" on the weekend became the biggest-grossing offshore title in movie history.

January 22, 2010 Media in China dismiss U.S. Internet push Chinese media on Friday dismissed Washington's call to lift Internet censorship, after a top Chinese diplomat warned the Obama administration to heed alarm bells over trade, Taiwan and Tibet.

January 22, 2010 China hits its mark—for now Phew, what a relief! China beat its totemic 8% growth target in 2009. In fact, at 8.7% for the year, economic growth also defied skeptics who had forecast it would be nearer to 5%

January 21, 2010 Even a censored Internet has opened up a world for Chinese users One of China's most popular bloggers, Han Han, posted a satirical essay this week in which he imagined headlines about China's censored Internet in a post-Google era:

January 21, 2010 EBay’s Profit Rises Sharply, Aided by Sale Of Skype EBay earnings soared in the critical fourth quarter, fueled by growth in the PayPal business, the sale of Skype and success in luring more people to its shopping Web sites during the holiday season.

January 20, 2010 For sale: NASA slashes price on used space shuttles Well, if you're interested in orbiting the Earth or buying the world's most expensive lawn ornament, NASA may just have a deal for you.

January 20, 2010 Senator Murkowski says: "Goodbye, Clean Air" Hey everyone, this is intern Ashleigh Lewis's first post. Everyone, say hi to Ashleigh [waits...] SAY IT. Ashleigh's righteous anger at Alaska's Lisa Murkowski should serve as welcome tonic to your sad, cynical lethargy.

January 19, 2010 Baidu Chief Technology Officer Resigns Baidu Inc. said its chief technology officer resigned, highlighting business difficulties at China's dominant search engine just as rival Google Inc. said it is considering a withdrawal from the market.

January 19, 2010 Aliph Jawbone Icon boasts industry-first software platform Aliph has just unveiled the Jawbone Icon, which promises to be the company's most sophisticated Bluetooth headset yet. We've had a chance to really put the headset through its paces for the past week, and we have to say it absolutely delivers. Not only does it look and sound great, it offers more flexibility than any other Bluetooth headset due to an industry-first software platform.

January 18, 2010 Toyota to double hybrid output in 2011: report Toyota Motor Corp aims to double its global output of gas-electric hybrid cars to 1 million units in 2011, as it fights to stay in the lead in the growing market for low-emission cars, the Nikkei business reported on Monday.

January 18, 2010 Should you dump Internet Explorer, NOW? D`oh, now there's a redundant question. Yesterday, ZDNET blogger Ed Bott asserted that "it's time to stop using IE6." I s-o-o-o-o disagree. For many organizations and all consumers, it's time to stop using any version of Microsoft's browser -- IE6, IE7, IE8 and forget someday releasing IE9. Less than a week ago, the German government told its citizens to switch from Internet Explorer. This is good advice for you, too.

January 16, 2010 U.S. plans to issue official protest to China over attack on Google The United States will issue an official protest to the Chinese government over a major espionage attack targeting Google's computer systems and rights activists' e-mail accounts that the search-engine giant said originated in China.

January 16, 2010 Google's Android platform poised to take on iPhone DENVER (Billboard) - One of the most important developments of the past 18 months has been the iPhone's emergence as a breakthrough platform for music applications. But thanks to Google's Android platform, Apple's iPhone will face some meaningful competition this year in the mobile music app market.

January 15, 2010 For Google, a Threat to China With Little Revenue at Stake Google has said principle drove its threat to back out of China unless the government there allowed it to run its search engine without censorship.

January 15, 2010 Nintendo's "fad" dominates Sony, Microsoft in December Nintendo outsells both Sony and Microsoft combined for a decisive win in December, closing out a year that kept the system many described as a fad on top of the sales heap month after month. As for software, if you're not Nintendo or Activison, you don't stand a chance of cracking the top 10 chart.

January 14, 2010 Pickens Shelves Texas Wind Project T. Boone Pickens, the oilman and clean-energy booster, shelved his massive wind-power project in Texas even as he stepped up his push to increase the use of natural gas for transportation.

January 14, 2010 Analyst predicts low Wii Netflix adoption rate Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter has put forth his opinion on the Wii-Netflix partnership, stating his belief that it won't reach PS3 or Xbox 360 adoption levels.

January 13, 2010 How many years does the Xbox 360 have left? Although the Xbox 360 came out in 2005--just four years after the release of the Xbox--it seems that Microsoft isn't too eager to jump to the Xbox 720 (or whatever it will eventually be called).

January 13, 2010 Nasa check for 'unlikely' survival of Mars lander Nasa's Mars Odyssey orbiter is set to listen for possible radio transmissions from the Phoenix Mars lander, to check if it has survived the Martian winter.

January 13, 2010 WRAPUP 1-U.S., Google take hard line on China Web censorship The United States and Google Inc (GOOG.O) separately said they would move against Chinese Internet censorship, possibly signaling the start of a harder line toward China by U.S. President Barack Obama and the end of Google's business in the country.

January 12, 2010 Google book scanners apologize to Chinese scribes Google has publicly apologized to the Chinese Writers Association for inadequate communication with local writers over its Google Book Search project, an effort to digitize millions of texts inside various research libraries.

January 12, 2010 3rd UPDATE: Orange Juice Futures Down As Crop Damage Assessed Orange juice futures fell sharply Monday amid signs that Florida's orange crop didn't suffer devastating damage from the coldest night of the recent arctic blast.

January 11, 2010 Chinese exports rebound strongly, imports surge too China's exports ended a 13-month-long decline in December, boosted by improving external demand for its goods and services, while imports also improved sharply due to strong industrial demand for commodities, narrowing the country's trade surplus.

January 11, 2010 Detroit motor show goes electric The first Detroit motor show after US carmakers General Motors and Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy opens later.

January 11, 2010 2010 Consumer Electronics Show features less gloom than 2009's At last year's Consumer Electronics Show, even Microsoft essentially admitted to a droopy feeling, as chief executive Steve Ballmer acknowledged a sense of "reduced expectations" in his industry.

January 8, 2010 Blu-ray booms while DVDs keep slumping in fourth quarter Blu-ray continued to blossom over the holidays, but Hollywood didn't get any relief from plunging DVD sales, which still account for most home video revenue.

January 8, 2010 Windows Mobile 7 damage report: Mixed assessments on the CES no-show So what did you think of the Windows Mobile 7 sneak preview that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer slipped into his CES keynote last night?

January 7, 2010 Salazar Toughens Rules for Drilling on Federal Land Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Wednesday announced policy changes he said would bring more scrutiny and a greater public voice in how oil and gas leases are awarded on public lands.

January 7, 2010 No Microsoft Courier at Ballmer Keynote, Just an HP Windows Tablet Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will not be introducing the "Courier" slate PC the company began demonstrating in September of 2009 at this evening's CES keynote event,

January 7, 2010 Samsung to launch e-book readers Samsung, the leading maker of phones and TVs for the U.S. market, is launching e-book readers early this year, joining a host of manufacturers who hope to capitalize on the shift away from paper books.

January 6, 2010 'Krafty' calculations over Cadbury On Monday, Cadbury investors were salivating at the hope of two deep-pocketed suitors going head to head. By Tuesday, one pocket had gone away, and the other had gotten a lot shallower. Nestlé bowed out of any bid after saying it would buy Kraft Food's pizza business. Meanwhile, in a rare public lashing, Warren Buffett made clear that Kraft is on a short leash when it comes to paying for Cadbury.

January 6, 2010 Dollar, Yen Gain on Haven Plays The U.S. dollar advanced against its major rivals except the yen as a slew of negative news eroded appetite for riskier assets, sending investors to seek the safety of the greenback and the Japanese currency.

January 6, 2010 Oil Trades Near 14-Month High on Supply Drop, Cold Weather Oil traded near a 14-month high in New York as an industry report showed a decline in U.S. crude stockpiles and cold weather bolstered the outlook for fuel demand in the world’s largest energy-consuming nation.

January 5, 2010 With 'Avatar,' James Cameron Is Once Again King of the World In just two weeks, the new sci-fi movie "Avatar" has taken in an astonishing $1 billion at the worldwide box office.

January 5, 2010 New Rules on Flight Security Get Airline Groups' Support Airline groups expressed support Monday for new U.S. rules that mandate tougher screening for passengers traveling to the U.S. from 14 designated countries and ease a requirement that all U.S.-bound passengers be subjected to enhanced screening measures.

January 5, 2010 WSJ: Apple tablet shipping in March While many have been fixated on when Apple will announce a new tablet product, The Wall Street Journal says it has found out when the device will actually be available to customers.