SAN FRANCISCO - A team of scientists has announced a breakthrough in computer memory technology that heralded more sophisticated and reliable MP3 players, digital cameras and other devices.

Scientists from IBM, Macronix and Qimonda said they developed a material that made "phase-change" memory 500 to 1,000 times faster than the commonly-used "flash" memory, while using half as much power.

SAN FRANCISCO  - Oracle said it had raised its bid for for the bulk of Indian banking software firm iflex Solutions to 1.3 billion dollars in what was its final offer.

Oracle offered 2,100 rupees per share in an effort to increase its stake in the company by 35 percent to 90 percent.

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia may introduce tough Internet laws to control bloggers and prevent them from spreading "disharmony, chaos, seditious material and lies" on their websites, a report has said.

Deputy Science and Technology Minister Kong Cho Ha said moves such as registering bloggers would be difficult, but accused some writers of posting controversial articles to attract readers.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India - Police have arrested a man in southern India for sending an email threatening to kill Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Abdul Kalam.

TOKYO - A new mobile phone in Japan takes security pretty seriously: It can recognize its owner, automatically locks when the person gets too far away from it and can be found via satellite navigation if it goes missing.

The P903i from NTT DoCoMo, Japan's top mobile carrier, comes with a small black card about the size of a movie-ticket stub. The card works as a security key by connecting wirelessly with the cell phone.

SAN FRANCISCO - Internet search giant Google announced plans for an online spreadsheet program to compete with the dominant Excel by Microsoft.

The move by Google poses another challenge to Microsoft, whose Excel program is part of its Office suite of programs that dominates the sector.

WASHINGTON - Some 565 suspects were arrested in Europe and in North and South America in a crackdown on Internet fraud dubbed "Operation Global Con," US officials announced. 
 
More than 2.8 million people, mainly elderly US citizens, fell victim to the scams, suffering losses totaling more than one billion dollars, the Justice Department said in a statement.

LOS ANGELES - The vintage video arcade game Super Pac-Man was revived for play on Sprint mobile telephones as computer game makers showed off their latest wares at the industry's largest trade show. 
 

LOS ANGELES - Video game giant Nintendo opened fire on rivals Microsoft and Sony by unveiling its new "Wii" console that it says will revolutionize gaming when it is released in the last quarter of 2006.

The Japanese game maker did not announce the exact date of the new console, but said it would be in the last three months of this year, the firm announced on the fringes of the world's biggest computer games show in Los Angeles.

NEW YORK - US Internet group Yahoo said it was launching a new version of its search engine for advertisers to help businesses connect more easily with customers.

Yahoo said that from the July-September quarter, it would offer a "completely redesigned" advertising search platform based on new application program interfaces (APIs).

WASHINGTON - In a sign of a shakeup in the online music scene, Napster is taking a new stab at free music, but with limits.

The news marks a shift for Napster, which started in 1999 as a renegade service that had as many as 70 million members using it for free downloads before it was shut down by the courts in 2001 for massive copyright violations.