NEW YORK - Microsoft Corp. took great pains to improve security in its newly released computer operating system, Windows Vista, redesigning it to reduce users' exposure to destructive programs from the Internet. Outside researchers commend the retooled approach — yet they also say the changes won't make online life much safer than it is now.
 

PALO ALTO, Calif. - Google Inc., a company synonymous with searching the Internet, hopes to define far more of the world's computing experience with a helping hand from schoolchildren. For several months, it has been giving away to all takers an online word processor, spreadsheet and other programs that can perform tasks usually handled by desktop software.

PHOENIX -- Sky Harbor International Airport here will test a new federal screening system that takes X-rays of passenger's bodies to detect concealed explosives and other weapons.

The technology, called backscatter, has been around for several years but has not been widely used in the U.S. as an anti-terrorism tool because of privacy concerns.

NEW YORK - There's a new way to send large movie, music and other files without worrying about whether the e-mail systems can handle large attachments.

Free software from Pando Networks Inc. automatically converts your attachments into a small file that your friend or relative can simply open to download the original file from Pando or elsewhere.

BOSTON - The cameras capture the young man walking down the stairs, reciting a monologue about the three things people should know about him: His favorite movie is "Gone with the Wind," he loves roller coasters and he hates when people don't take him seriously.

The shot is complicated and takes several attempts to perfect. But there's no big camera equipment, no expert sound system and no reels of film to capture the moment.

BEIJING - China welcomes foreign Internet companies working in China, but they must respect and abide by the country's laws, including those on expression, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
 

SAN FRANCISCO - The adult entertainment industry is on the verge of making online gaming sexier at a time when mainstream publishers are fighting a political and cultural war over erotic content.

SAN FRANCISCO - Google Inc. will introduce a spreadsheet program Tuesday, continuing the Internet search leader's expansion into territory long dominated by Microsoft Corp.

Although it's still considered a work in progress, Google's online spreadsheet will offer consumers and businesses a free alternative to Microsoft's Excel application — a product typically sold as part of the Office software suite that has been a steady moneymaker for years.
 

A new version of the Ubuntu software package, a flavor of the freely distributed Linux operating system, is due out Thursday.
 
 Ubuntu 6.06, which will be released on CD and as a free download, includes a video interview with former South African President Nelson Mandela, who explains what "ubuntu" means. (It's an African expression that roughly translates as "humanness.")

Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Intel Corp.'s biggest rival in the market for microprocessors that act as the brains of personal computers, unveiled plans for new products it said would deliver improved performance and efficiency.

Executives disclosed details of a mobile-PC chip design that boosts power efficiency by allowing parts of the processor to turn on and off as needed.

SNNYVALE, California - Advanced Micro Devices Inc. said on Thursday it will offer a new chip for laptop computers and said it expects to be able to supply one-third of the market for computer microprocessors by 2008, stepping up its challenge to rival Intel Corp.'s dominance.
 

KAMAKURA, Japan - When a small group crowds around a PC to work on a project, there's often considerable shuffling for a good view of the monitor and control of the mouse or keyboard.

A new technology from Mitsubishi Electric Corp. aims to make such collaboration easier by borrowing some ideas from a common piece of furniture: the table.
 

Advanced Micro Devices is opening up.

The chipmaker Thursday unveiled an open-source software design package for microprocessors called Torrenza.

The idea is to give partners an open platform on which to develop chips. That should let companies create co-processors -- chips that work seamlessly with AMD's  products.
 

SAN ANTONIO, Texas  - Texas Gov. Rick Perry unveiled plans on Thursday to place hundreds of surveillance cameras along the Rio Grande and stream the images to the Internet so computer users everywhere can help patrol the U.S.-Mexico border.
 

Yahoo Reprograms Online Video Service to Store Homemade Videos on Its Own Web Site

SAN FRANCISCO — Yahoo Inc. is reprogramming its online video service so it's more like YouTube.com, an Internet upstart that has amassed a large audience during the past year with a free Web service that encourages people to post and share homemade clips.

Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt on Wednesday told industry analysts the online search engine leader is unlikely to create its own Web browser, even though the company remains worried about being slighted by the next version of Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer. 

At Microsoft these days, it seems that everything that was old is new again in Windows Vista. The software giant has added Internet Explorer 7 to the list of programs that will get a complete Vista makeover.

Christened IE7+, the new version of the Web browser boasts added security features not available in the current version currently in beta testing.

TEHRAN - Rugged veteran Iranian special forces hero "Commander Bahman" will soon be tackling one of his toughest missions, rescuing one of his country's top atomic scientists captured by U.S. forces in Iraq.

SEOUL, South Korea - Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said the Windows Vista operating system is still on track for early January shipment.
 
 "This design track (is) for a January shipment, but we're going to see what kind of feedback we get from users," Ballmer told reporters Thursday on the sidelines of the Seoul Digital Forum, a three-day gathering of leading figures in the technology industry.

LAS VEGAS - Las Vegas Sands Corp. said Thursday it will be the first Nevada company to introduce mobile gambling devices at its casinos.  

TOKYO - Canon Inc. said it would stop developing film cameras, joining a growing number of high-tech firms pulling out of the sector as digital cameras take over.

"The situation is very difficult for new (film-based) cameras," Canon president Tsuneji Uchida told Jiji Press in an interview.

DALLAS - Any company that touts its products as being "virtually indestructible" is asking for trouble.
 
That's the case for Adesso Inc., which recently released a new line of keyboards that it claims are both flexible and tough.

They're indeed rubbery. But durable? Hardly.

Malware that spreads via Yahoo Messenger also plays screeching music and hijacks IE's home page.

Malware writers have created a new worm that installs a new browser and plays screeching music. The annoyance starts with a link apparently sent by a friend in Yahoo's instant messaging program.

TOKYO - In a step toward linking a person's thoughts to machines, Japanese automaker Honda said it has developed a technology that uses brain signals to control a robot's very simple moves.
 
 In the future, the technology that Honda Motor Co. developed with ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories could be used to replace keyboards or cell phones, researchers said Wednesday.