LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department has decided not to file charges against Apple Inc , leader Steve Jobs and other current or former executives in a probe of backdated employee stock options, lawyers for the people targeted in the investigation said on Wednesday.


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BANGKOK/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The new iPhone looks set to be a huge hit in Asia countries where it goes on sale on Friday, but the sleek smartphone is already in high demand in black markets from Shanghai to Bangkok.


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SUN VALLEY, Idaho (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama appeared to be the favorite White House contender among media moguls at an annual Idaho retreat, even if they were not so certain how an Obama victory would affect their businesses.


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TOKYO/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - As top video game makers gather next week in Los Angeles for the E3 trade show, they will be touting hot titles, new online offerings and, potentially, console price cuts to drum up gamers’ support.


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LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - The European Union’s highest court on Thursday threw out a lower court ruling that annulled the European Commission’s approval of a merger between the Sony Music and BMG record labels.


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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The first iPhones won praise for their sleek design and elegant touchscreen, but Apple’s new computer phones, arriving this week, will use the power of software to make the device like no phone ever seen.


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CHICAGO (Reuters) - Intel Corp, the world’s biggest computer chip maker, on Thursday won clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to sell an in-home health monitoring system for patients with chronic conditions.


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SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp is set to cut the price of its best-selling Xbox 360 Pro model to $299 from $349, a source briefed on the matter said on Friday.


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RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - Summer blockbuster movies no longer end with the closing credits with rising numbers of licensed video games being spun off from Hollywood adventures, putting the gamer in the starring role.


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TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp and other Japanese companies said they will team up to jointly develop key technologies to make large-sized organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels for use in TVs.


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SUN VALLEY, Idaho (Hollywood Reporter) - Several hundred major media executives at Herb Allen’s annual retreat in this remote Northwest niche thought they could get away from it all, including Hollywood’s labor strife 900 miles. But they were at least partially wrong.


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ZURICH (Reuters) - When Omega first kept time at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, it had one technician and 30 stopwatches. For the 1936 Games, watchmaker Paul-Louis Guignard took one suitcase with 185 chronographs to Berlin.


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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc will let customers, academics and even rivals build customized Web search services on top of its own technology, introducing a resale model into a major Internet market where it ranks a distant No. 2 to Google Inc.


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NEW YORK (Reuters) - The new iPhone is expected to attract hordes of buyers when it goes on sale on Friday in more than 20 countries, helping Apple Inc handily beat its target to sell 10 million of them by the end of 2008.


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SUN VALLEY, Idaho (Reuters) - The summer U.S. box office is sizzling due to hits like “Hancock” but Hollywood leaders focused on the chilling effects of industry change brought on by labor strife, fragmentation and new technology at the annual retreat of moguls this week.


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NEW YORK (Billboard) - “Guitar Hero” won’t be the only music videogame to launch its sequel in time for the holidays.


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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chip makers Broadcom Corp and Qualcomm Inc sparred in an appeals court on Wednesday over patents used to make cell phones that offer Internet and other multimedia features.


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TOKYO/WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Seeking to be one of the world’s first to grab the new-generation iPhone, fanatical Apple fans around Asia are queuing up two days before its launch, undiscouraged by rain or freezing temperatures.


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BERLIN (Reuters) - In their zeal to remove the Berlin Wall, German authorities were ruthlessly efficient in eliminating almost all traces of the hated symbol of the Cold War within months of its opening in 1989.


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TORONTO (Reuters) - Nortel Networks Corp plans aggressive growth in the Asia-Pacific region over the next two to three years, hoping to capitalize on demand for network gear and services in rapidly growing markets such as India and China.


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SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp introduced on Wednesday pricing for its suite of online services targeted at corporate customers and a revenue-sharing plan to encourage other companies to sell the software company’s products.


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(Reuters) - Wireless technology firm InterDigital Inc received a blow in an ongoing patent infringement case with the U.S. International Trade Commission’s staff recommending in favor of South Korea’s Samsung Electronics , sending InterDigital’s shares down as much as 28 percent.


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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc said on Tuesday it complied with a regulator’s request for more information on its Take-Two Interactive Software Inc bid, moving a step closer to buying its rival.


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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Activision Inc shareholders approved a deal on Tuesday to merge with French telecommunications and media group Vivendi SA’s games unit, creating a public company called Activision Blizzard.


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NEW YORK (Reuters) - DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc plans to use chips from Intel Corp for the creation of 3-D movies, the companies said on Tuesday.


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LONDON (Reuters) - Apple’s new iPhone sold out online in Britain ahead of its Friday launch, defying general consumer gloom as the country’s economy threatened to tip over into its first recession in more than a decade.


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TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese consumer electronics maker Pioneer Corp said on Tuesday it plans to launch Blu-ray DVD recorders by the end of the year, taking aim at a rapidly growing market after the end of a bitter format battle.


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TORONTO (Reuters) - A government auction of wireless spectrum aimed at bringing fresh competition to Canada’s cellphone market has reached its final stretch, with total bids reaching more than C$4 billion ($3.9 billion) so far — about twice the amount expected.


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TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp plans to install solar panels on some Prius hybrids in its next remodeling, responding to growing demand for “green” cars amid record-high oil prices, a source briefed on the matter said on Monday.


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BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Microsoft has told a European Union court that an antitrust fine of 899 million euros ($1.4 billion) against it is both excessive and disproportionate, the Court of First Instance said on Monday.


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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Any deal between Yahoo Inc and Time Warner Inc’s AOL division would be unlikely to be struck before Yahoo’s annual meeting on August 1, a person familiar with the negotiations said on Monday.


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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp said on Monday it would be willing to reopen talks to buy all or part of Yahoo Inc, but only if a new Yahoo board is elected — a big boost for financier Carl Icahn’s board slate.


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BOSTON, Massachusetts (Reuters) - From online courses to kid-friendly laptops and virtual teachers, technology is spreading in America’s classrooms, reducing the need for textbooks, notepads, paper and in some cases even the schools themselves.


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DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp is rushing to finish the production version of its Chevy Volt and plans to unveil a showroom-ready model of the heavily touted electric car in September, people familiar with the project say.


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LONDON (Reuters) - Many City workers are unlikely to have a relaxing summer holiday this year, with 83 percent admitting they will take their mobile phone or Blackberry with them, a report said on Monday.


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SUN VALLEY, Idaho (Hollywood Reporter) - Major media executives packed their bathing suits, BlackBerrys and iPods this weekend and headed for their version of summer camp — the annual gathering put together by financier Herb Allen in this exclusive resort.


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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Appeals court arguments in a battle over MP3 digital music patents between Alcatel-Lucent and Microsoft Corp focused Monday on a joint development pact struck nearly two decade earlier.


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SEOUL (Reuters) - These days when customers walk into electronics stores, the first question they ask is how much electricity the fridge, washing machine or laptop computer they are contemplating buying consumes.


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TOKYO (Reuters) - Kawasaki Heavy Industries decided to cancel its plan to spend 10 billion yen ($94 million) to build a new industrial robot plant as auto and microchip makers curb capital investments, the Nikkei business daily said.


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SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean flat screen maker LG Display Co and two smaller Taiwanese rivals are set to post profits for the second quarter that more than trebled thanks to strong demand for TVs and tight supplies of PC panels.


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NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. judge’s order to Google Inc to turn over YouTube user data to Viacom Inc sparked an outcry on Thursday from privacy advocates in the midst of a legal showdown over video piracy.


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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Ask.com, the Web search unit of IAC/InterActiveCorp, has closed an all-cash deal to acquire Lexico Publishing Group LLC, the owner of popular reference sites Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com.


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TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese private broadcaster TV Asahi Corp aims to ally with an information technology and telecoms firm by the end of the year and is open to a capital tie-up, its president said.


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Globalbox Entertainment Corp has recently launched an exciting new service providing South Asian Television service, and VOIP phone service to residents in the Greater Toronto Area. Subscribers can sit back and relax while they view all their favourite South Asian Television shows on channels such as MATV, Sanskar, Music India, Aaj Talk, Headlines Today and many more! Globalbox is the first company in the Greater Toronto Area to offer South Asian IPTV services and the channel lineup looks very promising.
In addition to all the great IPTV content the company provides, subscribers will also benefit from the VOIP phone service that comes included in most packages. As a VOIP provider in Toronto, their revolutionary video technology changes the way you will talk with relatives and friends because you can actually see the other person you are speaking with!
If South Asian Television and VOIP phone service aren’t enough, Globalbox also offers IP radio service that allows subscribers to listen to their favourite radio stations across the globe – all through their standard home entertainment system setup. The combination of South Asian IPTV, VOIP service, and Internet radio looks to be an exciting entertainment option for the South Asian community in the greater Toronto Area.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The deteriorating U.S. economy and slumping stock prices will frame discussions among top media and technology executives at the 26th annual Allen & Co confab in Sun Valley, Idaho, next week.


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(Reuters) - Mozilla, developer of open-source Web browser Firefox, said on Wednesday it set a new Guinness World Record for the largest number of software downloads in 24 hours.


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TOKYO (Reuters) - Nintendo Co Ltd’s Wii game console once again outsold Sony Corp’s PlayStation 3 in Japan in June, but its lead is fading, a game magazine publisher said.


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SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc have been holding separate talks with other potential media partners after their negotiations with each other broke down, sources familiar with the companies’ thinking said on Wednesday.


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LONDON (Reuters) - British computer games retailer Game Group smashed first-half profit forecasts, boosted by new releases like Grand Theft Auto IV and Wii Fit, but its shares slumped on concern that demand has peaked.


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HELSINKI (Reuters) - The world’s top cellphone maker Nokia said on Thursday it had signed a cooperation agreement with Norwegian telcom group Telenor for its “Ovi” Internet services platform.


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