Scientific quests: Better bananas, nicer mosquitoes

Bill Gates challenged scientists to come up with new ideas for global health. Imaginations ran wild.
The New York Times

BET promotes ring tone sales with video pop-ups

While common in Europe, this is the first time a U.S. video channel has integrated mobile messaging on air to sell ring tones.

Garages hold mythic power in Silicon Valley

HP celebrates the completed restoration of the Palo Alto garage where it all began in 1939.

Viacom nearing deal to acquire DreamWorks

Board approves Paramount's decision to make offer; could a transaction take place as soon as this weekend?

Prodigy up for sale

Parent SBC, now known as AT&T, hopes to close the sale of the Net's oldest brand by the end of March 2006.

BellSouth, 8x8 launch VoIP service

Carrier is the latest big phone company to offer home services powered by voice over Internet protocol.

Prize in Indian talent search: A year on Bill Gates' team

A contest to identify promising software students in India offers as top prize an internship with Gates' technical team.
The New York Times

How to say 'sick as a parrot' in German

Web site aims to teach British World Cup fans handy phrases to use at the Munich tournament.

Former software chief admits stealing trade secrets

In a 3-year-old criminal case, guilty pleas by former software execs offer glimpse into world of corporate espionage.

Clogger of P2P networks to shut down

Overpeer, a service that flooded file-swapping networks with fake music and videos, is closing its doors.

Worms and holes and exploits, oh my

roundup Software flaws keep adding up, but so do the fixes. The question is, are you quick enough to keep up?

NTP says payment would end RIM dispute

Patent holding firm would accept 5.7 percent of revenue generated by U.S. sales of the BlackBerry to settle court battle.

Gartner: IT managers should use Xbox

Staying up to date with technology should be a key part of IT strategy for 2006, Gartner tells CIOs.

Google, Red Hat, 10 others join NASDAQ-100

Twelve high flyers replace 12 laggards on the NASDAQ-100 Index, which lists the hundred biggest non-financial companies.

Week in pictures: Planetary hues, bird's-eye views

roundup The unexpectedly hardy Mars rovers keep on clicking, as satellites zoom in on Saturn's moons and Earth's ice.

Briefly: Deal of the day: Sony VAIO Pentium notebook for $1,149

Plus:  Deal of the day: Sirius radio receiver for $19.99...  Creative unveils video and MP3 player...  Symantec merges enterprise IDS products...  Nokia gets into retail... 

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