News Analysis: Deutsche Telekom and union face off in very un-German confrontation
As a strike against the German phone giant stretches into its third week, Deutsche Telekom's plan to move 50,000 employees into a new subsidiary, while paying them less for longer workweeks, has so far created little more than entrenched positions on both sides.

Loss narrows at Vodafone Group
Shares of the company rose to a five-year high after it forecast strong growth in emerging markets.

Google deal for DoubleClick is reportedly under scrutiny
The Federal Trade Commission has opened a preliminary antitrust investigation into Google's planned $3.1 billion purchase of an online advertising company, an industry executive said.

China investing heavily to train a more tech-savvy army
Beijing is upgrading its military education system to produce better officers and noncommissioned officers capable of waging war with modern equipment and techniques.

Internet 'property developer' hopes to ride new wave in cyber-revenue
Analysts suggest that NameMedia and its competitors could represent the next wave of Internet initial public offerings, while also providing a peek at a significant change in what people see when they stumble onto obscure Web properties.

Polling goes online, with a recruited panel
Internet pollsters say they offer cheaper, faster and more accurate general surveys. But critics say they are no substitute for shoe leather.

Reality of videoconferencing begins to match its promise
High-end videoconferencing has had a bumpy past, but with new technology it is delivering on its promise as an alternative to business travel.

Altimo wants to expand east and west
The problem is that the company has made few allies in its quest for expansion so far. If it is known beyond Russia at all, it is for its propensity to fight tenaciously in court and on boards of directors.

'Tween' magazines survive, though older sisters have faded
With a faithful audience in the millions, magazines aimed at girls aged 8 to 14 are in overdrive.

After 28-year wait, a photographer gets his Pulitzer Prize
The anonymous photographer who won print journalism's top prize finally collected his award.

Apple's genius in retailing eludes its rivals
Steve Jobs set out to create the conditions most likely to convert museum visitors into actual customers, then to make those customers feel that they were being pampered long after the sale.

The telecommunications company Avaya is in negotiations to sell a part or all of itself, in what may be the latest round of deal making in its industry, executives briefed on the negotiations have said.

The company, based in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, and valued at $6.1 billion, has retained the investment bank Credit Suisse as an adviser, the executives said. Among those interested are two rivals, Cisco Systems and Nortel Networks, and the buyout firm Silver Lake Partners.

The executives cautioned Monday night that negotiations were in the early stage and that the company could still remain independent.

Avaya, the once the business communications arm of Lucent Technologies, and before that AT&T, is one of the top U.S. makers of phone equipment, rivaling Cisco, Nortel and Alcatel-Lucent in providing Internet-based communications to corporations. Avaya was spun off from Lucent in October 2000. Avaya suffered financially after the dot-com bubble burst but has since rebounded.

Cisco Systems, the world's biggest maker of computer networking equipment, on Tuesday completed a $3.2 billion purchase of WebEx Communications to gain videoconferencing software.

Cisco bought 90.1 percent of WebEx's outstanding shares for $57 each and has the right to buy the rest at the same price, the company, based in San Jose, California, said in a statement.

Microsoft and Nokia won a court ruling saying their products did not infringe an Oregon company's two patents for ergonomic keyboards and joysticks.

The ruling is also a victory for the joystick maker Saitek Industries, which was also sued by Motionless Keyboard. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington said the companies did not use patented features.

Motionless claimed Microsoft's Strategic Commander device and two Sidewinder joysticks, plus Saitek joysticks and certain Nokia phones, infringed patents for keyboards made to be held in one hand so the thumb can perform controls.