U.S. presidential debates enter the era of YouTube
YouTube, which is owned by Google, and CNN are co-sponsoring a debate among the eight Democratic presidential candidates on July 23 in South Carolina, an event that could help shape the next phase of what has already been called the YouTube election.

The iPhone is missing a keyboard
The downside is that typing is done by pecking on the screen with thumbs or fingers, something hardly anyone outside of Apple has experienced yet.

Shake-up at The Wall Street Journal
The reorganization is designed to integrate print and online news operations as well as simplify the paper's international news structure.

Google and Intel lead effort to cut power wasted by computers
The effort will include a large-scale campaign to educate consumers and corporate computer managers about technology's role in the emission of greenhouse gases.

Yahoo directors survive shareholders' challenge
Yahoo says about a third of its shareholders cast votes against re-election of at least one director in what was seen as a protest against excessive executive pay.

Qwest CEO to resign
Richard Notebaert, the chief executive credited with turning Qwest Communications around, surprised investors by announcing plans to resign.

Bebo and Apple set deal to sell music online
A new partnership between the online social networking site Bebo and Apple's iTunes store will encourage fans to buy digital music, not pirate it.

Google to cut back on how long it keeps search history
Search information will now be made anonymous after a year and a half, the company said in a letter addressed to an EU privacy watchdog and posted on the company Web site.

Yahoo faces an ordeal of dissent and defections
A stockholder has mounted a grass-roots campaign calling for changes. And plenty of other people have questions for the chief executive these days.

Apple is offering a browser for Windows-based PCs
The move indicates that Apple is increasingly confident in its ability to compete against Microsoft's desktop computing monopoly.

The European Commission has cleared the way for investors, including Telefonica, to buy control of Telecom Italia by telling them Brussels has no authority in the matter, a letter showed.

Most big cross-border mergers in the European Union must be referred to the commission for approval on competition grounds. However, a commission official wrote to the parties buying control of Telecom Italia, saying that because of the large number of players involved, the deal fell outside the jurisdiction of the EU executive.

"On the basis of the information provided by you, the transaction would not trigger a notification requirement," the official, Michael Albers, said in his letter, dated Tuesday.

The letter by Albers, who is acting director of information, communication and media in the competition department of the commission, was provided to Reuters after a regular commission briefing at which a spokesman was asked whether the EU executive had approved the deal.

Franco Frattini, the EU justice and home affairs commissioner, on Wednesday welcomed an offer by Google to cut by a quarter the time it retains data on its users' searches.

"It is indeed a good step," Frattini said. "I have appreciated the commitment of Google not only to meet our expectations in terms of protection of privacy or better on cutting the time and reducing the time of retention of personal data."

He said he expected an answer soon from Google on other concerns raised by EU experts, including how it uses information collected from cookies, the small data files it and other companies install on computers to gather insights on Web usage.

The Semiconductor Industry Association on Wednesday sharply cut its forecast for 2007 global microchip sales growth, citing a decline in the average selling prices in several key market segments. The association said it expected sales to grow by 1.8 percent in 2007, down from its earlier projection of 10 percent. The new forecast projects total sales of $252 billion in 2007.

T-Mobile, the German telecommunications giant, has withdrawn as the official "presenter" of the Tour de France on ARD and ZDF, the two public television networks confirmed Wednesday. The deal was worth an estimated €1 million, or $1.3 million, a year. The money will now go into anti-doping efforts, a T-Mobile spokesman, Christian Frommert, said. The company will continue to sponsor a team in the race.

NEC Tokin, a Japanese maker of electronic components, announced a recall Wednesday of about 134,000 of its batteries used in Japan Radio mobile phones, saying they may overheat.

Sprint Nextel, the third- largest U.S. mobile-phone company, agreed to buy the reseller Northern PCS Services for $307.2 million to end a lawsuit.