Government officials advise South Korean consumers that Internet and e-commerce sites may lack full compatibility with Vista.

The home of the Braves is the eighth city the Internet service provider has signed up to deploy a Wi-Fi network.

CEO says new U-verse service is working better than expected, and the company plans to push IPTV more aggressively this year.

Enterprise clients now offered greater central control and IT management, plus optional tools and services.

Despite falling prices, Nokia squeezes out profits on sales of 106 million handsets in the fourth quarter of 2006.

Reuters - German industrial conglomerate
Siemens (SIEGn.DE) has agreed to buy U.S. software maker UGS
Corp. for $3.5 billion and plans an initial public offering of
its automotive engineering unit, VDO, it said on Wednesday.

InfoWorld - With the consumer launch of Windows Vista on the horizon, Microsoft's software and retail partners are preparing for the launch with applications and support for the new OS.

InfoWorld - With sales of its storage software dropping, Symantec plans to lay off some staff as part of plans to cut $200 million in expenses.

AP - When a blogger revealed this week that Microsoft Corp. wanted to pay him to fix purported inaccuracies in technical articles on Wikipedia, the software company endured online slams and a rebuke from the Web encyclopedia’s founder for behaving unethically.

Reuters - German industrial conglomerate
Siemens AG (SIEGn.DE) is close to a deal to buy business
software maker UGS Corp. for about $3.5 billion, including
debt, two sources familiar with the situation said on
Wednesday.

InfoWorld - Free software for Research in Motion's BlackBerry builds an online store right into the device, expanding users' shopping options while saving the trouble of roving the mobile Internet in search of the right product.

Reuters - Security software maker Symantec
Corp. posted a 25 percent increase in quarterly profit
on Wednesday, and said it planned to cut costs by $200 million.

AP - On the eve of the consumer launch of its new Windows Vista operating system, Microsoft Corp. is extending the period in which it will offer support for the previous version, Windows XP.

NewsFactor - Social networking — complete with blogging, profiles, and communities — is coming to a corporate office near you as technology giants IBM and Microsoft duke it out in the market for collaboration software.

AFP - Microsoft announced that it was extending technical support for home Windows XP operating systems, a signal that it was not abandoning them for Vista software launching next week.

Five-year extension, which has roughly half of mainstream-support features, is offered for first time with consumer products.

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AFP - Smart sniffer robots able to detect chemical leaks, drugs or explosives are set to become a step closer to reality thanks to a new algorithm, scientists report.

NewsFactor - As the Month of Apple Bugs project rages on, Apple on Tuesday released a patch to fix a serious security flaw in its QuickTime media player software. It took the Mac-maker 23 days from the time the flaw was released — along with the code that would allow hackers to exploit it — to issue the patch.

AT&T’s mobile-services provider says it added a record number of subscribers, more than tripled profits in the fourth quarter.

InfoWorld - Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) and one of Japan's largest computer games software makers, Bandai Namco Holdings, are planning to jointly develop entertainment contents optimized for the powerful Cell chip that sits under the hood of the PlayStation 3.

InfoWorld - Fon Technology hopes to make it easier for users to connect to its network of hotspots with Wi-Fi-enabled phones by offering them software from Spotigo.

World’s largest business software maker says it will no longer forcast license revenues due to changing sales models.

PC Magazine - Patience has been a virtue when it comes to PlayStation 3 sometimes, but one of the biggest annoyances out of the gate was the lack of pixel-perfect compatibility, despite being one of Sony’s most touted features over Xbox 360, which has to software emulate each game in its back catalog.

USATODAY.com - To promote next week’s release of its Windows Vista operating system to consumers, Microsoft is using the tag line “The Wow starts now.” But on Wall Street, the wow started more like six months ago.

Handset makers in the U.S. are dabbling in selling phones directly to consumers, but will the model be attractive enough to consumers?

There’s a fair bit of eye candy, but the real benefits will become evident when programmers take advantage of technology under the hood.
Images: Developers take advantage of Vista

Reuters - China’s largest online travel agent,
Ctrip.com, is partnering with software giant Microsoft Corp. to
cash in on the country’s growing class of young and affluent
consumers looking to splash out on travel.

AFP - Microsoft Corp will extend the free support period for its Windows XP Home Edition until after 2010 in response to consumer appeals.