AP - Toshiba Corp. said Friday it has postponed the release of high-definition DVD players in the United States until April, a month later than planned, so that it can synchronize the sales with title releases from Hollywood studies.

Reuters - French telecoms equipment provider Alcatel is in talks with its smaller U.S. rival Lucent Technologies to create a combine with sales of 21 billion euros ($25.33 billion), the companies said late on Thursday.

AFP - Toshiba has won a patent infringement case against South Korean rival Hynix Semiconductor, which was ordered by a Tokyo court to halt sales of NAND flash memory chips in Japan.

Reuters - Palm Inc., the maker of Treo cell phones, on Thursday said quarterly profit rose as it doubled sales of its phones and introduced a new device based on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system.

Reuters - Movie theater operators hope to be screening live 3D sports events by 2007 in a bid to lure sports fans away from their home theater systems and bolster sagging mid-week ticket sales.

Reuters - Sales of existing U.S. homes climbed 5.2 percent in February, defying expectations for a slowdown, as unseasonably warm weather boosted sales of both single-family homes and condos, according to trade group data on Thursday that showed a pause in the market's cool-down.

USATODAY.com - While spring hasn't generated growth in the music industry, a sunny outlook prevails. With 119 million albums sold to date, sales in the first quarter of 2006 are down 3%. That disappointment is countered by the explosion of digital sales, up 96% with 122.9 million tracks downloaded so far this year, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Reuters - General Mills Inc. , maker of Cheerios cereal and Progresso soup, on Thursday reported higher quarterly earnings as higher sales offset increased fuel, packaging and marketing costs.

AP - Dell Inc., the world's largest computer maker, was long known for cheap, high-quality computers that didn't have much style or cachet among hardcore video gamers.

Hundreds of live calves a week could be exported from Wales after the ban on live cattle sales is lifted, farmers hope.

Reuters - The Web site reads like an advertisement for a holiday home.

Reuters - "A History of Violence" snagged the top spot on the DVD rental chart its first week in stores, but the Oscar-nominated crime drama wasn't able to topple "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" from the No. 1 position on the DVD sales chart.

Reuters - After nine consecutive weeks of sales increases, the soundtrack to the Disney cable TV movie "High School Musical" returned to the top of the U.S. pop album chart Wednesday.

Reuters - Recent controversy surrounding two Random House bestsellers has not dented sales, but one of them may change the way memoirs are issued, the publisher's chief executive said on Wednesday.

Analysts say that Microsoft's decision to hold off on the consumer release of its new operating system until after the holidays deals a blow to computer makers who were counting on the upgrade to boost their own sales. The market reacts predictably.

NewsFactor - Microsoft's announcement that its major operating system would be pushed back until after the holidays has caused concern about how the news will affect PC sales.

Reuters - Microsoft Corp.'s decision to delay the release of its much-anticipated Vista operating system until after this year's holiday shopping season could hurt consumer electronic and office supply retailers in the fourth quarter, an analyst said on Wednesday.

AFP - Dell, the world's leader in personal computers, said it planned to create 200 new jobs and ramp up investment in China amid strong sales growth in the Asian country.

AP - Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday offered "free, unlimited technical support" to rivals interested in making their software work with Microsoft servers, calling it a sign that it is seeking full compliance with an EU antitrust ruling.

Danielle George - AHN Staff Reporter Las Vegas, Nevada (AHN) - Microsoft executives announce an increase in sales of Windows Media Center-equipped PCs. The current numbers project that by the end of March sales will hit 10 million. Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Windows...