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    Monday, June 2, 2008

    CNN - Kennedy at North Carolina hospital for brain surgery

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    Kennedy at North Carolina hospital for brain surgery


    Sen. Edward Kennedy was at Duke University Medical Center on Monday for surgery to treat a malignant brain tumor.

    In a statement, the 76-year-old Democratic icon said he and his wife, Vicki, "along with my outstanding team of doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital, have consulted with experts from around the country and have decided that the best course of action for my brain tumor is targeted surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiation."

    Aides said the senator would be going into surgery around 9 a.m. ET and the surgery would last four to six hours.

    Afterward, Kennedy said in the statement, he expects to remain in the hospital "to recuperate for approximately one week."

    He added, "Shortly thereafter, I will start radiation treatments at Massachusetts General Hospital and begin chemotherapy."

    Kennedy, a senator from Massachusetts since 1962, suffered a seizure May 17 while walking his dogs at his home in Hyannisport, Massachusetts.

    Three days later, Kennedy's doctors at Massachusetts General said that preliminary results from a brain biopsy showed a tumor in the left parietal lobe was responsible for the seizure.

    The surgeon is Dr. Allan Friedman, Kennedy's statement said. Friedman is chief of the division of neurosurgery and co-director of Duke's Neuro-Oncology Program, according to the hospital's Web site.

    Friedman is responsible for more than 90 percent of all tumor removals and biopsies conducted at Duke, the medical center's Web site says.

    It's possible Kennedy will be awake for his surgery, according to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent a neurosurgeon.

    Friedman and the Duke hospital are known for surgery called "motor mapping" in which doctors locate the areas of the brain responsible for things such as movement and speech and map these areas to ensure they are avoided.

    Often during such operations, surgeons ask a patient to repeat certain words or make a movement such as squeezing a hand so they can identify areas of the brain involving speech and movement.

    They then attempt to remove as much of the tumor as they believe they can safely, Gupta said.

    Gupta said earlier that a tumor in the left parietal lobe could affect the senator's ability to speak and understand speech as well as the strength on the right side of his body.

    Gupta said such tumors don't usually metastasize or spread to other parts of the body.

    "What they do do -- and I think that's a concern to people -- is that they grow, and sometimes they invade other normal parts of the brain. That is the big concern here," he said.

    Malignant glioma is the most common primary brain tumor, accounting for more than half of the 18,000 primary malignant brain tumors diagnosed each year in the United States, according to the National Cancer Institute.

    Kennedy used his statement Monday to focus on the presidential race as well his surgery. "After completing treatment, I look forward to returning to the United States Senate and to doing everything I can to help elect Barack Obama as our next president," he said.

    Obama, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, described Kennedy as a "giant" of the Senate.

    "I think you can argue that I would not be sitting here as a presidential candidate had it not been for some of the battles that Ted Kennedy has fought," Obama said.

    "He is somebody who battled for voting rights and civil rights when I was a child. I stand on his shoulders."

    Obama's rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, said Kennedy's courage and resolve made him one of the greatest legislators in Senate history.

    "He's a fighter. There isn't anybody like him who gets up and goes out and does battle on behalf of all of us every single day," Clinton said. "I know he's a fighter when it comes to the challenges he's facing right now."

    Sen. John McCain, the GOP presumptive presidential nominee, also offered his thoughts and prayers for Kennedy's family.

    "I have described Ted Kennedy as the last lion in the Senate. And I have held that view because he remains the single most effective member of the Senate," McCain said.

    President Bush said in a statement he was saddened by the news and would keep the senator in his prayers.

    "Laura and I are concerned to learn of our friend Sen. Kennedy's diagnosis. Ted Kennedy is a man of tremendous courage, remarkable strength and powerful spirit. Our thoughts are with Sen. Kennedy and his family during this difficult period," he said.

    Kennedy had surgery in October to clear his carotid artery in hopes of preventing a stroke. Until the seizure, the powerful Democrat appeared in fine health. He suffers chronic back pain from injuries suffered in a 1964 plane crash.

    Kennedy is one of only six senators in U.S. history to serve more than 40 years. He is an iconic liberal champion of social issues such as health care, family leave and the minimum wage.

    He is the youngest of four brothers in a powerful and legendary family. His oldest brother, Joe Kennedy, was killed in World War II; John F. Kennedy was the 35th president of the United States and slain in 1963; and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, a former U.S. attorney general, was running for president when he was assassinated in 1968.

    Sunday, June 1, 2008

    Reuters - Small PCs big news as economy slows

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    Small PCs big news as economy slows

    Sunday, Jun 01, 2008 5:40PM UTC

    By Baker Li

    TAIPEI (Reuters) - Smaller, low-cost PCs are likely to be at the top of the shopping list for technology buyers gathering in Taipei this week for the world's second largest computer fair, as an economic slowdown in the United States forces consumers to cut back on spending.

    Shoppers are feeling the pinch from rocketing fuel costs and rising prices, and in the United States the subprime crisis has left lenders less willing to hand over credit, leaving some consumers reluctant to buy new expensive personal computers and gadget heavy mobile phones.

    Cheaper, low-cost PCs, such as Asustek Computer Inc's <2357.TW> Eee computer, aimed at emerging markets and buyers of additional computers, may keep growth on track for many computer and component makers.

    These PCs, many with longer battery lives and wireless connection features, will share the stage with a line of eco-friendly computers with slimmer, energy-efficient displays and solar power systems, designed to cut power consumption as oil prices soar and consumers seek ways to reduce their environmental impact.

    "We don't have deep pockets now," said Kevin Chung, manager at Taiwan's Jih Sun Investment Consulting.

    "We really have to watch closely on the buying interest because that is going to be a signal on how the recovery's strength will be in the second half."

    Asustek Computer, which makes the runaway success Eee PC, will display new, wider-screen models that allow users to do everything from storing video clips in shock-proof flash memory and surfing the Web in coffee shops.

    Acer Inc <2353.TW>, Taiwan's most famous PC brand, will also test the water by introducing similar low-cost PCs as it expand into fast-growing emerging markets, including China and India.

    "We will launch a notebook different than the ones we've sold before and targeted at a new consumer segment," an Acer spokeswoman said.

    Next to Acer's booth, Intel Corp <INTC.O> will be promoting its new processors, as the U.S. chip giant sees a big market for ultra low-cost PCs that can fit in one's pocket and for the netbook, a PC selling for about $250.

    WIMAX

    The show's organizers say a total of 1,725 exhibitors, including foreign technology companies, such as Intel and AMD <AMD.N>, will attend the June 3-7 show in Taipei, up 29 percent from last year to a record high.

    They arrive at a time when semiconductor and display makers are scaling down their capital spending to ease pressure on the supply side, and when a new batch of computers, mobile phones and game machines have just hit the stores.

    Research firm IDC predicts that worldwide PC shipments are expected to rise 13 percent, to reach 296 million units in 2008, and will grow about 10 percent in each of the next two years.

    For the first time, Computex buyers can have a quick tour by using trial laptops that have an ultra-high-speed Internet technology, WiMax, built in when they take free shuttle buses, the organizers said.

    Many Taiwan PC makers and telecom operators have pinned their hopes WiMax technology winning the battle to be the fourth-generation mobile standard of choice.

    Global spending on WiMax infrastructure, including base stations and equipments, is likely to grow to $3.5 billion in 2011, more than tripling from 2006, according to IDC.

    "WiMax has been getting much chatter and with players like Sprint <S.N> and Google <GOOG.O> coming in, its a huge push for the technology," said Rosemary Ho, Chairman and CEO of Global Mobile Corp, a WiMax license holder in Taiwan.

    Intel has also made a big bet that mobile WiMax will take off soon, even though many large operators in developed countries are throwing their weight behind a rival technology, known as Long Term Evolution (LTE).

    (Additional reporting by Sheena Lee)

    (Editing by Louise Heavens)

    Wednesday, May 28, 2008

    Reuters - Is oil windfall a curse for poor countries?

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    Is oil windfall a curse for poor countries?

    Wednesday, May 28, 2008 9:5PM UTC

    By Ed Stoddard - Analysis

    DALLAS (Reuters) - Red-hot oil prices are a blessing for big energy companies but often prove a curse for poor oil-producing countries.

    Exxon Mobil Corp and other energy giants traditionally use good times as an occasion to make prudent investments with their cash. But oil-rich countries that are poor -- and often poorly run -- tend to squander their windfall profits on dubious projects or have them stolen by corrupt officials.

    So when the inevitable price bust occurs, developing countries are ill-prepared.

    "The oil majors have many decades of experience in smoothing out their revenues and investing the money during the fat years to prepare for the lean years," said UCLA political scientist Michael Ross.

    Exxon, which was holding its annual meeting on Wednesday, enjoyed full-year earnings last year of $40.61 billion.

    State coffers in oil-producing countries like Angola are also overflowing but many lack the transparency of publicly listed Exxon. Many have neither the capacity to handle such an income surge nor the will to spend it in an equitable manner.

    "New oil producers especially are largely unprepared for revenues of this scale ... oil-producing countries today are being hit with a tsunami of cash, and the danger is that they will squander it just like they squandered the surpluses of the 1970s," Ross, a noted expert in the field, told Reuters.

    The new oil club includes African nations such as Equatorial Guinea, Chad and Sudan.

    Grounds for optimism are scant. Equatorial Guinea has risen in a few short years to become sub-Saharan Africa's third-largest crude exporter after Nigeria and Angola.

    Yet most of its half-million people live in grinding poverty, and income disparities are glaring. Equatorial Guinea stands out as its small population means that oil cash could actually make a meaningful impact on the lives of its people.

    President Teodoro Obiang Nguema has been in office since he overthrew his uncle in a coup in 1979, and human rights groups say he tolerates little dissent. The country was ranked as the tenth-most-corrupt in the world last year by Berlin-based watchdog Transparency International in a 180-nation survey.

    Angola has been accused of graft on a grand scale while many of its people are among the world's poorest. According to the International Monetary Fund it could not account for at least $4.2 billion in oil revenue between 1997 and 2002.

    "When you have a situation with little fiscal transparency in the context of high oil prices, you have problems. But Angola is doing better now, it is publishing details of what it's paid by the different oil companies," said Razia Khan, the Africa economist for Standard Chartered.

    "But the criticism is that that data is only out with a considerable lag," she added.

    Oil prices on Wednesday rose to near $130 per barrel, not far from the U.S. crude record high of $135.09 reached last week. Oil prices have doubled in the last year as speculators pile into commodities and as demand soars in emerging economies.

    OIL, GUNS AND BUTTER

    Red-hot oil prices strengthen the hand of repressive governments that can buy more guns and that seldom give much thought to the "butter" side of expenditure.

    They can also grease the wheels of conflict as the stakes in the game are so much higher. The militant attacks in Nigeria's impoverished but oil-soaked Niger Delta which have helped keep prices on the boil are an example of this trend.

    A botched coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea a few years ago is another. In a commentary in the current issue of "Foreign Affairs," Ross writes that oil-producing states today host about a third of the world's civil wars, up from one-fifth in 1992.

    Rivers State in Nigeria's Niger Delta is often held up as a prime example. Elections in 2003 and 2007 were overwhelmingly won by the country's ruling party but widely dismissed by outside observers as farces.

    "The spoils of controlling political office in the Delta are higher now than they've ever been, especially because so little has been done to prevent public officials from stealing the money they are accountable for," said Chris Albin-Lackey, the senior African researcher at Human Rights Watch.

    "It really seems that the primary consequence of increasing revenues going into government coffers has been increasingly violent and corrupt struggles for political power," he said.

    Many developing countries also simply lack the capacity and technical expertise to deal with such a sudden flow of revenue and would have trouble allocating it efficiently even with the political will to do so.

    "There are several studies which show that the national oil companies are much more inefficient in terms of how they spend or invest their money because they are not market-driven companies," said Bruce Bullock, director of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

    "But some have matured over time such as Petrobras in Brazil, which is an outstanding company," he told Reuters.

    (Editing by Matthew Lewis)

    Reuters - Next Microsoft operating system has touch controls

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    Next Microsoft operating system has touch controls

    Wednesday, May 28, 2008 7:23AM UTC

    By Eric Auchard

    CARLSBAD, California (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp plans to give users of the next version of its Windows operating system touch screen controls as one option for controlling the software, its top executives said on Tuesday.

    Chairman Bill Gates and Chief Executive Steve Ballmer showed off new Windows features based on software it calls "multi-touch" that will be part of Windows 7, the next version of Windows, which Ballmer said was due out in late 2009.

    The ability to use touch to give users fingertip control of their screens could help revolutionize how computer desktops and mobile phones are controlled and would be an alternative to existing mice, keyboard and pen-based user controls.

    During a joint interview that kicked off the Wall Street Journal's three-day D: All Things Digital conference, an annual gathering of the computer industry elite taking place north of San Diego, Ballmer said touch screen controls was one example of how Microsoft would improve on existing Windows software.

    Microsoft is seeking to one-up Apple Inc, which made touch-screen software central to the success of its iPhone mobile device, which combines computer, phone and Web features and has sold around 6 million units in its first 11 months.

    After more than a decade of slow development, Gates said new ways of interacting with computers other than keyboards and mice have matured to the point where they are ready to go mainstream.

    "We are at an interesting juncture where almost all of the interaction is with the computer and mouse, today, and, over the years to come, the role of speech, vision, ink, all of those will become huge," Gates said.

    He was referring to technologies that gives users the ability to control computers with voice commands, detect and sort different kinds of images and use electronic ink instead of typing for computer input.

    SURFACE

    Multi-touch software builds on existing capabilities Microsoft has introduced in recent years including Surface, for interacting with large tabletop computer displays, TouchWall for mounted screens and Tablet PCs for touch-screen notebooks.

    In a demonstration of touch-screen capabilities to be offered in Windows 7, Microsoft showed a new application called "Touchable Paint" that lets a user paint with their fingers, as well as software to organize photos or navigate maps by touch.

    "It is not about complete replacement of the mouse," Julie Larson-Green, Microsoft's corporate vice president in charge of Windows Experience Program Management, said in a first-time demonstration of multi-touch features to run inside Windows 7.

    Ballmer said Microsoft is trying to learn from the reaction to Windows Vista, the latest version of its operating system, which was introduced in January 2007 but faced initial criticism for being incompatible with many older applications.

    He said Microsoft has sold 150 million copies of Vista, up from 140 million the company reported it had sold a month ago.

    "When you read the customer research, the No. 1 people found jarring is that we changed the user interface," Ballmer said. "People take a while to get used to it."

    He said Microsoft had learned lessons about making dramatic changes in the way users interact with new versions of Windows. Conference co-host Walter Mossberg asked Ballmer whether Microsoft was done changing the user interface.

    "We will polish it," Ballmer replied. "We will change it, but there are ways to change it and there are times to do it."

    Vista followed five years after the previous Windows upgrade and was beset by delays due to the complexity of updating a piece of software with some 50 million lines of code that runs on more than 90 percent of the world's computers.

    After the problems of releasing Vista in a timely manner, Ballmer pledged to never again wait so long between releases of its Windows operating system. Microsoft has said it expected to release the new operating system code-named Windows 7 around three years after the early 2007 release of Windows Vista.

    Ballmer acknowledged that Microsoft considered Apple a formidable competitor. But he said the two companies' audiences were vastly different in scale, with Apple supplying around 10 million computers this year versus the roughly 290 million machines which PC makers will sell running Microsoft Windows.

    "Whether Apple has a PC with touch in it to market first, we'll see," Ballmer said.

    (Additional reporting by Daisuke Wakabayashi in Seattle; editing by Sue Thomas)

    Saturday, May 17, 2008

    CNN - Ted Kennedy rushed to hospital

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    Ted Kennedy rushed to hospital


    Sen. Edward Kennedy was rushed to a hospital in Massachusetts Saturday morning, a well-informed, prominent Democratic source in that state told CNN.

    Kennedy was transferred to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston after spending less than an hour in the Cape Cod Hospital emergency room, a spokesman for the Cape Cod facility told CNN.

    David Reilly said Kennedy was admitted to the Cape Cod emergency room around 9 a.m. ET. Massachusetts General said it had no information on Kennedy.

    The source said the 76-year-old senator had "symptoms of a stroke" at the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis.

    Kennedy had surgery in October to clear his carotid artery in hopes of preventing a stroke. Colleagues said he had recovered quickly and was working energetically recently.

    He suffers chronic back pain from injuries suffered in a plane crash in 1964.

    Kennedy has represented Massachusetts in the Senate since 1962. He is one of only six senators in U.S. history to serve more than 40 years. He is known as a liberal champion of social issues such as health care, family leave, and the minimum wage.

    He ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1980. He has endorsed Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for the 2008 nomination.

    Kennedy is the youngest of nine children in the famous family of Joseph and Rose Kennedy. His oldest brother, Joe, died in World War II; two other brothers, President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert Kennedy, were both assassinated in the 1960s.

    Wednesday, May 14, 2008

    Angelina. Jolie

    My bumps, my lovely lady bumps

    Reuters - Angelina Jolie confirms she's having twins

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    Angelina Jolie confirms she's having twins

    Wednesday, May 14, 2008 8:27PM UTC

    CANNES, France (Reuters) - Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie said in a television interview on Wednesday that she is expecting twins with actor Brad Pitt, the Hollywood couple's fifth and sixth children.

    Jolie, being interviewed at the Cannes film festival alongside comic actor Jack Black for the syndicated entertainment program "Access Hollywood," acknowledged that she was having twins after Black made reference to them.

    "Yeah, yeah, we've confirmed that already," Jolie, 32, said, according to a transcript provided by the show. "Well, Jack's just confirmed it actually."

    Excerpts of the interview, conducted by a reporter for NBC's "Today" show to promote the animated film "Kung Fu Panda," featuring characters voiced by Jolie and Black, was set to air on "Access Hollywood" on Wednesday night.

    The full interview will air on Thursday on "Today."

    Jolie and Pitt, 44, together have adopted 3-year-old daughter Zahara, 6-year-old son Maddox and 4-year-old son Pax. They also have a biological daughter, 22-month-old Shiloh.

    Jolie won an Academy Award as best supporting actress for her role in the 1999 film "Girl, Interrupted."

    Reuters/Nielsen

    Reuters - Craigslist sues eBay, alleges corporate spy plan

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    Craigslist sues eBay, alleges corporate spy plan

    Wednesday, May 14, 2008 1:29PM UTC

    By Eric Auchard

    SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Online classifieds leader Craigslist.com filed a countersuit on Tuesday against business rival eBay Inc, alleging eBay used its minority stake in Craigslist to steal its corporate trade secrets.

    In a lawsuit filed in California Superior Court in San Francisco, Craigslist challenged allegations in an eBay suit filed in Delaware state court in April that accused Craigslist of discriminating against eBay as a shareholder.

    EBay's suit in Delaware Chancery Court charged Craigslist had used "clandestine meetings" to dilute eBay's 28.4 percent stake in Craigslist to 24.85, or less than a quarter of the company.

    In addition to unfair competition and fraudulent business claims, the countersuit accuses eBay of copyright infringement and using misleading advertising on Google Inc to run ads for its rival Kijiji site that appeared to be Craigslist ads.

    The lawsuit demands that eBay restore all shares of Craigslist owned by eBay or for the court to require eBay to divest its holdings in Craigslist. The suit asks eBay to disgorge profits tied to the business and for punitive damages.

    EBay spokeswoman Kim Rubey responded to Craigslist's lawsuit against eBay, saying: "We regret that Craigslist felt compelled to resort to unfounded and unsubstantiated claims in order to divert attention from actions by Craigslist's board that unfairly diluted our minority interest."

    EBay, the world leader in online auctions and payment services, took a minority ownership stake in Craigslist nearly four years ago as part of a strategy to buy up classified advertising services both in the United States and Europe.

    In 2004, eBay began to expand into the market through the acquisition of online classified businesses Marktplaats and later, LoQuo and Gumtree. In 2005, eBay launched its own free online classifieds site named Kijiji in nearly a dozen markets in Europe and Asia. A year ago, it entered the United States.

    Craigslist and eBay grew out of the same early rush to create Web businesses in Silicon Valley in the mid-1990s.

    But their paths quickly diverged as eBay went on to dominate online auction markets, becoming a multibillion company, while Craigslist stayed true to its uncommercial ethic by not charging for most of its local listings.

    Craigslist operates with only a few dozen employees. Its headquarters is located in a modest, century-old Victorian house located in a residential neighborhood of San Francisco. It relies on volunteers to run sites in 567 cities worldwide.

    They compete directly in the United States and a dozen other countries, with Kijiji tailoring its ads to young families in contrast to Craigslist's open flea-market style.

    Craigslist's complaint alleges a plot by San Jose, California-based eBay to use its position as a minority shareholder and its position on the board to pressure Craigslist into a full-scale acquisition deal by eBay.

    Barring that, Craigslist argues eBay used its position to gather competitive information that led to the launch of eBay's rival classifieds business. It charges eBay code-named this its "Craigslist killer" in internal strategy discussions.

    "In the months leading up to the launch of its competing Kijiji site ... eBay used its shareholder status to plant on Craigslist's board of directors the individual responsible for launching and/or operating Kijiji," the latest suit alleges.

    It also alleges eBay used its position on the Craigslist board to pressure the company to provide it with key details of its expansion plans and operating performance.

    "Using the pretext that the information was necessary for Craigslist board-related matters, eBay made constant demands for confidential information in excess of what was required for that purpose," Craigslist alleges.

    Craigslist has until Monday to respond to eBay's original lawsuit that seeks to protect its minority shareholder rights.

    Rubey quoted from Craigslist's own complaint to suggest that both parties recognized that the right of the other to compete with one another. However, the Craigslist lawsuit says eBay would relinquish some rights if it chose to compete with Craigslist on online job listings, its sole source of revenue.

    The Craigslist complaint can be found at http://blog.craigslist.org/2008/05/unlawful-and-unfair/.

    (Editing by Tim Dobbyn and Andre Grenon)

    Reuters - King Conan pillages before online gaming debut

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    King Conan pillages before online gaming debut

    Wednesday, May 14, 2008 2:46PM UTC

    By Aasa Christine Stoltz

    OSLO, May 14 - King Conan wins a bloody final battle against a menacing mix of barbarians, assassins and sorcerers in the hills above Oslo before retreating to his virtual home where a million online gamers await him.

    With real swords, metal and leather body armor and fake blood, Norwegian gaming company Funcom launched its "Age of Conan" Internet role-playing game with a recreation of the famed Barbarian King's brutal world.

    Guests and more than 100 journalists found themselves in an ancient village, surrounded by sword-wielding warriors, soldiers on horses and leather-clad women firing arrows.

    In "Age of Conan", players enter the world of Hyboria to live, fight and explore its dark nature, wary of cruel gods and mythical creatures lurking around every corner.

    All Hyboria residents are actual people signed up to the game, taking advantage of a new technology which enables massive multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPG).

    The world is based on the works of author Robert Howard, whose fictional fighter in an ancient world was brought to life on the silver screen by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1982 film "Conan the Barbarian".

    Funcom said that over a million fans have signed up for the test phase of the game, which boasts realistic graphics and original music.

    "We believe this represents the largest ever beta (test phase) sign-up figure in the history of this genre of games," Funcom said.

    Since the start of the year, Age of Conan had more than five million unique visitors with a total of over 70 million page views, Funcom said, citing data from Google.

    "I am really ready to give birth to this thing," game developer Gaute Godager said. "What you have today is something bigger than what we ever dreamed of having," said Godager.

    Age of Conan gives players numerous character development options and customizes skills, abilities and deadly spells to ensure that no two characters are exactly the same.

    The massive player-versus-player combat system allows warfare on an epic proportion. Players can also hire themselves out as mercenaries and battle for pay.

    "We have spent over $20 million over four years and had 200 people working on this project," Funcom's product manager Erling Ellingsen told Reuters.

    "This is in line with the biggest Norwegian film productions, if not bigger," he said on the eve of the launch in North America on May 20. The game will launch in Europe three days later.

    Reuters - IBM to offer business intelligence via BlackBerry

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    IBM to offer business intelligence via BlackBerry

    Wednesday, May 14, 2008 6:3PM UTC

    BOSTON (Reuters) - IBM said on Wednesday it has started selling software that lets customers access its Cognos business intelligence software via BlackBerry mobile devices.

    The device maker, Research in Motion is encouraging businesses to create software specifically for the BlackBerry so that it can boost usage beyond the e-mail, messaging, calendar and phone services for which it is best known.

    The Cognos program, which sells at a list price of $300 per user, allows customers to view real-time analytics on the state of their business on their BlackBerrys.

    The computing giant has also introduced programs that allow BlackBerry users to quickly locate and communicate with colleagues with expertise in specific business areas.

    A third new product from IBM allows users to access personalized content from their corporate websites via the BlackBerry, IBM said.

    Armonk, New York-based IBM acquired the business intelligence programs in January with its purchase of Canada's Cognos for about $4.9 billion.

    (Reporting by Jim Finkle; Editing by Brian Moss)

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