Microsoft Corp.

A former executive with IBM and other tech companies has been named the new CEO of an organization in charge of coordinating the technical specifications behind the World Wide Web.

The Web's inventor, Tim Berners-Lee, is remaining the director of the World Wide Web Consortium, and Jeffrey Jaffe, 55, will work under him as its CEO. Jaffe replaces Steve Bratt, 53, who left the position in mid-2009 to run a Web foundation also started by Berners-Lee.

Yahoo Inc. CEO Carol Bartz says she hopes investors growing impatient for her to turn around the slumping Internet company remember how long it took for Steve Jobs to revive Apple Inc.

In a Tuesday meeting to celebrate Yahoo's 15th anniversary, Bartz reminded reporters that Apple still struggled after Jobs became CEO in 1997. That marked his return to a company he had co-founded two decades earlier.

Sony Corp. said a glitch has knocked PlayStation 3 users off the game console's online network, and the company warned that data loss could occur if gamers continued using the machines.

Sony said in a blog post Monday that the problem was likely caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system, reminiscent of the Y2K bug a decade ago. The problem is affecting older PlayStation 3 models, but not the newest slim version that went on sale in September.

Will this year mark the death of the joystick?

With major video game publishers adopting camera and motion controller technologies, the end of the traditional controller -- you know, that thing with all those buttons, sticks and pads -- could be imminent. Microsoft and Sony will introduce dueling systems for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 later this year that could rival Nintendo's popular Wii.

Nokia Corp. may be the world's top cell phone maker, but it's no longer a trendsetter, as a host of inventive and alluring technologies from North America is shifting the center of gravity in the cellular universe away from Europe.

Despite efforts to boost its position in the U.S., Nokia is struggling to compete with Cupertino, California-based Apple Inc. -- maker of the iPhone -- and Canadian smartphone maker Research in Motion, which makes the BlackBerry.

Dell Inc. said Thursday its net income fell 5 percent in the last quarter despite early signs that businesses may be starting to buy new computers again.

Consumers snapped up low-cost laptops and smaller netbooks over the holidays, pushing Dell's PC shipments up 29 percent. Those products are less lucrative, though, and Dell's revenue and profit in the consumer PC division grew much more slowly. Dell's profit margin was below expectations, and its shares fell 7 percent in Friday trading.

If you've got a car and a bicycle, do you need a motorcycle too? Wireless carriers are betting that you do. They're making a big push this year for the motorcycles of the gadget world: devices that are bigger than a phone but smaller than a laptop.

The most famous entrant in the category is Apple Inc.'s iPad, which comes out next month. But many other manufacturers are crowding into the niche, and were planning to do so even before Apple's announcement in January.

U.S. video game retail sales dropped 13 percent in January, another down month for the industry after a difficult 2009.

In all, Americans spent nearly $1.2 billion on video game systems, software and accessories during the month, market researcher NPD Group said Thursday.

Software sales fell 12 percent from the same month a year earlier, to $597.9 million.

January does not tend to be a big month for video games, which sell heavily during the holidays, though it is when many people trade in the gift cards they got for Christmas.

It took three years, but former Yahoo executive Dan Rosensweig believes he has found another great Internet gig.

Rosensweig's career shifted in a new direction this week when he took over as CEO of Chegg.com, a Silicon Valley startup that says it has rented about 2.4 million textbooks to cash-strapped college students since its 2007 inception.

Google Inc.'s bid to secure the digital rights to millions of books remains under attack from rivals and other critics trying to block a revised legal settlement that would unlock a vast electronic library.

The opposition fired its latest salvo Thursday, the deadline for filing objections with U.S. District Judge Denny Chin in New York.