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VeriSign Inc., whose technology is key to allowing Internet users to access Web sites with names ending in ".com" and ".net," plans to spend more than $300 million over the next decade to upgrade its systems.

The upgrades will allow VeriSign's machines to handle up to 4 quadrillion requests per day from computers trying to reach those sites. That's a thousand times more lookups than the 4 trillion per day that the company can currently handle.

On Tuesday, Google made a strong move against communist China by refusing to continue censoring search results on its Chinese site. In the wake of cyberattacks it linked to China, Google also said it would consider shutting down operations in the Asian nation.

"Augmented reality" may sound like indecipherable technobabble, but the concept behind this technology is familiar to anyone who has seen any of the "Terminator" movies.

In the sci-fi films, a cyborg is able to scan its surrounding area and superimpose data on what it sees, allowing it to get background information on humans. Now, after years of use in academic and industrial circles -- not to mention science fiction -- augmented reality is coming to consumers, who can expect to see it in their everyday lives in 2010.

E-mail has taken a full circle.

Over the years, Web-based e-mail services have gotten much better, sporting many features once available only with the e-mail programs that reside on the computer desktop.

Now, those desktop programs are borrowing from their Web-based counterparts, such as Google Inc.'s Gmail.

The new version of Mozilla's Thunderbird, due out in the next few weeks, lets you keep your inbox clutter-free with a Gmail-like "archive" button for permanently storing older messages, while removing them from day-to-day sight.

There's a sense of exclusivity in being able to download a beta version of a new computer program and become one of the first people to test it before its official release.

And, in many ways, it is important work. Users report problems to software designers, making them vital to the creation of multiple programs, operating systems and web browsers. But there are risks. In a worst case scenario, beta testers risk crashing their whole system.

A Microsoft report released Monday indicates that Windows Vista significantly outperforms Windows XP when it comes to enhanced security. Infection rates for Vista were significantly lower than XP during the first half of 2009, the Security Intelligence Report said.

In a move to close a decade-long chapter of competition concerns, Microsoft on Wednesday agreed to provide a choice of browsers in the European Union. The software giant usually configures Internet Explorer as the default browser for its Windows operating system, but agreed to test-market measures to give consumers an option to download and install competing browsers like Google Chrome and Mozilla's Firefox.

Two months before her term expires, Neelie Kroes, the European antitrust chief, is signaling that a settlement is within reach that could close one of the bitterest chapters of her tenure: the long-running case against Microsoft.

In recent weeks, European officials have been market-testing an unprecedented offer made by Microsoft in July that would give European computer users a choice of Web browsers when setting up the next version of its Windows operating system.

Some big companies are starting to move their spreadsheets, word-processing and other productivity programs off of PCs and on to the Web.

About 20 percent of respondents to a study by researcher IDC say Google's Google Docs offering is widely used in their organization, up from 5.8 percent a little more than a year and a half ago.

Microsoft Corp. says it can help schools get through swine flu.

The company is promoting its free online service for storing files and collaborating on projects as a way for teachers to keep classes on track even if schools close because of a flu outbreak.

Microsoft has launched a how-to Web site that walks teachers through the steps of setting up accounts for their classes on Office Live Workspace, a free Web service. Teachers can use it to post handouts and presentations, and students can log on to get assignments, chat and work with classmates on shared files.