Reuters - IBM will offer help desk service for its Symphony line of software, raising the competition with rival Microsoft Corp's suite of Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

AP - Intel Corp. on Tuesday unveiled a new processor it says will revolutionize the information technology industry by powering small laptops at low cost.

AP - John LeSieur is in the software business, so he took particular interest when computers seemed mostly useless to his 6-year-old grandson, Zackary. The boy has autism, and the whirlwind of options presented by PCs so confounded him that he threw the mouse in frustration.

AFP - Wireless telecom provider China Unicom will take over fixed-line operator China Netcom in a share swap valued at 56 billion dollars, Unicom officials have said.

Reuters - Don't blame the fridge for your steep power bills -- an Australian consumer agency study has found that videogame consoles and plasma flat-screen TVs are major electricity guzzlers, even when left on stand-by.