AP - Microsoft Corp.'s next version of the Windows operating system is almost ready for prime time.

AP - A strange little ritual used to go along with Polaroid cameras. The shooter would grab the print as it came out of the camera and wave it in the air, as if that would stimulate the chemicals and make the picture appear faster. It didn't. Yet it felt dumb to just stand there, waiting for the picture to develop.

AP - Shares of Lenovo Group tumbled Thursday after the world's fourth-largest computer maker warned it expects a loss for its latest quarter and will lay off 11 percent of its workforce and cut executive pay.

AP - Even after sharply reducing its outlook for the fourth quarter, Intel Corp. said Wednesday that it would miss its revenue projection by about $500 million, a sign that PC makers and buyers are being more tightfisted than it seemed only two months ago.

CNET - LAS VEGAS--With Bill Gates now a Microsoft part-timer, company CEO Steve Ballmer is filling in at this year's opening keynote for the Consumer Electronics Show.

Reuters - A monthly gauge of online labor demand in the United States slid in December, suggesting job conditions worsened with the economy stuck in a recession, a private employment group said on Thursday.