New Google Inc software will start up a computer as fast as a television can be turned on, the search company said on Thursday as it showed off its Chrome operating system designed for PCs that do their work on the Web. Google gave the first public look at its Chrome OS four months after

Sony Corp said on Friday that its planned entertainment content distribution service for network-compatible TVs and other devices will be launched next year. Sony plans to launch a new online service to distribute movies, music, books and other content to network-capable TVs, Blu-ray players, ebooks and others in a bid to add value to its

The wireless chip industry expects smartphone market surge to continue, with British microchip designer ARM saying growth would likely even accelerate further next year. The smartphone market slowed drastically in the September quarter, but chip makers — whose products are sold weeks, if not months, before phones are sold to consumers — said they were

Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.5 percent on Friday and logged its first four-week losing streak in over a year, with Sony sliding after its new growth strategy failed to reassure investors. Helping to temper the Nikkei's decline were gains in banking stocks, battered recently by concerns about fundraising after top lender Mitsubishi UFJ Financial

European Union leaders awarded two of its top jobs to politicians relatively unknown on the international stage, after almost a decade of wrangling over how to project Europe’s global presence. At a Brussels summit the EU picked consensus builders rather than star names, choosing Herman Van Rompuy, Belgium’s centre-right prime minister, over Tony Blair as

The White House on Thursday voiced its backing for U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner after he endured a grilling before Congress over the costly bailout of insurer AIG, and one lawmaker urged him to resign. "Secretary Geithner has helped steer the American economy back from the brink, and is now leading the effort on financial

Financial markets saw a rare breakdown in correlations on Friday with world stocks eking out modest gains after the previous sessions losses but the dollar strengthening. In recent months, the U.S. currency and equities have worked almost in reverse tandem, with the former getting hit every time risk appetite bolsters the latter. Investors are heading

The outlook for the global pharmaceutical industry is negative, reflecting the increasing exposure to patent expiries and downward trends in pipeline quality, Moody's Investors Service said in a new report. "Unlike that of most other industries with negative sector outlooks, Moody's view on pharmaceutical companies is not predominantly tied to the broader economic climate; rather,

The dollar pushed further away from 15-month lows on Thursday, forcing gold prices lower while global equities fell from the top of their recent range and Wall Street looked set to open lower. The risk correlation between assets — where the dollar falls when investors buy riskier assets and vice versa — remained in place.

Britain's top share index was down 0.6 percent mid-session on Thursday, dragged lower by heavyweight commodity and banking stocks, which offset gains made by defensive stocks as risk appetite waned. At 1208 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 29.78 points at 5312.35, after closing 0.1 percent lower on Wednesday. Miners were the biggest drag on