Microsoft goes its own way

A split with a working group reflects growing discord over Web services standards. Also: The software maker appoints an insider to head up its worldwide sales organization.

Adobe site dings Apples

An Adobe Systems executive denied that the company is advocating Windows PCs over Apple's Macintosh, despite a new page on Adobe's Web site that claims PCs run Adobe software faster.

Face recognition gets lift, says U.S.

Spurred by two federal antiterrorism statutes, the Commerce Department this month released a study showing that face-recognition technology is hitting its stride.

Microsoft Internally Corrects XP SP1 Slowdown

Windows XP Service Pack 1 brought about many fixes for Microsoft's flagship operating system, but a change to the memory management system caused applications on some machines to run much slower. A source told BetaNews that most performance complaints received by Microsoft came from users running a Pentium 4 processor. Microsoft recently acknowledged the problem and privately issued a hotfix, but a patch has not yet publicly appeared on Windows Update or Microsoft's Download Center.

Video gamers play on despite war

Whether in war or peace, video games involving blazing guns and bloody conflict are as popular as ever in the United States, with more than six new war games set to hit the shops in the coming weeks. Games makers and industry analysts say that war against Iraq, whether people support it or not, should do little to diminish consumer appetites for the games.

Nintendo counts on new Game Boy

Japanese video game maker Nintendo said on Tuesday it had invested heavily in a redesigned version of its top-selling Game Boy Advance to boost sales in the vital but struggling European and American markets.

Will shuttle risks always be high?

NASA may have to live with a risk factor of two catastrophes for every 113 shuttle flights, so it should limit its crew size and use robots and unmanned rockets whenever possible, a missile and rocket expert said Tuesday.