NEWS

Oracle's Ellison gets even richer with $84.6M pay package
Billionaire Larry Ellison raked in a fiscal 2008 pay package valued at $84.6 million for his work as Oracle chief executive and topped it off with a nearly $544 million windfall from cashing in stock options that he has accumulated during his 31-year reign at the business software maker.

Palm introduces new Treo Pro smart-phone
It may not have that fanatic appeal that makes customers camp in front of stores to buy the new models, but Palm is hoping the new Treo Pro smart-phone unveiled Wednesday will make its own waves in the world of mobile phones.

Internet radio booming but threatened
Webcasters claim new royalty rates will bankrupt some of them, but record company executives say they're just crying wolf.

FTC to ban prerecorded sales messages
After a barrage of consumer complaints, the government is banning phone calls of prerecorded sales messages unless consumers agree to receive the calls.

IAC completing split into five publicly traded parts
Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp is completing its split into five publicly traded companies Thursday -- a move intended to give each business more focus and value than the previously cluttered whole.

Microsoft Photosynth site turns digital photos into panoramas
Digital cameras have liberated awe-struck travelers and proud parents from worrying about the price of film processing. But showing off those megapixels of memories is still reminiscent of tedious living room slideshows -- and perhaps now worse, because instead of one blurry photo of the Eiffel Tower or the high school musical, there might be 50.

U.S. company sues Nintendo in Wii wand patent suitNintendo's hit Wii console with its wandlike remote controller has been targeted in patent infringement complaints by a U.S. technology company.


Pacific Gas & Electric's announcement last week that two Bay Area companies hope to build the nation's largest photovoltaic solar electric plants near San Luis Obispo is evidence of the dynamic future of solar power - and of Congress' confounding failure to foster it.

Former Silicon Valley CEOs Fiorina, Whitman to speak at GOP conventionWASHINGTON - Two Silicon Valley CEOs-turned-politicos, Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman, will speak at the Republican National Convention in two weeks, and so will Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger - if California has a budget by then.