COMPANIES

U.K. defense contractor BAE Systems PLC (PINK: BAESY) said it's in talks with European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co., the parent of Airbus SAS, about a possible merger that would create a European counterweight to U.S. companies including The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA).

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), the world's most valuable technology company, introduced its iPhone 5, the successor to the best-selling iPhone 4S, on all three major U.S. carriers, AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), the Verizon Wireless unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Sprint-Nextel (NYSE: S).

Today is the big day for Apple fans, and for all of those following the news about the iPhone 5, or, quite possibly, the "new iPhone." All eyes are on San Francisco -- and Cupertino -- as we rapidly approach the 10 a.m. PST (1 p.m. EST) starting time for Apple's product launch, which should see the unveiling of the new iPhone, a new family of iPods, an an all-new "iPad Mini," among other things. However, if you're looking for a live stream from the Yerba Buena Center for the Ar...

In his first public appearance following his social media company's disastrous IPO in May, Mark Zuckerberg's address at Tuesday's TechCrunch Disrupt helped boost the shares price of Facebook's (Nasdaq: FB) close partner Zynga (Nasdaq: ZNGA), which has retained its prominence on the social network's app marketplace despite continuing financial woes and a seemingly endless round of executive departures. Zynga reached a recent stock high in mid-morning morning trading on Wednesday, f...

New evidence discovered directly on Apple's website tells us that the name of the new iPhone, expected to be unveiled today in San Francisco, could very well in fact be "iPhone 5." Search results on Apple also included references to LTE on the iPhone, which would also appear to confirm the rumor that the iPhone 5 will support the high-speed Long-Term Evolution network.

Shares of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), the world's most valuable technology company, rose $2.04 to $662.63, Wednesday in advance of the expected announcement of the iPhone 5 at a product introduction in San Francisco, which isn’t scheduled until late morning.

As expected, Apple looks like it's finally ready to release the latest version of OS X Mountain Lion at today's scheduled media event in San Francisco, which will reportedly see the debut of several iOS devices including the next-generation iPhone, a new line-up of iPods, and an all-new "iPad Mini." The company seeded the final version of the newest Mountain Lion update to developers on Tuesday evening.

Chesapeake Energy Corp said it will sell most of its Permian Basin properties to Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp and a majority of its pipeline assets to raise about $6.9 billion in cash.

With just a few hours to go for the much-awaited Apple's (AAPL) Sept.12 event, excitement about the announcements of the next generation iPhone and new gadgets seemed to have hit the roof.

Shares of Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), the No. 1 social networking site, vaulted 6 percent in pre-market Wednesday trading following CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s acknowledgement of “disappointing” performance since the highly touted May 17 initial public offering.

The 2013 Mazda CX-5 crossover is an example of utilitarian design and great gas mileage, but it will leave car enthusiasts a bit wanting in the speed and handling departments.

Facebook scrip (FB) seemed to rise against the tide as it posted a gain of 3.30 percent or 62 cents to end at $19.43 Sept.11, after its shares recorded a fall of over 2 percent in early Sept.10 trade before recovering to close $18.79, down 19 cents or 1 percent. The revival despite Co-founder Dustin Moskovitz selling shares stemmed from CEO Mark Zuckerberg's assurance to revive Facebook growth story and align services toward mobile and search functions.

Always a fan of user-generated content and community-oriented software development, Valve Corp. released the list for its first round of independent games from its new "Steam Greenlight" program on Wednesday. Titles include "Black Mesa," "Cry of Fear," "Dream," "Heroes & Generals," and "Kenshi," all of which ranked at the top of the community's most popular titles on the new Greenlight platform.

Google Inc. and Boingo Wireless Inc., made another bold move Tuesday to position themselves as a prominent resource for wireless services by establishing another 4,000 mobile hotspots across the United States. As a promotional event to advertise the new expanded partnership with the companies are also making Wi-Fi free in all the new locations "through the end of September," Boingo said in a statement.

Once indefensible, industry trades have seen their influence diminish in recent years. Trade magazines such as Variety, the Hollywood Reporter, Backstage and Advertising Age have all tried different ways to cope with a migration of readers from print to the Web.

We don't know the exact features that Apple has packed into the iPhone 5, but we nevertheless have a pretty good idea of what Apple CEO Tim Cook might unveil on stage tomorrow. Over the past year, we've been watching reports, rumors, and the U.S. patent department, keeping a keen eye out for possible software features Apple could introduce in its next iPhone.

After London-based Burberry Group PLC (LON: BRBY) reported flat comparable-store sales for its second quarter, market watchers are trying to digest cross signals in the luxury goods market.

It's been about a month and a half since Apple released OS X Mountain Lion into the wild, and even though iOS will be the centerpiece of Wednesday's iPhone 5 event in San Francisco, reports say Apple will also announce release a new update for Mac users on OS X Mountain Lion that day, which will reportedly fix an issue with fast-draining battery life. On Monday, Mac Observer was able to test a series of three Mac laptops running OS X Mountain Lion, and discovered that the 10.8.2 upgrade .....

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) is expected to debut the iPhone 5 on Wednesday but there are at least five pitfalls that could endanger the company's huge success in the market. Here they are.

It’s hard being the next big thing -- just ask Myanmar.

A former high-level General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) executive -- widely considered to be the godfather of the company's foray into electric-vehicle production --struck back Tuesday at the assertion the carmaker might be losing nearly $50,000 on each one of the signature Volt plug-in vehicles the firm has sold so far.

We're just one day away from the big Apple event in San Francisco, which is expected to introduce a new iPhone and "iPad Mini." For those who want an early peek at what these next-gen devices "allegedly" look like, MacRumors reader Michael Rou managed to get his hands on a few "pre-production" cases of the new iOS device designs, and on Monday, he posted an album of them on Flickr for the world to see. These case designs perfectly mirror the leaked specs and prototypes we......

GoDaddy.com, the popular website that hosts millions of domains for businesses, said it had restored most service Tuesday. On Monday, it was subject to cyberattack by someone claiming to be a member of the Anonymous hacker group.

Franklin Davis has been charged with the capital murder of 16-year-old Shania Gray. The Texas teen's body was discovered Saturday at about 4:30 p.m. in the Trinity River in Irving, Texas. Carrollton Police Department officials report that Davis told officers he killed Gray shortly after picking her up from school on Thursday, Sept. 6.

A new set of tests published Sept.10 showed that MacBook battery life increased significantly with a developer build of OS X Mountain Lion, with the recent beta version enabling an 85-minute increase from current 10.8.1, AppleInsider reported.

In a clearly worded acknowledgement, digital publishing firm BlueToad confirmed that it was the source of Apple UDID leaks reported last week, Reuters reported.

With just a day to go for Apple's Sept.12 event, confirmed reports have emerged that South Korean handset manufacturer Samsung is contemplating legal action against Apple over reported use of Long Term Evolution (LTE) connectivity technology.

Zac Posen enlisted supermodel friends Naomi Campbell and Coco Rocha to walk the runway in his Spring 2012 show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York inspired by "the great elegant women that inhabit our Earth."

Zynga., creator of popular social and mobile games like "FarmVille" and "Words with Friends," is losing its chief marketing and revenue officer, Jeff Karp, the second executive departure in as many days.