IBT Staff Reporter

Consumers are preparing for the next generation operating system Windows Vista to hit store shelves next week. Yet for those who have already paid for Windows XP, is the upgrade really worth it?

For some who have yet to realize its benefits, a personal budget could be seen in a sinister light: a fiscal straight jacket with the aim of securely restraining unruly, and irrational spending habits. It doesn't have to be that way.

Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: SUNW) announced that it will begin using Intel Inc.'s (NASDAQ: INTC) processors in its servers today, however Intel rival AMD (NYSE: AMD) Corp. may not feel little pressure from the move.

Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) is in talks to acquire video game advertising firm Adscape Media Inc, seeking to expand the search titan's advertising platform beyond traditional but lucrative Internet offerings.

Sony's Playstation 3 game console can be found in over one half of video game retailers, according to a new report, while Nintendo's Wii game machine can be found in a few stores, a sign that demand may be weakening.

Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) announced that its senior vice president and head of its wireless terminals unit, is retiring just days ahead the release of the company's latest quarterly earnings report.

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa threw their support behind city's effort to host the 2016 Olympic games.

Software giant Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is expected to post earnings for its second quarter next Thursday, and some experts are pointing towards strong sales of its game-console and new operating system to help fuel the company's revenue.

Internet technology firm Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) said that it is expanding its online catalog of searchable books today, adding more than a million books from the University of Texas at Austin to its ever expanding collection.

Burger King is introducing one dollar items to its breakfast lineup, looking to compete in the morning market, which is quickly becoming a lucrative and crowded battle ground for fast-food restaurants.

German car manufacturer Mercedes Benz presented the latest version of its entry level compact-car luxury car on Thursday, touting new styling and safety features.

Fourth-quarter profit at International Business Machines Corp. rose 11 percent and beat Wall Street expectations Thursday, and the company also delivered a blockbuster figure in services contract signings, an important measure of future revenue.

Parody publication The Onion Inc. announced that it is expanding its offline publications by opening a new bureau in the nation's capital today.

Music bought online or through mobile phones reached $2 billion in 2006, new research shows. Digital sales, however failed to make up for the decline in CD sales.

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson moved closer towards being one of the top three phone providers in the industry, as its revenue edged ahead of rival Samsung.

Adobe Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: ADBE) released Flash Player 9 for Linux on Wednesday, allowing users of the open-source operating system to create or use multimedia applications with the latest version of Flash.

Spurred by another quarter of strong Mac and iPod sales, Apple Inc. reported on Wednesday earnings were up for its first fiscal quarter, far surpassing Wall Street expectations. The company reported $1 billion in profit, up 78 percent from the same quarter last year.

Coca-Cola Co. is ready to capitalize on the monster ratings expected for the sixth season of talent show phenomenon ‘American Idol,' which garnered 37.3 million viewers on Tuesday.

Information technology provider IBM (NYSE: IBM) and shoemaker Ecco announced a partnership Wednesday potentially worth over $12 million as the companies cooperate in infrastructure modernization.

Rail transport company Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) has announced that it has begun testing an experimental technology that can reduce the amount of pollution from a train's diesel engine through a special chemical process.

Ikea, the world's leading home furnishing retailer, announced Wednesday that it will expand its presence into the Southeast region of the U.S., with plans to begin construction in North Carolina within months.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Nortel Networks Corp. announced that their alliance is expanding to include new communications products for 2007.

Dunkin' Brands Inc. opened its first Dunkin' Donuts store in Taiwan on Wednesday as part of the company's larger push to expand into China.

MTV's 24-hour college network, mtvU, a division of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B) has agreed to purchase the Internet's largest listing of college professor ratings, RateMyProfessors.com.

Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister said Tuesday that OPEC had curbed much of the world's surplus oil supplies through already agreed to output cuts, sending crude futures down and some industrial stocks in the U.S up.

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has awarded a Technical and Engineering Emmy Award to AMD (NYSE:AMD) for its video graphics product this week.

AOL announced that it has agreed to make Napster Inc. (NASDAQ: NAPS). its exclusive online music subscription service.

After a slow start to 2006, the video game industry witnessed a huge spike in sales, with hardware and software sales swelling to $3.7 billion in December.

A new report reveals that Sony Electronics outpaced its rivals in 2006, achieving the number one spot for total TV market share.