Stock market rises -- The U.S. markets rose on Thursday, with the Dow gainin 172 points to 8691. The S&P 500 rose 1.3 percent to 908, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.73 percent to 1603. Vinod Khosla does an interview -- The famed VC talks about making fuel from algae, why there wasn't a dotcom bubble, and why he's a Republican for Obama. More at TechFlash.
Microsoft beats predictions, but warns of weak outlook: Microsoft slightly beat earnings expectations in its second-fiscal quarter, but it warned that results would be affected by the economic downturn in the rest of the fiscal year. Revenue was up 9 percent, while earnings were up 2 percent. For the rest of the fiscal year that ends June 30, the company lowered its guidance below current estimates on earnings and revenues.
Sony halves outlook-- The weakening economy and the strong Japanese yen prompted the electronics giant to cut its earnings forecast. Xerox cutting 3,000 jobs -- About five percent of the work force will be cut in the next six months.
Co-founder of iRobot resigns -- Helen Greiner resigns abruptly. Colin Angle, CEO, will take her place.
Autodesk buys Softimage --Avid Technology sells its 3-D animation software business to Autodesk for $35 million. Now Autodesk will have a suite of tools: Softimage, Maya, and 3ds Max.
Alawar buys stakes in two casual game studios -- Alawar Entertainment will take majority stakes in Russia's Friday's Games and Ukraine's Five-BN. Now Alawar will have five internal game studios making casual games.
New massively multiplayer online game company surfaces -- Ray Flame Entertainment Inc. has raised an $800,000 round of funding from InnoBridge Ventures to make free-to-play games.
New version of Gmail mobile -- Just in time for the T-Mobile G1 phone with Google Android software, Google has released version 2.0 of its Gmail mobile software. It should speed performance and allow for the creation of multiple accounts on a phone.
Samsung and Netflix partner on video streaming -- Samsung's new Blu-ray players will be able to access Netflix's online video streaming service.
Ooyala adds "hyper-syndication" to its Backlot video distribution and analytics tool -- Now you can use Ooyala's tool to export video of all sizes to YouTube and other video sites.
Taking real world problems to the virtual world --Theirs was a virtual marriage, not a real one. But a divorced woman murdered her ex-husband's avatar in the online game Maple Story. The deed gets her jail time for hacking. iPhone tethering plan in trouble -- The iPhone's tethering plan has been delayed because of AT&T's concerns about the impact on its network.