RealNetworks Inc. says it has created technology that allows songs purchased through its online music services to be played on Apple Computer Inc.'s popular iPod player, just a few months after complaining that Apple was rebuffing attempts to form an alliance.

The idea is straightforward: Instead of giving employees computers packed with features they rarely use, companies could save tons of cash by distributing simple machines tied to powerful central servers.

Danger Inc., maker of an all-in-one wireless phone and e-mail device that has drawn rave reviews but has been in short supply, said on Friday that it had agreed to a broad manufacturing deal with Sharp Corp. of Japan.

The Department of Homeland Security's efforts to battle computer-network and Internet attacks by hackers and other cyber-criminals suffer from a lack of coordination, poor communication and a failure to set priorities, according to an internal report released yesterday.

Seeking to tap the explosive growth in cell phones with cameras, Internet company Yahoo Inc. on Thursday launched a service that will let users transmit pictures from their camera phones directly to their Yahoo Photos accounts.

Sam Yagan's critics call him a pirate, an illegal operator and an encourager of child pornography because of his free online file-swapping service.

The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday approved legislation that would insulate new, cheaper Internet-based telephone service from many state regulations for three years but lawmakers left the door open for some restrictions.

New York Times Digital ran ads for two weeks on NYTimes.com for adware maker Claria, which it once called a "parasite" on its site. Immediately after being notified of this, NYTD yanked the ads.

Federal authorities yesterday charged an online advertiser in Florida with tapping into the computer system of a large database marketer in Arkansas and stealing "vast amounts of personal information" about Americans in what they described as one of the largest network intrusions in recent memory.

Gadget-loving music fans will buy more than 10 million digital music players in 2004, in one of the year's biggest consumer buying crazes, a study showed on Wednesday.