News : Microsoft blames leap year for Zune glitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A malfunction of some Microsoft Corp Zune music players was caused by an error in the way the device accounts for leap years, Microsoft said.

In a statement on the Zune website posted late on Wednesday, the company blamed "a bug in the internal clock driver related to the way the device handles a leap year," adding: "The issue should be resolved over the next 24 hours as the time change moves to January 1, 2009."

The year 2008 had 366 days instead of the usual 365.

Early on Wednesday, thousands of users found they could not use the 30-gigabyte Zune model, made in 2006. Microsoft called the issue "widespread," but said users could reconnect their players after 7 a.m. EST on Thursday.

(Reporting by Nick Zieminski; Editing by James Dalgleish)

News : Bush ducks flying shoes

An Iraqi reporter called U.S. President George W. Bush a 'dog' in Arabic and threw his shoes at him during a news conference in Baghdad.

Bush was forced to duck to avoid the thrown shoes, one sailing over his head and smacking into the wall behind him as he stood next to the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Iraqi security officers and U.S. secret service agents leapt at the man and dragged him struggling and screaming out of the room where the U.S. leader was giving a news conference with the Iraqi Prime Minister.

Bush smiled uncomfortably and Maliki looked strained.

"It doesn't bother me," Bush said, urging everyone to calm down as a ruckus broke out in the conference room.

When asked about the incident shortly after, Bush made light of it. "I didn't feel the least threatened by it," he said.

Other Iraqi journalists apologised on behalf of their colleague, a television journalist.

Bush arrived in Baghdad earlier on Sunday on a farewell visit before he leaves office in January.

News : Ruins in Peru

Archaeologists in Peru find evidence of human sacrifices and death.

Deborah Lutterbeck reports.

News : Archeologists in Peru unearth ancient Wari city

By Dana Ford

LIMA (Reuters) - Researchers digging at the Cerro Patapo archeological site in northern Peru have discovered the ruins of an entire city, which may provide the "missing link" between two ancient cultures, investigators said on Tuesday.

Scientists say the find, located 14 miles from the Pacific coast city of Chiclayo, likely dates to the Wari culture, which existed in what is now Peru between about 600 AD and 1100 AD.

If initial assumptions prove correct, the discovery would connect the ancient Wari civilization to the Moche culture, which flourished from about 100 AD to 600 AD.

Researchers say the buried city includes ceramics, bits of clothing and the well-preserved remains of a young woman.

The sprawling site, which stretches over 3 miles, also shows evidence of human sacrifice, with special spots designated for the purpose and a heap of bones at the bottom of a nearby cliff.

"It provides the missing link because it explains how the Wari people allowed for the continuation of culture after the Moche," Cesar Soriano, chief archeologist on the project, told Reuters.

He said the discovery provides the first evidence of Wari culture, which expanded from the country's south, at the northern site.

The Wari people made their capital near modern-day Ayacucho, in the Andes, but traveled widely and are known for their extensive network of roads. Earlier this year, archeologists at the Huaca Pucllana ruins in Lima, located some 500 miles south of Chiclayo, discovered a mummy that is also thought to be Wari.

Peru is a country rich in archeological treasures. It has hundreds of sites that date back thousands of years and span dozens of cultures, including the Incan empire that was in power when Spanish explorers arrived in the early 1500s.

(Editing by Terry Wade and Eric Walsh)

News : Lawyers turn to Facebook to serve legal papers

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Lawyers in Australia expect the social network site Facebook to become a new way of tracking down defendants after a landmark court ruling.

The Supreme Court in Australia's capital Canberra has ruled that Facebook is a sufficient way of serving legal documents to defendants who cannot be found.

The case surrounded a couple who defaulted on a loan, but who couldn't be found.

"We couldn't find the defendants personally after many attempts so we thought we would try and find them on Facebook," lawyer Mark McCormack said.

"We did a public search based on the email address we had and the defendants Facebook page appeared."

He said that was enough to convince the court, which found Facebook was a sufficient way of communicating legal papers when it is the plaintiff's responsibility to personally deliver documents.

(Reporting by James Grubel; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

News : Iraq shoe-thrower inspires Bush-bashing Web games

By Lin Noueihed

DUBAI (Reuters) - A shoe-throwing incident at an Iraqi news conference with George W. Bush has inspired a spate of Internet games where the players hurl footwear at moving targets of the U.S. president.

The games, which have mushroomed online and spread by email, range from animations to cut-up footage of the now-infamous news briefing on Sunday when an Iraqi reporter threw his shoes at the president who ordered the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Pelting someone with shoes is considered a grave insult in the Arab world.

One game, which appears on the site www.sockandawe.com -- a pun on "shock and awe," the term used by U.S. military officials to describe the initial air assault on Baghdad in 2003 -- gives players 30 seconds to try to hit Bush with a shoe as many times as possible, with the score appearing in a corner of the screen.

Players are greeted with the command: "OBJECTIVE: Hit President Bush in the face with your shoes! Do it!"

On-target shots are met with a "well done" message.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki can be seen peeping over a lectern next to a dipping and diving Bush in the cartoon game.

The television reporter who threw the shoes, Muntazer al-Zaidi, has become an instant sensation in the Arab world. A Facebook profile set up in his honor had enlisted 1,871 fans by Wednesday afternoon, many of whom had posted disparaging messages about the outgoing U.S. leader.

Zaidi, who admitted his action in court on Tuesday, remains in custody pending an investigation by the judge. He could be sent for trial under a clause in Iraq's penal code that punishes anyone who tries to murder Iraqi or foreign presidents.

Zaidi's family says he harbored deep anger against Bush, blaming him for the tens of thousands of Iraqis who died after the U.S.-led invasion unleashed a wave of sectarian and insurgent violence that has only now begun to die down.

Many ordinary Arabs opposed the U.S.-led invasion and blame Bush for the violence that followed.

Another game at bushbash.flashgressive.de, includes a leader board on which players can post their best scores.

An animated version -- "a shoe at Bush?" -- claims over 2.2 million direct hits since its December 15 start date.

"Bush's Boot Camp" starts with an audio quote of Bush saying "those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere."

The White House, meanwhile, has said Bush has no hard feelings about the shoe-throwing incident.

"The president just thinks that, it was just a shoe, people express themselves in lots of different ways," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

(Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

News : Yahoo cuts personal data storage time to three months

By Kim Dixon

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Yahoo! will cut to three months the time it stores personal data gathered from Web surfing, making its retention policy the shortest among peers, the company said on Wednesday.

The company will "anonymize" the computer addresses of its users within three months in most cases, from a prior standard of 13 months. It is reserving the right to keep data for up to six months if fraud or system security are involved.

Internet search companies have come under pressure from European and other data protection officials to do more to protect the privacy of users.

Earlier this year, industry leader Google Inc halved the amount of time it stores personal data to nine months. Microsoft Corp has said it will cut the time to six months if its rivals did the same.

"Google first went to 18 months and started this competition," said Ari Schwartz, vice president at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a privacy advocacy group.

Yahoo's pledge "is more significant because they are getting rid of some data after 90 days and they actually have an implementation plan to get this done," he added.

The European Union has recommended that companies keep data no more than six months and urged the sector to adopt an industry-wide standard.

"This was our attempt to put a stake in the ground" on the issue, Yahoo vice president of policy and privacy chief Anne Toth said.

Internet search engines get their revenue by matching advertisements to searches, so advertisers can peg their ads to what is on the searcher's mind.

Once the companies make commitments on data retention, they are enforceable under federal and state laws in the United States, Schwartz added.

(Editing by Andre Grenon)

News : Peru student clashes

Students at a university in Lima throw stones at police as protests over a road project turn violent.

Benet Allen reports.

News : Spy gadget sales defy recession

An alarm clock fitted with a pin-sized video camera, a GPS-enabled tracking device and recording device doubling as a power adaptor are hot items this winter.

The UK internet retail outlet Spycatcher online says its sales are up dramatically on last year, due in part to the availability of items that facilitate real-time surveillance over longer distances.

However, as is often the case in such matters, there is more to the story than meets the eye.

Reuters Technology Correspondent Matt Cowan reports.

News : Huddle LinkedIn to growth

The London-based company which provides internet-based collaboration tools is benefitting from its inclusion on the new LinkedIn platform.

In November, Huddle became the only non-US company chosen as a collaboration application by the professional networking site LinkedIn.

The company's two co-founders say that's just one factor behind the growth they're seeing amid a gloomy economic climate.

Reuters Technology Correspondent Matt Cowan reports.

News : Google executive departs for LinkedIn

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A Google executive will depart in January to join LinkedIn, the professional social networking company said on Wednesday.

Dipchand "Deep" Nishar will be vice president of products for the company, which until now has focused on social networking, a LinkedIn spokesman said.

Nishar was most recently Google's senior director of products, Asia-Pacific.

A Google spokesman praised Nishar.

"We're grateful for Deep's contributions over the last five and a half years and wish him well in his new job," said Matt Furman in a statement.

Nishar is among several executives who have left Google for senior positions in less prominent firms.

(Reporting by David Lawsky, editing by Matthew Lewis)

News : FCC free Internet plan faces lawmaker opposition

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top Democratic lawmaker is expected to ask the Federal Communications Commission on Friday to delay voting on a controversial auction of radio spectrum, which includes a requirement for free Internet services, said a source following the issue in Washington.

The FCC is scheduled to consider the action, known as the AWS-3, at its meeting next on Thursday.

Cell phone companies, in particular Deutsche Telekom AG's T-Mobile, oppose the proposal, saying it will create interference, among other concerns. T-Mobile paid about $4.2 billion for an adjacent piece of spectrum.

The FCC has said its engineers examined the issue and found no technical interference issues.

Democrat Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, who is expected to head the Senate Commerce Committee when the new Congress convenes in January, wants the FCC to refrain from taking up major items while it oversees the February 2009 transition to digital television.

On February 17, all U.S. television broadcasting must switch from analog to digital transmission under a congressional mandate. The change requires many Americans to buy a digital adapter for older television sets, while consumers who receive cable or satellite television will not be affected.

(Editing by Andre Grenon)

News : Ex-chairman urges Intel to make car batteries

(Reuters) - Andrew Grove, the former chairman of Intel Corp, is pushing the chipmaker to make advanced batteries for plug-in electric cars, the Wall Street Journal said.

Grove, who retired in 2005 but still advises Intel, is urging Chief Executive Paul Otellini to steer the company to battery production as a way to diversify the business and fill a strategic niche as automakers shift to the production of plug-in electric vehicles, the paper said.

Otellini declined to comment, but an Intel spokesman said the company already has investments in battery-related companies through its Intel Capital unit, the paper said.

Grove told the paper that Intel's deep pockets gives it the ability to figure out ways to improve batteries and drive down costs.

Intel and Grove could immediately be reached for comment by Reuters.

(Reporting by Pratish Narayanan in Bangalore; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

News : East-West divide in media habits: survey

By Andrew Wallenstein and James Li

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The so-called digital divide between emerging and developed economies worldwide might not be that wide after all.

A new online survey conducted by Nielsen finds that while Western countries tend to be heavy users of such media hardware as DVD players and gaming consoles, next-generation devices like video-enabled handsets are more popular in up-and-coming markets, particularly in Asia.

The online population of the Philippines, for instance, emerged first among the 52 countries surveyed with the highest levels of usage across a range of devices, one of five Asia-Pacific countries that filled the top 10. The Philippines also topped a pair of rankings that tracked usage of digital media and video games.

The findings emerged from the entertainment portion of the biannual Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey, which reached 26,000 online users in September. Rankings were computed by measuring a range of scores in response to thematically similar survey questions.

Klaas Hommez, who oversaw the survey's entertainment portion as vp of Nielsen Entertainment, said that many Asian consumers largely skipped landlines in favor of wireless technology. "The same leapfrogging is taking place with entertainment," he said. "For example, consumers are circumventing the need for a relatively expensive gaming console to play subscription-based video games online."

Hommez identified other factors responsible for media usage in many Asian countries, such as the broad uptake of mobile because of widespread use of public transportation and government policies maximizing broadband access in China and Singapore.

In contrast, Western countries tended to score better on such less-mobile offerings as console video games and DVD players. But when it came to streaming and downloading content, Eastern nations like China proved no match.

Although the Philippines was joined in the top 10 by China, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand, the quartet of booming economies known as the BRIC countries -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- fared even better on a regional basis. Brazil finished second to the Philippines in the overall media usage ranking and first in the music category.

"Piracy has kept the cost of acquiring music down both on CDs and downloads," Hommez said.

The Philippines is a media market known for remarkably high mobile usage, largely because landline penetration is quite small. Research has noted high levels of text messaging and social networking; the site Friendster gets about one-fifth of its global traffic from that country alone. While its broadband infrastructure pales in comparison to other Asian countries, the Philippines compensates somewhat with a robust market for cafes that provide Internet access.

Rounding out the top finishers in overall media consumption behind the Philippines and Brazil were the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and Russia.

The Nielsen study also yielded a sense of which media devices are used most worldwide.

The desktop or laptop computer managed to edge out the television set, with 77% of respondents indicating they had used a PC during the past month versus 75% for TV.

The CD player finished with 50%, followed by DVD player (48%). The emergence of wireless devices also registered, but ones with media capabilities were behind those without. Mobile phones without video or Web capabilities were used by 40%, while video-enabled phones finished with 30%.

The elevated usage scores of emerging nations can be explained in several ways. Emerging economies that tend to have low Internet penetration are more likely in an online survey to skew toward heavy media users. In more developed countries where Internet access is near universal, the sample will be a more natural representation of the general population, with both casual and heavy media users.

Another likely factor skewing media usage in favor of emerging countries is that the average age of their online population is more than 10 years younger than in the West.

Furthermore, countries plagued by content piracy problems also are likely to perform strongly in results for the survey, which does not make a distinction between users engaging in legal or illegally obtained media.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

News : Nanotechnology plans seen falling short

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The current U.S. plan for the emerging field of nanotechnology lacks vision, fails to assess risk and leaves the industry vulnerable to public mistrust, a report by the National Research Council found.

The report, released on Wednesday, found serious gaps in the government's current plan for determining if there are risks posed by nanomaterials. It called for an effective national plan for identifying and managing potential risks.

"The current plan catalogs nano-risk research across several federal agencies, but it does not present an overarching research strategy needed to gain public acceptance and realize the promise of nanotechnology," committee chairman David Eaton, a public health expert at the University of Washington in Seattle, said in a statement.

Nanotechnology, the design and manipulation of materials thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair, has been hailed as a way to make strong, lightweight materials, better cosmetics and even tastier food. But scientists are only starting to look at the impact such tiny objects might have.

Some studies suggest that nano-sized objects may have different effects in the body than larger ones.

Currently, more than 600 products involving nanomaterials are already on the market. Most are health and beauty products, but many researchers are working on ways to use the materials for medical therapies, food additives and electronics.

In its report, the committee said the current U.S. strategy, developed by the National Nanotechnology Initiative, does not provide for adequate research to ensure the safety of workers, consumers and the environment from unexpected and possibly toxic properties of these materials.

LACKING VISION

The committee said the plan lacks "essential elements" including a vision, clear objectives, a comprehensive assessment of the state of the science, and a "road map that describes how research progress will be measured and the estimated resources required to conduct such research."

David Rejeski, director of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, an advocacy group, said the report echoes calls by industry and congressional leaders for a revamped research plan for nanotechnology.

"The administration's delay has hurt investor and consumer confidence," Rejeski said in a statement.

"It has gambled with public health and safety. It has jeopardized the $14 billion investment governments and private industry have made in this technology and its great promise for significant advances in healthcare, energy and manufacturing."

University of Wisconsin researchers reported in Monday's issue of the journal Nature Nanotechnology that nearly 25 percent of Americans surveyed found nanotechnology to be morally unacceptable, compared to 7 percent of Italians, 18 percent of Belgians and 66 percent of Irish.

They said the more religious a society was, the more likely citizens were to reject nanotechnology as immoral.

The group said the report should help guide the administration of President-elect Barack Obama.

The National Research Council is one of the National Academy of Sciences, an independent organization that guides the federal government on medical, scientific and engineering policy.

(Editing by Maggie Fox)

News : Bosnians want Serb group shut down on Facebook

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Over 6,000 Bosnians joined in less than 48 hours a group on social networking site Facebook which wants to shut down a Serb nationalist group celebrating the massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica.

The group, created on Monday under the name "Close Group Noz Zica Srebrenica," alerted administrators about the language of hatred against Muslims on the site.

"Administrator, we ask you to close the group 'Noz, Zica, Srebrenica', which glorifies the acts of genocide that took place in Srebrenica, where 8,000 men and boys were murdered," read the Bosnian group header on Facebook.

"In addition, this group propagates hatred to all Muslims," it said. Muslims or Bosniaks account for nearly half of the population of Bosnia, which they share with Roman Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbs.

Young Serbian nationalists set up the group "Noz Zica Srebrenica" (The Knife, The Wire, Srebrenica), which relates to the detention and killing of around 8,000 Muslim men and boys by the Bosnian Serb forces in 1995. The group was set up in Serbian Cyrillic script.

"For all those who respect the acts of Ratko Mladic," the 930-member group said in an appeal to new members. "For all those who think that Muslims are best on the spit and while swimming in sulphur acid," the site said.

The Srebrenica massacre, seen as Europe's worst atrocity since World War Two, was masterminded by Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic, who was jailed in July, and his military chief General Ratko Mladic, who is still at large.

Many in Serbia, including young people, still regard the two men as national heroes. But quite a few Serbs have opposed the group's calls on the Internet, calling them fascist and shameful.

No one at Facebook was immediately available to comment.

(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Louise Ireland)

News : Sony to axe 8,000 jobs

Electronics giant Sony became the latest firm to restructure in the wake of global recession Tuesday, planning to cut 8,000 jobs as well as investment.

The job cuts, the most by an Asian firm so far in the financial crisis, and reduced spending intend to shave $1.1 billion in costs, trimming Sony's 186,000 global work by about 4 percent.

Dan Sloan reports.

News : Young graduates struggle for Silicon Valley jobs

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Young professionals and recent graduates have struggled to find work in a sliding economy, but one area -- Silicon Valley -- has been relatively immune. Until now.

Silicon Valley companies that initially resisted the swooning of the economy are looking to cut costs and shed entry-level positions, and people in their 20s are finding a college degree is no longer their golden ticket to a dream job in high tech.

"I feel like I put in all the work (in school) to not have a job," said Jillian Crawford, 25, who's been looking for a marketing job with a tech company since she graduated with honors from San Jose State University in June.

Crawford has applied to about 25 marketing jobs without receiving much of a response from employers. She remains committed to finding a job in Silicon Valley and would be dismayed if she had to look elsewhere.

That may not be easy.

Silicon Valley has been hit hard by the global economic crisis as tech companies, including Hewlett Packard Co, Yahoo Inc, Sun Microsystems Inc and Applied Materials Inc, have shed 140,000 jobs in the last few months, according to Challenger, Gray and Christmas, a consulting group.

Instead, employers are putting an increased value on experience and tenure, something recent graduates lack. And many companies are moving seasoned employees around to fill open positions rather than add another person to the payroll, according to Kerry Kiley, Bay Area regional manager for employment firm Adecco.

"Things out there are very, very tough right now and seem to be getting tougher before they're getting better -- even for the educated," she said. Only engineers buck the trend.

It has been tough for Crawford. She moved back home with her parents a little over a month ago to save money while searching for a job.

"I was thinking (it would take) maybe a couple weeks, maybe three weeks, before finding a job I was really interested in," said Crawford. "I am completely still shocked at how long it's taken."

HARD FIGURES

U.S. unemployment statistics show Crawford has plenty of company. Americans between 20 and 29 years old have the highest unemployment rate of any age group, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The unemployment rate for Americans ages 25 to 29 years-old jumped to 7.3 percent in November from 5 percent a year earlier, while for Americans 20 to 24 it rose to 10.4 percent from 7.7 percent. The national unemployment rate is 6.7 percent.

Unemployment among young adults usually spikes during bad times, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics economist Amar Mann. Unemployment rates among 20- to 29-year-olds rose faster than older age groups during the two most recent U.S. recessions, in 1990 and 2001.

It's also common for young Americans to head to graduate school or extend their undergraduate education rather than enter the workforce during tough economic times. Mann observed slight increases in graduate school enrollment during 1990 and 1991.

"Getting a master's or a PhD eventually does equate to a higher salary," Mann said. "Especially when your job prospects aren't that bright, you might be more willing to forgo two years in the workforce to get more education to increase your marketability."

Many college graduates in the Valley are grappling with the decision to take a service job or continue to hold out for a position that utilizes the skills they gained in college.

"I don't want to go into a restaurant (and work). I want to be able to use my degree," said Christine Chase, 24, of Campbell, California. Chase was laid off from her contractor job at AT&T in August and is struggling to pay her bills with her unemployment benefit.

With the holidays approaching and four fruitless months on the job search, Chase recently registered with a recruiting agency for help finding a job.

"I'm going to have to be a little more flexible now and take what I can get."

Employers will be more attracted to those who adopted a flexible attitude toward the job search and took advantage of open employment opportunities, regardless if the job required a college degree, according to Kiley.

"This is not the time that pride is going to stand in the way of your paycheck," said Kiley. "Sometimes you have to humble yourself."

(Reporting by Jennifer Martinez; Editing by Peter Henderson and Eddie Evans)

News : Electronics industry axes jobs, sees bleak Christmas

By Nathan Layne and Tarmo Virki

TOKYO/HELSINKI (Reuters) - Sony Corp (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) axed thousands of jobs on Tuesday and bearish comments from Samsung (005930.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Texas Instruments (TXN.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) added to the gloom in the technology sector as consumers shun the latest gadgets.

Demand for consumer electronics has slumped in the run-up to Christmas as the financial crisis has grown into a broad recession that has already engulfed the U.S., parts of Europe and is dampening demand in emerging markets.

"Consumers have essentially stopped buying," said Brian Halla, Chief Executive of chipmaker National Semiconductor. "For the first time in a long time, you think before you buy the new gadget or choose to upgrade your phone."

Japan's Sony said it would slash 8,000 jobs, about 4 percent of its workforce, scale back investments and pull out of businesses as it aims to cut $1.1 billion in costs out of its ailing electronics operations.

The cuts -- the biggest announced by an Asian firm so far in the financial crisis -- and other restructuring steps underscore challenges facing Sony, which has fallen well behind Apple Inc's (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) iPod in portable music and is struggling to make money on flat panel TVs.

Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said late on Monday it was cutting its targets for sales, capital expenditures and profit, reflecting an increasingly tough worldwide economy.

The world's top maker of memory chips and liquid crystal displays (LCDs) is also facing a lengthy downturn in the once-reliable memory market and a rapid margin deterioration in the flat-screen TV sector.

Chu Woo-sik, head of investor relations, said at an investor conference that capital expenditures would drop 2-3 trillion won next year.

"At a time when people are worried about losing their jobs and paying their mortgages it is not surprising that the consumer electronics industry is being hit," said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi.

"In the past, when things started to improve, it has also been one of the first industries to bounce back," she said.

Overnight, chip makers Texas Instruments Inc (TXN.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and smaller rival National Semiconductor Corp (NSM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) slashed current-quarter revenue forecasts to far below Wall Street expectations as demand for mobile phone and analog chips came to a virtual standstill.

Also smaller chipmakers Broadcom Corp (BRCM.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Altera Corp (ALTR.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) warned on Monday of weaker-than-expected demand.

"Conditions (are) likely to get worse before they get better," TI's head of investor relations Ron Slaymaker told analysts on a conference call.

The DJ Stoxx European technology index was up 1.9 percent by 1117 GMT, outperforming a 1.2 percent gain in the broader STOXX 600 . Infineon (IFXGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) shares fell 5 percent while Ericsson (ERICb.ST: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) was up 0.8 percent.

(Additional reporting by David Lawsky and Jennifer Martinez in San Francisco, with Sinead Carew in New York; editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

News : Cruise ship stranded in Antarctica

A luxury Antarctic cruise ship carrying 122 passengers and crew started to take on water and leak fuel after it ran aground.

Navy officials said the ship lay some 186 miles (300km) southwest of Argentina's Marambio military base on the Antarctic Peninsula, in a sheltered strait near Isla Bravante.

Pavithra George reports.