AP - Chinese online gaming stocks traded lower Thursday after Giant Interactive Group Inc. reported second-quarter profit that met Wall Street views but was downgraded by one analyst after failing to issue third-quarter guidance.

Reuters - Mobile phone operators may facelegislation from the European Commission to crack down on whatthe EU executive sees as overcharging, but industry said such astep would amount to micro-management.

CNET - An electronic gaffe at news outlet Bloomberg mistakenly sent an incomplete obituary for Apple CEO Steve Jobs over the wire on Wednesday afternoon, and a tipster promptly sent the soon-retracted file to gossip blog Gawker.

InfoWorld - I've had a Comcast cable Internet connection for years. Last year I got a shiny new fiber connection from Mstar. But rather than uninstall the cable connection, I asked FatPipe Networks if they'd be willing to let me perform an extended test of the company's flagship route clustering product, WARP.

Reuters - A Chinese factory worker has becomean Internet sensation after a picture of her smiling andflashing a peace sign to a co-worker testing an Apple iPhonestayed on the phone that was sold to a man in Britain.

Reuters - Looking for a partner? For millions ofIndians, taking the first step towards getting married could beas easy as picking up a cellphone.

AFP - NASA confirmed on Wednesday that a computer virus sneaked aboard the International Space Station only to be tossed into quarantine on July 25 by security software.

InfoWorld - An open-source technology has been launched to help developers using Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 find duplicated code in their software projects.

AP - Tom Albert drove his loaner Chevrolet Equinox like any other car.

NewsFactor - Mozilla Labs has rolled out an experimental Firefox plug-in that promises to streamline the way Web surfers manage the mountains of information online. Called Ubiquity, the proof-of-concept prototype is an experiment with two parts -- it's both an interface and a development platform, notes the plug-in's developer, Aza Raskin.

NewsFactor - The iPhone took hits on two fronts Wednesday as Orange -- an iPhone 3G carrier in France -- admitted to limiting 3G bandwidth for its customers, and a security flaw was discovered in the iPhone that enables unauthorized users to access private data on the phone when it is supposedly locked.

NewsFactor - Anyone perusing porn sites at home will appreciate Microsoft's latest efforts at browser privacy, but it's not clear it will do much for the enterprise. Internet Explorer product manager Andrew Ziegler discussed the new privacy features of IE8, currently in its second beta, in an extensive blog post Monday. Users of the new software will be able to turn on Microsoft's InPrivate Browsi...

NewsFactor - After more than six years of disputes and battles between Immersion and Microsoft, the companies are waving white flags. After suing Microsoft for patent infringement on Xbox controller technology and winning, and then suing again for breach of a confidentiality agreement, Immersion will now pay Microsoft $20.75 million of the $26 million it received in a previous settlement.

AP - Broadcom Corp. co-founder Henry Samueli has apologized for lying to the Securities and Exchange Commission during its probe of stock options backdating at the chip maker.

CNET - PALO ALTO, Calif.--Mac clone maker Psystar plans to file its answer to Apple's copyright infringement lawsuit Tuesday as well as a countersuit of its own, alleging that Apple engages in anticompetitive business practices.

NewsFactor - If you're on Facebook and were thinking about playing Scrabulous -- an online, unauthorized version of the classic word game Scrabble -- the word you're looking for is "banned." As in "banned from Facebook," since that popular social-networking site has now pulled the game from most of the world that could still play it.

AP - THE PROBLEM: Wireless headsets let you make calls without holding a cell phone, but the headsets can be hard to figure out how to use.

InfoWorld - Standardization efforts for the next version of JavaScript have taken a sharp turn this month, with some key changes in the Web scripting technology's direction. JavaScript creator Brendan Eich, CTO of Mozilla, has helped forge a consensus on how to proceed with the direction for JavaScript's improvements. "JavaScript was sitting still. It was stagnant," he says.

PC World -

Reuters - Viacom Inc's mtvU college cablenetwork will launch an online network of campus guides, aimingto be the "Citysearch" of university life.

CNET - digg_url = 'http://digg.com/politics/Nielsen_Obama_text_reached_2_9_million_people';Let's say Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama sent every one of those "here's my V.P." text messages from his own cell phone.

Reuters - Mexicans will soon be able to payfor small purchases such as restaurant meals and taxi ridesusing their mobile telephones, the country's banks said onMonday.

NewsFactor - In a move to cash in on the back-to-school mobile phone-buying sprees, Verizon Wireless on Monday launched a new phone dubbed "Blitz."

AP - Real news from the virtual world:

CNET - Microsoft on Monday announced plans to track Australian delegates attending its annual Tech.Ed conference in Sydney next week using RFID tags embedded in conference badges.