From mainframes to minicomputers and then PCs, each new computing generation has displaced its predecessor by reaching a broader audience and costing far less. And each time, the dominant company in one generation loses control in the next.

"Guitar Hero: Aerosmith,"  Activision's latest installment of their video game franchise, launched Friday at Time Square's Hard Rock Cafe release party n New York. It's the fourth game in the best-selling title, but the first based on a specific band.

Microsoft's Bill Gates told NBC's Tom Brokaw he does not think a deal with Yahoo was likely, CNBC reported on Friday.

Research in Motion reported a profit and sales that both were below analysts' estimates, and the company's shares dropped about 8 percent in extended trading.

Oracle the world's third-largest software maker, reported a higher quarterly profit, beating Wall Street estimates, but it sees software license revenue growth weakening.

The number of personal computers in use around the world has surpassed 1 billion, with strong growth in emerging markets set to double the number of PCs by early 2014, research firm Gartner said on Monday.

Microsoft said on Wednesday it had purchased privately held digital television advertising technology company Navic Networks.

U.S. design software maker Adobe Systems issued a revenue outlook that disappointed some investors on Monday, sending its shares down more than 3 percent.

Video game publisher Electronic Arts Tuesday again extended its $2 billion takeover offer for smaller rival Take-Two Interactive Software, but Take-Two again rejected the bid as too low.

Cadence Design Systems Tuesday said it offered to buy rival software maker Mentor Graphics for $16 a share, in an unsolicited deal with an enterprise value of $1.6 billion.

The European Commission, a thorn in Microsoft's side for its antitrust campaigns against the software giant, is falling short in its own internal attempt to promote more competition in the technology sector.

Adobe Systems reported earnings that outpaced expectations, driven by growth in sales of programs for photo editing, Web creation and graphics design.

When the News Corporation added MySpace to its portfolio nearly three years ago, it expected that if its base of 16 million users kept growing — and each user kept adding friends, sharing photos and swapping flirty messages — the advertising dollars would roll in, the New York Times reported.

U.S. sales of video game hardware and software were $1.12 billion in May, up 37 percent from a year earlier, with Take-Two Interactive's "Grand Theft Audio 4" the best-selling title for the month, market researcher NPD said in a report on Thursday.

Speculation is rampant on how Apple CEO Steve Jobs will top last year's hugely successful iPhone, The New York Times reports.