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Microsoft Corp may soon be able to tell whether an Internet search query comes from a man or a woman. The feature may help advertisers make search-related pitches more relevant to their intended audiences, said Jed Nahum, a Microsoft director of product management. Microsoft, the world's largest software company, is developing advertising technologies to bolster its MSN Internet unit and fight...

Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), the former Marine who is an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq, has become the latest Democrat to have his Vietnam War decorations questioned. In a tactic reminiscent of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth assault on Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) during the 2004 presidential campaign, a conservative Web site yesterday quoted Murtha opponents as questioning the...

McClatchy Co. executives wrapped up talks Friday over a possible bid for Knight Ridder Inc. of San Jose, the nation's second-largest newspaper chain, according to a newspaper report. Sacramento-based McClatchy, publisher of The Bee and 28 other daily and nondaily newspapers, spent Thursday and Friday meeting with Knight Ridder executives in the first in a series of presentations from would-be...

If, like me, you've been avoiding the "blog" phenomenon, don't despair. In this world of the 10-second attention span, you can fake your way through any conversation on blogs if you learn a few basics. Read on and you will find out everything you need to know about blogs short of actually writing or reading one on a regular basis. First of all, don't trust anyone who pretends they know all about...

NEW YORK (Opinion) You would think the senseless murder of a decent, just-retired gentleman on the streets of Washington, D.C. would never be exploited, especially by a former colleague, but never underestimate New York Times columnist John Tierney. On Saturday he joined the ranks of those identifying, and pressing, some larger political point in the killing of David E. Rosenbaum. Earlier this...

Kampala - The Ugandan government has ordered all journalists accredited with foreign media to re-register with a new state press agency, the head of the media agency said Saturday. The government was reluctant to accredit a Canadian journalist for participating in talk shows on local radio, the official added. Will Ross, a reporter with the British Broadcasting Service (BBC), had his 12-month...

A Dubai newspaper is reporting that one of its journalists in Iraq was held captive for five days in December before being freed by US troops during a chance raid on an insurgent hideout. English-language UAE daily Emirates Today said its correspondent Phil Sands, a 28-year-old Briton, was kidnapped by unknown gunmen on December 26 from a Baghdad neighbourhood as he travelled with a local driver...

Ever felt worn down by the modern world? Find yourself fantasising about other lives you could have lived -- as a courtier at Versailles, a geisha, perhaps a pipe-smoking Edwardian gentleman? A vision of the world as a simple place, without bio-terrorism, frankenstein foods, melting ice-caps. Life in serene freedom from latter-day horrors. Except that some people still speak of the bad old days...

Described by Reporters Sans Frontieres as "the biggest prison for journalists in the Middle East" -- where, in the last six years, 41 daily newspapers have been banned -- Iran has long lacked a public forum for independent voices. But it hasn't been immune to the user-driven web revolution. In April 2003, Iran became the first government to imprison a blogger: Sina Motallebi of the popular weblog...

On Tuesday, the investigative website The Smoking Gun published the six-page report, "A Million Little Lies," exposing a number of fictional events in James Frey's supposedly nonfiction memoir A Million Little Pieces. TSG reported that the confessional, an Oprah Book Club selection and a memoir of Frey's struggle with drug and alcohol abuse and eventual recovery, was riddled with exaggerations...