SEATTLE – Not content to take on PDF and PostScript with Windows, Microsoft (MSFT) now also is setting its sights on going head-to-head with the JPEG imaging standard. Microsoft introduced on May 24 at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) here its proposed image-compression file-format specification, which it is calling …

NEW YORK – The Big Easy and the Big Apple are so far apart — geographically, culturally, economically — that as New Yorkers watched the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina unfold, most simply assumed their city could never fall prey to such a calamity. They were wrong. New York City, Long …

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE – Outgoing White House press secretary Scott McClellan had already said goodbye to the television cameras. On Wednesday, he spent his final day on the job accompanying President Bush on Air Force One — handing out farewell brownies. Bush and the small cadre of aides who …

AUSTIN, Texas – Author and entertainer Kinky Friedman presented 169,574 voter signatures to state election officials on Thursday in the hope of making the November ballot for governor. The independent gubernatorial hopeful wore his trademark black cowboy hat and chomped a cigar while explaining where many of the signatures came …

NEW ORLEANS – In a gutted building with no interior walls, exposed pipes and no air conditioning to stave off the Louisiana heat, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Garner and Cicely Tyson chatted with children who had lost their homes, then watched as they sang, danced and worked on art projects. The …

WASHINGTON – House Republican leaders planned a last-ditch effort to pass a $2.8 trillion budget blueprint Wednesday after failing twice previously to win over GOP moderates displeased with its prescription for education and health spending. House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, confessed early in the day that GOP leaders did …

BOISE, Idaho – Chip-maker Micron Technology Inc. (MU) planned on Thursday to unveil a thumbnail-sized digital sensor that enables pocket-sized cameras and cell phones to capture bursts of 10 high-quality photos in a single second or even high-definition video. Production of the new 8-megapixel digital image sensor is expected to …

KUBU SIMBELANG, Indonesia – The World Health Organization put the maker of the global stockpile of the anti-bird flu drug Tamiflu on alert for the first time after human-to-human transmission was suspected in Indonesia, officials said Saturday. The organization said that a precautionary 9,500 treatment doses, along with protective gear, …

ORLANDO, Fla. – Orlando is out as a possible site for the 2008 Democratic convention. City officials decided that the likely price tag of $100 million was too much to stage the summertime event and notified the Democratic National Committee that it was out of the competition. On the Republican …

NEW YORK – Oil dropped more than $2 on Wednesday after a U.S. government report showed a surprise increase in gasoline inventories, easing worries about a supply crunch ahead of summer when demand peaks. Gasoline stocks in the world’s largest oil consumer rose by 2.1 million barrels last week, countering …