New York - Microsoft will introduce a new mobile phone that combines elements of its Zune digital media player, Danger's Sidekick device and additional "motion enhancement features," Barron's reported, citing Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry.

Bellevue, Wash. - In the wake of Yahoo (NASD: YHOO) CEO Jerry Yang's announcement yesterday that he will step down, Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer said on Wednesday that his company is still no longer interested in acquiring Yahoo, but remains open to a search partnership, the Associated Press reported. "Let me be clear," Ballmer said at Microsoft's annual shareholder meeting, "We are done with all acquisition discussions with Yahoo."

Washington - Speculation has heated up within the local tech community about who President-elect Barack Obama will appoint as his new chief technology officer (CTO) and just what that person's role might be, The Washington Post reported. Those talked about for the position on numerous sites like ObamaCTO.org include Julius Genachowski, a member of Obama's transition team and a former advisor to the Federal Communication Commission, Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer, Amazon (NASD: AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos and Vint Cerf, who currently holds the title of chief Internet evangelist at Google (NASD: GOOG).

Sydney, Australia - Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer said on Friday that the company is no longer interested in acquiring Yahoo (NASD: YHOO), but suggested a search partnership may still be possible, the Associated Press reported. "We made an offer, we made another offer, and it was clear that Yahoo didn't want to sell the business to us and we moved on," Ballmer told attendees at a business lunch in Sydney on Friday, according to AP. "We are not interested in going back and re-looking at an acquisition. I don't know why they would be either, frankly. They turned us down at $33 a share."

Sunnyvale, Calif. - Shares of Yahoo (NASD: YHOO) jumped more than 10% on Thursday, following remarks by Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer that some believe could signal his company's renewed interest in a deal for Yahoo.