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Adobe Acrobat will include Web-search features

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The deal to be announced today is Yahoo!'s latest maneuver against Google and Microsoft in the fight to become the gateway of search and Web access on as many desktops as possible.

For Adobe, the partnership will add online features to one of its core products, Acrobat. The program is used by more than 500 million people and has become a common format for viewing documents over the Web and in e-mail attachments.

Under the deal, Adobe will first introduce a cobranded Yahoo! browser toolbar that users can choose to install on their computers when prompted to download an update of Acrobat Reader. The toolbar will feature links to Yahoo! products and services as well as Adobe's Web-based subscription service that lets people convert documents into the Adobe PDF file format.

Later, the toolbar will add features such as the ability to quickly convert Web-based content into Adobe PDF files. Yahoo! search will also be built into a future version of the Acrobat Reader, allowing users to search for more information from within the document without launching a Web browser.

Nintendo

Ads for new handheld have different touch

NEW YORK — Nintendo is sexing up its U.S. advertising to launch the DS handheld device, promising mature players the gadget is not their little brother's Game Boy.

The No. 1 maker of handheld game devices is spending $40 million in its largest product launch, including ads with the tagline "Touching is Good." Teaser spots start today, playing up the dual-screen device's touch controls. A sultry voice invites the viewer to come a little closer.

"When you're a kid you're always told you can't touch anything," said Perrin Kaplan, vice president of marketing at Redmond-based Nintendo of America. "Touching is good. You're grown-up now, so read it how you want."

Analysts said the ads should draw young adults who like gadgets and the image they project.
 
Sprint

Services to keep track of wireless devices

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Sprint said today it will offer services to help companies better manage cellphones and personal digital assistants issued to employees, including a feature to remotely erase sensitive information from devices that are lost or stolen.

The "managed mobility" package will also help information-technology departments keep a better eye on the use of wireless devices and automatically upgrade their software without having to bring in the devices.

The program also will allow companies with several cellphones to buy pools of minutes as opposed to paying for dozens of individual calling plans.

The telecommunications giant expects it to be available in the first quarter of 2005.

Boeing

Angola negotiating to buy nine jetliners

Boeing is in talks with Angola over the sale of nine passenger plans to the African country's TAAG airline, the Angolan industry ministry said yesterday.

Talks began when Angola's President Jose Eduardo dos Santos visited the United States in May, the ministry said in an e-mailed newsletter.

"Should negotiations come to a successful conclusion, the Angolan airline will order the planes in 2005," the ministry said. "The models to be acquired include six 737-700s and three 777s."

Angola, sub-Saharan Africa's second-biggest oil producer, is trying to rebuild its economy after 27 years of civil war ended in 2002 and is investing in projects ranging from ports and roads to railways and oil refineries.

US Airways Group

Mid-November deadline for worker givebacks

WASHINGTON — US Airways Group has given its machinists, flight attendants and ground workers until mid-November to reach long-term concession agreements or the bankrupt airline will seek court approval to throw out their contracts, court documents show.

The airline also said in court filings late last week that it would proceed with plans to cut retiree medical benefits.

Bankruptcy Court Judge Stephen Mitchell approved 21 percent wage cuts and other benefit reductions for thousands of union workers Oct. 15. But that order expires in mid-February, and US Airways has said it needs permanent concessions of nearly $1 billion per year to survive.

This past week, the pilots union ratified givebacks worth $300 million per year over five years, including an 18 percent pay cut.

Boeing-Airbus battle

Resolution predicted after U.S. election

European Commission President Romano Prodi said today he expects the United States and Europe to settle the trade clash over aid to Boeing Airbus once a new U.S. administration is in place.

Prodi said the U.S. complaint to the World Trade Organization over European subsidies for Airbus reflects election-year politics and will yield to a negotiated settlement.

"I never take seriously the declarations concerning trade before the elections," said Prodi, who next Monday ends his five-year term running the European Union's executive agency. "What do you do? You go to Detroit, you have a plant that is closed, and cry against trade."

The U.S. says Airbus has received more than $15 billion in European government loans since 1967, helping it overtake Boeing's lead in aircraft sales. The EU counters that Boeing has gotten $23 billion in aid since 1992 through state tax breaks, military research and Japanese subsidies to suppliers.

The two sides are in the midst of a 60-day WTO-mandated consultation period that will stretch past the U.S. election. A failure to settle would hand the Boeing-Airbus verdict to a panel of WTO arbitrators.

America Online

Movielink service bonus for subscribers

Subscribers to America Online's broadband service are now able to download movies free from the video-on-demand service Movielink. The companies announced Thursday that they extended an existing agreement, which give AOL members access to movie downloads for 99 cents each.

In the next month, 10 "classic titles" will be made available at no cost. In subsequent months, five films will be offered.

Movielink is a joint venture of MGM, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios and Warner Bros.

Compiled from Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services, Bloomberg News, Reuters and The Associated Press