By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer

CHIBA, Japan (AP) -- Video game rivals Sony and Microsoft are going head-to-head in virtual worlds for their home consoles later this year.

Both companies announced their services, which use graphic images that represent players called "avatars," Thursday at the Tokyo Game Show.

Just in time for Halloween, a terror haunts the American teenager. Facebook has gone under the knife for a facelift. Gasp! Admittedly, the jowls were sagging. Profiles were cluttered with applications galore and News Feed unchecked. Stuff needed to be tightened.

By RACHEL METZ AP Technology Writer NEW YORK (AP) -- After a series of changes designed to draw more people to its online marketplace, eBay Inc.'s latest alteration is aimed at its own employees. The auction site operator said Monday it will cut about 1,600 jobs, 10 percent of its work force, in its largest round of dismissals ever.

By Troy Wolverton

San Jose Mercury News

You’ve been battling malware – viruses, worms, spyware and the like – on your PC for years.

Is your phone the next battle­ground?

By BARBARA ORTUTAY AP Technology Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- The economic slowdown has started to squeeze the technology sector. So far this has not led to wide-scale job cuts, but a slowing demand for computers and other electronics may already be weighing on some payrolls.

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer

TOKYO (AP) -- Nintendo's hit DS portable machine will come with a digital camera that will allow players to mix images, scribble on photos and create new faces, the Japanese game maker said Thursday.

Game Informer Magazine When EA and Black Box released "Skate" last year, the game attacked a genre dominated by one series for a decade and changed it forever. By moving the concept of skateboarding in a video game to more realistic influences, they took a risk that paid off. Now the team is hard at work on "Skate 2." Where do they go from here? Bigger and better.

By Dwight Silverman Houston Chronicle We live in the Age of Machines. Machines do the jobs people won't. They cook our food, they clean our clothes, they transport us, they facilitate communication, they entertain.

By RACHEL METZ AP Technology Writer