A firm run by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is suing Apple, Google and 9 other companies alleging they are violating patents developed at a Silicon Valley lab Mr. Allen financed more than a decade ago.

The U.S. birth rate has dropped for the second year in a row, and experts think the wrenching recession led many people to put off having children. The 2009 birth rate also set a record: lowest in a century.

A look at the conflict and its milestones.

Ford is using Wi-Fi at one assembly plant to add entertainment and phone software to its new Edge and Lincoln MKX crossovers, but it may be just the start of the customization possibilities at car factories and dealerships.

Police have charged the woman who allegedly donned a cat mask to rob shoe stores this summer, a crime spree that made her an online phenom and exposed the public to what is perhaps the greatest police sketch ever.

The price you pay for an airline ticket is driven by a number of variables: competition, types of passengers, the route and operating costs. But the biggest factor, by far, is whether discount airlines fly in a market.

The Deepwater Horizon blowout has become one of the most scrutinized maritime disasters ever. But a central uncertainty remains: Why didn't the crew recognize the warning signs in the final hours before the lethal eruption?

Marketing companies are experimenting with a new wave of digital technologies to pitch to consumers while they shop.

Apple worshippers may already consider the iPhone a work of art, but artists in Japan are trying to get the nonbelievers to see it that way too.

The Pentagon said a foreign spy agency pulled off the most serious breach of Defense Department computer networks ever by inserting a flash drive into a U.S. military laptop in 2008.

During Ramadan in New York City, Muslims gather at mosques and make time for payers and other rituals throughout the day. Some without access to mosques make do with sidewalk observances.

Apple has scheduled its next big event for Sept. 1, and Wall Street analysts are expecting a streaming iTunes service or an announcement about Apple TV.

This month’s Spectrem Group’s Millionaire Investor Confidence Index–which measures the investment outlook for those with $1 million or more in investible assets–fell 11 points to levels last seen in June 2009.

About 20 states have enacted or proposed measures that generally treat minors in a more lenient fashion than if they were prosecuted under existing child-pornography or child-exploitation laws,

A growing group of e-cigarette purveyors are defying the FDA, which contends the nascent nicotine products are drug devices that require pre-market approval and may pose their own health risks.

No one said it would be easy to build the greenest house on the block. Scott Adams on perplexing energy bills, ugly lawns and the true meaning of "green."

The U.S. military said the number of American soldiers in Iraq has now reached a level below 50,000, a milestone accomplished ahead of the formal end of its combat mission slated for Aug. 31.

Road construction in China snarls traffic into a jam that has lasted ten days.

Thirty three miners in northern Chile who have been trapped nearly half a mile underground since Aug. 5 sent out a dramatic message attached to a drill operated by rescuers that they were well and holding out in an shelter.

Credit-card rates are at a nine-year high—and are likely to head even higher. as new limits on how quickly card issuers may increase rates trigger changes in how financial companies manage credit risk. At the same time, lenders are revamping some of their underwriting techniques.