Product Development

Two key Boeing Co. defense executives have been quietly transferred to the troubled 787 jetliner program, suggesting that problems with developing the plane could be worse than the company has revealed. In what some analysts said was an unusual move, the two executives were placed on "special assignment" with the commercial aircraft division in Seattle in early January, two weeks before Boeing announced that production problems had forced a further delay in initial deliveries of the Dreamliner.

The last thing the world needs is another social network that lets users chat with their friends, the head of Yahoo Inc.'s mobile Internet business said. What users need is a way to keep track of all of them. "Today, most people have too many forms of communications," said Marco Boerries, senior vice president of Yahoo's Connected Life unit. "To keep in touch with all of them, you have to go to all of these different websites."

IBM Corp. introduced a mainframe computer that performs tasks more quickly while using less power, stepping up competition with Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. for business customers. The computer can operate 50% faster, handling 70% more work, than current IBM mainframes, the Armonk, N.Y.-based company said. That reduces energy costs by as much as 85%, the company said. IBM, the biggest seller of mainframes, is redesigning the machines to challenge server networks, which can cheaply deliver Web pages and computer files.

At a university lab in a Tokyo suburb, engineering students are wiring a rubbery robot face to simulate six basic expressions: anger, fear, sadness, happiness, surprise and disgust. Hooked up to a database of words clustered by association, the robot -- dubbed Kansei, or "sensibility" -- responds to the word "war" by quivering in what looks like disgust and fear. It hears "love," and its pink lips smile. "To live among people, robots need to handle complex social tasks," said project leader Junichi Takeno of Meiji University.

Reality television impresario Mark Burnett doesn't think his latest business will be half-baked. The man behind such hits as "Survivor" and "The Apprentice" announced Tuesday that he had invested in microwave oven technology that aims to fully cook food. Burnett, 47, said he had a 25% stake in the firm, Microwave Science, which owns the rights to a trademarked technology called TrueCookPlus.

Sprint Nextel Corp., the No. 3 U.S. cellphone carrier, reaffirmed its commitment Tuesday to a next-generation system for delivering data that an increasing number of analysts are questioning. At an industry conference, Sprint Chief Executive Dan Hesse said the Overland Park, Kan.-based company was sticking with a wireless technology known as WiMax. It can send large amounts of information through the air, but it does better in areas with flat terrain.

Yahoo Inc. says it's poised to revolutionize online advertising after years of being outmaneuvered by Google Inc. But the slumping Internet pioneer might not get the chance to show off the latest improvements to its advertising platform unless it can convince increasingly impatient investors that the new approach will produce a bigger payoff than Microsoft Corp.'s unsolicited offer to buy the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company for more than $40 billion.

Hewlett-Packard Co. plans to enter the growing market for pint-size computers targeted mainly to pint-size customers, introducing an ultra-portable PC it says is smaller than some textbooks and priced to appeal to schools. The Mini-Note weighs 2.63 pounds and has an 8.9-inch screen and an almost full-size keyboard, Hewlett-Packard said. Prices start at $499 for a model with Linux operating system software and $599 with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows. Hewlett-Packard gets more than half its PC revenue from notebook machines.

The flaming-hot weather earlier this month gave motorists in Southern California a reminder of how a car can become a kitchen oven. Leave a car parked in the sun on a 90-degree day with the windows up and the doors safely locked and the interior temperature can shoot up to 140 degrees. Is it asking the auto industry too much to give consumers a car that doesn't bake them? Apparently, a navigation system, alloy wheels and leather seats are supposed to be good enough.

Walt Disney Co. said it merged its video game and Internet units to better coordinate the operations. Disney Interactive Media Group will be led by Steve Wadsworth, who ran the company's Internet unit, and will develop and distribute entertainment for all digital media, Chief Executive Robert Iger said. Disney wants the units to collaborate on future projects because of the growing use of games that connect multiple players over the Internet, Iger said.