Smarting from poor returns in the markets, ultrawealthy individuals plan to increase their investments in small businesses

Steve Appleton, who took charge of Micron Technology Inc. at 34 and went on to become the memory- chip industry’s longest-serving chief executive officer, died after crashing an experimental plane in Boise, Idaho. He was 51.

Blackstone Group LP, the world’s largest private-equity firm, is studying a leveraged buyout of Brocade Communications Systems Inc., said a person with knowledge of the situation.

Lightspeed Venture Partners, an investor in LivingSocial.com, has almost completed raising two funds, one in the U.S. and one in China, totaling about $875 million, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

The U.S. government said the online hacker group Anonymous intercepted a telephone call between FBI agents and U.K. authorities involving a joint investigation of the group.

While most of Facebook’s more than 800 million users are women, and females are more active social networkers, the company’s board lacks women and minority members

Telenor ASA has enlisted the help of the Norwegian government to protect its investment in India following the cancellation of 122 mobile-phone licenses by the nation’s top court.

Panasonic Corp. almost doubled its annual loss forecast to a record 780 billion yen ($10 billion), the latest Japanese electronics company to predict weaker earnings because of Thailand floods and slowing demand for TVs.

Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. and Telekom Austria AG’s purchase of Orange’s Austrian mobile-phone assets may have to be amended to win European and Austrian approval, the country’s Federal Competition Authority said.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. were sued by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman over the use of a mortgage database that the state said led to improper foreclosures.

Google's daily brainteaser helps hone your search skills.

Could the low-power-chip design that's used in your iPhone someday show up inside the chips built by Intel-rival Advanced Micro Devices? Definitely maybe. Or as AMD's brand new Chief Technology Officer Mark Papermaster put it to us: "The answer is not no."

Microsoft's Windows Phone OS is often criticized for lagging far behind iOS and Android. But on Thursday, a leaked description of Microsoft's next big mobile OS, Windows Phone 8, came to light, revealing how the operating system will improve. But can it really compete? We handicap Apollo against iOS 5 and Android 4.

Given the recent controversy over sugar, one might look to artificial sweeteners for an easy alternative to thorny scientific and ethical questions. But to anyone seeking pastel-packaged reassurance that regulators won't ever need to pry donuts from their cold, dead and pudgy fingers, science offers only more uncertainty.

A discussion with former Micron Technology board member Gordon Smith on the death of CEO Steve Appleton

Today Motorola issued a fail alert of epic proportions: From October to December 2011, 100 out of 6,200 refurbished Xooms sold from Woot.com may contain the previous owner's personal data.

Nothing illustrates the web's growing influence on filmmakers more effectively than Me @the Zoo, a feature-length documentary that premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

In a resurgent space-themed fashion shoot, supermodel Natalia Semanova mingles with real-life cosmonauts in Star City, the home of Russia's space training program. We interview the spread's photographer, Arthur Elgort, for the back story.