Microsoft and PC maker Lenovo said on Wednesday that they will build a joint research and development lab in China, marking the first time that the software maker has built such a facility with another company.

RIM's massive BlackBerry email outage this week highlights how vulnerable the company's network has become as it tries to keep up with demand for its popular service.

It seems likely that Thursday marked the largest proliferation of email virus attacks in more than a year, according to security company Postini.

In a century-old farming town in central Washington state, Microsoft has built a farm for the internet age.