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Google has completed its $12.5 billion purchase of device maker Motorola Mobility in a deal that poses new challenges for the Internet’s most powerful company as it tries to shape the future of mobile computing.

The deal closed Tuesday, nine months after Google made a surprise announcement that it wanted to expand into the hardware business with the most expensive and riskiest acquisition in its 14-year history. The purchase pushes Google deeper into the cellphone business, a market it entered four years ago with the debut of its Android software, now the chief challenger to Apple’s iPhones.

In Motorola, Google gets a cellphone pioneer that has struggled in recent years. Motorola hasn’t produced a mass-market hit since it introduced the Razr cellphone in 2005. Once the No. 2 cellphone maker, Motorola now ranks eighth with 2 percent of the worldwide market share, according to Gartner.

As had been expected, Google CEO Larry Page immediately named one of his top lieutenants, Dennis Woodside, as Motorola’s CEO.

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MINNEAPOLIS—Delta Air Lines may have charged some frequent fliers higher fares than other customers for almost three weeks because of a computer glitch.

The airline said Wednesday that it fixed the problem where different prices were offered to passengers logged into their frequent flier accounts. Delta spokesman Paul Skrbec said fares were higher for some passengers, but lower for others.

Delta is unsure how many people were affected, but Skrbec offered an apology to any passengers who may have been inconvenienced.

The problem was first reported by WCCO Tuesday night. The Minneapolis TV station reported on two local executives at a security company who noticed a discrepancy when recently booking tickets on the same flight. Curious, they then tried other searches. For one trip to Los Angeles, coach tickets were $124 more expensive when logged in to Delta’s SkyMiles program.

“Not just a couple of bucks. It was pretty significant,” said one of the executives, Patrick Smith.

In three out of five tests, they said they found different fares. T

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NEW YORK (AP) — The government says gasoline will be cheaper this summer than previously expected thanks to a drop in the price of oil.

The Energy Department says drivers should pay an average of $3.79 per gallon at the pump from April through September. That’s down 16 cents from last month’s outlook and not that dramatic an increase from last summer’s average of $3.71 per gallon.

This month’s forecast is a reversal from previous warnings of a sharp rise in gasoline prices. The government had said last month that gasoline prices in May could jump above a monthly average of $4.01 per gallon.

Oil prices have dropped about $7 per barrel since April 2.

The national average for gas has declined 17 cents since early April to $3.76 per gallon on Tuesday.

A lot of modern day technology has been applied in the designing of furniture these days. The science that deals with the creation of furniture that actually suits the contours of the human body so as to prevent the hazards of improper posture, is called “ergonomics”. The ergonomics of the place have to be kept in mind prior to zeroing onto a certain kind of furniture. Long hours of work test your ability to concentrate and focus on work.

Therefore, if we were to be distracted by the fatigue and pain of regular life, then the output from our dedicated efforts certainly dwindles. We have to remember that when we decide to place the furniture in our office, the fact that it is an investment towards health and efficiency, must be considered and implemented upon. The office furniture and its related issues can all be sorted out under the heading office furniture express, which is the office furniture express, where you can find all that you might require. For Read full post…

Stanford lecturer Steve Blank, gives feedback to the class teams at the NSF I-Corps Lean LaunchPad team presentations at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., on Thursday, March 22, 2012. Blank is the architect of the Lean LaunchPad class at Stanford and judged the team presentations.

The National Science Foundation has hit some grand slams in its day: Research projects funded by the federal agency have gone on to become Google , Netscape and the Internet itself.

But such hits are relatively rare, considering that the NSF pours billions into university research each year. Now the agency — mindful that every dollar counts in these days of heated campaign rhetoric — is teaming with Stanford University to see if Silicon Valley can boost that batting average.

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BRUSSELS—Inflation in the 17 countries that use the euro did not fall as much as predicted during March, in a further sign that rising oil prices are having an impact on the countries’ economies.

Figures from Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, showed inflation in the eurozone in the year to March fell to 2.6 percent from 2.7 percent the previous month.

The decline was not as big as predicted. The consensus in the markets was for the rate to fall to 2.5 percent.

Inflation in the eurozone remains above the European Central Bank’s target of keeping price rises just below 2 percent. That suggests that the ECB has less room to cut interest rates further if it wanted to. It meets again next week and the expectation is that the benchmark interest rate will be maintained at 1 percent.

Rising oil prices in recent weeks have raised concerns that inflation may not fall below target as quickly as hoped.