AP Technology NewsBrief at 12:06 a.m. EST

(Associated Press Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Deal to sell Dell may be about to face competitionSAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Is Michael Dell's attempt to gain more control over his company about to turn into a financial tug-of-war The answer could come Friday. That's the end of a 45-day period that Dell Inc.'s board of directors set to allow for offers that might top a Feb. 5 deal to sell the personal computer maker to CEO Michael Dell and a group of investors for $24.4 billion.

BlackBerry CEO says iPhone is outdatedTORONTO (AP) _ Apple's iPhone is outdated, according to the chief executive of BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion Ltd. Thorsten Heins made the comment Thursday on the eve of the much-delayed launch of the new touchscreen BlackBerry in the United States. AT&T begins selling the Z10 touchscreen BlackBerry on Friday, more than six weeks after RIM launched the devices elsewhere.

Report: FCC Chair Genachowski to step downWASHINGTON (AP) _ Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski (jen-uh-KOW'-skee) is reportedly set to announce Friday that he will step down. That's according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited an unnamed FCC official and an industry representative on Thursday.

HP develops glasses-free 3-D for mobile devicesLOS ANGELES (AP) _ Researchers at Hewlett-Packard Co. have developed a way to put glasses-free 3-D video on mobile devices with a viewing angle so wide that viewers can see an object more fully just by tilting the screen. Glasses-free 3-D is not unique. Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s 3DS handheld allows video game play in 3-D without glasses, but it requires players to look straight into the screen with their noses centered.

Oracle shares fall on weak 3rd-quarter reportNEW YORK (AP) _ Oracle Corp. on Wednesday reported flat earnings for its fiscal third quarter, hurt by a continued drop in sales of hardware systems and a surprise decline in sales of new software _ which the company attributed to a lackluster performance by its expanding sales force rather than lack of demand. "While our overall business remains healthy and we saw excellent pipeline growth we're not pleased with our revenue growth this quarter," said Safra A. Catz, president and chief financial officer, in a conference call with analysts.

HP rebuffs attempt to oust 2 directors from boardMOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) _ Hewlett-Packard Co. on Wednesday barely rebuffed a shareholder rebellion aimed at ousting the two longest-serving directors from personal computer maker's board. Shareholders had sought the board members' ouster as punishment for a series of botched acquisition and other pratfalls that have decimated HP's stock price.

Vatican's communications site runs Batman storyVATICAN CITY (AP) _ One of the Vatican's main Twitter accounts and the website of its communications office were running stories about Batman on Thursday with the headline "Holy Switcheroo!" _ raising concerns they might have been hacked. But two Vatican officials said the site hadn't been hacked, and that the reason for the unusual posting was an "internal system failure" due to a non-native English speaker posting the story on the website.

SKorea ready for more cyberattacks; banks recoverSEOUL, South Korea (AP) _ South Korea said Friday it was preparing for the possibility of more cyberattacks as a new team of investigators tried to determine if North Korea was behind a synchronized shutdown of tens of thousands of computers at six South Korean banks and media companies. Many in Seoul suspect hackers loyal to Pyongyang were responsible for Wednesday's attack, but South Korean officials have yet to assign blame and say they have no proof yet of North Korea's involvement. Pyongyang hasn't yet mentioned the shutdown.

What makes SKorea cyberattacks so hard to trace NEW YORK (AP) _ The attacks that knocked South Korean banks and media outlets offline this week appear to be the latest examples of international "cyberwar." But among the many ways that digital warfare differs from conventional combat: There's often no good way of knowing who's behind an attack. South Korean authorities said Thursday that the attack, which shut down scores of cash machines and hampered business, had been traced to an "Internet Protocol" address in China. But that doesn't mean the attack was launched from there. The general assumption in South Korea is that the attack originated in North Korea.

Amazon CEO recovers Apollo engines from AtlanticLOS ANGELES (AP) _ Rusted pieces of two Apollo-era rocket engines that helped boost astronauts to the moon have been fished out of the murky depths of the Atlantic, Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos and NASA said Wednesday. A privately funded expedition led by Bezos raised the main engine parts during three weeks at sea and was headed back to Cape Canaveral, Fla., the launch pad for the manned lunar missions.

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