Microsoft concedes search engine shortfall

REDMOND, Wash. - When Microsoft Corp. entered the Internet browser war in the 1990s, Netscape Navigator was the early leader and Microsoft's Internet Explorer the late-blooming upstart.

Now, Microsoft is bracing for a similar battle in search technology.

Chief executive Steve Ballmer conceded Thursday that one big misstep by Microsoft over the past few years is that the company did not put resources toward in-house research and development of search technology.

"That's probably the thing I feel worst about over the last few years - not making our own R&D investment," Ballmer said at a conference for online advertisers held at Microsoft's Redmond campus.

Instead, he said, the company had relied on outside sources for that technology. Joking that the pervasive software giant is often stereotyped as "doing it all," he said: "This is a case where we didn't do it all - and I wish we had."

Greenspan praises U.S. farm productivity

WASHINGTON - By pursuing innovative methods to grow crops and raise livestock, U.S. farmers have generated huge productivity gains that have given Americans and consumers around the world more food choices at lower prices, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Thursday.

Speaking to an international agricultural conference, Greenspan acknowledged that the vast improvements in farm productivity have come with some painful economic dislocations in the form of declining population in rural areas.

Only a few million Americans make their livings as farmers now, compared with a peak U.S. farm population of 33 million in 1916, he noted. Declining farm populations have put severe strains on such institutions as schools, county government service and hospitals in the Great Plains and other rural areas, Greenspan said.

But he said that even with the decline in the number of farmers, rural areas were seeing an increase in their non-farm populations as manufacturers and, more recently, service companies have decided to locate in rural areas.

Apple postpones iPod Mini overseas

NEW YORK - Apple Computer Inc. said Thursday it has postponed the overseas launch of the smaller version of its iPod music player, citing unexpectedly strong U.S. demand since the product's launch last month.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company said it pushed back the international release of the iPod mini from April to July because it needs more time to meet expected demand.

"The iPod Mini is a huge hit with customers in the U.S., and we're sure it will be the same worldwide once we can ramp up our supply in the July quarter," said Tim Cook, Apple's executive vice president of worldwide sales and operations, in a prepared statement.

Freddie Mac reports mortgage rates up

WASHINGTON - Rates on 30-year and 15-year mortgages nudged up this week, while rates on one-year adjustable mortgages dropped to their lowest level on record.

The average rate on benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages rose to 5.40 percent, up from 5.38 percent last week, mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday in its weekly nationwide survey of mortgage rates.

In mid-June last year, rates on 30-year mortgages sank to 5.21 percent, their lowest level on record. Rates on 30-year mortgages have bounced around since then.

For 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular option for refinancing, rates this week increased slightly to 4.70 percent from 4.69 percent last week.

Drug maker slams French over Aventis

PARIS - Swiss drug maker Novartis AG sharply criticized French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin on Thursday for discouraging a white knight bid for Aventis SA, warning that the government's intervention could harm investment in France.

In separate interviews with three national daily newspapers, Novartis chairman Daniel Vasella lambasted the "protectionism" of Raffarin's government, which has made clear it would prefer Aventis to succumb to a hostile offer from another French company, Sanofi-Synthelabo SA.

Raffarin took that line a step further last week, invoking France's "national interest" in comments widely interpreted as a warning shot to the Swiss company.

Enquirer wire reports