Full Story . Full Story . Full Story . Full Story . Stock price is up.
New products are in the pipeline.
A proposed company breakup seems less likely. Today, Bill Gates is expected to deliver a short, almost professorial lecture about the economic principles that drove the Internet bubble and the lessons to be learned from it. Bearish trends are putting a pall on the retail industry's biggest pow-wow of the year, the spring convention of the International Council of Shopping Centers held this week in Las Vegas. A big subject is how to deal with the softening economy, which is sharply curtailing demand for store space. To click to The New York Times' stories, you first must register at .