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Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

AAA challenges mileage claims

The Auto Club said Thursday that ``real world'' tests show most vehicles get fewer miles per gallon than they are rated for by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and called for the agency to update its test method.

AAA driving tests found dozens of examples in which miles-per-gallon reports for 2003 and 2004 model years were overestimated because of what it called outdated 30-year-old EPA tests, said Carol Thorp of the Automobile Club of Southern California.

For example, the Auto Club found that a 2004 Lexus LX 470, rated by the EPA as getting 15 miles per gallon in the city, got 10.8 miles per gallon in its tests, while a 2004 Toyota Corolla the EPA rated at 32 mpg in the city got 28.9 miles per gallon in the AAA test.

The Auto Club is supporting the ``Fuel Efficiency Truth-in-Advertising Act of 2005,'' which would require the EPA to update its miles-per-gallon testing procedures, Thorp said.

Staffing firm sees quarterly growth

CALABASAS - On Assignment Inc. posted a 3 percent increase in fourth- quarter revenues Thursday, as the staffing firm recorded solid growth in its nurse-travel business.

The Calabasas-based company reported fourth-quarter revenues of $51.3 million compared with $49.6 million in the same period a year ago. At the same time, On Assignment saw a net loss of $5.7 million, or 22 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $32.2 million, or $1.28 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

Report: Microsoft dumping MSNBC 

NEW YORK - NBC Universal is in talks to buy out Microsoft Corp.'s stake in MSNBC, the struggling news cable channel, according to a news report Thursday.

The New York Post, quoting unnamed sources, reported that the two companies are in advanced talks to close a deal that would put NBC Universal in full control of MSNBC, while Microsoft would still have access to some of NBC's content for online use.

A spokesman for NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co., declined to comment, as did a spokesman for Microsoft.

Boeing stock up nearly 4 percent

CHICAGO - Boeing Co.'s stock rose nearly 4 percent Thursday to a 3 1/2-year high, climbing back to a level not reached since the 2001 terror attacks sent the plane manufacturer's commercial airline customers into a deep slump.

The increase was attributed to general optimism about the industry's recovery and a bullish report from a Wall Street brokerage.

Shares in the Chicago-based company increased $2.12, to $57.42, on more than double the usual daily trading volume on the New York Stock Exchange. They are now up 10.9 percent this year, following a 23 percent jump in 2004.

Yahoo acquires game technology

SUNNYVALE, Calif. - Yahoo Inc. says it has acquired technology to take its popular Web-based parlor and card games from personal computers to mobile devices.

In a deal announced early today, Yahoo said it will integrate technology from New Jersey-based Stadeon Inc. to permit multiplayer games across multiple platforms.

Terms of the acquisition weren't disclosed.

It means someone on their cell phone could play dominoes in real time against a friend playing the same Yahoo game on a PC. Likewise, two cell-phone users on different service providers could compete against each other.

Productivity rises sharply in quarter

WASHINGTON - The productivity of American workers rose at an annual rate of 2.1 percent in the final three months of last year, sharply higher than originally believed.

The Labor Department had initially reported a month ago that productivity - the amount of output per hour of work - had risen by just 0.8 percent in the October-December quarter, a figure that had jolted financial markets because it raised worries that inflation pressures could be mounting.