IN THE NEWS: CELL PHONES BECOMING MORE ENTRENCHED

WASHINGTON (AP) -- It looks like landline phones may soon go the way of pay phones. A new set of federal numbers say three in 10 households either use only a cell phone or seldom take calls on their traditional phone. The figures indicate that people are replacing their wired phones with cell phones. During the second half of last year, 16 percent of households only had cell phones, while 13 percent also had landlines but got all or nearly all their calls on their cells. Meanwhile, households with cell phones that rarely if ever use their landlines grew by 1 percentage point since the first half of last year. The author of the report says families who have landlines these days have it hooked up to their computer or tend to ignore landline calls because they are often from solicitors.

IN THE NEWS: NATO BEEFS UP EFFORTS TO DEFEND AGAINST CYBER ATTACKS

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- Seven NATO allies have signed a deal to fund a research center to boost the alliance's defenses against cyber attacks. Such attacks are seen as a growing threat to both military and civilian computer networks. The research center is based in Estonia, the Baltic state that last year was hit by a wave of cyber attacks that both crippled government and corporate computer networks. The attacks followed a dispute over the relocation of a Soviet war memorial in the Estonian capital, leading many to suspect the Kremlin was behind the virtual strikes. Moscow denied involvement.

ON THE WEB: GOOGLE PASSES YAHOO AS MOST POPULAR WEB SITE

CYBERSPACE (AP) -- A milestone for Google. It has surpassed Yahoo as the most popular Web site in the United States. Google has long been the Internet's search leader. But until now, anyway, its audience has trailed Yahoo's when it comes to other online services such as e-mail and sharing photos. The numbers on site usage are compiled by comScore, which tracks such activity.

On the 'Net:

Google site: http://www.google.com

Yahoo site: http://www.yahoo.com