Briefs: Crude oil prices finally drop

NEW YORK -- Oil futures retreated from a record $89 a barrel Wednesday, ending lower after government data showing larger-than-expected gas and oil supplies outweighed worries about tension in northern Iraq. Light, sweet crude for November delivery fell 21 cents to settle at $87.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was crude's first price decline in seven sessions. The Energy Information Administration reported crude inventories rose by 1.8 million barrels during the week ended Oct. 12.

PC shipments rise, portable sales hot

BOSTON -- Computer shipments rose this summer at the fastest rate in nearly two years, two technology research firms reported Wednesday. Sales of portable computers drove much of the 15.5 percent increase in global PC shipments from July through September, especially in Europe, according to research firm IDC, based in Framingham, Mass. IDC reported 66.9 million PCs shipped. Gartner Inc. in Stamford, Conn., pegged the growth at 14.4 percent., with 68.5 million PCs shipped in the third quarter, up from 59.8 million a year ago.

Disney to overhaul theme park

GLENDALE, Calif. -- Out with the Golden Gate Bridge and in with "Cars." The Walt Disney Co. is going back to the drawing board to overhaul its underperforming California Adventure theme park -- a project the company said Wednesday could even result in a new name for the property. The company acknowledged that the park next door to Disneyland in Anaheim has not attracted as many guests as planned since opening in 2001.

Feds to test 'virtual fence'

TUCSON, Ariz. -- The first section of a high-tech "virtual fence" along the U.S.-Mexico border will be tested this month after Chicago-based defense contractor Boeing Co. reported it solved most of the computer glitches that have delayed the program for months, a federal official said Wednesday. Loaded with sensors, radar and sophisticated cameras, nine towers along a 28-mile section are designed to detect illegal immigrants and drug smugglers coming through the heavily trafficked area southwest of Tucson, Ariz.