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A roundup of the latest high-tech news “Hot Off the Wire” from The Associated Press and Local Tech Wire:

• AT&T wins $350 million government contract

OAKTON, Va. — AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) said Wednesday it has won a contract worth up to $350 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help overhaul the agency’s computer network.

The company said it will also provide network security services. The contract is set to last one year with six one-year options.

AT&T will provide data services to over 5,000 USDA locations across the country.

• Amazon lands e-rights to comes classics

SEATTLE — Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) said Thursday it has struck a deal that will give it exclusive rights to sell some of the great works of 20th century literature in electronic form.

An agreement with The Wylie Agency gives Amazon exclusive rights for two years to sell e-book versions of novels including Saul Bellow’s "The Adventures of Augie March" and Philip Roth’s "Portnoy’s Complaint" among others.

Amazon says it is the first time any of these books have been available for electronic readers. They are being published under a new imprint from Wylie called Odyssey Editions.

The deal comes as Amazon’s Kindle reader races to keep its dominant position in the e-reader market.

It faces competition from a slew of similar dedicated reading devices available from Sony Corp. and Barnes & Noble Inc. as well as Apple Inc.’s new iPad.

Amazon said the new titles are on sale for $9.99 each.

• FCC, Intel keep working on settlement

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators will take at least two more weeks to work out details of a proposed agreement with Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) to settle charges that the giant chipmaker violated antitrust laws.

The Federal Trade Commission said late Wednesday that it needs more time to consider and negotiate the proposed settlement, which was first announced last month.

The FTC brought antitrust charges against Intel late last year, accusing it of using illegal sales tactics to preserve its dominant share of the market for computer chips. The agency alleges that the company strong-armed computer makers into exclusive deals, manipulated technical data to make its chips look more powerful than those from competitors and blocked rivals from making their chips work with Intel’s. That behavior has crippled rivals and kept prices for computer chips artificially high, the FTC says.

The case, which is before an administrative law judge at the agency, has been on hold for a month while the two sides have tried to hammer out an agreement. That suspension had been set to end at midnight on Thursday, but will now run through midnight on Aug. 5.

"Our discussions with the FTC are continuing," Intel said in a statement. "The discussions are confidential so we won’t comment on the specifics."

Neither side has disclosed any details of the proposed agreement.