Technology - AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States warned China Thursday that it risked "technological isolation" for developing unique technical standards of its own that also are shutting out foreign competition.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Top US state attorneys have announced that Facebook has agreed to get tougher on keeping its young website users safe from bullies, porn, pedophiles and other online hazards.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - MySpace announced Thursday it is opening the gates of its popular online community by letting users automatically transfer profile information to other social-networking websites.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - As US technology giants including Google place a multi-billion dollar bet on WiMAX, backers of the wireless data-streaming format say it will radically change mobile Internet use.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - A TorrentSpy lawyer vowed Thursday to appeal a 110-million-dollar legal judgment against the website for directing people to unauthorized online copies of films and television shows.

SEOUL (AFP) - South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, the leader of one of the world's most wired nations, is facing a barrage of online scaremongering and criticism over his decision to resume US beef imports.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI will give a new meaning to the term religious text by sending "inspirational messages" to mobile phones during Catholic World Youth day in Australia, organisers said Wednesday.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - "Grand Theft Auto: IV" blew away videogame and Hollywood records as its creators reported Wednesday that it raked in an unprecedented 500 million dollars in its opening week.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Microsoft began making television shows available for viewing on its Zune MP3 players on Tuesday as it continues a campaign to wrest market share from Apple's globally popular iPods.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Top US state attorneys announced Thursday that Facebook has agreed to get tougher on keeping its young website users safe from bullies, porn, pedophiles and other online hazards.

HAVANA (AFP) - Cuban authorities have refused to give a travel visa to a Cuban blogger who was to have flown to Spain to receive a top journalism award, the writer told AFP Tuesday.

NEW YORK (AFP) - Hip hop star will.i.am, whose Internet videos for US presidential hopeful Barack Obama have attracted millions of hits, is one of the big winners in this year's Webby Awards, organizers announced Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - In a major bet on WiMax wireless Internet, Sprint Nextel and Clearwire said Wednesday they would combine their networks in a new company with investment from Google, Intel and others.

BEIJING (AFP) - Microsoft China broke ground Tuesday on a 280-million-dollar research facility in the middle of Beijing's "Silicon Valley", the software giant said in a statement.

BEIJING (AFP) - China has launched an investigation into online mapping services by Internet giants including Google and Sohu in an effort to protect state secrets and territorial integrity, state press said.

SEOUL (AFP) - Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates has unveiled a plan to invest 147 million dollars in South Korea over five years to strengthen his company's presence here, officials said Tuesday.

NEW YORK (AFP) - Yahoo is willing to negotiate further with Microsoft, top executive Jerry Yang said in an interview Tuesday, as he defended his handling of the aborted takeover bid.

LONDON (AFP) - British mobile phone giant Vodafone announced Tuesday that it will distribute Apple's iPhone in 10 new countries including Australia, India and South Africa.

LONDON (AFP) - British mobile phone giant Vodafone announced Tuesday that it will distribute Apple's wildly popular iPhone in 10 new countries including Australia, India and South Africa.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - US federal court officials have warned that hackers are emailing phony subpoenas embedded with malicious software to high-ranking executives to steal valuable corporate information.

STOCKHOLM (AFP) - A Swedish court on Monday handed down a suspended sentence and a 10,000-kronor (1,655-dollar, 1,070-euro) fine to a man found guilty of sharing some 4,500 music files and 30 films on the Internet.

SEOUL (AFP) - Mobile telephones have topped the list of gifts sought by South Korean children, a survey said Sunday.

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Malaysian police raided the home of a top Internet blogger after he posted an article implicating the deputy premier and his wife in the murder of a Mongolian model, reports said Saturday.

TALLINN (AFP) - Skype guru Ahti Heinla and Microlink and Delfi founder Rainer Nolvak put cutting-edge IT technology and 40,000 volunteers to work Saturday to clean-up the tiny Baltic Sea state of Estonia.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - This week, the world will mark an anniversary that has changed the face -- and other anatomical regions -- of email inboxes everywhere: the first known spam email was sent 30 years ago on Saturday.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Microsoft can build a competitive online advertising business without Yahoo but it "could just take more time," CEO Steve Ballmer told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Friday.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Microsoft's chief executive told employees he will not pay "a dime above" what he thinks Yahoo is worth and they will know the next move in the takeover quest "in very short order."

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Apple said Thursday it has deals with Hollywood studios to make popular films available for its iPods and iPhones via its iTunes online store as soon as the movies are released on DVDs.