Technology - AFP

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AFP) - The Internet is still under the control of the United States, participants at a governance forum said, despite a move by America to loosen its grip over the private corporation that administers the net.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AFP) - Government pressure on companies linked to social media networks is threatening to infringe civil liberties, an Internet forum in Egypt heard on Wednesday.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AFP) - China on Wednesday called for the abolition of the UN's Internet Governance Forum, blasting it as a powerless gathering where IT heavyweight countries dominate.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - EBay founder Pierre Omidyar announced on Wednesday that he was launching an online news service about his adopted home Hawaii.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The lead US federal disaster agency is hoping to both inform and gather information through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, its top official said Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - EMI Music announced Wednesday it will offer free music videos and concerts on Hulu.com, making it the first major label to strike a deal with the increasingly popular US-based online video site.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," the new videogame from Activision Blizzard, keeps blowing away sales records.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AFP) - Internet traffic will have increased six fold by 2012 in a five-year period as more users view and post videos online, delegates at an Internet forum heard on Wednesday.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - California on Wednesday became the first US state to set energy-efficiency standards for television sets, a move designed to save billion of dollars in energy costs.

LONDON (AFP) - Britain's information watchdog is investigating claims that thousands of personal details from British users of German mobile telephone giant T-Mobile have been sold to competitors.

BEIJING (AFP) - The website of China's defence ministry has been hacked more than two million times since it was launched three months ago, state media said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Warning of a "cyber arms race," top Web security firm McAfee Inc. said Tuesday that China, France, Israel, Russia and the United States have developed "cyber weapons."

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AFP) - Laws regulating cybercrimes must target individuals and not society as a whole, an IT specialist told an Internet governance forum at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Tuesday.

BEIJING (AFP) - Chinese Internet users have hailed the webcast town hall meeting held by Barack Obama, expressing hopes the US president can help them convince authorities to tear down the "Great Firewall of China."

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AFP) - The inability to access to the Internet in one's own language can be life-threatening, a forum at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh heard on Tuesday.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AFP) - Technology should be harnessed better to give the world's estimated 650 million disabled people improved access to the Internet, experts said here on Tuesday.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - US software giant Microsoft announced Tuesday that its Internet-based cloud computing service Windows Azure will launch on January 1.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - YouTube launched a free tool on Tuesday that allows news organizations to highlight newsworthy video footage from "citizen journalists" on their websites.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Google Labs on Tuesday brought more focus to finding pictures online, adding a "Swirl" tool that automatically groups similar images into categories presented on results pages.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Microsoft's new Internet search engine Bing increased its share of the US search market in October, edging up half-a-point to nearly 10 percent, online tracking firm comScore said Tuesday.

BRUSSELS (AFP) - European nations have closed down over 50 Internet websites after a crackdown on mobile phone ringtone scams often targeting youngsters.

RIGA (AFP) - Hackers broke into the website of Latvia's President Valdis Zatlers on Wednesday, leaving a message urging the head of state to save the recession-afflicted Baltic state, his office said.

BRUSSELS (AFP) - The European Commission was guilty of maladministration in its its record-busting anti-trust action against Intel, the European ombudsman said Wednesday.

HONG KONG (AFP) - China Mobile, the country's largest mobile operator, said Wednesday it is still in negotiations with Apple over the sale of iPhones in China.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - NASA and Microsoft launched an interactive website that allows Web surfers to become Mars explorers.

HONG KONG (AFP) - Leaders of Asia Pacific telecom giants meet in Hong Kong Wednesday for the industry's top trade show in the region as they vie to dominate the world's fastest-growing and most diverse mobile market.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US news agency the Associated Press (AP) laid off dozens of employees on Tuesday as part of a plan to reduce its global payroll by 10 percent this year, a union statement said.

LONDON (AFP) - Swindon has become the first place in Britain to offer free wireless Internet access to all its 186,000 residents, in what is thought to be the first such scheme, officials said on Tuesday.