Electronic Arts merging big games, gadgets

This file photo shows Electronic Arts (EA) employee's demonstrating a game at an EA press briefing in 2010, in Los Angeles, California. The US videogame publishing titan is merging blockbuster titles with social play, popular new gadgets and downloadable content in a changing world of interactive entertainment.

US videogame publishing titan Electronic Arts is merging blockbuster titles with social play, popular new gadgets and downloadable content in a changing world of interactive entertainment.

"Historically, as a publisher, you developed a game, packed it on a disk, shipped it and then started work on your next game," said EA vice president and managing director of Southern Europe Pascal Brochier.

"The Web has helped us expand with multi-player and downloadable content to extend incredible gaming experiences," he continued during an interview at the Electronic Entertainment Expo this week in Los Angeles.

"Multi-platform enables us to follow gamers where they want to be."

Crowds of industry insiders and press jockeyed for behind-closed-doors glimpses at eagerly-awaited EA releases such as "FIFA 12" and "Mass Effect 3."

Long queues formed for looks at hot shooter title "Battlefield 3" and a new installment to racing franchise "Need for Speed" that for the first time gets virtual drivers out of their cars.

EA is taking the beloved "Star Wars" science fiction saga to a new frontier in the form of a "massively multi-player online" game that people around the world will be able to immerse themselves in using personal computers.

More than a million people signed up for a test phase of "Star Wars: Old Republic," which EA is due to release later this year.

---

Fair goers are seen playing computer games by Electronic Arts (EA) at a games convention in Leipzig, Germany, in 2008. This year, EA is taking the beloved "Star Wars" science fiction saga to a new frontier in the form of a "massively multi-player online" game that people around the world will be able to immerse themselves in using personal computers.

EA has been focusing its resources on fewer, bigger games and working to adapt versions of titles to popular smart gadgets.

"I think we are in a very sweet spot in the sense that we embraced multi-platform fairly early on," Brochier said of EA's strategy of publishing versions of games for a variety of consoles and other devices.

"You can start 'FIFA' in the living room on your TV and then engage with it on the go," he continued. "The iPad, iPhone, social gaming... It's not the same play, but it is the best football game available."

EA last week launched an Origin.com online shop for videogame offerings.

Origin will have exclusive limited edition copies of hot games, including "Battlefield 3" and "FIFA 12," as well as upcoming titles such as "Alice: Madness Returns" made by the California company's partners.

Origin will eventually let people see what friends are playing and where, according to EA.

"We're committed to offering consumers direct access to great content and community in a way they have never experienced before," said EA chief executive John Riccitiello.

Origin will also link to smartphones to let people connect and play games such as "Scrabble" and "Battlefield 3" with friends on the move.

"We think the growth of this industry is correlated to the social element of it," Brochier said.

He saw social games as being in their infancy with much potential to grow.

Popular online social games such as "Farmville" or "Words With Friends" tend to be "asynchronous" with friend's not playing together when moves are made.

Brochier believed social play would become more real-time and personal.

For example, EA released a "Need for Speed" title that challenges a player to complete a course and then shows a shadow of that car as a competitor when a friend takes on the same virtual track at another time.

"I definitely think elements that allow you to share are the future," Brochier said. "We are going to start seeing socially relevant experiences."

In the coming months, EA will launch a "Sims Social" game on Facebook that lets people play a version of the virtual world game that features friends at the social network and evidently allows for activities such as flirting.

EA has reportedly sold about 140 million copies of "Sims" videogames.

"It is not just technology, you have to have great content," Brochier said above the din of the packed EA booth. "A lot of companies have exited the business; it is difficult to have content and technology."

Electronic Arts merging big games, gadgets

John Riccitiello, Chief Executive Officer, Electronics Arts, speaks during a news conference at the unveiling of the new game console Wii U by Nintendo at the Electronic Entertainment Expo on June 7, in Los Angeles. US videogame publishing titan Electronic Arts is merging blockbuster titles with social play and downloadable content in a changing world of interactive entertainment.

US videogame publishing titan Electronic Arts is merging blockbuster titles with social play, popular new gadgets and downloadable content in a changing world of interactive entertainment.

"Historically, as a publisher, you developed a game, packed it on a disk, shipped it and then started work on your next game," said EA vice president and managing director of Southern Europe Pascal Brochier.

"The Web has helped us expand with multi-player and downloadable content to extend incredible gaming experiences," he continued during an interview at the Electronic Entertainment Expo this week in Los Angeles.

"Multi-platform enables us to follow gamers where they want to be."

Crowds of industry insiders and press jockeyed for behind-closed-doors glimpses at eagerly-awaited EA releases such as "FIFA 12" and "Mass Effect 3."

Long queues formed for looks at hot shooter title "Battlefield 3" and a new installment to racing franchise "Need for Speed" that for the first time gets virtual drivers out of their cars.

EA is taking the beloved "Star Wars" science fiction saga to a new frontier in the form of a "massively multi-player online" game that people around the world will be able to immerse themselves in using personal computers.

More than a million people signed up for a test phase of "Star Wars: Old Republic," which EA is due to release later this year.

EA has been focusing its resources on fewer, bigger games and working to adapt versions of titles to popular smart gadgets.

"I think we are in a very sweet spot in the sense that we embraced multi-platform fairly early on," Brochier said of EA's strategy of publishing versions of games for a variety of consoles and other devices.

"You can start 'FIFA' in the living room on your TV and then engage with it on the go," he continued. "The iPad, iPhone, social gaming... It's not the same play, but it is the best football game available."

EA last week launched an Origin.com online shop for videogame offerings.

Origin will have exclusive limited edition copies of hot games, including "Battlefield 3" and "FIFA 12," as well as upcoming titles such as "Alice: Madness Returns" made by the California company's partners.

Origin will eventually let people see what friends are playing and where, according to EA.

"We're committed to offering consumers direct access to great content and community in a way they have never experienced before," said EA chief executive John Riccitiello.

Origin will also link to smartphones to let people connect and play games such as "Scrabble" and "Battlefield 3" with friends on the move.

"We think the growth of this industry is correlated to the social element of it," Brochier said.

He saw social games as being in their infancy with much potential to grow.

Popular online social games such as "Farmville" or "Words With Friends" tend to be "asynchronous" with friend's not playing together when moves are made.

Brochier believed social play would become more real-time and personal.

For example, EA released a "Need for Speed" title that challenges a player to complete a course and then shows a shadow of that car as a competitor when a friend takes on the same virtual track at another time.

"I definitely think elements that allow you to share are the future," Brochier said. "We are going to start seeing socially relevant experiences."

In the coming months, EA will launch a "Sims Social" game on Facebook that lets people play a version of the virtual world game that features friends at the social network and evidently allows for activities such as flirting.

EA has reportedly sold about 140 million copies of "Sims" videogames.

"It is not just technology, you have to have great content," Brochier said above the din of the packed EA booth. "A lot of companies have exited the business; it is difficult to have content and technology."

Japan develops technology to stop standby waste

Tohoku University professor Hideo Ohno with a silicon wafer featuring large scale integrated circuits (LSI's) in Tokyo, June 8, 2011. Japanese researchers said Monday they had developed the technology to stop power being consumed by personal computers, televisions and other electronic devices when they are in standby mode.

Japanese researchers said Monday they had developed the technology to stop power being consumed by personal computers, televisions and other electronic devices when they are in standby mode.

NEC Corp. and Tohoku University said they aim to bring the new semiconductor technology into practical use within five years, potentially reducing the estimated two percent of household electricity wasted through the standby mode.

Currently, electronic devices that are plugged into power outlets receive a constant flow of electricity to hold data -- even when switched off.

The new technology is based on "spintronics" which exploits the intrinsic spin of electrons and its associated magnetic moment. Electrons act as magnets that can read and write data.

The data is retained even if the flow of electricity is completely cut off.

NEC said it hoped that the new technology would help cut power consumption by "around 25 percent at large data centres" equipped with many computers.

Facebook 2012 IPO could top $100 billion: CNBC

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, speaks at the headquarters in Palo Alto, California in 2011. Social network Facebook is likely to go public in the first quarter of next year with a valuation of over $100 billion, the CNBC business news network reported.

Social network Facebook is likely to go public in the first quarter of next year with a valuation of over $100 billion, the CNBC business news network reported on Monday.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly said he is in no hurry to take the social network public but CNBC said the company may be forced to do so by Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations.

CNBC said Facebook's decision to conduct an initial public offering could be triggered by an SEC requirement that companies with more than 500 private investors must disclose financial information.

The network, citing "people familiar with the matter," said Facebook will likely report it has crossed that threshold at the end of this year.

The so-called "500 rule" requires private companies to release quarterly financial reports like public companies.

Facebook is also facing pressure from employees who are not allowed to sell their shares on private exchanges such as SharesPost, where Facebook has been given a valuation of as high as $85 billion, CNBC said.

It said Facebook's valuation was expected to be above $100 billion when an IPO takes place next year.

Steve Jobs comic book to hit in August

Apple CEO Steve Jobs speaks during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference on June 6 in California. The life of Jobs will be told in a comic book to be released in August by the studio that did the same with the story of Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.

The life of Apple visionary Steve Jobs will be told in a comic book to be released in August by the studio that did the same with the story of Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.

"His story, and that of Apple, is epic," Bluewater Productions president Darren Davis said of Jobs.

"His innovations command front page news, speculation of his health affects the stock market," Davis said. "Not bad for a college dropout."

The 32-page comic book will be available in real-world bookstores and at online shops such as Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and Borders at a price of $3.99, according to a release issued Monday by Bluewater.

Impetus to publish "Steve Jobs: Co-founder of Apple" came from the success of Bluewater's comic book biography of Zuckerberg, the publisher said.

The Zuckerberg comic sold-out and Bluewater is to release a graphic novel version of the Facebook co-founder's story in September at a price of $10.99.

"There are definitely some similarities between Zuckerberg and Jobs," said Bluewater writer C.W. Cooke.

"The idea behind both efforts is to show the person behind the personality and that it is never what you'd expect," the writer said.

A biography of Jobs title "iSteve: The Book of Jobs" written by former Time magazine managing editor Walter Isaacson is to be released as a book next year and has logged strong pre-orders at Amazon.

The book, the first authorized biography of the technology visionary behind the Macintosh computer, the iPod, the iPhone and iPad, is to be released on March 6, 2012.

Facebook lost US users in May: website

Facebook is approaching 700 million members but its growth is slowing and it lost users in the United States and Canada last month, the Inside Facebook website said Monday.

Facebook is approaching 700 million members but its growth is slowing and it lost users in the United States and Canada last month, the Inside Facebook website said Monday.

Facebook had 687 million members at the start of June, said Inside Facebook, which closely tracks developments and trends at the Palo Alto, California-based social network.

Facebook itself does not regularly release membership figures except to announce milestones such as when it crossed 500 million users in July of last year.

Inside Facebook said overall growth at the social networking giant "has been lower than normal for the second month straight, which is unusual."

Facebook gained 11.8 million members in May and 13.9 million in April -- down from the usual 20 million new users a month seen in previous months, it said.

"While there have been a few months that have registered lower growth numbers, they have not been back to back," it said.

The United States lost nearly six million users in May, Inside Facebook said, falling from 155.2 million at the start of May to 149.4 million at the end of it.

Canadian users fell 1.52 million to 16.6 million during the month and Britain, Norway and Russia all posted losses of more than 100,000, Inside Facebook said.

Nokia says Apple to pay royalties

The world's leading mobile phone maker Nokia said Tuesday that Apple had agreed to pay royalties for use of Nokia technology in its devices, ending all of their 46 ongoing patent disputes.

The world's leading mobile phone maker Nokia said Tuesday that Apple had agreed to pay royalties for use of Nokia technology in its devices, ending all of their 46 ongoing patent disputes.

"The financial structure of the agreement consists of a one-time payment payable by Apple and on-going royalties to be paid by Apple to Nokia for the term of the agreement," Nokia said in a statement, adding that the details of the contract were confidential.

New MacBook Air 'to hit market this month'

The MacBook Air is displayed at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California in 2010. The latest model of Apple's ultra-light MacBook Air is scheduled to hit the market by the end of this month, media in the computer manufacturing hub of Taiwan have reported.

The latest model of Apple's ultra-light MacBook Air is scheduled to hit the market by the end of this month, media in the computer manufacturing hub of Taiwan reported on Tuesday.

The first shipment of the next-generation MacBook Air -- the thinnest line of Apple's notebook computers, shorn of a hard drive and disc player -- will be 380,000 units, the Taipei-based Economic Daily News said.

An 11.6-inch model will account for 55 percent of the units in the first batch, and a 13.3-inch model the rest, according to the paper.

It said that about 90 percent of MacBook Airs would be assembled by Taiwan's Quanta Computer, a leading contract computer manufacturer.

Google 'applying for China mapping licence'

A man walks past the Google company logo outside Google China headquarters in Beijing. Google and its joint venture partner in China have applied for a licence to operate an online mapping service in the world's biggest web market, according to a news report.

Google and its joint venture partner in China have applied for a licence to operate an online mapping service in the world's biggest web market, a news report said on Tuesday.

The State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping was reviewing the application from Beijing Guxiang Information Technology Co., which operates Google's mapping service in China, Dow Jones Newswires said, citing an official.

Google declined to confirm the report when contacted by AFP and calls to the government agency were not answered.

"We?re in discussions with the government about how we could offer a maps product in China," Google's Beijing-based spokeswoman Marsha Wang told AFP, repeating an earlier statement.

China has the world's biggest online population of 477 million, according to official data.

Beijing has so far granted licences to dozens of companies to provide web mapping after new rules were introduced last year requiring all firms providing Internet map and location services in China to apply for approval.

Foreign firms wanting to provide those services in China are required to set up joint ventures or partnerships with local firms.

Google has seen its share of the lucrative Chinese search market slide to the profit of local rival Baidu as tensions with Beijing increased over a number of cyberattacks the US web giant claims originated in China.

This month, Google said it had been hit by a cyberspying campaign targeting Gmail accounts of senior US officials, journalists and activists, which appeared to have come from Jinan, in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong.

Beijing angrily denied the charge.

There was no indication whether the Gmail spying campaign was related to a China-based cyberattack on Google that prompted the company early last year to stop bowing to Internet censors and reduce its presence in the country.

Facebook casts doubt on report it lost US users

The Facebook website is displayed on a laptop computer in May 2011 in San Anselmo, California. Facebook threw cold water on Tuesday on a report that it had lost users in the United States over the past month.

Facebook threw cold water on Tuesday on a report that it had lost users in the United States over the past month.

The Inside Facebook website reported Monday that Facebook lost nearly six million users in the United States in May, falling from 155.2 million at the start of the month to 149.4 million at the end of it.

But a Facebook spokeswoman cast doubt on the measurement overnight and directed AFP to the latest figures from tracking firm comScore.

"From time to time, we see stories about Facebook losing users in some regions," the Facebook spokeswoman said in a statement to AFP.

"Some of these reports use data extracted from our advertising tool, which provides broad estimates on the reach of Facebook ads and isn't designed to be a source for tracking the overall growth of Facebook," she said.

"We are very pleased with our growth and with the way people are engaged with Facebook," the spokeswoman said.

The comScore figures showed unique visitors to Facebook in the United States rising from 150.7 million in February to 153.0 million in March to 154.0 million in April to 157.2 million in May.

However, Facebook did suffer declines in US unique visitors in January and February, according to the comScore figures.

The number of unique US visitors to Facebook.com dropped from 153.9 million in December to 153.0 million in January to 150.7 million in February, according to comScore.

According to Inside Facebook, which closely tracks developments and trends at the Palo Alto, California-based social network, Facebook had 687 million members at the start of June.

ComScore said Facebook had 698 million unique visitors worldwide in April.

Facebook itself does not regularly release membership figures except to announce milestones such as when it crossed 500 million users in July of last year.

Facebook chat leaves British juror facing jail

Joanne Fraill arrives at the High Court in London. Fraill was warned by a judge that she faces jail for contacting a defendant on the social networking site Facebook, causing the collapse of a major drugs trial.

A British juror was warned by a judge on Tuesday that she faces jail for contacting a defendant on the social networking site Facebook, causing the collapse of a major drugs trial.

In what is believed to be the first case of its kind in Britain involving the Internet, juror Joanne Fraill admitted contempt of court at the High Court in London for chatting online with Jamie Sewart during a trial last year.

Britain's Lord Chief Justice, Igor Judge, said Fraill's sentence would be announced on Thursday, but warned the sobbing woman he did not think there were any circumstances under which she could avoid jail.

Fraill, 40, faces a maximum of two years in prison.

The judges also found that Sewart -- who ended up being acquitted during the trial last August -- had also committed contempt by asking Frail for details of the jury's deliberations.

But the judges ruled the 34-year-old would receive a suspended sentence because she had suffered a lengthy separation from her baby during the earlier trial.

---

Jamie Sewart arrives at the High Court, in London. A juror was warned by a judge on Tuesday that she faces jail for contacting a defendant on the social networking site Facebook, causing the collapse of a major drugs trial.

The charges were brought by Britain's attorney general over the collapse last year of one of a series of trials of an alleged drugs gang in Manchester, northwest England, that cost £6 million (6.8 million euros, $9.7 million).

Fraill admitted making contact with Sewart through Facebook while the trial was underway and revealing details of the jury's deliberations while they were continuing.

She also carried out her own research into the case on the Internet.

After tracking down Sewart through Facebook, Fraill told her in one conversation: "Can't believe they had u on remand", the BBC reported.

In another exchange, Sewart replied: "Ha ha, ur mad. I really appreciate everythin. If i cud of kissed u all i would of done ha ha."

Fraill's lawyer, Peter Wright, admitted it was "a most grave contempt" but told the court that during the trial Fraill "came to feel considerable empathy towards the female defendant, Miss Sewart".

The High Court is also dealing with an appeal by Sewart's boyfriend Gary Knox, who was convicted in the drugs case but argues that his sentence should be overturned because of misconduct by the jury.

Knox was convicted of buying information on drug dealers from a police officer in return for a BMW car and tickets to English Premier League football matches.

The judges said they would also rule on Knox's appeal on Thursday.

Speaking outside Court, Sewart said: "I regret everything. She (Fraill) contacted me. My mind was in a whirlwind. I had just been acquitted. When I sat back and thought about it I realised I should report it and I did."

Google investing $280 million in home solar projects

A worker installs solar panels. Google said Tuesday it is investing $280 million to help finance home solar projects in the Internet giant's largest effort yet to promote clean energy.

Google said Tuesday it is investing $280 million to help finance home solar projects in the Internet giant's largest effort yet to promote clean energy.

Google said the money will go to create a fund that will help SolarCity, a company which provides solar energy options for homeowners and businesses, to finance more solar installations across the United States.

"This is our largest clean energy project investment to date and brings our total invested in the clean energy sector to more than $680 million," said Rick Needham, Google's director of green business operations.

"We continue to look for other renewable energy investments that make business sense and help develop and deploy cleaner sources of energy," he wrote in a blog post.

He said Google had also entered into a partnership with SolarCity to provide solar power to the homes of Google employees at a discount.

Google last month announced a $55 million investment in a California wind energy farm, and in April, the Mountain View, California-based company announced a $100 million investment in a wind farm being built in Oregon.

Google in April also said it has invested $168 million to help complete the construction of one of the world's biggest solar power plants in California's Mojave Desert.

Google cranks up search speeds with images, voice

Google on Tuesday ramped up Internet search speeds by letting people use speech or images to express what they want faster.

Google on Tuesday ramped up Internet search speeds by letting people use speech or images to express what they want faster.

Google engineers also shaved precious seconds off the time it takes for Web pages to display after links are clicked on in search results.

"We at Google will not be happy until we make the Web as easy to flip through as a magazine," Google fellow Amit Singhal said at an "Inside Search" event in San Francisco.

"We measure every millisecond," he continued. "The time it takes Google to return a result is negligible compared to how long it takes the user to enter the query."

One the other end of the search, it takes an average of five seconds for a Web page to load once a person has clicked on a link listed in query results, according to Singhal.

Members of Google's search team rolled out the California-based firm's latest innovations crafted to deliver the knowledge being sought "in the blink of an eye."

Google's latest spanned all gadgets from desktops using Chrome software to browse the Internet to the latest Android-powered smartphones or tablet computers.

"In mobile, we are always thinking about how we can make the process of getting those results easier," said Google mobile engineering director Scott Huffman.

Google added icons to the bottom of mobile search pages that let people do common searches such as for restaurants, cafes, or bars with a single click instead of having to type in queries.

Google also began letting people build queries with simple "plus" buttons and providing instant previews of search results pages that could be glimpsed with simple swipes of a finger on a touchscreen.

Huffman announced that a Google Goggles feature allowing people with mobile devices to search using pictures now translates languages in photos of text, with Russian added to the list.

Google was taking innovations in mobile and applying them to desktop computers with the addition of voice and image search capabilities, according to search director of product management Johanna Wright.

"Mobile has opened a world of possibilities," Wright said.

Google was also rolling out an "Instant Pages" feature crafted to predict which link a searcher is likely to chose and have that Web page pre-loaded for display as soon as it is clicked.

"Sometimes, when you click on a result the page will be just there instantaneously," Singhal said of the feature. "This is amazing."

Facebook hires former Clinton spokesman

Facebook announced on Tuesday that it had hired former US president Bill Clinton's spokesman Joe Lockhart, pictured in 2008, to serve as vice president of global communications at the social network

Facebook announced on Tuesday that it had hired former US president Bill Clinton's spokesman Joe Lockhart to serve as vice president of global communications at the social network.

"Joe's arrival brings new skills and greater depth to our incredibly busy team," Elliot Schrage, Facebook's vice president of global communications, marketing and public policy, said in a statement.

"His experience building and running a press office at the White House gives him particular appreciation for the demands of a global 24-hour news cycle and the challenges of responding effectively to intense scrutiny," Schrage said.

A Facebook spokesman said Lockhart will manage Facebook's corporate, policy and international communications teams.

He will begin work on July 15 and will move from Washington to California, where Facebook has its headquarters.

Lockhart served as Clinton's press secretary during his second term in the White House and founded the Glover Park Group, a strategic communications firm based in Washington, in 2001.

The New York Times reported in March that Facebook was in talks with Robert Gibbs, President Barack Obama's former spokesman, about taking a role in the company but a job with the social network never materialized.

US cable TV giant adding Skype calls

US cable TV giant Comcast on Tuesday announced plans to add video chat to television viewing through a partnership with Skype.

US cable TV giant Comcast on Tuesday announced plans to add video chat to television viewing through a partnership with Skype.

Comcast said customers would soon be able to make and receive video calls through high-definition televisions using Skype.

"TV has evolved into a social experience, and Comcast and Skype will be delivering a product that personalizes the TV experience even more," said cable company president Neil Smit.

"Our unique relationship with Skype not only will change how our customers interact with their TV, but also will create new and meaningful ways to bring our customers closer to the people they care about," he added.

Comcast envisioned enabling people to make low-cost Internet video calls on "the biggest screen in the house" while watching big televised events or celebrating special occasions.

"We can bring video calling to the heart of the home, allowing people to share life's experiences both big and small," said Skype chief executive Tony Bates.

The service will work on high-definition television screens using an adaptor box, a video camera, and a TV remote control adapted for text messaging.

Comcast planned to begin testing the Skype service with customers in the coming months.

Malaysia braces for cyberattacks: officials

Malaysian officials have said that they are bracing for hacker attacks on government websites by a group which sabotaged Turkish sites last week to protest against Internet censorship.

Malaysian officials said Wednesday they were bracing for hacker attacks on government websites by a group which sabotaged Turkish sites last week to protest against Internet censorship.

Internet activists Anonymous warned on a website that they would target Malaysia's government portal www.Malaysia.gov.my beginning at 1930 GMT on Wednesday.

"We are aware of the hack threat and we believe that the threat is real. We have alerted the relevant parties and government agencies," said Husin Jazri, head of the government's CyberSecurity Malaysia agency.

The attack plan was posted on a website and spotted by Finnish computer software company F-Secure on Tuesday, which raised the alarm via Twitter.

The hackers explained in a YouTube clip the rationale for the attack, claiming that Malaysia's censorship was eroding human rights.

"We fear that if you make further decisions to take away human freedom, we are obligated to act fast and have no mercy," it said in the video.

The threat follows an order by Malaysia's communications and multimedia industry regulator to Internet service providers last week to block 10 file and video-sharing websites that violated copyright laws, annoying users who regularly download pirated content.

On Tuesday Turkish police arrested 32 people suspected of belonging to Anonymous for attacks on government websites.

The movement rose to fame with a series of attacks on websites linked to the Church of Scientology and gained further prominence after launching retaliatory attacks on companies perceived to be enemies of the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks.

Malaysia's media operate under strict censorship laws but websites have remained relatively free -- despite occasional raids, bans and government criticism -- due to an official pledge not to censor the Internet, made in the mid-90s to attract foreign investment.

Three in China convicted for iPad2 design theft

A man navigates through the new iPad2 during its launch in the Philippines at an Apple store in Manila on April 29, 2011. A court in south China has jailed three people for stealing the design to Apple's iPad2 tablet computer and using it to manufacture counterfeits, state press said Wednesday.

A court in south China has jailed three people for stealing the design to Apple's iPad2 tablet computer and using it to manufacture counterfeits, state press said Wednesday.

The theft from a plant run by Foxconn, a contract electronics manufacturer, in Guangdong province late last year resulted in fake iPad2s being sold in China before Apple's official launch of the product, the Guangzhou Daily said.

Rampant piracy of everything from consumer electronics to luxury handbags and apparel have caused friction between China and its trade partners, leading to billions of dollars in losses annually to intellectual property theft.

A court in Shenzhen city last week sentenced Xiao Chengsong, the legal agent of Maita Electronics, to 18 months in prison and fined him 150,000 yuan ($23,000) for buying the design from two Foxconn workers, the report said.

Xiao allegedly paid 200,000 yuan for the iPad2 design, it said.

Foxconn employee Lin Kecheng, was sentenced to 14 months and fined 100,000 yuan, while another worker identified as Hou Pengna was given a two-year sentence suspended for one year and fined 30,000 yuan, it said.

All three were convicted of the crime of violating commercial secrets, it said.

The iPad2 was officially launched in China, the world's biggest Internet market, in May.

In 2010, Apple's iPad, the first generation of the tablet computer, was also pirated before its official launch in China and sold as the "iPed" for only a fraction of the cost of the real product.

France launches 4G mobile license auction

4G signs (for fourth generation of cellular wireless standards) displayed at the International CTIA Wireless 2010 convention at the Las Vegas Convention Center March 24, 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada. France on Wednesday kicked off auctions for frequencies to build high-speed fourth generation mobile telephone networks needed to keep up with the explosion of Internet-capable smartphones.

France on Wednesday kicked off auctions for frequencies to build high-speed fourth generation mobile telephone networks needed to keep up with the explosion of Internet-capable smartphones.

Bandwidth in the 800 megahertz and 2.6 gigahertz range are on the block, with minimum bids set at 2.5 billion euros ($3.6 billion), according to information published in France's official government journal.

Bids for 2.6 gigahertz frequencies close on September 15, with the licenses to be awarded before the end of the year.

Bidding for the 800 megahertz frequencies closes on December 15, with licenses awarded in early 2011.

Winners of 2.6 gigahertz frequencies have to cover 75 percent of the French population within 12 years, and winners of 800 megahertz frequencies have to reach 98 percent coverage within 12 years.