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AP Technology NewsBrief at 11:31 a.m. EDT(Associated Press Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Internet minders OK vast expansion of domain namesSINGAPORE (AP) _ Internet minders voted Monday to allow virtually unlimited new domain names based on themes as varied as company brands, entertainment and political causes, in the system's biggest shake-up since it started 26 years ago. Groups able to pay the $185,000 application can petition next year for new updates to ".com" and ".net" with website suffixes using nearly any word in any language, including in Arabic, Chinese and other scripts, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers decided at a meeting in Singapore. British Library, Google in deal to digitize booksLONDON (AP) _ A treatise on a stuffed hippopotamus, an 18th-century English primer for Danish sailors and a description of the first engine-driven submarine are among 250,000 books to be made available online in a deal between Google and the British Library. The agreement, announced Monday, will let Internet users read, search, download and copy thousands of texts published between 1700 and 1870. Obama to personally tweet from Twitter accountMINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ President Barack Obama is taking a more active role on Twitter, 140 characters at a time. Obama's campaign said in a posting on its website Friday that Obama will tweet regularly from the popular social media service and his personal tweets will be signed "-BO." The campaign said it will now manage both Obama's Twitter account and Facebook page. Games company Sega becomes latest hacking victimLONDON (AP) _ Video game developer Sega says it has been hacked, making it the latest in a string of games companies to be attacked. The company sent an email to users of the Sega Pass system on Friday to warn them that email addresses, dates of birth and encrypted passwords had been stolen from online database. FTC lets Microsoft proceed with purchase of SkypeThe Federal Trade Commission is letting software giant Microsoft Corp. proceed with its largest deal ever, an $8.5 billion bid for web chat and call service Skype. The FTC announced Friday that it had finished its review of the buyout so it can proceed if the Department of Justice also approves. Both agencies must review any deal worth more than $65.2 million, according to the FTC's website. Put a cork in the Internet bubble talk _ for nowSAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ It's starting to feel like a 1999 flashback. Internet companies _ some of them profitable, some not _ sense a golden opportunity and are lining up to go public this year. But here's something to keep in mind as the latest case of Internet fever grips Wall Street: It's still nowhere close to the giddy days of the dot-com boom, when investors bought stocks as impulsively as lottery tickets. Technology stocks today are the cheapest in more than nine years, at least judging by one benchmark for appraising companies. Beyond '.com,' names for Antarctica, Urdu and moreUnless you're a Luddite, you're bound to know of ".com," the Internet's most common address suffix. You've also probably heard of ".gov," for U.S. government sites, and ".edu," for educational institutions. For a pioneer of technology, 100 years of "Think"ENDICOTT, N.Y. (AP) _ Google, Apple and Facebook get all the attention. But the forgettable everyday tasks of technology _ saving a file on your laptop, swiping your ATM card to get 40 bucks, scanning a gallon of milk at the checkout line _ that's all IBM. International Business Machines turns 100 on Thursday without much fanfare. But its much younger competitors owe a lot to Big Blue. IBM succession chatter heats up near anniversarySAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ As IBM turns 100 this year, the anniversary coincides with another milestone: CEO Sam Palmisano is turning 60, the typical age at which an IBM CEO retires. With succession chatter growing, Palmisano has tried to tamp down speculation that he's ready to step aside, even as he's put a spotlight on his possible heirs. Report: Facebook users more trusting, engagedNEW YORK (AP) _ Facebook, it turns out, isn't just a waste of time. People who use it have more close friends, get more social support and report being more politically engaged than those who don't, according to a new national study on Americans and social networks. The report comes as Facebook, Twitter and even the buttoned-up, career-oriented LinkedIn continue to engrain themselves in our daily lives and change the way we interact with friends, co-workers and long-lost high school buddies. (c) 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |