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AP Technology NewsBrief at 9:44 a.m. EST
[December 28, 2012]

AP Technology NewsBrief at 9:44 a.m. EST


(Associated Press Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Ahead of the Bell: Hewlett-PackardNEW YORK (AP) _ Hewlett-Packard Co. says that the Department of Justice is investigating HP's business software unit Autonomy, which the computer maker has accused of fudging its accounting. HP said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Thursday that it was informed by representatives of the Justice Department on Nov. 21 that the department had opened an investigation into Autonomy. The technology company also said that it provided information to the U.K. Serious Fraud Office and the SEC related to what it said were accounting improprieties, disclosure failures and misrepresentations at Autonomy that occurred before and in connection with its acquisition of the company.



China court orders Apple to pay in rights disputeBEIJING (AP) _ A Chinese court has ordered Apple Inc. to pay 1.03 million yuan ($165,000) to eight Chinese writers and two companies who say unlicensed copies of their work were distributed through Apple's online store. The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court ruled Thursday that Apple violated the writers' copyrights by allowing applications containing their work to be distributed through its App Store, according to an official who answered the phone at the court and said he was the judge in the case. He refused to give his name, as is common among Chinese officials.

China requires Internet users to register namesBEIJING (AP) _ China's government tightened Internet controls Friday with approval of a law that requires users to register their names after a flood of online complaints about official abuses rattled Communist Party leaders. Authorities say the law will strengthen protections for personal information. But it also is likely to curtail the Internet's status as a forum to complain about the government or publicize corruption.


Apple CEO gets modest 2012 pay after big 2011NEW YORK (AP) _ Apple CEO Tim Cook got $4.2 million in pay for the latest fiscal year, a modest sum compared with last year, when the company's board set him up with stock now worth $510 million for taking the reins in 2011. Cook's pay for fiscal 2012, which ended in September, consisted of $1.4 million in salary, a bonus of $2.8 million, and $17,000 in company contributions to his 401(k) account and life insurance premiums, according to a filing.

Survey finds increase in e-reading, drop in paperNEW YORK (AP) _ The tastes of the reading public are turning digital. A Pew Internet Research Center survey released Thursday found that the percentage of Americans aged 16 and older who read an e-book grew from 16 percent in 2011 to 23 percent this year. Readers of traditional books dropped from 72 percent to 67 percent. Overall, those reading books of any kind dropped from 78 percent to 75 percent, a shift Pew called statistically insignificant.

Private picture of Mark Zuckerberg's family leakedSEATTLE (AP) _ Even Mark Zuckerberg's family can get tripped up by Facebook's privacy settings. A picture that Zuckerberg's sister posted on her personal Facebook profile was seen by a marketing director, who then posted the picture to Twitter and her more than 40,000 followers Wednesday.

UK's Pearson invests in Barnes & Noble's NookLONDON (AP) _ British publisher Pearson PLC says it is investing in a business based on Barnes & Noble's NOOK e-reader. Pearson said Friday it would pay $89.5 million cash for a 5 percent stake in NOOK Media LLC which includes the bookseller's e-reader and tablets, its digital bookstore and its 674 stores serving U.S. colleges.

Review: Making Facebook a warmer, smaller spaceNEW YORK (AP) _ A woman I haven't spoken to in six years is pregnant with her second son. Another college acquaintance reads the Bible a lot. A high school classmate likes to rant about politics. A college dormmate thinks he works too much. On Facebook, I'm connected to a lot of people who are not my friends. Over the years, as my Facebook friend list grows, it's made me increasingly uncomfortable that I seem to know so much about people that I don't actually know.

Colleges help students scrub online footprintsBUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) _ Samantha Grossman wasn't always thrilled with the impression that emerged when people Googled her name. "It wasn't anything too horrible," she said. "I just have a common name. There would be pictures, college partying pictures, that weren't of me, things I wouldn't want associated with me." Nonprofit tech innovators inspire new philanthropyWASHINGTON (AP) _ Scott Harrison knows his charity has funded nearly 7,000 clean water projects in some of the poorest areas of the world in the past six years. How many of those wells are still flowing with drinking water months or years later, though That's a tough question to answer. His organization called Charity: Water has funded projects in 20 different countries. It's committed to spend 100 percent of each donation in the field to help reach some of the 800 million people who don't have clean water and resort to drinking from swamps, unhealthy ponds or polluted rivers. Organizers send donors photos and GPS coordinates for each water project they pay for.

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