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Sleek New PlayStation 3 Model Makes U.S. Debut

Sleek new PlayStation 3 consoles took their places in U.S. homes on Thursday as Sony tapped into its video game prowess to put itself at the heart of Internet Age entertainment.

The PS3 model that made its U.S. debut was slimmed to be stylishly unobtrusive but featured a beefy 250-gigabyte hard drive to store more films, music, games and other digital content.

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Personal Toilet-Bidet Devices to Assist Caregivers

Japanese firms on Wednesday showcased incontinence devices that combine a diaper with a personal bidet, removing waste before cleaning and then drying the wearer as they sleep.

A number of companies taking part in this year's International Home Care and Rehabilitation Exhibition in Tokyo had their automatic toilet-cum-washlets on display, aimed at Japan's burgeoning senior care market.

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Pigs' Revenge as 'Angry Birds' Makers Launch New Game

"Angry Birds" maker Rovio is to launch a new title Thursday allowing users to play as the "Bad Piggies" from the smash-hit game, and take revenge on the birds who attacked them with slingshots.

Rovio Asia senior vice president Henri Holm said the new game would be launched in the Taiwanese capital Taipei in the first of a series of global events.

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LG Accuses Samsung of Infringing Patents

South Korea's LG Display, one of the world's top flat-screen TV makers, said Thursday it had filed a patent infringement suit against Samsung Electronics over the use of advanced displays.

LG Display, a sister firm of LG Electronics, accused Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display of infringing seven of its patents on organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology.

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Study: Global Sales of 'smart Devices' Surging

Global sales of so-called smart connected devices -- computers, smartphones and tablets -- rose sharply in the past quarter, driven by smartphones and tablets, a survey showed Wednesday.

The IDC report said shipment reached 267.3 million units in the second quarter, a 27.4 percent increase year-over-year and a 2.8 percent rise from the prior quarter.

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Barnes & Noble Launches New Nook HD

Barnes & Noble is rolling out two new versions of its Nook tablet with sleek new hardware and a sharper high-definition screen. The bookseller's move heightens the already intense tablet wars heading into the holiday season.

Barnes & Noble said Wednesday that its new Nook HD will come in two sizes, one with a 7-inch (18-centimeter) screen (measured diagonally), starting at $199, and one with a new 9-inch (23-centimeter) diagonal screen, called the Nook HD+, starting at $269.

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Road Cleared for Self-Driving Cars in California

California Governor Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed a bill clearing the way for self-driving cars to jockey with human-operated vehicles to test the technology on the state's roads.

"Autonomous vehicles are another example of how California's technological leadership is turning today's science fiction into tomorrow's reality," Brown said during a signing ceremony at the Google campus in Mountain View.

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Samsung Launches New Oversized Smartphone

Samsung launched Wednesday the newest version of its oversized smartphone Galaxy Note, just a week after Apple's iPhone 5 hit shelves, in an apparent bid to outpace its rival with a wider range of gadgets.

The South Korean electronics giant said the Galaxy Note II -- first unveiled at a trade fair in Berlin last month -- will eventually hit stores in 128 nations including the United States, where the firm's recently lost a $1.05 billion patent case to Apple.

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Who Paid for That Political Ad? An App Will Tell You

In the nasty world of U.S. politics, voters want to know: who is behind some of the ads they see on TV. Now, there's an app for that.

The Super PAC App is an iPhone application which allows users to find out more information on political ads in the 2012 presidential election by simply holding up their phone to the ad while it's playing.

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Tesla Unveils Faster Electric Car Charging Station

Tesla Motors Inc. unveiled a solar-powered charging station that it said will make refueling electric vehicles on long trips about as fast as stopping for gas and a bathroom break in a conventional car.

CEO Elon Musk said at a news conference Monday at Tesla's design studio that the company's roadside Supercharger has been installed at six highway rest stops in California.

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