Software piracy cost the industry a record $63.4 billion globally in 2011 with emerging economies listed as the main culprits, an annual study said Tuesday.

This was up nearly eight percent from the previous record of $58.8 billion in 2010, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) said in the study.

Japan's cash-bleeding electronics giants Sony and Panasonic are looking to join forces to produce next generation televisions in a bid to claw back market from South Korean rivals, a report said Tuesday.

The firms want to speed up the development of large-screen organic electroluminescence (OEL) televisions, which consume less power and offer a sharper picture than conventional flat panels, the Nikkei daily said.

Facts and figures about Facebook, which priced its initial public offering:

- Facebook has more than 900 million active users. If the company were a country, it would be the third largest in the world after China (population: 1.34 billion) and India (population: 1.17 billion).

Canon Inc. is moving toward fully automating digital camera production in an effort to cut costs — a key change being played out across Japan, a world leader in robotics.

If successful, counting on machines can help preserve this nation's technological power — not the stereotype of machines snatching assembly line jobs from workers, Jun Misumi — company spokesman, said Monday.

Yahoo! floundering ship hit more rough waters on Sunday with its second commander in less than a year being forced to walk the plank.

Yahoo! boss Scott Thompson was ousted in the face of controversy about an inflated resume.

Facebook may be the year's hottest stock issue -- but try getting a piece of it. Small investors will find the line long and hurdles high to get even a handful of shares.

And membership in Facebook's social network won't help, no matter how much you "like" the company.

Facebook frenzy is spreading ahead of the company's big-time stock market debut, with anything from Mark Zuckerberg's hoodie to the billion-dollar buy of Instagram sparking controversy.

Speculation about the promise or pitfalls of owning a piece of the world's leading social network was so feverish by the weekend that one report contended there was too much demand for the stock while another said it was lacking.

Iran's telecommunications ministry has barred local banks, insurance firms and telephone operators from using foreign-sourced emails to communicate with clients, a specialist weekly said on Saturday.

"The telecommunications minister has ordered the use of domain names ending with .ir" belonging to Iran, Asr Ertebatat reported.

The Internet is not a law-free zone, the government's top law officer warned Twitter users, adding that he would not hesitate to take action over offending posts.

Attorney General Dominic Grieve, the government's chief legal advisor in England and Wales, spoke out following a series of high-profile court cases involving postings made on the micro-blogging site.

Vicarious travellers and students of history can take a virtual stroll through the vast necropolis build by the ancient Egyptians in the Giza Plateau, thanks to a 3D Internet project launched this week.

The interactive recreation, to be found at www.3ds.com/giza3D, was put together by French design company Dassault Systems with material from the archives of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts.