Perched near the Arctic Circle, the Swedish town of Luleaa hopes that a massive data center for U.S. social networking giant Facebook will launch the vibrant industrial region into the digital age as a European data traffic hub.

"The digital industry will be an important addition to our town," Mayor Karl Petersen told AFP.

Japanese electronics giant Panasonic said Friday it would build a new solar cell factory in Malaysia, as it looks abroad to cut production costs caused by the surging yen.

The company said it would spend 45 billion yen ($582 million) on the new factory making cells -- a key component of solar panels -- capable of generating 300 megawatts of power.

The popularity of Twitter has soared in the Arab world over the past year, a study published Thursday revealed, reflecting the key role of the social networking site in the "Arab Spring" revolutions.

Online Twitter messages, or tweets, in Arabic rocketed from 99,000 a day in October 2010 to over two million last month, social media monitor Semiocast showed in its study into the most popular languages used on the popular site.

Like Santa Claus on that one foggy Christmas Eve, Microsoft has summoned Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to guide some precious cargo — a holiday marketing campaign for its Bing search engine.

The advertisements, debuting online and on TV this week, star Rudolph and other characters from the animated story about the most famous reindeer of all. The campaign is part of Microsoft's attempt to trip up Google Inc., an Internet search rival as imposing as the Abominable Snowman was before Yukon Cornelius tamed the monster.

'Tis the season of the tablet. Despite the gloomy economy, shoppers are expected to shell out for tablet computers this December, making them about as popular as candy canes and twinkling lights.

The glossy-screened gadgets are the most-desired electronic devices this holiday season. And, of all the gifts people are craving, tablets are second only to clothing, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. The industry group expects U.S. consumers to spend an average of $246 on electronic gifts, including tablets.

Houdini the dog lived up to his name.

The lab-shepherd mix, known as a crafty escape artist, was placed in a foster home by Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. Despite his new owner's best efforts to keep him close, the dog pushed an air conditioner out of a window and made his getaway.

Swedish online music star Spotify said Wednesday ahead of a mystery announcement next week that it has reached 2.5 million paying subscribers.

"Fanfare! Drum roll! Yes, we're excited to announce that we've now welcomed 2.5 million paying subscribers to the service," Spotify said in a blog post.

Publishing giant Penguin Group on Tuesday stopped adding digital works to US library shelves where they can be borrowed by owners of Kindle electronic readers.

In a statement, Penguin cited unspecified "concerns about security" as the reason for delaying release of new titles in digital formats to libraries.

China, already home to the world's largest online population, is likely to replace the United States as the biggest e-commerce market by 2015, according to new research.

China's e-commerce market is currently worth $74 billion -- less than half that of the United States at $177 billion, a new report by the Boston Consulting Group said.

Police in California probing an armed robbery arrested two suspects by using the "Find My Phone" app on her stolen iPhone to locate the device, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The female victim told officers that a gunman had taken her purse and iPhone, which had the tracking application installed, said Norma Eisenman of the Los Angeles Police Department.