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In UK, Twitter, Facebook Rants Land Some in Jail

One teenager made offensive comments about a murdered child on Twitter. Another young man wrote on Facebook that British soldiers should "go to hell." A third posted a picture of a burning paper poppy, symbol of remembrance of war dead.

All were arrested, two convicted, and one jailed — and they're not the only ones. In Britain, hundreds of people are prosecuted each year for posts, tweets, texts and emails deemed menacing, indecent, offensive or obscene, and the number is growing as our online lives expand.

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RIM Offers Free Voice Calls over Wi-Fi with BBM

BlackBerry users will be able to make free voice calls over a Wi-Fi network using the popular BBM messaging service.

Research In Motion Ltd. announced Wednesday that it's adding the feature to BBM. Users will be able to switch back and forth from a text chat to a voice call. A split-screen option will let them talk and text at the same time.

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U.S. Urges Safety Technologies Be Made Standard

U.S. accident investigators say the government should require auto manufacturers to include the latest collision prevention technologies as standard equipment on all new cars and trucks.

The National Transportation Safety Board says the requirement could reduce fatal highway accidents by more than half.

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Samsung Plans No Settlement with Apple

A top Samsung executive said Wednesday that the South Korean electronics giant had no plans to follow Taiwanese firm HTC in seeking a settlement over its patent disputes with arch-rival Apple.

Samsung and Apple are currently embroiled in patent lawsuits in 10 nations including the United States and Germany, accusing each other of stealing design and technology.

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RIM to Release New BlackBerrys soon after Jan.

Research In Motion Ltd. will release its much-delayed BlackBerry 10 smartphones "not too long" after a launch event on Jan. 30, a senior executive said Tuesday.

Chief Operating Officer Kristian Tear said the company is still fine-tuning the new phones.

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Nokia Buys 3D Mapping Firm in Location Services Push

Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia on Tuesday announced plans to buy a California firm specializing in rendering the real-world in 3D as it beefed up mapping services for smartphone lifestyles.

Nokia expected to complete its acquisition of Berkeley-based Earthmine by the end of the year. It did not reveal financial terms of the deal.

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Microsoft Releases IE 10 Browser for Windows 7

The latest version of Microsoft's Web browser is now available to the vast audience connecting to the Internet on personal computers running on the Windows 7 operating system.

The redesigned browser, Internet Explorer 10, made its debut last month when Microsoft released Windows 8, which makes dramatic changes to an operating system that has been powering PCs for decades.

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Study: Africa is World's Fastest Growing Mobile Market

The number of Africa's mobile subscriptions will reach 761 million this year, making the continent once again the fastest growing market in the world, a research group has claimed.

Pushed on by the continent's robust economic growth and an increasingly competitive marketplace the number of subscriptions in Africa is set to hit one billion by 2015, London-based Informa Telecoms & Media said Monday.

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Teen Dutch Couple Jailed for Inciting Facebook Murder

A teenage Dutch couple was jailed on Monday for inciting another adolescent to stab a girl to death for allegedly posting derogatory comments on Facebook.

The 16-year-old female defendant, identified only as "Polly" because of her age, was handed the maximum sentence for a minor by the eastern Arnhem court.

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At Mao-Style Conclave, China Embraces Twitter Age

During China's last party congress, the cadres in charge of the world's most populous nation didn't know a hashtag from a hyperlink. But five years on, there's a new message from Beijing: The political transition will be microblogged.

Party officials have embraced social media with unprecedented enthusiasm, hoping it can help guide public opinion and stir up excitement about the staid party meeting this week that kicks off a transition to new, younger leaders.

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