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Kuwait MPs Endorse Law to Combat Electronic Crimes

Kuwait's parliament Wednesday backed legislation stipulating 10-year jail terms and fines of up to $165,000 for online crimes, especially those related to terrorism, despite warnings that this could undermine freedoms.

Twenty-eight members, including cabinet ministers, supported the law in a first vote, while eight were against and two abstained. A second and final vote is due after two weeks.

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New Disney Toys Combine High-Tech Gadgets, Old-School Play

Disney is launching a line of toys that combines high-tech wearable gadgets and old-school superhero role-playing to keep kids moving while engrossing them in sub-plots from "The Avengers," ''Star Wars" and "Frozen."

It's Disney's most ambitious game concept meshing real objects and virtual worlds since August 2013, when the family entertainment giant released its Disney Infinity video game that featured figurines and digital characters from "Pirates of the Caribbean," ''Toy Story" and other franchises.

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Microsoft Buys German Start-Up behind Wunderlist App

Microsoft on Tuesday said that it has bought 6Wunderkinder GmbH, a Berlin-based startup behind the Wunderlist to-do list app.

"The addition of Wunderlist to the Microsoft product portfolio fits squarely with our ambition to reinvent productivity for a mobile-first, cloud-first world," Eran Megiddo, general manager of Microsoft's OneNote, said in a blog post.

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Pinterest Adds Shopping with 'Buyable Pins'

Pinterest said Tuesday it is diving into e-commerce with "pins" that let people buy items they like at the popular online bulletin board.

"Pinterest is already designed to work like a catalogue, so we wanted to find a way to weave buyable pins into the pages people already know," co-founder and chief executive Ben Silbermann said during an event at the company's headquarters in San Francisco.

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Wearables Fight Back as Apple Watch Raises Bar

The Apple Watch raised the bar for wearable technology when it launched in April, but smaller brands are seeking their own niche in the battle for wrist space.

New kids on the block at Taiwan's Computex tech fair insisted that style and simplicity were more important than myriad features, in the face of Apple's intimidating offering.

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Report: Microsoft to Buy German Start-up behind Wunderlist App

Microsoft has agreed to acquire 6Wunderkinder GmbH, a Berlin-based startup behind the Wunderlist to-do list app, for between $100-200 million (91-182 million euros), the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Quoting a person familiar with the deal, the daily said the purchase was part of Microsoft's drive to enhance its line of mobile apps. 

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Study: Millennials Favor Facebook for U.S. Political News

When it comes to political news, Millennials are more likely to turn to Facebook than their television-watching Baby Boomer elders, a Pew Research Center study released Monday suggests.

The Washington-based social research institute surveyed nearly 3,000 online adults to learn how Americans are informing themselves in the run-up to next year's presidential election.

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Google Out to Win Trust with Simpler Privacy Controls

Google on Monday made it simpler for people using its popular online services to manage privacy, in a move aimed at bolstering trust.

"Everyday, we make choices that affect our privacy and security online," Google account controls and settings product manager Guemmy Kim said in a blog post.

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New Godzilla Game Steers Clear of Nuclear References

Godzillas galore, including last year's Hollywood version, stomp on buildings, thrashing about and breathing fire, in a video game going on sale globally mid-July. But don't expect any references to radiation, the mutant reptile's trademark affliction.

Simply named "Godzilla," it's the first video game devoted to the irradiated creature in a decade. It's also the first such game for the Sony Corp. PlayStation 4 home machine, ensuring dazzling digital graphics.

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New Privacy App Takes a Page from NSA Technology

Before the National Security Agency began complaining about being shut out of encrypted devices, it helped develop software for secure communications that could be adapted by the private sector.

That technology is hitting the public this month in the form of a smartphone application called Scrambl3 from a California startup which claims its "dark Internet tunnel" thwarts snooping on voice calls and messages.

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