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BEIJING (Reuters) - China's television regulator has ordered a crackdown on dramas about the country's battles with Japan during and before World War Two and demanded they be more serious, state media said on Friday, following viewer complaints about ludicrous storylines. Ties have been shadowed for years by what Beijing says has been Tokyo's refusal to admit to wartime atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers in the country between 1937 and 1945, something taught to every Chinese school child and a staple of television dramas. ...

Seeks freetard vote for 'solutions we're in dire need of'

Peter Sunde, one of four cofounders of notorious BitTorrent search site The Pirate Bay, says he plans to run in next year's European Parliament elections, despite his impending incarceration for copyright violation.…

A U.K. judge has sentenced four members of hacking collective LulzSec, an offshoot of hacking group Anonymous, for their role in taking down various corporate and government websites between February and September 2011, ZDNet reported. Judge Deborah Taylor sentenced 26-year old Ryan Ackroyd, 20-year old Jake Davis, 18-year old Mustafa al-Bassam and 21-year old Ryan Cleary in a London courtroom on Thursday. Ackroyd received a prison sentence of up to 32 months, of which he will be required to serve at least half, while Davis was sentenced to two years in a young offenders institution, which he must remain at for at least a year. Bassam, who was a minor at the time of the hackings, received a suspended sentence

A new report suggests that prepaid smartphones are becoming more popular among consumers. According to research from NPD Group, 32% of all smartphones sold in the first quarter were prepaid devices, up from 21% during the same period in 2012. Samsung was found to be the most popular vendor of prepaid smartphones, accounting for 32% of sales in the first quarter. Handsets from LG made up 22%, Huawei 11%, and Apple and HTC tied at 8%. Prepaid iPhone sales were found to have increased fourfold in Q1 though, while sales of LG smartphones doubled year-over-year. “Prepaid has proven to be a real winner for national retailers,” said Baker. “The easy purchase cycle and grab-and-go nature of the product play into the strength

Ready for Microsoft's next Xbox? We are. Join CNET for live coverage from Microsoft's headquarters next week.

New update adds a little more versatility to the iTunes MiniPlayer with big album art and a progress bar, along with some speed fixes.

Paul Otellini, who retired as the chip giant's CEO on Thursday, tells The Atlantic that he didn't do what it takes for Intel to be in Apple's initial smartphone.

Amid scrutiny over his company's own offshore tax practices, Apple CEO tells Washington reporters about his plan to simplify corporate tax laws. This from the company that's always shied away from politics.

Kevin Williamson is so angry that a woman won't stop using her cell phone during a New York musical that he grabs it from her and throws it far away. Yes, he is removed from the theater.

The service is being dropped after tepid player response, according to a report from VentureBeat.

By Li-mei Hoang LONDON (Reuters) - A group of British hackers who "ran riot" causing millions of dollars of damage to computer networks run by Sony, the CIA and other agencies were sentenced to jail terms on Thursday. Police said four men, members of the hacking collective known as "LulzSec", put thousands of internet users' personal data at risk through their high-profile cyber attacks in 2011. ...

'Gizmos that I barely understand' will power my city, says mayor

Flamboyant London mayor Boris Johnson has formally inked a deal which will see the enormous press centre built for the 2012 Olympics turned into a "colossal super hangar" crammed with thousands of "digital and creative" workers who won't have needed to be "brilliant at school".…

After my iPod Touch became locked until 2056, I sought help. But a trip to my local Apple Store Genius Bar only led to more frustration.

That's the word from research firm IDC and App Annie, which released a study that found that App Store spending is easily outpacing gaming handhelds.

The company's current store at Stockton and Ellis streets in downtown San Francisco will be moved to Union Square, if all goes well.

Ignorant tech pundits just aren't down with the kids

Analysis BlackBerry announced this week that its flagship messenger service, BBM, will no longer be tied to its proprietary handsets, potentially opening up a lucrative licensing stream which could rescue the beleaguered mobe-maker.…

LONDON (AP) — Four computer hackers who targeted companies including Sony Pictures and Rupert Murdoch's News International media group have been sentenced to up to 32 months in prison.

A collection of mobile devices could illuminate a scene, as described in a newly published Apple patent application.

Parlimentary tax probe has leaked documents, say MPs

Even as its I/O shindig in San Francisco dominated the headlines, Google was today accused of lying over its claims last year that it makes no sales in the UK - in order to justify its tiny UK corporation tax bill.…

Downing Street overrun with whispering Oompa-Loompas

Google has greater access to No. 10 Downing Street than the government's own ministers, one such minister has admitted. Viscount Younger of Leckie, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Intellectual Property - the third copyright minister in a year - made the candid confession before the Media, Culture and Sport parliamentary Select Committee on Tuesday.…

By Ethan Bilby BRUSSELS (Reuters) - China threatened on Thursday to retaliate if the European Union formally opens an investigation into alleged anti-competitive behavior by Chinese mobile telecom equipment companies. European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said on Wednesday he and fellow commissioners had agreed in principle to open an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy case against China, but would first seek to negotiate a solution with Chinese authorities. Although not mentioned in the statement, EU officials told Reuters the primary targets of the investigation would be world No. ...

The winner of the race to get to 50 billion downloaded the app Say the Same Thing, and along with bragging rights gets a $10,000 App Store gift card.

Lego will soon launch its programmable robotics platform's third generation, with 17 models, 12 of which are community created. Lego showed off three of the best of those 12.

By Estelle Shirbon LONDON (Reuters) - A retired British politician sued the wife of the House of Commons Speaker for defamation on Thursday, accusing her of implying in a tweet that he was a pedophile guilty of sexually abusing boys living in a care home. Alistair McAlpine, an associate of the late former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, is seeking damages from Sally Bercow in Britain's most high-profile Twitter defamation case to date. ...

By Greg Stutchbury WELLINGTON, May 16 (Reuters) - Hunched over desks staring at computer screens paid for in part by New Zealand cricket captain Brendon McCullum, employees at a small Wellington company are hard at work laying the foundations for what they hope will be the next social media revolution. Targeting the estimated billion players and fans of the English bat-and-ball game around the world, CricHQ aims to build an online community which could be crudely described as Facebook for cricket. ...

Police are called to a sci-fi convention in the U.K. after fans of "Doctor Who" -- allegedly uninvited -- enter the convention, to the displeasure of certain forceful "Star Wars" fans.

New carrier-grade router and a virty one, too

The Interop networking extravaganza kicks off next week in Las Vegas, and Hewlett-Packard's Networking division is trying to get a jump on all of the chatter by previewing its latest FlexFabric fixed and modular switches as well as rolling out a new carrier-grade physical router and a virtual one.…

Regular stalkbook users? You're out of luck... bitch

Facebook has agreed to ban a bloody and disturbing video of two men being decapitated with a chainsaw and a second vid depicting a woman being beheaded by a masked man - after initially refusing to ban the clips. The social network appears to have experienced this change of heart after it was contacted by journalists.…

Tinker, tailor, soldier, critic

CIA spooks are attempting to prove they deserve the word intelligence in their job titles by moonlighting as arts critics.…

Layer 4 connections per-second-per-Watt as a measure of green, anyone?

A10 Networks has announced new gateway devices and a revision to its ACOS operating system.…

Come on granny, you must know where your booster is?

Some 28,000 London suburbanites will have 40 days to fit their free 4G filters, before Freeview television frequencies are swamped with faked 4G networking signals in a mass test of the British public's ability to plug stuff in.…

State rag claims it found Cupertino's XXX stash

A state-run Chinese newspaper has attempted to name and shame Apple for allegedly spreading smut in the People's Republic.…

Lashes new Sparc T5 and M5 servers to each other and storage

Oracle is ratcheting up the virtual networking wars with the relaunch of its Xsigo line of I/O director switches.…

Cloud Network Engine powers up for epic battle

If you want to take on Cisco Systems in the nascent cloud networking-as-a-service market, you are going to need money. Lots of money. And so plucky upstart Pertino Networks, which just uncloaked from stealth mode last month, has gathered up some new investors and hit up its existing ones to fill up its war chest.…