SOCIAL NETWORKS

Anti-government protests inspired by popular revolts that toppled rulers in Tunisia and Egypt are gaining pace around the Middle East and North Africa despite political and economic concessions by nervous governments.

Digital security company Gemalto NV has developed an application that embeds Facebook on SIM cards, letting GSM phone users stay connected on the social networking site even if without data plans.

Smartphone maker HTC has rolled out two new phones - HTC ChaCha and HTC Salsa - with a dedicated Facebook button for one-touch access to the key functions of the social networking service.

Micro blogging giant Twitter is said to have held low level acquisition talks with Google Inc. and Facebook.

Is our iPhone data safe? This is the ultimate question to be answered when an iPhone or iPad or for that matter any smartphones or tablets are lost, especially when it contains our critical data like passwords.

Robert Goldberg, head of Zynga Game Network Inc., feels that it might be very difficult for Facebook to overtake Mixi in the country.

The media artists, Paolo Cirio and Alessandro Ludovico, say they used customized software to take Facebook data and eventually create a dating website.

Egypt is becoming a test case for the Internet going dark, with only one of its main service providers operating. But the lack of communications isn't stopping the protests.

Figures show how deep the malaise is.

LinkedIn Corp, whose professional networking site has 90 million users, plans to raise up to $175 million in an initial public offering, according to a regulatory filing.

It's application spam time again on Facebook, as the latest 'how many views' app is taking over many users profile.

List of Microsoft Windows Phone 7 introduced in 2010 and coming out in 2011, a special look

Facebook, twitter, iPhone, smart phone, travel apps, mobile phones with GPS and in-built camera, and more are supposedly the new arms of today’s travelers around the world.

Pro-democracy leader in Myanmar granted Internet access two months after her release from house arrest

Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin and YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim are investing $8 mln in Series A funding into Qwiki, a startup pioneering the information experience via on-the-fly transformation of data into rich media narratives

Facebook's global reach has been the envy of many companies, as about 70 percent of its 500 million users are from outside US and now Facebook has launched an app for feature phones to further bolster its march.

Sophos reported that cyber attacks on social networking sites nearly doubled in 2010, a clear sign that the threat continues to grow at an alarming rate. A study by the IT security and control firm reveals dramatic increase in malware, phishing and spam through social networks, most prominently Facebook.

Symantec's MessageLabs says Rustock, the largest of the spam botnets, is back with a bang since Monday, and appears set to continue where it left off on Dec. 25 as the biggest source of worldwide spam.

Social gaming is getting a little more risqué at Big Ego Games, a San Francisco-based developer that is trying to monetize the desire of lots of lonely gamers to interact with pretty girls. But the company wants to keep it PG.

Steve Ballmer gives a keynote address at the CES going over Xbox, Windows PC and Windows Phone 7 capabilities.

The lines between professional and personal interactions are being blurred. Social media users need to exercise prudence