The number of Internet users in China rose last year by nearly 56 million to more than half a billion, nearly half of whom used weibos, or microblogs, according to latest official figures.

China's online population -- the world's largest -- hit 513 million in 2011, a 12.2 percent increase on the previous year, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) said in a statement on Monday.

Hailed as the French Steve Jobs, entrepreneur Xavier Niel is shaking up the country's mobile phone market with a maverick style far removed from France's traditionally conservative business practices.

A rare business heavyweight not to emerge from the country's elite universities, Niel started his career in the 1980s operating adult chat services on a French forerunner to the Internet called Minitel.

France Telecom and its partner Mid Europa are selling their Austrian mobile unit Orange to Hong Kong-based Hutchison in a $1.3-billion deal, a press report said Saturday.

Final details are being worked out but the long-awaited deal should be signed in the coming days, Austrian daily Die Presse reported, without citing sources. Orange head Michael Krammer declined to comment, the paper said.

Apple has agreed to throw open its doors to labor monitors after a spate of suicides at the firm's Chinese plants, a rights group said Friday.

The Fair Labor Association said Apple will let it "independently assess facilities in Apple's supply chain and report detailed findings," which will be posted on the association's website.

The annual Consumer Electronics Show ended Friday, leaving gadget lovers with visions of a "Matrix"-like world in which the Internet surrounds them no matter where they go.

Makers of everything from cars and refrigerators to televisions, smartphones and software pitched innovations heralding the arrival of connected lifestyles made possible by "smart" devices.

For the first time, Indian prosecutors are taking Google, Yahoo, Facebook and other networking sites to court for refusing to remove material considered insulting to Indian leaders and major religious figures.

Government officials are upset about material insulting to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, ruling Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi and major religious figures. Some illustrations have shown Singh and Gandhi in compromising positions and pigs running through Mecca, Islam's holiest city.

The world's obsession with tapping into the Internet is being played out on the biggest screen in the house, with software startups, TV makers, and technology titans such as Google and Microsoft adding momentum to the trend.

Even the beloved firm behind iPads and iPhones is expected to weigh in soon with a revamped version of an Apple TV system that it has long called a hobby.

You're at work when you get word of unexpected dinner guests. No problem. Smart appliances to the rescue.

In a world made possible by innovations unveiled this week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, you could whip out your smartphone on your bus or train ride home.

A California startup out to change the world shined at the Consumer Electronics Show on Thursday with a light bulb blending beauty and efficiency with love for the Earth.

Switch Lighting executives Tracy Bilbrough and Brett Sharenow glowed as they showed off new-generation LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs that they believe will transform the more than $30-billion global market.

U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama quickly snapped up tens of thousands of Twitter followers Thursday, as she joined the social network and opened a new front in her husband's reelection campaign.

"Hi, everyone, and thanks for the warm welcome. Look forward to staying in touch with you here," @michelleobama said in a tweet authenticated by her initials "mo."