Long before there was an Internet or an iPad, before people were social networking and instant messaging, Americans had already gotten wired.

Monday marks the 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental telegraph. From sea to sea, it electronically knitted together a nation that was simultaneously tearing itself apart, North and South, in the Civil War.

Netflix Inc. plans to offer its online subscription service to the United Kingdom and Ireland starting early next year, providing access to movies and television shows.

The company said Monday that subscribers will get unlimited TV shows and movies streaming online to their televisions and computers, Macs, tablets and cellular phones for a monthly fee.

Apple is allowing the general public to get a look at a star-studded memorial service it held for employees to celebrate the life of Steve Jobs at its California headquarters last week.

Apple Inc. posted a link on its website late Sunday to a video of the service, which was held on Wednesday morning in an outdoor amphitheater in the center of the company's campus. The ceremony was intensely private. It was closed to the public and media handlers shooed reporters away from Apple's buildings at the time.

Leading automaker Toyota said Saturday it plans to start producing vehicles with Chinese-made hybrid systems by 2015, after it finishes building a research centre in the country.

The energy-saving vehicles would be made and sold in China through Toyota's joint ventures with Guangzhou Automobile Group and FAW Group Corporation, the Japanese firm said in a statement.

Nintendo said Friday that online video service Hulu Plus will stream movies and television shows to Wii and 3DS videogame systems by the end of the year.

The Japanese videogame giant also planned to release in November a software update that will let people record 3D video using the latest version of its handheld gaming device.

Facebook has until November 7 to bring its facial recognition software into conformity with privacy laws in Germany and the European Union or face legal action, a government lawyer told Agence France Presse Friday.

"We have had extended negotiations with Facebook and have clearly stressed our position," Johannes Caspar, a lawyer working on the case, told AFP.

News Corp's purchase of Myspace was a "huge mistake" and the social network was mismanaged "in every possible way" following the acquisition, chief executive Rupert Murdoch said Friday.

Murdoch, addressing shareholders at the media and entertainment company's annual meeting in Los Angeles, said News Corp.'s 2005 purchase of Myspace for $580 million was seen as "fantastic" at the time.

Google remains undaunted in its bid to create a flourishing online community that can go toe-to-toe with social networking powerhouse Facebook.

The California Internet titan's popular products and services will increasingly be woven into its nascent but fast-growing Google+ social network to make joining irresistible, executives said Thursday.

Sony Corporation senior executive Kazuo Hirai said Friday the Japanese company wants to work more closely with its Swedish joint venture partner Ericsson on Smartphone products.

But Sony's executive deputy president refused to comment on reports the Japanese giant is planning to buy out Ericsson's half of their 50-50 Sony Ericsson venture.

Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui launched on Thursday the internet 3G service which will cover Beirut and its suburbs.

"Our target is to move ten years forward in internet speed and we hope that the technical difficulties will be fixed in the coming weeks,” he said during a press conference at the American University of Science and Technology.