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Twitter Lets Hot Tweets Rise to Top of Timelines

Twitter revamped its timeline Wednesday, allowing the "best" tweets to rise to the top, despite warnings of a revolt from members loyal to the real-time flow of the messaging platform.

The tweaked format aims to inject new life into the struggling one-to-many messaging service by moving away from a pure chronological timeline to one determined by algorithm, as used by social network leader Facebook.

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Japan Camera Makers Battle Smartphone Onslaught

Highschooler Nao Noguchi is a perfect illustration of why Japanese camera sales have plunged the past few years -- she uses her smartphone for everything and cannot understand why anyone would bother with a separate device for photos.

"It is easy to take your smartphone out of your pocket if you want to take a picture of someone or something. And you can send the pictures to friends quickly" on social media, said the 17-year-old on a day trip to Tokyo's historic Asakusa district with her friend Rina.

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Obama Launches Cybersecurity 'Action Plan'

President Barack Obama on Tuesday unveiled a new cybersecurity "national action plan" calling for an overhaul of aging government networks and a high-level commission to boost security awareness.

The announcement responds to an epidemic of data breaches and cyber attacks on both government and private networks in recent years, and passage last year of a cybersecurity bill that aims to facilitate better threat sharing.

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India Regulator Deals Blow to Facebook in Internet Row

India's telecom regulator on Monday dealt a blow to Facebook's plans to offer free mobile Internet through its controversial Free Basics service, by outlawing differential pricing for data packages.

Facebook has suffered a fierce backlash in India from "net neutrality" advocates. 

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Technology, Ancient and Modern, Can Help Buildings Survive Quakes

Shocking images of a Taiwan apartment complex felled like a tree by a magnitude 6.4 earthquake have highlighted what is needed to build a structure that can withstand seismic shocks.

Like Taiwan, Japan is quake-prone -- it suffers about a fifth of the world's most powerful tremors. It has used a mix of ancient and modern technologies to make its buildings increasingly quake-proof. 

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Adblock Plus, Scourge of Websites, Seeks Industry Deal

For its users, Adblock Plus stands as a bulwark against intrusive advertising. But websites dependent on advertising revenue to remain free-of-charge see the open source software as a scourge.

Now the German firm behind Adblock Plus is taking a more conciliatory tack, reaching out to its adversaries to find an "acceptable" level and form of advertising on the net.

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Twitter Pledges Crackdown on 'Terrorist Content'

Twitter pledged Friday to crack down on "terrorist content," saying it had already suspended over 125,000 accounts on the popular messaging platform.

The accounts were targeted "for threatening or promoting terrorist acts," with most linked to the Islamic State group, said Twitter, which is under pressure from governments to act.

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Apple Asks Top U.S. Court to Reject Samsung Appeal

Apple has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to dismiss Samsung's appeal in the blockbuster patent case between the two smartphone giants, saying the ruling followed "well-established" legal precedent.

A filing Thursday from the California giant came in response to Samsung's appeal seeking to overturn a $548 million award for patent infringement related to copying features from Apple's iPhones.

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Europe Rights Court: News Sites Not Liable for Offensive Reader Comment

News websites are not responsible for "insulting and rude" comments by readers, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday, after a Hungarian website was sued for messages on its forum.

The case related to the Index.hu news website on which readers posted a series of angry comments about a real-estate company. 

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Thai Junta Push Google, Facebook and Line to Scrub Web

Thailand's junta is ramping up pressure on internet giants Google and Facebook -- and the popular messaging app Line -- to scrub the country's web of any content it dislikes, officials confirmed Tuesday.

The military seized power in a 2014 coup and has launched the harshest rights crackdowns in decades, arresting critics, muzzling the media and banning political gatherings or protests.

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