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Electric Car Revs to World Record in Switzerland

A racing car designed and built by students in Switzerland on Monday set a world record for acceleration in electric vehicles, their universities said Monday.

The "grimsel" car revved from zero to 100 kilometers (0-62 miles) an hour in just 1.785 seconds, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich said in a statement.

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Apple Sold by Jobs from Parents' Garage Up for Auction

An early Apple device sold by Steve Jobs from his parents' garage goes under the hammer in New York next month valued at $400,000-600,000 in an increasingly competitive computer relic market.

Christie's says the Apple-1 is the only surviving such computer documented to have been sold directly by the late Apple founder to a customer from the garage in Los Altos, California. 

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N. Korea Denies Role in Smartphone Hacking in South

North Korea's state media on Monday blasted South Korea's spy agency for alleging Pyongyang hacked tens of thousands of smartphones in the South using malware disguised in mobile gaming apps.

The South's National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in a report to parliament last week that North Korea attempted to hack more than 20,000 South Korean smartphones from May to September.

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Skip Check-In; Latest Hotel Room Key is your Phone

Hotels don't want guests to have to linger at the front desk — or even stop by at all.

New programs are helping speed up the check-in process for busy travelers, or in at least one case, letting them go straight to their rooms by using their smartphone to unlock doors.

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Estonian Man Faces Cyber Scam Charges in U.S.

An Estonian man accused of being part of a ring that swindled advertisers out of millions of dollars by "hijacking" online traffic was hauled before a U.S. judge on Friday.

Vladimir Tsastsin, 34, was extradited to a federal court in New York to face charges including computer intrusion, wire fraud and money laundering, according to U.S. prosecutors.

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Apple Pay Fails to Unify Fragmented Market

Apple Pay, meant to inject momentum into a fragmented market for the emerging mobile payments sector, has instead highlighted the squabbles between retailers and the banking and payments industry.

Since Apple Pay made its debut October 20 for U.S. customers with the iPhone 6, several major retailers have said they would not use it.

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Spain OKs 'Google Tax' Demanded by News Publishers

Spain's parliament has approved new intellectual property laws that allow news publishers to charge aggregators each time they display news content in search results.

The law goes into effect Jan. 1 but does not specify how much aggregators like Google News could be charged. Spain's AEDE group of news publishers had lobbied for what is known as the "Google Tax" but has not provided specifics.

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Microsoft Unveils Fitness Gadget, Health Tracking

Microsoft is releasing a $199 fitness band that also checks your email and even pay for coffee as the software company seeks to challenge Apple and others in the still-infant market for wearable devices.

The Microsoft Band will work with the company's new Microsoft Health system for consolidating health and fitness data from various gadgets and mobile apps. Unlike rival health systems, Microsoft Health will work with competing phones, not just those running Windows.

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Co-Creator of Android Mobile Software Leaves Google

Google on Thursday confirmed that an executive behind leading mobile device software Android is leaving the company to create an incubator for hardware startups.

Andy Rubin became a Google executive in 2005 when the Internet titan bought Android Inc., which was then a small startup that Rubin co-founded two years earlier.

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China Web Users Laud Apple Boss for Coming Out

Apple chief Tim Cook's announcement of his homosexuality was the top topic on Chinese Internet forums Friday, with many users lauding him as a hero -- and some joking about his declaration.

Cook wrote in an essay for Bloomberg Businessweek that he was "proud to be gay" and considered his orientation among "the greatest gifts God has given me".

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