A U.S. judge ruled Wednesday that Apple violated antitrust law in a price-fixing case, saying the company "conspired to restrain trade" with publishers to boost the price of e-books.

Apple quickly rejected the decision and said it would appeal

Google on Wednesday released an upgraded version of its popular maps app for Android-powered smartphones and tablets that ditches a Latitude feature that let people share locations with family or friends.

The new software began rolling out at the online Google Play shop, and a version tailored for iPhones and iPads will soon be available at the Apple App Store, according to Google Maps director Daniel Graf.

Tablet prices are plunging amid a flood of new devices and cutthroat competition for market share.

Amazon has slashed prices of its Kindle HD tablets to as low as $169 in the U.S. and 139 pounds in Britain, while Barnes & Noble has cut the price of its Nook to as low as $129, and has announced plans to outsource production of its tablets.

Apple Inc. says it plans to appeal a New York judge's ruling that found the company conspired with publishers to fix electronic book prices.

Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr says Apple didn't conspire to fix e-book pricing and would continue to fight the "false accusations." He says Apple brought much needed innovation and competition into the market in 2010.

Global spending on mobile Internet ads surged 82.8 percent to $8.9 billion in 2012, an industry survey showed Tuesday.

The Internet Advertising Bureau said the figures highlight "a strong positive growth story taking place across mobile advertising formats."

Apple dropped its lawsuit Tuesday against rival Amazon for using the term "Appstore" for its online shop for mobile gadget applications.

"With more than 900,000 apps and 50 billion downloads, customers know where they can purchase their favorite apps," an Apple statement said.

Patients searching for health-related information on the Internet may find their privacy threatened, said a research letter published in a major U.S. medical journal on Monday.

Marco Huesch, a researcher at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, searched for "depression," "herpes" and "cancer" on various health-related websites and observed that the data was being tracked.

The Wall Street Journal on Monday reported that several bidders have stepped up to vie for Hulu, an online video website that Internet pioneer Yahoo was said to be eyeing as an acquisition.

The Journal cited unnamed sources as saying that Hulu had several suitors, including satellite television company DirecTV and a partnership led by U.S. telecom titan AT&T.

Users who may have grown frustrated with Facebook's rudimentary search feature are getting an updated version designed to make it easier to find people, places and photos on the site.

Facebook unveiled its social search tool in January but only made it available to a small fraction of its 1.1 billion users, as its engineers continued to tweak and test it. Over the next few weeks, starting on Monday, the company is rolling out the social search tool, called "Graph Search," to everyone whose language is set to U.S. English.

Japanese broadcasters are refusing to air commercials for Panasonic's new "smart" television, the manufacturer said Monday, amid speculation they feel threatened by its combined TV-Internet function.

Private broadcasters -- in a rare case of turning down a major advertiser -- have said they will not show commercials for the product, claiming the split screen simultaneously showing broadcast content and web pages may confuse viewers, according to reports.