Pornography dealers can start registering on the industry's own exclusive .xxx web domain on Wednesday following its approval by an international regulatory body earlier this year, the domain operator said.

The Florida-based ICM Registry, which provides the management and supporting infrastructure for the domain name, has touted its benefits for the industry, customers and those who prefer to avoid online adult content.

Almost half of personal computer users around the world get their software illegally, with China's massive market the worst culprit, a report claimed Wednesday.

A Business Software Alliance (BSA) survey showed 47 percent of PC users globally believe there is nothing wrong with using unauthorized copies of software programs.

Cars made smarter with Internet technology are zooming into perilous hacker territory, according to a report by U.S. computer security giant McAfee.

The first-of-its-kind report, entitled "Caution: Malware Ahead" and released late Tuesday, warned that security is lagging as vehicles are enhanced with embedded chips and sensors for a growing array of purposes.

Thai police on Tuesday said they had arrested a 40-year-old man for allegedly posting pictures, audio clips and messages deemed insulting to the royal family on the social networking site Facebook.

Surapak Phuchaisaeng was arrested in Bangkok on Friday, said a senior police officer at the Technology Crime Suppression Division.

Yahoo Inc. fired Carol Bartz as CEO Tuesday after more than 2½ years of financial lethargy that had convinced investors that she couldn't steer the Internet company to a long-promised turnaround.

To fill the void, Yahoo's board named Tim Morse, its chief financial officer, as interim CEO. Bartz lured Morse away from computer chip maker Altera Corp. two years ago to help her cuts costs. Yahoo, based in Sunnyvale, California, said it is looking for a permanent replacement.

Hong Kong's first Apple Store appears to be nearing completion after builders this week removed scaffolding from the shop's exterior windows to reveal a giant sign with the company's logo.

Carolyn Wu, a Beijing-based spokeswoman for Apple Inc., confirmed that the store would open soon but would not comment further.

For incoming freshmen at western Connecticut's suburban Brookfield High School, hefting a backpack weighed down with textbooks is about to give way to tapping out notes and flipping electronic pages on a glossy iPad tablet computer.

A few hours away, every student at Burlington High School near Boston will also start the year with new school-issued iPads, each loaded with electronic textbooks and other online resources in place of traditional bulky texts.

Netflix launched its movie and TV streaming service in Brazil on Monday, the beachhead for a push into Latin America that is seen as key to the company's continued growth after recent setbacks in the United States.

Netflix Inc. says it plans to expand into 43 countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean soon, the online movie rental company's largest international expansion yet.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics said Monday it has withdrawn its new tablet computer from a major electronics fair in Berlin after a German court accepted a complaint from U.S. rival Apple.

Samsung Sunday removed its Galaxy Tab 7.7 inch from the annual IFA show following an order Friday from a district court in Duesseldorf banning sales and marketing, a company spokesman told AFP.

A tribute to legendary Queen front man Freddie Mercury took center stage at Google in much of the world on Monday in the latest "doodle" merging technology and art to show the Internet giant's human side.

An animated video crafted into the logo on Google's search page to honor what would have been the late rock legend's 65th birthday marked the latest step in the evolution of doodles that started as rudimentary clip art.