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Facebook Weaves in Movies, Music and News

Facebook is packing movies, music, news and digital books into overhauled profile pages crafted to serve as online homes for members of the world's largest social network.

Major changes being rolled out in coming weeks will let members discover and share media content in real time while also artfully chronicling their lives.

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France Pockets 936 Million Euros in 4G Frequency Auction

France took in 936 million euros ($1.3 billion) from the auction of frequencies to build fourth-generation mobile telephone networks, telecommunications regulator Arcep said on Thursday.

France's four network operators Orange, Bouygues Telecom, SFR and Free took the 14 lots on offer in the 2.6 gigahertz range, which are primarily for use in urban areas.

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Twitter Buys Startup That Analyzes Online Sharing

Julpan on Wednesday announced that Twitter has bought the startup that specializes in sifting relevant or important data from blogs, tweets, and other online social content.

Julpan was founded last year by Ori Allon, the Israel-born computer scientist who created a highly praised "Orion" search engine.

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Samsung Starts New Chip Line to Boost Flash Memory

Samsung Electronics, the world's largest memory chip maker, said it has begun mass production at a new line to raise production of flash memory chips used in tablets and smartphones.

The South Korean firm also announced it has started mass production of advanced DRAM (dynamic random access memory) chips, which use 20-nanometer process technology.

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Japan Carrier Unveils Smartphone Radiation Gauge

Japan's top mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo is to unveil a smartphone with changeable "jackets" that measure bad breath, body fat and even radiation levels.

DoCoMo says it has developed technology that allows users to measure their own bodies or surroundings by slipping their smartphones inside sensor-embedded shells.

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Lebanese Birdy Nam Nam Tops Middle East iTune Store

A Group of 3 Lebanese men launched on August 22 an iOS game called Birdy Nam Nam on iTunes App Store, clocking over 400,000 downloads in less than a week.

The team was determined to give the game a distinctly Arabic flavor. The iOS game, available in Arabic, English and French, is set in the Middle East, where the region is coming under attack from mutant chickens attempting to dominate the world.

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U.S. Libraries Lend Digital Books to Kindle Readers

Thousands of U.S. libraries on Wednesday began lending digital books over the Internet for reading on Amazon's popular Kindle devices.

Amazon said more than 11,000 libraries throughout the United States have added Kindle books to virtual shelves at their respective websites.

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Apple to Unveil iPhone 5 on October 4

Apple plans to unveil its next generation iPhone next month, technology blog AllThingsD said Wednesday.

AllThingsD cautioned that Apple could "change its plans anytime," but said the present plan calls for Apple's new chief executive Tim Cook to preside over the launch of the iPhone 5 on October 4.

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Digital Cameras Help Chinese Directors Skirt Censor

Independent Chinese cinema has boomed out of the sight of censors because of new, handheld digital video cameras, several directors said at Spain's foremost film festival.

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Hewlett-Packard Begins Palm Unit Layoffs

Hewlett-Packard said Tuesday that it has begun laying off workers as part of its move to give up on the webOS mobile operating system it got when it bought Palm.

An HP spokesperson did not say how many employees were being let go in line with the computer maker's announcement last month that it was discontinuing the development of webOS devices.

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