At the middle of the ongoing riots in Libya, the authorities there have decided to shut off all the Internet access points to its citizens.

As a result, the ones that had '.ly' as suffix are the ones which were thought to have been affected because of this.

But nothing like that happened and sites like bit. ly are doing well. The idea of shortening the link had become popular just some years back when social sites like Twitter and its users felt the need to shorten the URL for easy handling and tweeting. In shortened version, long links can be fitted in up to only 140 characters.

It has been come to be known that O2 has filed an application with the financial regulator for getting license for e-money. This money will be used in launching its mobile contactless payment services that is to begin operations by the second half of this year.

O2, the telecom company has filed its application with the Financial Services Authority. Its approval is going to make it an independent financial services provider and the road to partnering with banks will then be opened.

Software giant Microsoft Corp. has requested the US International Trade Commission ban on imports and sales of TiVo set-top DVR boxes, accusing the TiVo of infringing four patents.

The complaint submitted to US ITC in Washington states that TiVo infringed technology patented by Microsoft in 1990s and 2000. The ITC is a quasi-judicial agency which has the right to bar imports of products found to violate US intellectual property rights.

TiVo imports the digital-video recorders from Mexico, where they are manufactured, to sell them in the United States.

Internet search giant Google on Friday acknowledged an increase in web spam complaints, but defended its spam-fighting policies.

The California-based company denied accusations that websites with Google adverts were getting free pass. The company claimed that it had made it more difficult for spam-packed websites rank high in search results.

Google was responding to complaints that its search results were spammy and awkward. Google engineer Matt Cutts wrote in a blog that they were hearing the feedback from the web loud and clear.

London's Oxford Circus turned into a panic zone on Wednesday after Twitter-users misunderstood a training scenario and started tweeting and re-tweeting that a gunman was on the loose.

Users of the micro-blogging site urged others to stay inside, warning them about a rogue gunman who was on the loose on Oxford Street.

The soaring number of tweets and re-tweets about the illusive gunman forced Scotland Yard to disclose the fact that it was a routine training exercise.

Cyberattacks on social-network sites such as Facebook doubled in 2010 from the year earlier, fresh figures released by IT security firm Sophos reveals.

According to Sophos, 67 per cent of users of social-networking sites such as Facebook were spammed, while 40 per cent of social-networking users were sent malware during 2010. The figure for malware attacks represents an increase of 90 per cent from a year earlier.

Microsoft has reportedly ended relationship with a publisher who breached the company's affiliate guidelines by scamming to switch people's search engine to Bing to collect huge affiliate fee from the company.

Make-my-baby. com, the third largest advertiser across social networking sites Facebook and MySpace, encouraged people to install a toolbar which switches their searches to Microsoft's search engine Bing, under the pretext of offering a different service.

The tool allowed people to decorate a virtual baby. The concerned toolbar was very complicated to remove.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has unveiled a new logo for the HTML5 to encourage people to adopt the new technology.

The logo is simple, showing a shield in front of rays of light. It was designed by boutique agency Ocupop. With a view to promote HTML5 technology, W3C has released the logo as badges, stickers and T-shirts.

The new logo is a general-purpose visual identity which stands for HTML5, CSS, WOFF, SVG and other technologies used in the creation of web applications.

The real identity of the arguably world's most famous artist, known as Banksy, is on the auction block at eBay, with bids already hitting $1million.

The real identity of the controversial British graffiti artist is a mystery. Bidding to know the real name of the artist started at $3,000 (£1,900) and thirty-eight offers have already been placed. The latest bid hit $1million.

Huntington Beach, California, may use social networking platform Facebook to reduce the soaring number of alcohol-related traffic fatalities.

A councilman in Huntington Beach has proposed that police should start posting the mugshots convicts of multiple drunk-driving offences on the department's Facebook page. According to the council member, Devin Dwyer, using public embarrassment would set offenders straight.

BBC-backed video-on-demand platform YouView will probably hit services like that of BskyB after its launch, a fresh report from Evolution Securities claims.

According to Media analyst Steve Malcolm, digital switchover will bring the subscription-free broadband video-on-demand platform YouView to around 22 per cent of households in the UK, which could hit Sky subscriptions very hard.

Currently, pay-TV market in the UK is dominated by BSkyB, with more than 10 million subscribers.

Twenty-three-old George Samuel Bronk, of Citrus Heights, faces six years in prison for hacking into the e-mail accounts of numerous women in search of their naked and semi-naked photos and then posting them on the Facebook pages.

On Thursday, Bronk pleaded guilty in Sacramento Superior Court to a total of seven felony charges, ranging from computer infringement to fake impersonation.

During investigation, Bronk said he used to gain access to women's e-mail account using information stolen from their Facebook accounts.

Research in Motion's (RIM's) 2011 BlackBerry lineup has reportedly leaked online, providing a glimpse of Apple and Android handsets' potential competitors.

As per technology blog BGR, RIM's latest leaked smartphone is a new BlackBerry Storm, The Storm 3, which is said to feature a high-resolution 3.7-inch screen at 800 by 400 pixels, a 1.2GHz processor and an optical trackpad.

Young protesters in Tunisia are making wide use of social media, such blogs, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, to get together and to criticize the government.

Tunisia is in state of unrest as protesters are rioting over corruption and unemployment. Recent riots sparked after 26-year-old Mohamed Bouazizi committed suicide after he could not find a job and was banned from selling fruit without a permit.

In spite of Tunisia's stringent censorship of the Internet, around 3,000 videos tagged with the words, "Sidi Bouzid", have been posted on video sharing site YouTube.

UK online sales this Christmas hit a record £2.8 billion as more than two-thirds of Brits shopped online on Christmas and Boxing Day, figures compiled by online customer experience firm Tealeaf revealed.

Tealeaf said that 44 per cent of adult shoppers increased their online spending as compared with 2009, and nearly 58 per cent of shoppers preferred online shopping as it was more convenient medium.

Fifty-two per cent said 'stress reduction' was the reason for their going online to shop, and the same percentage of shoppers said that they were encouraged by lower prices online.