Simpsons fans will likely recall the classic episode in which Homer Simpson gets tossed out of an “all-you-can-eat” seafood restaurant after he devours not only its entire supply of shrimp but two of its decorative plastic lobsters. Ars Technica reports that an IT professional in California did something similar with his unlimited FiOS plan after he used up a whopping 77TB of data over the span of just one month. If you’re wondering how one human being could use that much data in just a month, consider that he had been using his home FiOS connection to deliver friends and family dedicated video streaming, VPN support and peer-to-peer file sharing while “running a rack of seven servers with 209TB of

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German business software maker SAP said it was revamping its management to sharpen its focus on cloud computing as demand for the service which saves clients money grows. SAP and rivals such as IBM and Oracle are dashing to meet surging demand for cloud computing, which allows clients to ditch bulky and costly servers for network-based software and storage in remote data centers. The company said it was now grouping all of its development activities and putting executive board member Vishal Sikka in charge of them from June 1. ...

MONACO (Reuters) - Asia's largest budget carrier, AirAsia , may order an additional 50 Airbus A320 jets on top of its existing record order for 475 of the Airbus model, Chief Executive Tony Fernandes said on Friday. The additional aircraft would be mainly for the market in India, where it expects its new affiliate, AirAsia India, to launch in the fourth quarter. "We've bought a lot of planes but we're still short, we're still leasing planes at the moment, so I was right buying these planes, and we may have to put in another order... ...

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A look at legislation passed in Turkey's parliament early Friday that would ban all alcohol advertising and tighten restrictions on the sale of such beverages, and how such a law could affect tourists and liquor companies in the mainly Muslim but secular country.

By Jason Lange WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods rose more than expected in April, a hopeful sign that a sharp slowdown in factory output could soon run its course. New orders for durable goods, which range from toasters to aircraft, increased 3.3 percent last month, the Commerce Department said on Friday. The data was the latest to show the U.S. economy exhibiting surprising resilience in the face of harsh fiscal austerity measures enacted this year. ...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Few have explored the remote volcanic islands of the Galapagos archipelago, an otherworldly landscape inhabited by the world's largest tortoises and other fantastical creatures that inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell for a third day on Friday amid lingering concern the central bank may scale back its support to the economy. Trading has been choppy in the second half of the week as market participants assess the Federal Reserve's evolving stance towards markets. Fed support has been instrumental in a rally that has boosted U.S. stocks to record highs this year. However, many analysts say the eventual tapering of Fed stimulus will come with an expansion in the economy and corporate earnings, which will continue to support equities. ...

Whether or not Google’s connected eyewear will appeal to the mass market, early reviews painted Google Glass as a very intriguing product. It’s not without some faults, of course, and one of the biggest problems with early units was battery life. Glass reportedly goes for about five hours on a charge with average usage, which isn’t very impressive at all. Use the device for something like capturing long videos, however, and battery life can drop to as low as just “a couple of hours.” The version tested by earlier reviewers was just a prototype though, and Glass fans are hoping that Google will improve the device’s efficiency before launching it. But according to recent comments from Google cofounder Sergey Brin,

By Deepa Seetharaman and Norihiko Shirouzu DETROIT/BEIJING (Reuters) - Henrik Fisker is working with an investor group to salvage Fisker Automotive, the "green" car company he co-founded nearly six years ago that is now struggling to stave off bankruptcy, people familiar with the matter said this week. The discussions follow Henrik Fisker's resignation from the company in March after finding himself increasingly at odds with other top executives over strategy. The well-regarded car designer is now teamed up with an investor group led by Hong Kong billionaire and Fisker investor Richard Li. ...

By Leila Abboud and Sophie Sassard PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) - Gulf telecom operator Etisalat has offered a higher price for Vivendi's Maroc Telecom stake than rival Qatari bidder Ooredoo, according to two people familiar with the matter. Etisalat's bid needs further work, however, and has more legal conditions than Ooredoo's offer, so Vivendi has not yet made a final choice, the people said. "If Etisalat cleans up its offer, then it wins," said one of the sources, who is close to the process. "If not, it will go to Qatar, who also made an offer that Vivendi can accept. ...

NEW YORK (AP) — News Corp. says its board of directors has approved plans to split its entertainment and publishing businesses into two separate companies.

NEW YORK (AP) — News Corp. says its board of directors has approved plans to split its entertainment and publishing businesses into two separate companies.

NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market is heading lower in early trading, putting it on track for its first weekly loss in a month.

WASHINGTON (AP) — China has agreed to give U.S. regulators access to audit records for Chinese companies whose shares trade on U.S. stock exchanges, a step forward in a long-running dispute.

Nokia on Thursday filed a second patent infringement complaint against HTC with the International Trade Commission. The company has alleged that HTC’s products, including its flagship HTC One smartphone, infringe upon its protected technologies. In a statement to ZDNet, Nokia accused HTC of not taking action to prevent infringement and said the company has instead “tried to shift responsibility to its suppliers.” Nokia had previously filed a suit against HTC in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California San Diego, claiming 10 of the company’s products, including the HTC One and HTC First, infringe three of its patents. In its new complaint, Nokia has asked the ITC to ban sales of the HTC One in the United States.

Virginia Heffernan had sworn off Scrabble forever. Now she's back in the game, thanks to the brilliance of a new app.

The Israeli mobile GPS startup Waze has another mega-suitor in Silicon Valley, with Google reportedly joining the bidding war and topping the $1 billion offer rumored to be coming from Facebook earlier this month. ...

If Shinola wholesale customers have never been to the Motor City, and were hoping to just order the watches from afar without stepping foot in Detroit, they apparently don’t know sh*t from Shinola.

(Reuters) - News Corp set the distribution ratios for the spinoff of its publishing business and said the spinoff may start buying back stock right away. The board of the publishing business, which will retain the News Corp name, authorized a $500 million stock repurchase program, the company said on Friday. The new News Corp will have $2.6 billion in cash when the spinoff is completed at the end of June. ...

By Astrid Wendlandt and Phil Wahba PARIS/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Most men might balk at spending $600 on a pair of Dior sneakers but for U.S. shoppers like Ephraim, an upbeat 30-year-old, such indulgences are becoming increasingly commonplace. Ephraim is the kind of man who gives luxury goods makers high hopes that the U.S. market can fuel future growth, as China runs out of steam and demand in Europe sags. "There is a cultural shift," Ephraim says while browsing at Saks Inc's New York City flagship. "Men are becoming more fashion forward. ...

AT&T said earlier this week that it will add a new administrative fee to each of its wireless subscribers’ monthly bills. The fee is only $0.61, which doesn’t sound like much, and an AT&T spokesperson was quick to point out to several news sites that this new fee is lower than similar fees charged by rival carriers. Subscribers were still outraged. Now that the shouting has died down a bit, however, people are looking for a batter explanation for the new charge they’ll see each month. According to one industry watcher, that explanation couldn’t be simpler: “Because they can.” “Why would AT&T do this? Because they can, and it is all in the pricing strategy,” Joe Hoffman, principal analyst at ABI Research

Recent rumors suggested that HTC will follow Samsung and release a “Google Edition” of its flagship smartphone. According to a report from Russel Holly of Geek.com, the same person who scooped the Galaxy S4 Google Edition, an HTC One running stock Android will be announced “within the next two weeks” for a summer launch. The news is perhaps the most reliable yet, however HTC has repeatedly denied plans for a Google Edition of its popular smartphone. The HTC One has been praised for its metal design, front-facing speakers and high-end internal hardware, however some critics have complained about the company’s Sense user interface that runs atop the Android operating system. Despite this, the smartphone has been well received by consumers

By Steve Slater and Matt Scuffham LONDON (Reuters) - HSBC's Chairman Douglas Flint called for an acceleration in the speed of reform within the industry as the bank was criticized by shareholders for compliance failings and accusations it aided tax avoidance. Flint told around 400 shareholders at the bank's annual meeting that the fallout from recent scandals had created a "once-in-a-generation" opportunity to reform banking and the broader financial industry. "As a first priority we need to speed up the reform process. ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. orders for long-lasting manufactured goods rebounded in April, buoyed by more demand for aircraft and stronger business investment. The gains suggest economic growth may be holding steady this spring.

WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Barack Obama pushed his health care overhaul plan through Congress, he counted labor unions among his strongest supporters.

We’ve known for a while that Apple design guru Jony Ive would be bringing his own distinctive stamp to iOS 7 and now we’re getting some more details about what that stamp might look like. One of 9to5Mac’s sources describes the new version of iOS as “black, white and flat all over,” meaning that there will be fewer heavy textures and more interface elements that come in plain black and white. What sort of specific changes does this entail, then? According to 9to5Mac, one obvious change will be to the iPhone’s unlock screen, which “will drop the shiny, transparent time bar on the top of the Lock screen in exchange for a shine-free, black interface.” 9to5Mac also says that Ive

PARIS (AP) — The French government is trying to woo executives and entrepreneurs, amid concerns that it has antagonized the businesses needed to reinvigorate the economy.

(Reuters) - Procter & Gamble Co said on Friday the surprise return of A.G. Lafley as chairman and chief executive was not an indication of any bigger problems at the world's largest consumer products maker. Lafley replaces Bob McDonald, effective immediately, at P&G, which is in the midst of a major restructuring. "This change very simply reflects Bob McDonald's decision to retire and the board's view that A.G. ...

(Reuters) - Satellite TV provider Dish Network Corp and wireless network provider nTelos Holdings Corp said they would jointly develop a broadband service within nTelos's coverage territory serving parts of Virginia, Maryland and a few other states. Dish has been trying to diversify beyond its core pay-TV business that has matured and faces tough competition from cable, telecom and Internet video providers. The new service will give nTelos and Dish customers, especially those in underserved rural communities, access to high-speed Internet, the companies said in a statement. ...

Make video chatting a little easier with Glide, an app that lets you to make video calls to other users. If they're not available, you can send video messages rather than texts. Following that is SlideCar Ride, an app that helps you find a nearby car and driver when you need a ride and save on taxi services. Finally, Men's Room Mayhem is a Flight Control-like management game in which you need to direct patrons around a men's room.

NEW YORK (AP) — Household products giant Procter & Gamble Co. is hoping its former CEO can work his magic once again.

Interest in social mapping and navigation provider Waze is reportedly heating up, with Google and several other “large tech companies” currently holding talks with the Israel-based company. Bloomberg on Friday reported that Google is considering a bid that exceeds Facebook’s earlier offer, which reportedly fell between $800 million and $1 billion. Earlier rumors suggested Facebook and Waze’s negotiations had stalled due to a disagreement over whether or not Waze’s Israeli research and development center would remain open. According to a follow-up from Israel-based newspaper Calcalist, which first broke the story that Facebook was in talks to acquire Waze, Google may face some trouble if it’s serious about a possible deal — Facebook and Waze have reportedly just signed an agreement

By Sarah Marsh BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's economy will recover from a bout of winter weakness but fall well short of the dynamic growth rates of previous years as euro zone recession and global slowdown stunt exports and investment. There are homegrown problems too. What hue of government will result from September elections is injecting uncertainty and foreign investors cite worries about over-regulation and Germany's future energy mix after Chancellor Angela Merkel turned her back on nuclear power. ...

By Douglas Busvine MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's leading online social network was briefly banned on Friday, in a move dismissed as a "mistake" but which follows intensifying official pressure on the company as President Vladimir Putin consolidates his power. VKontakte (www.vk.com), Europe's largest homegrown social network with 210 million registered users, was put overnight on a "black list" of sites barred from distributing content inside Russia. Hours later, the ban was lifted. ...

By Andrew Callus LONDON (Reuters) - A group of accountancy professors is backing BP's fight to cap the U.S. oil spill compensation payouts it has to fund as the cash outflow threatens to add billions of dollars to its bill for the disaster. The news comes after the payouts administrator, Patrick Juneau, predicted that over 200,000 claims may be made in total by businesses and individuals under a settlement BP agreed last year - a level that could result in a charge against the oil company's profits as early as next year. ...

BERLIN (AP) — German business confidence rebounded this month in an unexpectedly strong showing that sends a hopeful signal for more robust growth in Europe's biggest economy, a closely watched survey found Friday.

3-D Printed Windpipe Gives Infant Breath of Life

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's top leaders are defending the economic strategies championed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, though the central bank chief acknowledged a need for better communication with financial markets, a day after Tokyo shares suffered their worst loss since the 2011 tsunami disaster.

Patent trolls’ days of effortlessly rolling into court and collecting licensing fees for products they don’t produce may be coming to an end. The Washington Post reports that courts have been increasingly citing the landmark 1978 Supreme Court case Parker v. Flook, which is the strongest ruling that the court has ever made against patents for abstract ideas such as algorithms. Given that courts are applying the Parker v. Flook precedent more often in software patent cases, it seems that courts are starting to reassert control over what can and cannot be patented. The Post acknowledges that “not every citation of Flook means that a patent was invalidated” but says that “it’s at least a sign that the courts are

There are some concerns about gaming on the next-generation Xbox One. The system doesn’t allow independent developers to self-publish games on Xbox Live Arcade and Microsoft’s used game policy is still unclear. The company did confirm that it has big plans for its in-house gaming studio, however. Phil Harrison, a corporate vice president at Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business, revealed in an interview with VentureBeat that Microsoft is investing heavily in the gaming experience for the Xbox One. The executive noted that the company is planning to invest more than $1 billion for new content, including 15 internally developed titles in the coming year, eight of which will be brand new. The Xbox One is expected to help breath new life

Quick update on NASA's amazing plan to lasso an asteroid: they're making progress on the ion propulsion engine they'll need for the mission, one month after president Obama proposed giving NASA $100 mission to get this thing going. 

Amazon on Thursday announced expanded availability of its Kindle Fire HD tablet lineup. Both the 7-inch and 8.9-inch models are now available for preorder in more than 170 countries worldwide. The Kindle Fire HD is equipped with 1280 x 800 pixel resolution display and a 1.2GHz dual-core OMAP4460 processor, while the 8.9-inch model features a 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution display and a 1.5GHz dual-core OMAP4470 processor. The Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HD 8.9 are available for $199 and $269, respectively, and will ship to new countries beginning June 13th. Amazon also announced that it has expanded access to its Android Appstore, which can now be used by customers in nearly 200 countries worldwide.

(Reuters) - Google Inc is considering buying Israeli mobile satellite navigation start-up Waze Inc, which may lead to a bidding war with Facebook Inc, Bloomberg news reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Waze is seeking more than $1 billion and is fielding expressions of interest from multiple parties, said Bloomberg, citing a source. Other media have reported that Facebook Inc has held talks to buy Waze for as much as $1 billion. ...

With all the emphasis that Microsoft is giving to its redesigned Kinect sensor as a key feature of the Xbox One, it’s not surprising that the company wants to bring it to its Windows operating system as well. And sure enough, Microsoft on Thursday announced that it will “deliver a new generation Kinect for Windows sensor next year” that will deliver several improvements to the previous version of Kinect, including a higher resolution camera capable of more accurately tracking and identifying objects, an expanded field of view and improved skeletal tracking. Microsoft says it will share more details about the next-generation Kinect for Windows at its BUILD 2013 conference in June and also says that the new sensor will likely

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators are in the early stages of an antitrust probe into whether Google Inc, the top player in Web display advertising, breaks antitrust law in how it handles some advertising sales, a source told Reuters on Thursday. The source said that it was unlikely that the Federal Trade Commission had sent out civil investigative demands in relation to the probe, which would be the sign of a formal and more serious investigation. ...

Google announced Thursday that they've taken their Street View cameras on a hiking trip around the Galapagos islands — above ground, and under water. This is great news for many nature-loving chair jockeys, especially for those of us already hopelessly addicted to GeoGuessr. 

A new report suggests that Nokia is preparing to launch its 41-megapixel Lumia smartphone, codenamed EOS, this coming summer. According to MobileGeeks, the handset will launch during the second week of July, on or around July 9th. The most recent rumors claim the Lumia EOS would be similar to the Lumia 920, with a polycarbonate case and a 4.5-inch 720p display. The biggest differentiator will reportedly be the smartphone’s 41-megapixel rear camera with a Carl Zeiss lens and Nokia’s new “Pro Camera” application. Earlier reports suggested the Lumia EOS would arrive on AT&T in the United States sometime this summer.

By Ronald Grover LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former News Corp president Peter Chernin and private equity fund Guggenheim Digital Media have placed bids for Hulu, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, triggering a tug-of-war for the online video service. Satellite operator DirecTV and cable operator Time Warner Cable Inc also put in bids, one of the people told Reuters. ...

Shocking as it may seem, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) still isn’t happy with Google’s efforts to stamp out piracy. On its official blog this week, the RIAA once again bemoaned Google’s supposed lack of enthusiasm for removing links to alleged pirated content from its search results. In particular, the RIAA complained that online piracy is still thriving despite the fact that Google has removed 20 million links to alleged piracy sites from its search results. “Every day produces more results and there is no end in sight,” the RIAA argued. “Importantly, the targets of our notices don’t even pretend to be innovators constructing new and better ways to legally enjoy music — they have simply created business models

By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - In an unusual move before a trial, a federal judge expressed a tentative view that the U.S. Justice Department will be able to show evidence that Apple Inc engaged in a conspiracy with publishers to increase e-book prices. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, who is set to oversee a trial on June 3, gave her view during a pretrial hearing on Thursday. ...