AP - Facebook Inc. is introducing more tools to help the software applications fueling the online hangout's popularity and is promising to intensify its efforts to weed out programs that violate its rules for protecting users' privacy.

AP - Amazon.com Inc. shares leaped 13 percent Thursday after the Internet retailer showed that it doesn't seem to be bothered by the sputtering U.S. economy.

AP - Embarq Corp. has revealed more details about its exploration of a program that tracked Internet subscribers' Web-surfing habits for advertising purposes, telling Congress that it performed the test on 26,000 customers in a Kansas town.

AP - With the market for electronic books still relatively sleepy, Sony Corp. is trying a new tack: untethering the latest model of its e-book reading device from its own online bookstore.

CNET - XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio confirmed on Thursday that they are discussing a possible consent decree with the Federal Communications Commission in an effort to bring their 17-month merger effort to a conclusion.

Reuters - Microsoft Corp will announce plans to expand its relationship with online social network Facebook to provide web search and search advertising, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

AP - Qualcomm, the world's largest maker of chips that run cell phones, issued fourth-quarter and full-year earnings guidance Thursday that fell short of Wall Street targets, but the stock soared on a broad-ranging legal settlement.

AFP - The number of mobile users in China, the world's biggest cellphone market, now tops 600 million, the government said, as subscribers increasingly abandon fixed lines.

PC World - One year after announcing its homegrown mobile Linux project, Intel prepares to hand Moblin over to the open source community.