AFP – At one of Beijing’s many Internet cafes, near-silence reigns: headphones on, eyes glued to the screen, web users play games online en masse, helping to make China one of the industry’s top markets.

PC World – After Chile’s massive earthquake and potential Pacific Rim tsunami damage, relief organizations, government agencies, corporations and throngs of people are on Google, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other services to seek and provide information and help.

AFP – Google on Saturday quickly activated an online “person finder” tool to allow relatives and friends to find loved ones following the huge earthquake in Chile.

AFP – The Pentagon said soldiers will be allowed to Tweet, blog and update their Facebook pages on the US military’s non-classified computer network under a new policy.

AFP – Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao plans to take part in an online chat with Internet users around the country and overseas on Saturday, state media said, in a repeat of a similar exercise last year.

Reuters – The Pentagon announced on Friday it has authorized the use Twitter, Facebook and other so-called “Web 2.0″ sites across the U.S. military, saying the benefits of social media outweighed security concerns.

Reuters – Microsoft Corp made its most vehement and public attack on Google Inc on Friday, calling its internet rival’s actions potentially anti-competitive, and urging victims to file complaints to regulators.

PC World – Microsoft and Google are stepping up their war of words. This time it’s Microsoft’s turn: It says Google is pointing fingers rather than addressing the European Commission’s investigation into the search giant.

PC World – Apple’s iTunes Store reached a major milestone this week when it delivered its 10 billionth song, an event that highlights the great success of Cupertino’s digital-download service.

PC World – The U.S. Federal Communications Commission should look not only for television broadcasters to give up unused wireless spectrum but also government agencies, in an effort to provide more spectrum for commercial mobile broadband, a new paper says.

Reuters – The top senator on antitrust matters has written to NBC to express concern that some of its Internet coverage of the Winter Olympics is limited to pay television subscribers.

AP – The Associated Press is setting up a division to help the news cooperative, newspapers and broadcasters sell digital products directly to readers on the next wave of Internet-connected devices such as Apple’s iPad.

NewsFactor – Google can’t seem to get a break these days. Beyond the Google Buzz bashing and the Google Video conviction controversy, the search titan is wrangling with the European Union on privacy issues. The EU ordered Google to take down images it captures for its Street View service after six months.

AP – HOMEMADE EFFECTS: Movies popping up online have explosions, spaceships and other visual effects that once had been possible only for big Hollywood studios.

AP – The Kentucky House has passed a bill that would levy an excise tax on Internet wagering on horse races by Kentucky residents.

PC World – A European online retailer has started selling Intel’s first six-core processor for desktops before the chip’s official release by the hardware giant.

PC Magazine – Microsoft objects to Google’s search-related business practices because Google locks in publishers and makes it hard for competing search engines to gain market share, not because of its popularity and competitive power, Microsoft said Friday.

AP – An Italian court convicted three Google executives of privacy violations Wednesday because they did not act quickly enough to remove an online video that showed sadistic teen bullies pummeling and mocking an autistic boy.

AFP – The economic crisis is fuelling attacks on companies’ information systems, with many firms worried that disgruntled former employees could retaliate by stealing or sabotaging data, a survey showed Wednesday.

AP – The European Commission said Wednesday it has asked Google to comment on allegations by rivals it demotes their sites in its search rankings.

PC World – The European Commission is in the early stages of an antitrust investigation into search giant Google, it said Wednesday.

PC World – Yahoo on Wednesday announced it would be providing integrated Twitter results into its search engine, and that Yahoo users will start seeing this functionality immediately. The company also laid out a brief roadmap for further Twitter integration across the company’s network of Web sites.

AFP – European regulators said on Wednesday that they are investigating complaints filed by three web companies that contend the US Internet giant Google is not playing fair.