Facebook has long declared that it's "free and always will be." And it still is — unless you want more friends to see what you have to say.

The social media giant is rolling out a feature in the U.S. that lets users pay to promote their posts to friends, just as advertisers do. Facebook has been testing the service in New Zealand, where it tries out a lot of new features, and has gradually introduced it in more than 20 other countries. Facebook said Wednesday that promoting a post — such as announcing a garage sale, charity drive or big news like an engagement — will bump it higher in your friends' news feeds.

Mobile phone-maker Motorola said Wednesday it had purchased facial recognition firm Viewdle for an undisclosed amount.

"Motorola Mobility today announced that it has acquired Viewdle, a leading imaging and gesture recognition company," Motorola said in a statement.

Mobile phone manufacturers, responding to consumer and regulatory pressure, are using fewer toxic substances in their products, researchers in the United States said Wednesday.

The Motorola Citrus, Apple iPhone 4S and LE Remarq emerged as the least toxic cell phones in a study of 36 different models that have come onto the market during the past five years, the Michigan-based Ecology Center said.

Police investigating two gangs called the Very Crispy Gangsters and the Rockstarz didn't need to spend all their time pounding the pavement for leads. Instead, they fired up their computers and followed the trash talk on Facebook.

"Rockstarz up 3-0," one suspect boasted — a reference to the body count from a bloody turf war between the Brooklyn gangs that ultimately resulted in 49 arrests last month.

Google-owned Motorola Mobility withdrew a patent complaint filed with a U.S. commission but remained quiet Tuesday as to the reason for the legal ceasefire.

Motorola Mobility reserved the right to renew its case and said that no agreements had been worked out between the companies, according to paperwork filed Monday with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC).

The Philippine government faced a barrage of Internet protests on Wednesday as a cybercrime law went into effect that could see people given long jail terms for posting defamatory comments online.

Major news outlets, bloggers, rights activists and other critics turned their social media profile pages black to express their outrage over the law, which also allows the government to close down websites without a warrant.

Robots that can mimic the exact brush strokes of master painters or calligraphers could recreate their work, a Japanese researcher said Tuesday.

"We have been able to teach this robot to successfully copy the brush strokes of a master of calligraphy," said Seiichiro Katsura, an associate professor of system design engineering at Keio University.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. says it has filed a motion with a U.S. court to add Apple's iPhone 5 to their ongoing patent battle.

Samsung says it filed the motion Monday with the California court, alleging that Apple's new phone infringes on eight of its patents.

Russia's dominant search engine Yandex on Monday launched its own Internet browser in the continuing face-off with its American rival Google for supremacy in the growing Russian market.

The browser became available for download at 1300 GMT and offers a relatively minimalist Russian-language interface based on the WebKit platform and Google's Chromium code.

Homes where every device is linked up and can be controlled by smartphone were touted in Japan on Tuesday when Asia's biggest tech fair threw open its doors.

Manufacturers said more and more items -- from ovens to cars -- were now able to integrate thanks to better wireless technology, offering convenience and the chance to save energy.