News website Huffington Post on Friday launched a weekend section devoted to diving deeply into mind-bending ideas shared in "talks" at prestigious TED conferences.

TED Weekends is to become a staple Huffington Post staple with "ideas worth spreading" served up in video presentations each Friday and then illustrated, discussed and expanded upon during the following two days.

Samsung Electronics said Friday that global sales of its large Galaxy Note II smartphone had topped three million since its debut in late September, as archrival Apple's iPad mini hit stores.

The South Korean electronics giant said sales of the gadget -- sold in some 100 nations -- grew far faster than its predecessor and would likely be more than three times those of the Galaxy Note in the first three months after launch.

Chinese authorities have busted what is reportedly the country's biggest online gambling ring, which allegedly handled bets of more than 70 billion yuan ($11 billion), state media said Friday.

The Shanghai-based gang ran a website linked with overseas gambling sites which allowed Chinese users to play online card games and bet on sport, including European football matches, the Global Times newspaper said.

The race to the White House has spawned a flurry of mobile applications focusing on the presidential campaign -- from the deadly serious to the light-hearted and fun.

Businesses, non-profit organizations and political campaigns are capitalizing on the fact that nearly half of American adults own a smartphone -- and a growing number of these use them to keep up with or get involved in politics.

The iPad mini got off to a low-key start Friday with little of the hype-fuelled razzmatazz of earlier Apple launches, as analysts said the costly creation may have come too late to the 7-inch market.

Around 300 people queued up outside Apple's flagship store in Tokyo, some wearing fancy dress, to get their hands on a device the company insists is more than just a shrunken version of its popular tablet.

Russia on Thursday put into force a new law on the Internet that allows the government to block websites with banned content, prompting fears that it will be used to suppress free speech.

The law, which was hastily voted in by the parliament despite opposition from major Internet companies, is officially intended to protect children from viewing unsuitable content.

Megaupload boss Kim Dotcom Thursday revealed plans to relaunch his file-sharing empire in January on the anniversary of his arrest in New Zealand on online piracy charges.

Dotcom is free on bail but still fighting extradition to the United States following a raid on his Auckland mansion on January 20, when New Zealand police arrested him as part of a major U.S. investigation into alleged copyright theft and shut down his website Megaupload.

Japan began imploring people to wrap up for its "warmbiz" winter energy-saving campaign on Thursday, despite Tokyo basking in warm sunshine.

Citizens of energy-hungry Japan, where all but two nuclear reactors are idle after last year's Fukushima disaster, are being given tips on how to stay warm without cranking up the heater -- such as eating hot food.

Death is no longer the fusty business it once was: from swipeable bar codes on headstones to designer urns, webcam-based ceremonies and virtual memorials, funerals have shot into the 21st century.

Can't make it to a faraway funeral? No problem. A growing number of undertakers will let you take part via the web, with mourners hooking up to join the ceremony via a secure Internet connection.

Superstorm Sandy knocked out a quarter of the cell towers in an area spreading across 10 states, and the situation could get worse, federal regulators said Tuesday.

Many cell towers that are still working are doing so with the help of generators and could run out of fuel before commercial power is restored, the Federal Communications Commission said.