YouTube on Thursday launched a pilot program of paid channels for its online video service, calling it part of an effort "that enables content creators to earn revenue for their creativity."

The Google-owned video-sharing service said the launch with "a small group of partners" starts Thursday with subscription fees starting at 99 cents per month.

Despite rules requiring U.S. flyers to turn off their phones and other electronic devices, many people leave them on, a survey showed Thursday.

The survey released by the Airline Passenger Experience Association and the Consumer Electronics Association suggests U.S. regulators could ease the ban, which assumes that electronic devices could interfere with navigation equipment.

Struggling Finnish handset giant Nokia unveiled on Thursday its next-generation of lower-end mobile smartphones as it seeks to gain traction in a market expected to be worth $15 billion by 2015.

Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop released the $99 Asha 501 touchscreen Internet-enabled model at a global launch in New Delhi that especially targets emerging market users moving up from their no-frills first mobile phones.

Using mobile health technology to monitor patients in poor urban areas could improve residents' access to health care while also reducing health care spending, a study conducted in a Rio de Janeiro hillside "favela" slum suggested Wednesday.

The study, by the New Cities Foundation, looked at the effects of bringing state-of-the-art health care diagnostic tools to sick and elderly residents of Rio's Dona Marta favela, an underserved shantytown up a steep hill from most conventional health care services.

A Nazi-hunting group urged Twitter and other social media Wednesday to step up efforts to remove online "hate speech," citing a surge in incitement to attacks like the recent Boston bombings.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center said Twitter has spawned nearly 20,000 hashtags and handles this year that are linked to terrorism and extremism, up 30 percent in the past year.

A satellite that will map the world's forests has been chosen for the seventh mission in Europe's Earth Explorer project, the European Space Agency (ESA) said Tuesday.

Dubbed "Biomass", the satellite will use sophisticated radar technology to map and monitor living matter -- plants and animals -- as well as inorganic carbon contained in forests, one of the world's most precious resources.

Lawyers for Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom accused the U.S. government Wednesday of launching a flawed prosecution against their client with "frightening" implications for all Internet users.

The New Zealand-based Internet tycoon's legal team released a "white paper" to coincide with a visit to Auckland by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, which argues that online piracy allegations against Dotcom are baseless.

Computer files to create a handgun almost entirely from parts made with a 3D printer went online Monday, alarming gun control advocates after it was successfully test-fired by its inventor.

The single-shot .380-caliber Liberator bears a vague resemblance to its namesake, the FP-45 Liberator pistol that the United States developed during World War II to be air-dropped to French Resistance fighters.

YouTube is set to announce within a few weeks a series of channels that will require payment, a person familiar with the matter said Monday.

The content on the new pay channels will be in addition to the millions of videos viewers watch for free on YouTube. It's not clear whether the paid videos will come with advertising.

Microsoft is retooling the latest version of its Windows operating system to address complaints and confusion that have been blamed for deepening a slump in personal computer sales.

The tune up announced Tuesday won't be released to consumers and businesses until later this year. The changes, part of a software package given the codename "Blue," are a tacit acknowledgment of the shortcomings in Windows 8, a radical overhaul of Microsoft Corp.'s ubiquitous operating system.