Facebook said Friday that ads on the social network featuring user endorsements and pictures were nothing new, and that members remain in control of their own content and images.

The company's chief privacy officer Erin Egan, in a blog post responding to complaints about user-picture ads, said the policies of the billion-member social network had not changed but that Facebook needed to explain things better.

Online retail giant Amazon jumped on the original Internet TV programming bandwagon Friday with a character-driven political sitcom created by the man behind the "Doonesbury" comic strip.

"Alpha House" stars John Goodman, Clark Johnson and Matt Malloy as old-school Republican senators sharing a Washington row house and facing re-election. Mark Consuelos co-stars as a cocky political upstart who moves in as their new roomie.

From replacement kidneys to guns, cars, prosthetics and works of art, 3D printing is predicted to transform our lives in the coming decades as dramatically as the Internet did before it.

"I have no doubt it is going to change the world," researcher James Craddock told AFP at the two-day 3D Printshow in Paris which wraps up later on Saturday.

Japanese medics working to help victims of the Philippines typhoon have deployed wireless mobile X-ray kits using tablet computers, a world first in a disaster zone, a team spokesman said Saturday.

The technology, which was developed after the huge tsunami that hit Japan in 2011, allows doctors to take a look inside patients instantly, and even lets them enlarge the image with familiar iPad gestures.

A federal judge handed Google Inc. a victory in a long-running legal battle on Thursday, tossing out a lawsuit claiming the Internet giant was violating copyright laws by scanning books without the writers' permission to create the world's largest digital library.

The 28-page decision by U.S. District Judge Denny Chin in New York is the latest twist in a circuitous journey that began nine years ago when Google set out to make digital copies of all the books in the world.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called Thursday for stronger Southeast Asian cooperation against cyber threats after his own website was hacked by critics demanding greater Internet freedom.

"I do not think any country has been spared. So we have to strengthen our defenses and cooperate to deal with these common threats," he told a conference of regional telecommunication and information-technology ministers.

Sony unleashes its powerful new PlayStation 4 video game console on Friday, seeking to win over consumers with immersive, realistic game worlds and easy online sharing with friends.

The successor to the PlayStation 3 makes its debut in North America, hitting Europe later in the month.

How much does Samsung Electronics owe Apple for copying vital features of the iPhone and iPad? Apple says $380 million. Samsung counters with $52 million.

It's possible a jury presiding over a patent trial in a San Jose courtroom will find somewhere in between.

Apple began selling a new iPad Mini on Tuesday without the usual fanfare.

Apple usually announces the availability date in advance, allowing loyal customers to line up at stores overnight to be among the first to buy one. This time, Apple quietly issued a news release on its immediate availability.

The latest round in Apple and Samsung's bitter global battle for supremacy in the more than $300 billion smartphone market begins Tuesday in a courtroom a few miles from Apple's Silicon Valley headquarters.

In courts, government tribunals and regulatory agencies around the world, Apple Inc. has argued that Samsung's Android-based phones copy vital iPhone features. Samsung Electronics Co. is fighting back with its own complaints that some key Apple patents are invalid and Apple has also copied Samsung's technology.