Lending support to two companies struggling to make a comeback in smartphones,AT&T Inc. said Thursday it will be selling Nokia smartphones that run Windows Phone 8, Microsoft's upcoming software release.

The phones are a critical part of Nokia Corp.'s attempt to stem its rapid decline from the position as the world's largest maker of phones. The Finnish company's presence in the U.S. market has been very small in recent years, but AT&T and T-Mobile have been selling Nokia's earlier Windows Phones.

Facebook on Thursday celebrated eclipsing the billion-member mark, touting its mission to make the world more social while investors wondered how the service would cash in on its popularity.

Co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced that more than a seventh of the planet's population resided virtually at Facebook, saying the accomplishment was "humbling."

Philippine President Benigno Aquino defended a new cybercrime law Friday amid a storm of protests from critics who say it will severely curb Internet freedoms and intimidate netizens into self-censorship.

Aquino specifically backed one of the most controversial elements of the law, which mandates that people who post defamatory comments online be given much longer jail sentences than those who commit libel in traditional media.

From YouTube to Xbox videogame consoles, people tuned into the U.S. presidential debate online and weighed in so intensely that it became Twitter's hottest U.S. political event.

While those attending the debate between President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney agreed to be silent while the men sparred verbally on stage, the Internet raged with comments and critiques.

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.