A new polymer jelly could be the next big step forward for lithium batteries. The jelly replaces the volatile and hazardous liquid electrolyte currently used in most lithium batteries. Read More

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook is ending its Deals program, which offered the site’s 750 million users discounts similar to those offered by daily deals site Groupon.

Facebook said in a statement Friday it decided to end Deals after four months of testing. The service will wind down in coming weeks. It was available only in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, San Diego and San Francisco.

Facebook says it remains committed to serving local businesses through ads, pages and other products. And it will continue to offer “check-in deals.” These lets businesses like restaurants and stores offer deals to customers who “check in” through Facebook to let their friends know where they are.

NEW YORK (AP) — Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. zoomed to the top of the list of global smartphone makers in the second quarter, blowing past Nokia Corp. and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd., according to research firm IDC. Read More

2010 was a landmark year for Twitter. The microblogging service swelled to nearly 200 million members, launched numerous new ad products in an effort to monetize its user base, appointed a new chief executive, and underwent a massive redesign, to name just a few milestones. While Twitter made headlines with its plethora of fresh features and offerings, its users also consistently broke news and made news via the tweets they shared.

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Amazon.com has announced staggering sales figures from this year’s Cyber Monday event, the Internet’s version of Black Friday discount shopping. The company’s stats reportedly show that November 29 (Cyber Monday) was Amazon’s busiest day of 2010. On that day, worldwide visitors bought an average of 158 items every single second, totaling a “record-breaking” 13.7 million items sold.

“According to comScore, overall online spending in the United States surpassed $1 billion on Cyber Monday in 2010, up 16 percent versus [a] year ago. Clearly, Amazon took a huge piece of that particular pie,” writes TechCrunch Amazon also revealed that the third-generation Kindle e-reader was the most popular holiday item, based on the number of units ordered.

Thanks to the Kindle 3′s strong sales this year, Amazon dubbed the device its worldwide bestselling product of all time. Previously, Amazon’s bestselling item had been “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”

“Kindle’s $139 price point is a key factor — it’s low enough that people don’t have to choose,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and CEO in a press release.

Though Amazon did not outline the Kindle’s exact sales figures, Business Insider states that Amazon is probably “on pace to sell 8 million Kindles this year.”

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Tudou.com’s Gary Wang talks to CNN’s Kristie Lu Stout about how China’s “netizens” use video sharing to highlight issues. Read More

Facebook and Twitter have received failing grades from Digital Society, a “digital think tank,” that created an “Online Services Security Report Card” ranking “which websites protect your account and which don’t.” Read More

CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple says the end of daylight savings time could cause problems for iPhone users.The Cupertino-based company said on its website that repeating alarms set on iPhones and some versions of the iPod touch may not recognize the end of daylight saving time and may work incorrectly shortly before or shortly after the Sunday morning time change. Read More

(HUFFINGTON POST/AP, RON HARRIS) There are a lot of futuristic things we’re still waiting on: jet packs for the entire family, self-driving cars and time-travel, to name a few. But one new, pretty darn amazing bit of technology has finally come to fruition, thanks to the folks at Microsoft. Read More

By DAVID STRINGER, Associated Press David Stringer, Associated Press – Sun Nov 7, 6:12 pm ET
LONDON – Queen Elizabeth II is now on Facebook — but she’s not going to be your friend.

Britain’s queen has launched a series of official pages offering the website’s 500 million users daily updates on her engagements, the royal household said Sunday. Read More