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By Devika Krishna Kumar (Reuters) – Audio equipment maker Monster LLC has sued Beats Electronics LLC, owned by Apple Inc , over alleged “fraud and deceit” in the way that Beats acquired control of the rights to the popular “Beats by Dr. Dre” headphones. Under a partnership formed in 2008, Monster and Beats developed “Beats by Dr. Dre”, a line of colorful, high-end headphones that vie with the likes of Skullcandy Inc and Bose Corp. According to the suit filed in San Mateo (Calif. …

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By Noel Randewich SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Intel Corp Chief Executive Brian Krzanich showed off a computer built into a jacket button and a wristband that transforms into a selfie-snapping flying camera, as the chipmaker extends its push into smart wearable gadgets. Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Krzanich also announced a five-year, $300 million investment in math-related education and other programs to help employ more women and minorities in the technology and the video game industries. …

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By Ritsuko Ando LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – Sony Corp Chief Executive Kazuo Hirai on Tuesday said he does not expect the November cyber attack on the company's film studio to have a significant financial impact, two weeks after the studio rolled out the movie at the heart of the attack. The studio, Sony Pictures Entertainment, said separately that the film, “The Interview,” has generated revenue of $36 million. Hirai told reporters at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that he had signed off on all major decisions by the company in response to the attack, which the U.S. …

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By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook Inc acquired a company that makes voice recognition technology for wearable devices and Internet- connected appliances, the latest sign of its ambition to extend its reach beyond computers and smartphones. Facebook said it acquired wit.ai on Monday, without providing a price for the deal. The 18-month old company, based in Palo Alto, California, makes software that can understand spoken words as well as written text phrased in “natural language. …

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SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Fast-growing Chinese tech firm Xiaomi Technology Ltd Co booked 74.3 billion yuan ($11.97 billion) in pre-tax sales last year, up 135 percent from 2013, the firm's chief executive Lei Jun said on his official microblog account on Sunday.

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By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) – A federal judge rejected Uber Technologies Inc's bid that it not be required to disclose emails from Chief Executive Travis Kalanick in a California lawsuit accusing the popular ride-booking service of deceiving customers about how it shares tips with drivers. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen's order in San Francisco was the latest setback for Uber, which has drawn criticism around the globe over whether its service complies with local licensing and safety laws and whether its drivers have been adequately vetted. Chen said a Nov. 26 ruling by U.S.

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SEOUL (Reuters) – Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Thursday that all its new smart television products launched in 2015 will be powered by the Tizen operating system, marking a fresh effort by the company to increase the usage of the software platform. Smart TVs offer additional software and connectivity functions, such as video streaming and web browsing capabilities. Samsung demonstrated TV sets powered by Tizen at developer conferences last year. “We are focusing our efforts on Tizen right now,” Kim Hyun-suk, Samsung's president of visual display business, told Reuters in an interview. …

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By J.R. Wu TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwanese regulators cleared on Tuesday China's Xiaomi Inc and other smartphone brands of breaching local data protection laws after national security concerns triggered the government to launch a probe in September. The National Communications Commission, in a report concluding the investigation, said all the 12 brands it had tested, which include handsets sold by Apple Inc, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, LG Electronics Inc and Sony Corp, did not violate the laws. …

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By Paul Carsten BEIJING (Reuters) – Google Inc's Gmail was blocked in China after months of disruptions to the world's biggest email service, with an anti-censorship advocate suggesting the Great Firewall was to blame. Large numbers of Gmail web addresses were cut off in China on Friday, said GreatFire.org, a China-based freedom of speech advocacy group. Users said the service was still down on Monday. “I think the government is just trying to further eliminate Google's presence in China and even weaken its market overseas,” said a member of GreatFire.org, who uses a pseudonym. …

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By Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea called U.S. President Barack Obama a “monkey” and blamed Washington on Saturday for Internet outages that it has experienced during a confrontation with the United States over the hacking of the film studio Sony Pictures. The National Defence Commission, the North's ruling body, chaired by state leader Kim Jong Un, said Obama was responsible for Sony's belated decision to release the action comedy “The Interview”, which depicts a plot to assassinate Kim. …