VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Facebook Inc (FB.O) 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.

Vuzix Corporation said on Friday that Intel Corp invested $24.8 million in the company to speed up the launch of Internet-connected eyewear. Intel bought preferred stock that is convertible into common shares equivalent to 30 percent of Vuzix, Vuzix said in a press release.

North Korea called U.S. President Barack Obama a "monkey" and blamed Washington on Saturday for Internet outages it has experienced during a confrontation with the United States over the hacking of the film studio Sony Pictures.

Iran is to expand what it calls "smart filtering" of the Internet, a policy of censoring undesirable content on websites without banning them completely, as it used to, the government said on Friday.

Microsoft Corp's Xbox Live was back up on Friday while Sony Corp's PlayStation Network remained offline for a second day after a hacker group claimed responsibility for attacking the two Internet gaming services.

China's Dalian Wanda Group Co, whose real estate arm just raised about $3.7 billion in a Hong Kong share sale, said on Friday it has bought a controlling stake in 99Bill Corp, a Chinese third-party payment processor similar to PayPal.

Amazon.com Inc said on Friday it drew more than 10 million new members to its Prime shipping and digital content service over the holidays and intends to offer one-hour shipping to more cities in 2015.

Facing a slump in the mail it had been delivering since the days of America's Revolutionary War, in 2012 the U.S. Postal Service began aggressively targeting e-commerce and lapsed customers as the way to salvage its declining business.

North Korea, at the center of a confrontation with the United States over the hacking of Sony Pictures, experienced a complete Internet outage for hours before links were restored on Tuesday, a U.S. company that monitors Internet infrastructure said.

Veracode, a cyber security company that helps companies protect Internet applications from hackers, has selected underwriters to lead a potential initial public offering that could value it between $600 million and $800 million, according to people close to the matter.

Chinese mobile chat app firm Momo Inc, backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, said its CEO will fight allegations of misconduct and corruption made by his former employer, as it prepares to debut on Nasdaq.

The U.S. National Association of Manufacturers on Wednesday wrote to congressional and Federal Communications Commission leaders to oppose potential stricter regulations for Internet service providers.

Intel Corp on Tuesday unveiled a new platform to make it easier for companies to create Internet-connected smart products using its chips, security and software.

The U.S. Congress is moving this week toward putting off until 2015 any conclusive action on a tangle of Internet tax issues, including online access taxes and online state sales taxes.

Lu Wei, China's top Internet regulator, may not welcome Facebook to his house, but he's certainly welcome at Facebook. Lu, the minister of China's Cyberspace Administration, recently toured the campuses of U.S. tech giants Facebook Inc, Apple Inc and Amazon Inc, according to a report and pictures posted on a Chinese government website on Monday.