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! CYBER CORNER !
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IN THE NEWS: ESTIMATE OF INTERNET GAMBLING MARKET LOWERED
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Internet gambling may not turn out to be the jackpot many of its backers have predicted. Morgan Stanley has lowered its estimate of the U.S. online gaming market. It had been pegged at $5 billion, but is now forecast at $3.5 billion by 2017. Morgan Stanley cites worse-than-expected technical issues in its projection for the near term. But it also says it's optimistic about the new industry's long-term prospects.
IN THE NEWS: FACEBOOK BUYS VIRTUAL REALITY COMPANY
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook seems to think the future of computing is virtual reality. And it has literally bought into the idea — shelling out $2 billion for Oculus — a company that specializes in VR. The company makes the Oculus Rift — a VR headset that has gotten a lot of attention from video game developers. It covers a user's eyes and creates a world that reacts to the wearer's turning one's head back and forth. Mark Zuckerberg calls Facebook's investment in Oculus "a long-term bet on the future of computing."
ON THE WEB: WOMAN FINDS BIRTH MOM AFTER ABANDONMENT AT FAST FOOD JOINT
CYBERSPACE (AP) — It took just three weeks. And now a woman abandoned as a newborn on the bathroom floor of a Pennsylvania fast food restaurant has found her birth mother. Katheryn Deprill — now 27 — says she felt "pure joy" when she met her mom for the first time. Deprill began her quest earlier this month by posting on her Facebook page a photo in which she held up a sign saying she was looking for the woman who left her on the floor of an Allentown Burger King. The photo was shared more than 30,000 times by Facebook users around the world — and the story landed in the news. That caught the attention of the woman claiming to have abandoned her, and she came forward to an attorney, who arranged for them to meet. Deprill says her mom expressed regret during their meeting — and that she forgives her "110 percent, absolutely."
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Online:
Facebook site: http://www.facebook.com
IN STORES: HTC ONE SMARTPHONE GETS UPDATE
NEW YORK (AP) — HTC is sprucing up the flagship model of its smartphone — in an effort to become a bigger player in the market. The HTC One got good reviews and was named best smartphone of 2013 at a trade show in Barcelona, Spain last month. But good reviews and awards haven't added up to sales, so HTC is making some changes in the design. The company is also trying to avoid some of the logistical pitfalls that hurt sales. One problem was that it wasn't made available to Verizon Wireless — the top U.S. wireless carrier. This time, the phone will be available right away through all major carriers, starting around April 10. Verizon already has the new model in stores, while other carriers are only taking orders for them now.
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Online:
HTC site: http://www.htc.com
by Oscar Wells Gabriel II
Oscar Gabriel can be reached at ogabriel@ap.org.
Follow Oscar Gabriel on Twitter at https://twitter.com/OWGabriel2
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