Technology Top Stories from Associated Press (AP)

NEW YORK (AP) , U.S. Internet advertising revenue grew 15 percent to a record $36.6 billion in 2012, with mobile ad revenue growing faster than other types, according to a new report Tuesday. The report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers said that mobile ad revenue more than doubled from the previous year to $3.4 billion.

NEW YORK (AP) , Leap Motion's 3-D motion controllers will be included in some personal computers from Hewlett-Packard Co. this year, a move that the San Francisco startup hopes is a first step toward bringing touch-free computing to the masses.

NEW YORK (AP) , Facebook has updated its iPhone and iPad applications to let people keep using its chat feature even when they are doing other things, such as reading friends' updates. Facebook Inc. also said Tuesday that it's bringing its "chat heads" feature to its Apple apps. It's called chat heads because friends' profile photos pop up when they send you a message.

LONDON (AP) , A human rights group is suing the British government over the export of sophisticated surveillance technology that has been used to spy on dissidents in Bahrain and elsewhere. Privacy...

CHICAGO (AP) , Far-flung family members, co-workers and friends frantically used social media, cellphones and even a "people finder" website Monday to try to learn the fate of participants and spectators at the Boston Marathon, where three people were killed and dozens injured after a pair of bombs exploded near the finish line of one of the world's great races.

WASHINGTON (AP) , Cellphone companies say service is operating in the Boston area, but with heavy traffic following of the explosions at the Boston Marathon. A law enforcement official, citing an intelligence briefing, said cellphone service had been shut down Monday in the Boston area to prevent any potential remote detonations of explosives.

WASHINGTON (AP) , The Supreme Court seemed worried Monday about the idea of companies patenting human genes in a case that could profoundly reshape the multibillion-dollar biomedical industry and U.S. research in the fight against diseases like breast and ovarian cancer.

NEW YORK (AP) , Dish Network Corp. is trying to snag U.S. wireless carrier Sprint Nextel away from a Japanese suitor, the latest sign that satellite dishes are losing their relevance in the age of cellphones that play everything from YouTube videos to live TV. Dish offered $25.5 billion in cash and stock on Monday for Sprint, which Dish says beats an offer from Japan's Softbank Corp.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. plans to pay about $13.6 billion for Life Technologies Corp. in a deal that will position the scientific instrument maker to benefit from the expected growth of personalized medicine, which uses genetic analysis to tailor treatments to patients.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) , Kodak has agreed to sell some of its document imaging assets to Brother Industries Ltd. for about $210 million, its latest deal as it seeks to exit bankruptcy protection. Japan-based Brother also would assume the business' deferred service revenue liability, which totaled about $67 million as of Dec. 31, the companies said Monday.

IONIA, Mich. (AP) , A Michigan judge whose smartphone disrupted a hearing in his own courtroom has held himself in contempt and paid $25 for the infraction. Judge Raymond Voet has a posted policy...

NEW YORK (AP) , Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is reportedly nearing a deal to buy Life Technologies Corp., a maker of genetic testing equipment, for almost $12 billion. Thermo Fisher's bid for Life Technologies topped $70 a share, beating out bids from other suitors, including the Blackstone Group, the Carlyle Group and other private equity firms, according to published reports.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) , Looking for a career change, Ken Shimizu decided he wanted to be a software developer, but he didn't want to go back to college to study computer science. Instead, he quit his job and spent his savings to enroll at Dev Bootcamp, a new San Francisco school that teaches students how to write software in nine weeks.

NEW YORK (AP) , Verizon Wireless, the country's largest cellphone carrier, on Friday said that it is extending the time it takes to earn a subsidized phone upgrade from 20 months on contract to 24 months. The move will save Verizon money, since it subsidizes each new smartphone by as much as $400 to get the price down to $199 or lower.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) , The U.S. official who oversees American efforts to counter al-Qaida and other militants in the online battlefield keeps a quote on his desk from a "Most Wanted" jihadi from America's South. The Alabama native wrote that "the war of narratives has become even more important than the war of navies, napalm and knives."