The UAE retained its position as the Middle East's most IT-friendly country in a global list published by the World Economic Forum on Wednesday. The Global Information Technology Report 2010-2011 ranked 138 economies by examining the correlation between ICT readiness and economic growth. In the Networked Readiness Index (NRI), the UAE was ranked 24th globally and first in the Middle East and North Africa region. High mobile phone use, the availability of the latest technologies and government endorsement of the IT sector were drivers of the UAE's performance although the country slipped one place compared to last year's list. The UAE was closely ...

Portrayed negatively in the US media and American public, Muslim students in the southwest suburb of Chicago have joined hands to change the prevailing misconceptions about their community. "We just felt that we weren't being represented and that we should have been," Naimeh Issa, a student at Sandburg High School, told Chicago Tribune on Wednesday, May 22. "In the school a lot of people had negative responses toward us, and we wanted to change that." Naimeh and fellow Muslim students have joined hands to form a school group to combat wrong perceptions about their community and religion. They hold weekly meetings on Mondays ...

Samsung Electronics has reported global channel sales of over 10 million units of the Galaxy S4 in less than a month after its global launch. The new smartphone from the Samsung stable has outstripped its predecessors in first-month sales. The GALAXY S III reached the 10 million mark 50 days after its launch in 2012, while the GALAXY S II took five months and the GALAXY S seven months to reach the milestone, Samsung said. The device is now available in over 110 countries and will gradually be rolled out to a total of 155 countries in tandem with partners, Samsung said ...

Iranians are struggling with slower Internet speeds and limited access ahead of an unpredictable presidential election that has put hardline Islamist authorities on alert for possible unrest. Experts and web users say they believe the Internet obstacles are related to the June 14 presidential vote, the first since 2009 polls in which accusations of fraud - denied by the government - kindled months of protests organised in part via social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Iranian officials denied any connection between the Internet disruptions and the upcoming vote. But, after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad four years ago, ...

(Reuters) - Yahoo Inc will buy blogging service Tumblr for $1.1 billion cash, giving the Internet pioneer a much-needed social media platform to reach a younger generation of users and breathe new life into its ailing brand. The deal, announced on Monday, is a bold bet by Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer to revitalize the company by co-opting a Web property with strong visitor traffic but little revenue. The combination of Yahoo and Tumblr creates an online powerhouse with roughly one billion users, which will draw in more advertisers and help Yahoo keep visitors on its properties for longer periods of ...