President Barack Obama reached out to one of Cuba's most prominent dissidents, blogger Yoani Sanchez, and, in an interview posted on her popular blog, challenged the island's ruling gerontocracy to permit freedom of speech.

As they did throughout the president's visit, the Chinese government appeared to monitor carefully how President Obama's words were transmitted to China's public. They were especially vigilant about a report in the Southern Weekly , by some accounts, because Obama had turned down an interview request from CCTV, China's main national TV network.

With the finish line for round one of the broadband stimulus being pushed back even further, many are already growing increasingly concerned about the fate of the second round of broadband stimulus funds. Is the next round headed for disaster?

A federal judge granted preliminary approval to a revised settlement between Google and authors and publishers over the Internet giant's effort to create a vast digital library.

Washington policy makers, long concerned about how marketers use consumers' personal data to their guide sales pitches on the Internet, have stepped up scrutiny of the increasingly sophisticated ad-targeting techniques used in other media, ranging from mobile phones to TV commercials to the ads consumers get in their mail boxes.

Broadband penetration has continued to rise in the European Union this year, according to a new report from the European Commission. The report finds that 24 percent of the EU population had a broadband access line subscription in July 2009, up from 21.6 percent one year previously.

Last year, Associated Press CEO Tom Curley told staff that the company needed to cut 10 percent of its payroll costs. According to a recent statement, after laying off 90 people across the organization have brought them to that point.

AOL is offering employees who "volunteer" to leave the company now a departure package that ranges from three to nine months of pay, compared to one to four months for employees laid off in the first quarter of next year.

The first Chicago edition of the New York Times, with added pages of local and regional news, will be published Nov. 20, the Times announced, a month after the paper began publishing a similar regional edition in San Francisco. The Chicago edition is part of a national strategy to win over new readers and advertisers.

Despite heavily hyped expectations of an NBC Universal sale to Comcast, a deal before Thanksgiving now appears unlikely. Negotiations between General Electric and Vivendi have stalled over the price, among other terms. Though the two-step deal is still likely to go forward, talks could drag on through mid-December.