Apple Inc this week said its revenue in Greater China, which also includes Hong Kong and Taiwan, slumped 43 percent to $4.65 billion from the previous quarter. That was also 14 percent lower from the year-ago quarter. Sales were weighed down by a sharp drop in revenues from Hong Kong. "It's not totally clear why that occurred," Cook said on a conference call with analysts.

Neither is it totally clear what Apple's strategy is to deal with Samsung - not to mention a host of smaller, nimbler Chinese challengers.

Today, in the war for what both sides acknowledge is the 21st century's most important market, Samsung is whipping its American rival. The South Korean giant now has a 19 percent share of the $80 billion smartphone market in China, a market expected to surge to $117 billion by 2017, according to International Data Corp (IDC). That's 10 percentage points ahead of Apple, which has fallen to 5th in terms of China market share.

Cook said Apple planned to double the number of its retail stores over the next two years - it currently has 8 flagship stores in China and 3 in Hong Kong. But, he added, Apple will invest in distribution "very cautiously because we want to do it with great quality."

Samsung, with a longer history in China, now has three times the number of retail stores as Apple, and has been more aggressive in courting consumers and creating partnerships with phone operators. It also appears to be in better position, over an arc of time, to fend off the growing assault of homegrown competitors such as Lenovo Group Ltd, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp, former company executives, analysts and industry sources say.

Apple declined requests for comment for this article.

VARIED MODELS

Samsung's history and corporate culture could hardly be more different than Apple's, the iconic Silicon Valley start-up founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976. Lee Byung-Chull started Samsung in 1938 as a noodle and sugar maker. It grew over the decades into an industrial powerhouse, or chaebol as Koreans call the family owned conglomerates that dominate the nation's economy and are run with military-like discipline.

Apple, by contrast, became the epitome of Californian cool, an image the company revels in. That hip image translates in China - its stores are routinely packed - but hasn't been enough to overcome the more entrenched Samsung.

Jim Wong told Austria's Format that Acer had underestimated the potential of tablet computers, which have led many consumers to ditch their laptops since the launch of the Apple iPad and its followers.

"In the last two years, we have put very much energy into the development of new tablets, notebooks and smartphones. We are recovering," Wong said in an interview published on Friday. "This year we will first of all make a profit again."

Analysts have forecast that Acer will swing to a net profit of T$1.706 billion ($57 million) in 2013 from a loss of T$2.910 billion in 2012, according to a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S poll.

Many investors own the stock only because they believe in the potential of real-money gambling, said Macquarie (USA) Equities Research analysts Ben Schachter, John Merrick and Tom White. Macquarie cut its target for the stock to $2.75 from $3.00.

Zynga's gambling efforts kicked off this year in Britain, but gambling with real money is illegal in many U.S. states. Seeking a license would tie Zynga in regulatory tangles.

The company has up to a year of volatility ahead, Zynga Chief Executive Don Mattrick warned on Thursday in his first public comments since replacing founder Mark Pincus as chief executive on July 1.

Zynga lost 40 percent of its monthly active users in the second quarter. Revenue fell about 20 percent.

In contrast, monthly active users jumped 21 percent to 1.15 billion for Facebook Inc, from which Zynga got 86 percent of its revenue last year.

The games developer has been trying to establish a more independent network, even at the risk of getting less visitors from Facebook.

"As the market has shifted from FB gaming to mobile, Zynga has been unable to replicate its success that was predicated not on great games, but on great network effects and first-mover advantage on FB," Macquarie analysts said.

Zynga CEO Mattrick said on Thursday he intended to take the company "back to basics" with an emphasis on free-to-play games on Apple Inc's iOS and Google Inc's Android platform, as well as tried-and-true franchises like "FarmVille."

Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Olson said turning away from RMG licenses in the United States may be the right decision, but it will turn away several investors.

"In our view, by exiting RMG (real-money gaming) the company has eliminated much of the potential upside for the stock," Needham & Co analysts wrote in a note and downgraded the stock to "hold" from "buy."

The 30-year-old former U.S. spy agency contractor has been stuck in the transit area of a Moscow airport for more than a month despite Washington's calls to hand him over.

Russia has refused to extradite Snowden, who leaked details of a secret U.S. surveillance program including phone and Internet data, and is now considering his request for a temporary asylum.

In a letter dated Tuesday July 23 and released on Friday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder wrote that he sought to dispel claims about what would happen to Snowden if he is sent home.

"Mr. Snowden has filed papers seeking temporary asylum in Russia on the grounds that if he were returned to the United States, he would be tortured and would face the death penalty. These claims are entirely without merit," Holder wrote.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia's FSB and its U.S. counterpart, the FBI, were in talks over Snowden, whose stay at the Moscow Sheremetyevo airport has further strained Moscow-Washington ties.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had expressed "strong determination", he said, not to let relations suffer over the dispute "no matter how the situation develops". Putin himself is not personally dealing with the problem, the spokesman said.

But he reiterated Moscow's stance that Russia "did not hand over, does not hand over and will not hand over anybody".

Putin, a former KGB spy, has said Snowden could only be granted sanctuary in Russia if he stopped actions that could harm the United States.

A U.S. law enforcement official following the case confirmed the FBI has been in discussions with the FSB about Snowden for some time now but added he was not aware of any recent breakthroughs or imminent developments stemming from that.

A Russian security expert said the talks may be about how to secure a promise from Snowden to stop leaking if he were granted sanctuary in Russia.

"The United States maybe understands that they are not going to get Snowden, so my theory is that they are trying to save face and stop Snowden from publishing new exposes," Andrei Soldatov said, adding that he was skeptical this could be done.

ASYLUM OFFERS

His 100m time of 9.58 seconds during the 2009 World Championships in Berlin is the current world record.

They say their model explains the power and energy he had to expend to overcome drag caused by air resistance, made stronger by his frame of 6ft 5in.

Writing in the European Journal of Physics, the team hope to discover what makes extraordinary athletes so fast.

According to the mathematical model proposed, Bolt's time of 9.58 seconds in Berlin was achieved by reaching a speed of 12.2 metres per second, equivalent to about 27mph.

Less dynamic

The team calculated that Bolt's maximum power occurred when he was less than one second into the race and was only at half his maximum speed. This demonstrates the near immediate effect of drag, which is where air resistance slows moving objects.

They also discovered less than 8% of the energy his muscles produced was used for motion, with the rest absorbed by drag. When comparing Bolt's body mass, the altitude of the track and the air temperature, they found out that his drag coefficient - which is a measure of the drag per unit area of mass - was actually less aerodynamic than that of the average man.

Effects of drag Jorge Hernandez of the the National Autonomous University of Mexico said: "Our calculated drag coefficient highlights the outstanding ability of Bolt. He has been able to break several records despite not being as aerodynamic as a human can be.

"The enormous amount of work that Bolt developed in 2009, and the amount that was absorbed by drag, is truly extraordinary.

"It is so hard to break records nowadays, even by hundredths of a second, as the runners must act very powerfully against a tremendous force which increases massively with each bit of additional speed they are able to develop.

"This is all because of the 'physical barrier' imposed by the conditions on Earth. Of course, if Bolt were to run on a planet with a much less dense atmosphere, he could achieve records of fantastic proportions.

"The accurate recording of Bolt's position and speed during the race provided a splendid opportunity for us to study the effects of drag on a sprinter.

"If more data become available in the future, it would be interesting to see what distinguishes one athlete from another," added Mr Hernandez. Bolt's time in Berlin was the biggest increase in the record since electronic timing was introduced in 1968.

Large stride

Within moments of the baby's name being announced, domains such as GeorgeAlexanderLouis.com and princegeorgecambridge.co.uk were taken.

Purchases of domain names mentioning the name "George" rose by 106.9%, reseller Names.co.uk said.

One buyer of a royal baby-related domain has put it up for sale at £10,000.

The owner, Matt James, snapped up hrhprincegeorgecambridge.co.uk on 24th July - the day of the naming announcement.

He told the BBC: "Like most British people, I was glued to the TV, excited about the birth and thought a baby Prince domain name had potential.

"If it does sell for £10,000, I will definitely give half to a charity associated with Will and Kate."

Between 22 and 25 July, Names.co.uk noted 413 individual domains that contained one or more of the words Royal, Baby, HRH, Prince, George, Alexander and or Louis.

Opportunistic buyers were busy snapping up royal baby-related names well before the prince was even born - the less-than-appealing name royalfoetus.com was bought in December last year.

Rainforest wrangles

Cybersquatting is a common concern for companies who are determined to protect their brand online.

Firms like Google go to great lengths to prevent embarrassment by buying up hundreds of domains like googlesucks.com - but also domains used to imitate brands for more malicious reasons, such as "phishing" scams which seek to trick users into thinking they are on a legitimate website.

Soon, Icann - the body responsible for overseeing the domain name system - will roll-out custom top level domains, paving the way for suffixes like .google and .apple as well as the more typical .com and .co.uk. The BBC has applied to have .bbc. Companies have been invited to request ownership of domains which relate to trademarks they own.

The process has stirred some controversy, however - online shop Amazon has been denied the use of .amazon after a challenge from several Latin American companies.

They argued the domain should be used to reflect the rainforest region rather than the retail giant.

"'.amazon' is a geographic name that represents important territories of some of our countries which have relevant communities, with their own culture and identity directly connected with the name," said a letter from the countries.

"Beyond the specifics, this should also be understood as a matter of principle."

An Icann sub-committee agreed with this argument, but its decision is not final and can be overruled by the Icann board.

At least 80 people died after the train jackknifed into a concrete wall on Wednesday a few kilometers before the station in Santiago de Compostela, a pilgrim destination and capital of the northwestern region of Galicia.

Garzon, who walked away bleeding heavily from a gash to the head, survived. In shock and using an expletive, the seasoned driver hoped for no deaths and feared for his conscience.

Son of a railway worker, Garzon grew up in a small Galician town known as the cradle of the region's rail industry. He lived in housing built for railway workers and went to a school run by state train firm Renfe.

In his hometown of Monforte de Lemos, people said the 52-year-old who has worked three decades with Renfe, and more than 10 as a driver, was known for being sensible and reliable.

They were asking why a highly qualified driver with his work history would have taken a sharp curve at over twice the speed limit, derailing the train shortly after taking the controls.

"He was a great guy, one of the best," said Maria Montero, standing at the door of one of the Renfe-owned workers' cottages where Garzon grew up. She had known Garzon since he was a child.

"He was sensible and very good at his job, we don't know what could have happened. He was very competent," said Julia Morais, 52, walking alongside the railway track with her mother.

Investigations into the cause of the accident focused on why this experienced driver did not slow down as he entered the known danger spot on the outskirts of Santiago.

SHARP BEND

The bend is on a part of the railway that changes from a high-speed track to a traditional track and drivers must slow the train down because there is no an automatic braking system.

Garzon was under police arrest in hospital and police said they would question him as soon as he was well enough to give a statement. He suffered minor injuries in the crash and his mother spent the night with him in the hospital, press reports said.

A judge has opened an official investigation into the accident and police said at a news conference on Friday that Garzon is suspected of recklessness in the accident. But the judge has not formally charged him with a crime.

The driver was not available for comment and Reuters was not able to locate his family or determine whether he has a lawyer.

Navalny, a stringent critic of President Vladimir Putin, denies any wrongdoing and says his conviction in the remote Russian city of Kirov is a Kremlin-driven attempt to stop his opposition activism and part of a wider crackdown on dissent.

"We have sent the appeal," Navalny wrote on his twitter account and posted a receipt from the Russian post charging less than $3 to deliver the papers to the Kirov regional court, which has 30 days for a ruling from the moment it receives the papers.

Following his sentencing on July 18, Navalny was immediately taken under guard in the court room in a show of force but then unexpectedly released from arrest the next day pending appeal.

The appeal also covers a second convict in the case, Pyotr Ofitserov, who was sentenced to four years in prison as Navalny's accomplice in working out a scheme to steal some $500,000 from a state timber company.

Since his temporary release, Navalny, the face of the largest wave of street protests against Putin's 13-year rule that swept through Moscow and other big cities in Russia in 2011-2012, has been campaigning for Moscow mayor ahead of the September 8 elections.

Opinion polls show him trailing far behind the favorite in the race, Sergei Sobyanin, a close Putin ally who is seeking a fresh term in the influential job.

Allies of the 37-year-old Navalny believe Sobyanin might have played a role in the unexpected release of their candidate to give credibility to the election.

They also hope Navalny would be more likely to avoid jail if he won the race, though his appeal is mainly limited to the urban middle-class and Internet-savvy youth.

"This indeed is a serious concern of many of our supporters. They say they could vote for Alexei but what for if he is subsequently jailed. We tell them that if Alexei wins this election the authorities will not dare to put him behind bars," Leonid Volkov, Navalny campaign head, said on Friday.

Robots are a common sight in our factories and industrial workplaces, but have yet to make the jump into people’s homes - whether because of cost or they’re not intimate enough to have in the home.

US roboticist Keller Rinaudo, the head of Romotive, has created Romo, an approachable little automaton powered by a device most of us have a strong connection with – our smartphones.

The dongle is plugged into a television's HDMI port, and allows users to stream media from smartphones, tablets and computers.

Launching immediately in the US, the device will cost $35 (£23). There is as yet no word on international launches.

Google also announced an upgraded Nexus 7 tablet, the first to run the new version of the Android system.

Failed attempts Chromecast is Google's latest attempt to gain ground in the television industry.

In 2012, Google faltered in its attempts to make a move into the living room, considered by many experts to be ripe ground for making large profits through advertising.

Google's partnership with Sony, with which it released a £200 set-top box, was poorly received.

That attempt followed an even earlier false start in 2010 when it launched Google TV, a service that was blocked by several TV networks, and suffered greatly from requiring consumers to buy expensive hardware.

More recently, the orb-shaped Nexus Q device, announced last year, fell flat almost immediately - Google pulled it from sale in response to "feedback". With Chromecast, Google is attempting to simplify its large-screen offering, focusing on streaming clips from services such as YouTube and Netflix via a far cheaper device.

The dongle plugs into a television's HDMI port, and uses wireless home internet to link to devices.

However, unlike other similar devices, such as Apple TV, the media is streamed from the cloud, rather than from the mobile device itself.

This, Google said, allowed for higher-quality streaming, and had less impact on battery life.

The search giant was especially keen to stress the dongle's ability to stream across multiple operating systems, be it Android or Apple's iOS.

This aspect in particular is central to Google's core strategy, said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi.

"It's a big departure from the Nexus Q," she told the BBC. "What it boils down to is a focus around YouTube - and getting people back into that ecosystem.

"If you look at the opportunities around advertising, they're getting eyeballs back to that."

New Nexus

Also shown off at the event was Google's updated Nexus 7 tablet, which will go on sale in the "coming weeks".

The tablet will be the first to run Android 4.3, the latest iteration of the Jelly Bean flavour of Google's mobile operating system.

Among the software's new features will be the ability to set restricted profiles, meaning parents can, for example, only give their child access to certain functions on a device.

"This is part of the next stage of our turnaround plan to increase efficiencies and scale our company," a BlackBerry spokeswoman said.

The company, which last year cut thousands of jobs, recently hinted that more reductions were in the offing.

Last month, BlackBerry reported dismal quarterly results, which triggered a 28 percent plunge in its share price.

Sales of its make-or-break new line of smartphones came in well below some analysts' expectations. The results offered little evidence that the company could quickly win back market share from Apple Inc's iPhone as well as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's Galaxy devices and other phones powered by Google Inc's Android operating system.

The company, which had roughly 12,700 full-time employees, as of March 2, said the employees being laid off were part of the new product testing unit, a team that supports its manufacturing, and research and development efforts.

BlackBerry recently said it no longer planned to migrate its new BlackBerry 10 operating system across to its Playbook tablet, as the hardware on that device was not powerful enough to provide a smooth experience for users.

Many take this as a sign that BlackBerry plans to phase out the poorly received device. It sold only 100,000 Playbooks in the last quarter.

In contrast, Apple reported earlier this week that it sold 14.6 million iPad tablets in its last quarter.

On Wednesday, the social networking giant had reported profits of $333m (£217m) in the second qua