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(Reuters) - Nearly 12 million Americans were victims of identity theft in 2011, an increase of 13 percent over 2010, according to a report released on Wednesday by the research firm Javelin Strategy & Research. The rise in the use of smartphones and social media by incautious consumers fueled the increase in identity fraud, and 2011 was a year of several big data breaches too, Javelin said. ...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook is in an enviable position - market leading products, a $98 billion warchest and a seemingly gravity-defying stock price. But as he gears up for the annual face-to-face meeting with shareholders, a few issues may be causing him angst. Chief among them are in China, where poor labor conditions are in the spotlight and Apple's iPad trademark is under attack. The meeting this Thursday comes days after Apple touched a new lifetime high of $526.29 before receding slightly. ...

Twitter users are telling their friends to check out the latest Google Doodle on Google Search. The Doodle features an animated sound wave to celebrate the life of noted scientist “Heinrich Rudolf Hertz.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency told software vendors on Tuesday that it plans to revolutionize the way it does business with them as part of a race to keep up with the blazing pace of technology advances. Rather than stick with traditional all-you-can-eat deals known as "enterprise licensing agreements," the CIA wants to buy software services on a "metered," pay-as-you-go basis, Ira "Gus" Hunt, the agency's top technology officer, told an industry conference. ...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Dell Inc forecast fiscal first-quarter revenue below Wall Street's expectations, stoking fears the PC industry has not fully emerged from its downturn and sending the company's shares more than 4 percent lower. The world's No. 3 personal computer maker projected sales would be down 7 percent this quarter from the previous quarter, when it posted revenue of $16 billion. That translates into about $14.9 billion, below the average forecast for roughly $15.2 billion. ...

TORONTO (Reuters) - Research In Motion on Tuesday gave its PlayBook tablet computer the ability to handle email as easily as a BlackBerry does, with new software that eliminates a shortcoming that has throttled sales since the PlayBook launched last April. Before the software update, which came months after RIM initially promised, a user had to tether the tablet to a BlackBerry to get email, robbing the PlayBook of the function that made RIM's smartphones an essential business tool. ...

The European Commission said Wednesday it has asked the EU's highest court to rule on the legality of a controversial treaty covering copyright, counterfeiting and Internet freedom.

BRUSSELS/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Microsoft has asked EU antitrust regulators to intervene in a patent dispute with Google and Motorola Mobility as it stepped up its battle against the Internet search giant. Microsoft complained that Motorola Mobility was trying to block its products by charging too much for using its patents in Microsoft products. The complaint came a week after the European Commission -- the EU's executive arm -- and the U.S. Justice Department approved Google's $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility. ...