Technology Top Stories from Associated Press (AP)

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (AP) , It's a wildly popular website laden with unlicensed songs and Hollywood movies, a prime exhibit of the digital piracy that is strangling the music industry in Asia and eroding legitimate online sales around the world.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) , An unmanned Dragon freighter carrying a stash of precious medical samples from the International Space Station parachuted into the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, completing the first official shipment under a billion-dollar contract with NASA.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) , Microsoft bills Windows 8 as a "re-imagining" of the personal computer market's dominant operating system, but the company still has a lot of work to do before the makeover captures the imagination of most consumers, based on the results of a recent poll by The Associated Press and GfK.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) , An unmanned Dragon freighter left the International Space Station on Sunday with a stash of precious medical samples and aimed for a Pacific splashdown to end the first official shipment under a billion-dollar contract with NASA.

HELSINKI (AP) , For Nokia, it comes down to this: Is Microsoft's new phone software going to get it back in the smartphone race, or is it going to be too late? After being the top seller of cellphones...

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) , Iran's defense minister says his country has drones far more advanced than the unmanned aircraft launched by Lebanon's Hezbollah and downed by Israel earlier this month. Sunday's report by the official IRNA news agency appears similar to previous claims that Iranian drones have expanded capabilities and range, including the ability to reach Israeli airspace.

NEW YORK (AP) , Comcast Corp., the nation's largest provider of cable TV and Internet services, more than doubled its net income in the third quarter, chiefly due to the sale of wireless spectrum and its stake in the A and E TV channel.

NEW YORK (AP) , With the launch of Windows 8, people are about to discover a computing experience unlike anything they've seen before. Here's a guide to getting past some of the hurdles. The main thing to know is that Windows 8 is designed especially for touch-screen computers, to make desktops and laptops work more like tablets.

NEW YORK (AP) , Apple's stock fell below $600 Friday for the first time in three months, after the consumer electronics behemoth warned that costs of making new products will cut into profits in the holiday quarter. Apple's earnings for the latest quarter also missed expectations.

NEW YORK (AP) , The young Citigroup analyst was researching Facebook before it went public. He dropped an email to two of his buddies at a popular technology blog, leaking them information about Citigroup's research that was supposed to be private.

WASHINGTON (AP) , A former executive at a technology firm in Silicon Valley is settling charges lodged by federal regulators that he provided insider information to convicted Galleon hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam. Dozens of people have been charged in the case, one of the biggest insider-trading probes in history.

BEIRUT (AP) , Two deadly car bombs and sporadic fighting marred a shaky holiday truce Friday in Syria, although thousands of protesters used the brief respite in the civil war to pour into the streets and demand President Bashar Assad's ouster.

GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) , GameStop plans to open about 80 holiday stores aimed at younger kids. The company said Friday that the GameStop Kids stores will open inside malls throughout the U.S. The stores will feature video games, accessories and licensed products for younger kids.

NEW YORK (AP) , You might think that Robert Zemeckis, having devoted himself to motion-capture animation for the last 12 years, would be thrilled to return to the unpredictability of live-action filmmaking , those moments of serendipity when the elements align for something surprising. You would be wrong.

NEW YORK (AP) , Can't decide if you want a PC or tablet? Now you won't have to. With the release of Windows 8, computer makers are doing their best to blur the boundaries with an array of devices that mash keyboards and touch screens together in different ways.