US shares racked up strong gains Monday with the Nasdaq adding nearly 2.5 percent helped by an Apple surge, but Facebook shares flipped below their IPO price on their first full day of trading.

Following China’s recent regulatory approval, Google’s $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility is expected to close in the next two days. Motorola employees may not be celebrating, however. TechCrunch reported on Monday that layoffs will be hitting the manufacturer imminently. When Google purchased DoubleClick, the company had 1,600 employees, 40% of that which were laid off following the buyout. At the time Google’s acquisition was announced, Motorola Mobility had 19,000 employees. The struggling vendor has already laid off 800 employees as part of a restructuring plan, and now it looks like the company may be forced to go through another round of job cuts. Read

Apple chief executive Tim Cook topped the list of the best-paid CEOs in the US in 2011 thanks to stock options that put him more than $300 million above his next rival, a Wall Street Journal survey showed Monday.

We realize there's only so much time one can spend in a day watching new trailers, viral video clips, and shaky cell phone footage of people arguing on live television. This is why every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the videos that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention. Today: Anchorman 2 trailer offers reason for cautious optimism, Russian investors are gobbling up pricey New York City real-estate, and a lone violinist charms Harris Teeter shopper in D.C.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's antitrust chief on Monday ratcheted up the pressure on Google, giving it a matter of weeks to settle an investigation into allegations of anti-competitive behavior and avoid formal charges and a possible fine. Even if Google, the world's most popular search engine, offers concessions to resolve the issue, it will still be under the EU spotlight after fresh complaints about its Android mobile software, the top operating system for Internet-enabled smartphones. ...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The chief executives of Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd were summoned for court-directed mediation on Monday over the iPhone maker's claims the Korean firm has "slavishly" copied some of its products. Apple's Tim Cook and Samsung's Choi Gee-sung were instructed by a federal judge to appear for a two-day mediation to help resolve the bitter patent litigation between the two companies. There was no sign of either CEO at the San Francisco federal courthouse on Monday. ...

Over the past six years, BGR has grown into one of the most prominent destinations in the world for mobile and tech news. We have broken some of the biggest stories in tech and offered up some of the most honest opinions. But we’ve never done video. Today, we’re announcing The BGR Show, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with a long-time friend of mine, Pharrell Williams, to bring the show to his new YouTube channel, i am OTHER. The BGR Show won’t be a boring show that looks at the technical aspects of cell phones. It’s a show that focuses on the fact that technology is now present in practically every aspect of our lives, and we’ll

HTC on Sunday announced that some of its smartphones have already been inspected by United States Customs and have been released to carriers. The Taiwan-based vendor hit a roadblock last week when its devices were held up in Customs due to an ongoing legal dispute with Apple. “Each imported HTC model must be reviewed by Customs and will be released once Customs officials have completed the inspection,� the company wrote on its website. “Some models have gone through inspection and been released to our carriers customers. We don’t have the status of each specific device model at this time, but we are working closely with Customs. We remain confident that this issue will be resolved soon.� Earlier reports suggested that HTC

The United States Department of Justice approved Google’s $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility this past February, but the massive deal awaited the blessing of one more major regulatory body before it could go through. This past weekend, China’s Ministry of Commerce followed the DOJ’s lead and granted Google permission to acquire the struggling vendor. China’s MOC did have a condition Google must honor if it moves forward with the deal, however: Android must remain open-source and freely available. Google announced last August that it intended to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, and the deal is expected to close in the coming months.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The chief executives of Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd come face to face on Monday in court-directed mediation in the United States over a dispute in which the iPhone maker claims the Korean firm has "slavishly" copied some of its products. Apple's Tim Cook and Samsung's Choi Gee-sung have been instructed by a federal judge to appear for mediation in San Francisco to help resolve the bitter patent litigation between the two firms. The U.S. ...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The chief executives of Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd are used to running the show at their global tech empires, but they will be in for a different experience when they arrive at a San Francisco federal courthouse on Monday. Apple's Tim Cook and Samsung's Choi Gee-sung, whose companies are embroiled in bitter patent litigation, have been instructed by a federal judge to appear for court-supervised mediation. A joint court filing in April said that "as directed by the Court, Apple and Samsung are both willing to participate" in the discussions. ...

(Reuters) - Google said on Saturday that Chinese authorities have approved its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility Holdings, the last regulatory hurdle to a deal that would allow the world's No. 1 Internet search engine to develop its own line of smart phones. Google, which will be the newest entrant to the handset market, announced plans for the acquisition last year in a bid to secure Motorola's valuable patents and pave the way for a pairing of Google's Android mobile software and Motorola's handset business. U.S. ...

Authorities in China have approved Google Inc.'s bid to buy phone maker Motorola Mobility, clearing the way for the $12.5 billion deal to close early next week.

(Reuters) - Google said on Saturday that Chinese authorities have approved its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility Holdings, the last regulatory hurdle to a deal that would allow the world's No. 1 Internet search engine to develop its own line of smart phones. Google, which will be the newest entrant to the handset market, announced plans for the acquisition last year in a bid to secure Motorola's valuable patents and pave the way for a pairing of Google's Android mobile software and Motorola's handset business. U.S. ...

Google on Saturday said that Chinese regulators approved its $12.5 billion deal to buy Motorola Mobility, clearing the path for the Internet titan to complete the acquisition early next week.

A US commission sided with Microsoft by moving to ban the import of Android-powered Motorola smartphones based on patent infringement complaints by the software colossus.

In the hours before Facebook's stock began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market for the first time, CEO Mark Zuckerberg reminded the company's 3,500 employees not to get caught up in the hoopla surrounding its long-awaited initial public offering.

A US commission sided with Microsoft by moving to ban the import of Android-powered Motorola smartphones based on patent infringement complaints by the software colossus.

It was barely a "like" and definitely not a "love" from Facebook investors as the online social network's stock failed to live up to the hype in its trading debut Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some Motorola Mobility smartphones infringe on a Microsoft patent and will be barred from importation to the United States, a U.S. trade panel said on Friday. The order by the U.S. International Trade Commission has been sent to President Barack Obama, who has 60 days to consider whether to overturn it for policy reasons. The legal fight at the ITC is one of dozens globally between various smartphone makers. Google's Android system has become the top-selling smartphone operating system, ahead of mobile systems by Apple, Microsoft, Research in Motion and others. ...

It was barely a "like" and definitely not a "love" from Facebook investors as the online social network's stock failed to live up to the hype in its trading debut Friday.

After all the hype, Facebook's first day as a public company ended where it began.

After all the hype, Facebook's first day as a public company ended where it began. Its stock closed at $38.23, up 23 cents, after pricing Thursday night at $38 per share.

We realize there's only so much time one can spend in a day watching new trailers, viral video clips, and shaky cell phone footage of people arguing on live television. This is why every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the videos that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention. Today: A very hilarious and embarrassing tribute to Facebook, things get meta with Conan O'Brien on the the Late Show, and a sensual reading of 50 Shades of Grey with Gilbert Gottfreid.

Facebook is trading up 8 percent Friday, as investors seek to put a dollar value on the company that turned online social networking into a global cultural phenomenon.

Anyone in the market for a smartphone these days will likely see the term 4G shoved in their face by the major carriers. "We have the biggest network!" "We have the fastest speeds!" Sometimes the providers back up their claims with blazing fast data and great coverage, but other times, consumers will wind up feeling cheated. Here are some examples in which the reality simply doesn't live up to the marketing hype.Sprint's 4G LTE Phones: Hurry Up and Wait

They say patience is a virtue, but like temperance and chastity, it’s not much fun. Unfortunately, if you want to reach a state of true techstasy, you may need to repress your desire to buy a new gadget today and wait for the next version to come out.

Facebook updated its status to "public company" on Friday.

While I may recommend the iPhone to the majority of people who ask, Android is still my mobile operating system of choice. Google has created a truly amazing and innovative platform, and because it is open-source anyone can tweak it and customize it. Even devices that weren’t meant for Android, such as my HP TouchPad, can run the mobile OS beautifully thanks to dedicated third-party developers. As I spend more and more time with an iPhone, however, I realize that my love for open-source is slowly beginning to fade. While I used to believe open-source would play a huge role in pushing Android ahead of the competition, which it did, I now believe it may end up being the thing

Facebook is updating its status to "public company" as its stock jumps in its debut on the Nasdaq Stock Market.