(Reuters) - Facebook Inc said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission dropped its probe into the social networking company over events surrounding its controversial initial public offering. In its quarterly report filed on Thursday, Facebook said the regulator in May "notified us that it had terminated its inquiry and that no enforcement action had been recommended by the SEC." Facebook shares began trading on May 18, 2012, but soon fell below their $38 per share offering price and had lost more than half their value by the middle of August, angering investors. Investors also complained they were not told just prior to the IPO that analysts at Facebook's investment banks were cutting their forecasts after learning of the company's internal projections for advertising revenue. The end of the SEC probe does not affect shareholder litigation against Facebook, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and many banks over the Menlo Park, California-based company's IPO.

By Euan Rocha and Alastair Sharp TORONTO (Reuters) - IBM Corp's recent move to partner with Apple Inc to sell iPhones and iPads loaded with corporate applications has excited investors in both companies, but two rivals say they are unperturbed for now. Top executives at Dell and BlackBerry Ltd scoffed at the threat posed by the alliance this week, arguing the tie-up is unlikely to derail the efforts of their own companies to re-invent themselves. I think it just made a good press release," John Swainson, who heads Dell's global software business, said in an interview with Reuters in Toronto on Thursday. PC maker Dell and smartphone maker BlackBerry are in the midst of reshaping their companies around software and services, as the needs of their big corporate clients morph.

By Leila Abboud and Julia Fioretti PARIS/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European regulators have not yet decided whether to try to force search engines such as Google and Microsoft's Bing to scrub results globally when people invoke their "right to be forgotten" in the region. Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin - who heads France's privacy watchdog and the WP29 group of EU national data protection authorities - said in an interview on Friday that no consensus had yet been reached on what she called a "complicated issue". The European Union's top court ruled in May that search engines must take down certain results shown under a search of a person's name if the information was "inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant". Although the "right to be forgotten" existed as a concept in European law, the ruling marked the first time companies like Google have been asked to field such requests from the public.

By Marina Lopes WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Verizon Communication Inc's high speed wireless customers who subscribe to the company's legacy unlimited data plans might experience slower speeds starting Oct. 1, the company said on Friday. Verizon will slow services for the top 5 percent of data users who are on unlimited plans in places where the network is experiencing high demand, the company announced on its website. The policy is currently in effect for unlimited subscribers on the 3G network, but will be expanded to its 4G, higher speed network in October. Verizon stopped offering unlimited data plans in 2012.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The trailer for the next film in the popular "Hunger Games" series is making its premiere at Comic-Con.

For many Xbox fans, the long-awaited announcement of Halo 2: Anniversary was a highlight of E3 2014. No one ever doubted that Xbox classic would be remastered for the new generation, but it was an exciting announcement nevertheless, especially when coupled with the reveal of The Master Chief Collection. Now 343 Industries has returned to the stage just a month later to show off the first overhauled cinematic cutscene from the Anniversary edition of Halo 2, and it’s even more stunning than you might have imagined. Rather than just lay an HD skin on top of the original cinematics, 343 Industries brought on Blur Studio to completely rework the scenes from the ground up. It might not be Halo 5, but it

There are only two smartwatches worth buying today, the Pebble and Google's new Android Wear platform. If you're set on buying a smartwatch, which do you buy? The Pebble has sharp looks and long battery life, while Android Wear brings color displays and the full power of Google Now. Does either earn your money?

There are only two smartwatches worth buying today: the Pebble and Google's new Android Wear platform. If you're bent on buying one, which do you choose? The Pebble's got the looks, Android Wear has the power of Google, should either earn your money? Right now, the Pebble takes the lead over Android Wear, but it's likely that far better things are right around the corner, and the smart move might just be to wait for those.

Wiper is a new smartphone app that will let you do something you may have wanted to do with certain drunk texts, and that’s delete them after the fact both on your phone as well as on the recipient’s handset. Spotted by Business Insider, Wiper is available for iOS and Android devices, where it acts almost like any other messaging app, allowing users to chat (text and voice), as well as send and receive media files. However, its trick lies in the “Wipe” button, which can be used by any party in the conversation to delete parts of the chat, or the entire thing, from all devices. Wiper will automatically get rid of everything in the chat, whether it’s text, photos or videos,

Things have never really been going well on The Walking Dead, but the core crew only appears more broken and battered than ever in the first trailer for Season 5. The trailer teases the group's attempts to get to DC and — hopefully — deliver a cure for the zombifying infection. There's always been a lot standing in their way, and it all looks even more gruesome and horrifying in this coming season. The show will come back on the air with new episodes starting October 12th.