Vittorio Hernandez

Just over two weeks as a celebrity, newly elected Pope Francis continues to make waves globally as proven by his inclusion in the 2013 Time Magazine 100 poll of the most influential people of the year.

Barely a week into its Internet debut, Human Rights Campaign's pink-and-red equal sign has become viral in the cyber world, indicating how the same-sex marriage debate, now being tackled by the U.S. Supreme Court, has become a very hot topic.

So far, Apple does not own yet the trademark to iPad Mini after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected its application. The agency told Apple that the iPad Mini mark only describes a feature or characteristic of the company's good.

Tech Crunch just released an article on Sunday night that claims YouTube, the most popular video sharing site in the world, will close on Monday, April 1. The Web site explained that YouTube started as a competition and the portal is now deciding the winner of that alleged contest as part of the closing down.

Popular blogsite, Tumblr, closed for three hours on Good Friday, March 29, due to networking problems. Tumblr reached a landmark when it reached 100 million blogs hosted and 44.6 billion posts on March 26, 2013, from only 50 million blogs hosted in April 2012.

The iconic Eiffel Tower is Paris was closed on Black Saturday, March 30, for two and a half hours because of a bomb threat.

Pope Francis continues to make history by appointing a new archbishop two weeks after he was elected pontiff. He named on Maundy Thursday Bishop Mario Poli as Archbishop of Buenos Aires in Argentina, in effect replacing his former post.

Born This Way singer, Lady Gaga, is celebrating her 27th birthday today, March 29. To mark the occasion, some her 35 million followers in Twitter have come up with compilations of her outstanding looks ranging from attires that are very unLady Gaga to crazy style highlights she made in the past 12 months.

Step aside, Samsung Galaxy S4, BlackBerry Z10 and iPhone 5S rumours. Facebook is creating noise once more, but not because of another change to its user interface but due to three surprises for the 1 billion members of the world's most popular social networking site.

Techies as well as analysts appear not too impressed with BlackBerry's quarterly report on Thursday, March 28, which disclosed the shipment of 1 million units of the BBZ10 and revenues of $94 million.

Karma, a spiritual concept embraced by different eastern religions, has been tapped by app maker Todoist by integrating gaming into its multi-platform task-management software. The tech firm Todo1st Karma aims to give personal productivity a new boost in a novel way.

In his lifetime, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was behind the innovation of gadgets that changed the world of mobile phones and computers as well become known for his fashion statement.

Local stocks fell back into the red today, as concerns about Cyprus once again affected global sentiment. Banks in Cyprus will re-open tonight for the first time since the controversial bank bailout was floated, with investors concerned there could be a run on bank deposits.

With the growing trend toward secularism, many Christians now no longer observe the Holy Week like the past generations did. In tropical countries like the Philippines, Lent often coincides with summer and school vacation, which translates into trips to the beach for many Filipino families during the long four-day vacation starting from Holy Thursday until Easter Sunday.

All eyes are now in the U.S. Supreme Court as it discusses same-sex marriage for the second consecutive day. With the court's nine justices questioning the constitutionality of the Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA), the Washington Post reports that there is a chance the court may strike the DOMA which limits the definition of marriage between one man and one woman.

Uncertainties about Europe have again reared their head, rattling European and US blue chip stocks overnight. Locally, the Australian share market fell quite hard on open but is currently down around 0.3% at lunchtime in the East.

The standoff between the Mongolian government and Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) is worth $303 million in a planned progressive royalty to be collected on the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine.

He may now be the Pope Emeritus, but an app that was launched by former pontiff, Benedict XVI, is number one on the iTunes chart. With 155,000 downloads across different devices, the app is the most downloaded news app in iPhones in the U.S., Canada, Spain, Peru, Poland, Chile, Mexico, Portugal and of course Argentina.

An international team led by Australian scientists tracked the Antarctic blue whale, the world's biggest animal, through the mammal's songs, using acoustic tracking techniques.

Smartphone maker Nokia launched on Wednesday its subscription-based music service called Nokia Music+. With the service, Lumia phone owners could gain access to a large playlist made by music experts and international artists.

Another courtroom battle is being waged against Apple over the Siri technology, but the U.S. tech giant's opponent is not its usual nemesis, Samsung, but another Asian tech firm - Zhizhen Network Technology which is based in Shanghai, China.

South Korean tech giant Samsung could have more legal protection against patent infringement lawsuits in 2013 since it topped the number of mobile patents granted around the world in 2012 when over 7 million such patents were awarded.

The local market steadily improved throughout the session to end around its highest level of the day. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) jumped by 0.9 per cent, which has completely made up for yesterday's tumble.

The U.S. Patent Office granted on Tuesday to Apple a patent for a system that implements multi-touch in a mobile device even if the display is not actively displaying any images, Tech Crunch reported. At the same time it helps save battery life.

Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO), the second-largest miner in the world, is having problems over rising costs at its Oyu Tolgoi copper mine as well as a planned progressive royalty scheme being introduced.

Move over, 7-inch and 14-inch tablets. Large-screen computing devices are being introduced into the market as Dell rolled out this week its XPS 18 model which features an 18.4-inch touchscreen, while InfoTouch rolled out its 55-inch AiO desktop.

Early trade on Wednesday has seen an improved tone compared to recent days. Investors have chosen to focus on the improved economic readings from the US in the last 24 hours rather than lingering European concerns. In Europe overnight there were modest gains for core markets (France, Germany, and UK etc.). Although financial stocks dragged the Spanish and Italian markets lower. In the aftermath of the Cypriot bailout, investors continue to reflect on the possibility that depositors could abandon...

T-Mobile, the fourth largest cellular network in the U.S., is attempting to change the rules of the game in the telecom industry by ditching the two-year mobile phone contracts. The company introduced on Tuesday a different pricing structure in a bid to regain 500,000 postpaid customers it had lost.

With more than 18 million hits for performing a daredevil stunt like that shown in the YouTube video above, anyone in search of fame and perhaps fortune would be more than willing to risk his life by engaging in rope swinging.