TORONTO (Reuters) - Shares of Research In Motion Ltd surged 17.3 percent in Toronto on Thursday on rising optimism around RIM's soon-to-be-launched BlackBerry 10 devices that will vie against Apple's iPhone and Android-based smartphones. The rally in RIM shares was sparked by National Bank analyst Kris Thompson, who boosted his price target on RIM shares to $15 from $12. Thompson believes that there is more money to be made in the stock ahead of the early 2013 launch of the make-or-break new line of devices. ...

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Microsoft has been teasing us with Surface, its upcoming iPad equivalent, for months. The tablet has a 10.6 inch screen, larger than the new iPad's but not Retina-sharp, and has a kickstand to prop it up so you can type with its unique Touch Cover accessory. Now Microsoft has revealed that it costs only $499 ... and that for the same price as the 16 GB Wi-Fi iPad, you get twice as much storage space. Preorders have already begun, and will be delivered on Oct. 26.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday a Facebook post in which an Islamic militant group claimed credit for a recent attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya did not constitute hard evidence of who was responsible. "Posting something on Facebook is not in and of itself evidence. I think it just underscores how fluid the reporting was at the time and continued for some time to be," Clinton said during an appearance with the Brazilian foreign minister at the State Department. ...

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The White House this morning attempted to down-play the significance of emails sent to top national security officials during the attack on the diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, one of which suggested a known terrorist group claimed credit for the attack in...

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Companies with television networks have begun releasing their earnings reports for the latest quarter. Here's a look at reports for selected television network companies.

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Companies with movie studios have begun releasing their earnings reports for the latest quarter. Here's a look at reports for selected movie industry companies.

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Today Microsoft will have the official coming out party for its maybe-too-different Surface tablet and the baffling Windows 8 operating system that goes along with it. Since its first over-hyped Surface related event in June, we've learned all the things about the gadget Microsoft didn't tell us the first time around. Like: the $500 price tag for the 32 GB model, the availability: tomorrow, and the not-as-good-as-the-iPad 7-hour battery life. At this point, reviewers and some customers have played with both tablets, giving us the impressions we'd need to make a purchase. ...

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Aaron Sorkin, the creative genius behind The Social Network, The West Wing, and upcoming HBO show The Newsroom was recently confirmed as the screenwriter for Sony's upcoming movie based on Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs -- though, Sorkin himself says he has a lot of work to do.

Reuters reports that Sorkin held an interview with reporters and said he was still looking for something in Jobs' life to hang the movie on.

Sorkin noted that "The Social Network" saw the Facebook story through the lens of an acrimonious lawsuit that pitted CEO Mark Zuckerberg against his Harvard friends over the creation of the social media network.

"Drama is tension versus obstacle. Someone wants something, something is standing in their way of getting it. They want the money, they want the girl, they want to get to Philadelphia - doesn't matter ... And I need to find that event and I will. I just don't know what it is," Sorkin said.

He noted that it won't be a "straight ahead biography" because a biography has a natural "cradle-to-grave structure" that is very hard to overcome.

Sorkin also disclosed that Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has been hired as a consultant by Sony Pictures to advise the filmmakers on the technical aspects of computers and about Jobs himself.

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