SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc is proposing to combine user data with that of recently acquired photo-sharing service Instagram, and will loosen restrictions on emails between members of the social network. Facebook also said on Wednesday it is proposing to scrap a 4-year old process that can allow the social network's roughly 1 billion users to vote on changes to its policies and terms of services. ...

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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Shares of Facebook Inc jumped nearly 13 percent on Wednesday, as investors breathed a sigh of relief that expiring trading restrictions on a huge block of shares failed to trigger an immediate wave of insider selling. "While the lockup is expiring, there is nothing requiring anybody to sell," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer at Solaris Group in Bedford Hills, New York. "Given the low price, these long-term holders are deciding to hold the stock, and that is lifting it here as the fear of the expiration subsides. ...

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Apple's share of the market for tablet computers fell to 50 percent in the third quarter as the iPad faced more competition from Android devices such as Samsung's Galaxy tablets and Google's Nexus 7.

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Google (GOOG) missed its projected profits by a fair margin last quarter, posting earnings per share of $9.03 versus expectations of $10.65 per share and revenues of $11.33 billion on expectations of $11.86 billion. The company had been scheduled to post its earnings after stocks closed Thursday but it instead released its earnings hours early. One big stone around Google’s neck last quarter was its Motorola Mobility unit, which posted an adjusted operating loss of $151 million, or roughly 6% of Motorola’s total revenues. Google’s share price plummeted by 9% immediately after the earnings were released early.

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