Reverse the default iCloud storage location in OS X

Unlike other cloud storage services like Dropbox, Apple's iCloud synchronizes documents in use by a specific application so, for instance, in Apple's Pages program you can save a document to iCloud and have it be immediately available for editing in Pages on your iPad or on another Mac. While convenient, this setup does have a restriction in that the documents for one program will only be made available for that program.

Wile this is not an issue for programs like Apple's Pages and Numbers that have a specialized document format, and may even be useful at times for Word or Excel even though their formats are more widely used; however, for formats that are more ubiquitously implemented in programs such as PDF, TXT, and numerous image formats, this setup can be a bit of a limitation. Therefore, while you might wish to use iCloud's "Documents in the Cloud" feature and have it enabled, in some cases you might not wish to save changes to iCloud and have it manage your files.

These hot keys can be used in the Open and Save dialog boxes to navigate to the respective folders.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Topher Kessler/CNET)

Unfortunately when you enable this feature in iCloud, the system will make iCloud the default destination for saved documents in all of your applications, when it may be preferable to have iCloud enabled but use it as a side option for storing documents instead of the default one.

For those who use iCloud there are two approaches for managing this issue. The first is whenever you save or open a document and the system shows you the iCloud document list, simply use one of the Finder's "Go" menu hot keys to take you to a specific folder in your home directory.

In addition to those Apple outlines in the "Go" menu, another convenient one is Shift-Command-D, which will bring you to the Desktop folder in your account.

The second approach is to change a hidden setting in the system to adjust the default behavior for which storage location is preferred. As noted on Cult of Mac, if you run the following command in the Terminal then the system will revert the default storage location to the local filesystem while keeping iCloud enabled for the beneficial services it offers.

defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSDocumentSaveNewDocumentsToCloud -bool false

To undo this change, simply repeat the above command with "true" instead of "false," or run the following command to remove the customized entry entirely:

defaults delete NSGlobalDomain NSDocumentSaveNewDocumentsToCloud

These options should allow you to make use of iCloud while not having it make storing files to your system be a burden.

---

Questions? Comments? Have a fix? Post them below or !
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Severe Weather More Likely Thanks to Climate Change

Jane J. Lee

BOSTON—Wildfires. Droughts. Super storms.

As opposed to representing the unfortunate severe weather headlines of the last year, scientists said Friday that climate change has increased the likelihood of such events moving forward.

And though the misery is shared from one U.S. coast to another, scientists speaking at the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Boston said, the type of extreme event may vary significantly from region to region. (Related: "6 Ways Climate Change Will Affect You.")

Heat waves have become more frequent across the United States, with western regions setting records for the number of such events in the 2000s, said Donald Wuebbles, a geoscientist with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

But the Midwest and Northeast have experienced a 45 percent and 74 percent increase, respectively, in the heaviest rainfalls those regions have seen since 1950.

The extreme drought that plagued Texas in 2011 has spread to New Mexico, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and northern Mexico, said John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas State's climatologist at Texas A&M University in College Station.

"The science is clear and convincing that climate change is happening and it's happening rapidly. There's no debate within the science community ... about the changes occurring in the Earth's climate and the fact that these changes are occurring in response to human activities," said Wuebbles.

In 2011 and 2012, major droughts, heat waves, severe storms, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, and wildfires caused about $60 billion in damages each year, for a total of about $120 billion.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climactic Data Center, these were some of the costliest weather events in the country's history, said Wuebbles.

President Obama argued in his State of the Union address this week that the time is ripe to address climate change, saying he would skirt Congress to make such changes, if necessary.

His proposals included a system similar to the cap-and-trade proposal killed in Congress during his first term, new regulations for coal-burning power plants, and a promise to promote energy efficiency and R&D efforts into cleaner technologies. (Related: "Obama Pledges U.S. Action on Climate, With or Without Congress.")

The researchers said they are glad to see that addressing climate change is on the President's agenda. But they stressed that they wanted the public to have access to accurate, scientifically sound information, not just simplified talking points.

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Carnival Cruise Ship Hit With First Lawsuit

The first lawsuit against Carnival Cruise Lines has been filed and it is expected to be the beginning of a wave of lawsuits against the ship's owners.

Cassie Terry, 25, of Brazoria County, Texas, filed a lawsuit today in Miami federal court, calling the disabled Triumph cruise ship "a floating hell."

"Plaintiff was forced to endure unbearable and horrendous odors on the filthy and disabled vessel, and wade through human feces in order to reach food lines where the wait was counted in hours, only to receive rations of spoiled food," according to the lawsuit, obtained by ABCNews.com. "Plaintiff was forced to subsist for days in a floating toilet, a floating Petri dish, a floating hell."

Click Here for Photos of the Stranded Ship at Sea

The filing also said that during the "horrifying and excruciating tow back to the United States," the ship tilted several times "causing human waste to spill out of non-functioning toilets, flood across the vessel's floors and halls, and drip down the vessel's walls."

Terry's attorney Brent Allison told ABCNews.com that Terry knew she wanted to sue before she even got off the boat. When she was able to reach her husband, she told her husband and he contacted the attorneys.

Allison said Terry is thankful to be home with her husband, but is not feeling well and is going to a doctor.

Carnival's Triumph Passengers: 'We Were Homeless' Watch Video

Girl Disembarks Cruise Ship, Kisses the Ground Watch Video

Carnival Cruise Ship Passengers Line Up for Food Watch Video

"She's nauseated and actually has a fever," Allison said.

Terry is suing for breach of maritime contract, negligence, negligent misrepresentation and fraud as a result of the "unseaworthy, unsafe, unsanitary, and generally despicable conditions" on the crippled cruise ship.

"Plaintiff feared for her life and safety, under constant threat of contracting serious illness by the raw sewage filling the vessel, and suffering actual or some bodily injury," the lawsuit says.

Despite having their feet back on solid ground and making their way home, many passengers from the cruise ship are still fuming over their five days of squalor on the stricken ship and the cruise ship company is likely to be hit with a wave of lawsuits.

"I think people are going to file suits and rightly so," maritime trial attorney John Hickey told ABCNews.com. "I think, frankly, that the conduct of Carnival has been outrageous from the get-go."

Hickey, a Miami-based attorney, said his firm has already received "quite a few" inquiries from passengers who just got off the ship early this morning.

"What you have here is a) negligence on the part of Carnival and b) you have them, the passengers, being exposed to the risk of actual physical injury," Hickey said.

The attorney said that whether passengers can recover monetary compensation will depend on maritime law and the 15-pages of legal "gobbledygook," as Hickey described it, that passengers signed before boarding, but "nobody really agrees to."

One of the ticket conditions is that class action lawsuits are not allowed, but Hickey said there is a possibility that could be voided when all the conditions of the situation are taken into account.

One of the passengers already thinking about legal action is Tammy Hilley, a mother of two, who was on a girl's getaway with her two friends when a fire in the ship's engine room disabled the vessel's propulsion system and knocked out most of its power.

"I think that's a direction that our families will talk about, consider and see what's right for us," Hilley told "Good Morning America" when asked if she would be seeking legal action.

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Sand-grain-sized drum extends reach of quantum theory

The banging of a tiny drum heralds the intrusion of the weird world of quantum mechanics into our everyday experience. Though no bigger than a grain of sand, the drum is the largest object ever to have been caught obeying the uncertainty principle, a central idea in quantum theory.

As well as extending the observed reach of quantum theory, the finding could complicate the hunt for elusive gravitational waves : it suggests that the infinitesimal motion caused by these still-hypothetical ripples in spacetime could be overwhelmed by quantum effects.

The uncertainty principle says that you cannot simultaneously determine both a particle's exact position and momentum. For example, bouncing a photon off an electron will tell you where it is, but it will also change the electron's motion, creating fresh uncertainty in its speed.

This idea limits our ability to measure the properties of very small objects, such as electrons and atoms. The principle should also apply to everyday, macroscopic objects, but this has not been tested – for larger objects, the principle's effects tend to be swamped by other uncertainties in measurement, due to random noise, say.

Quantum drum

To extend the known reach of the uncertainty principle, Tom Purdy and colleagues of the University of Colorado, Boulder, created a drum by tightly stretching a 40-nanometre-thick sheet of silicon nitride over a square frame with sides of half a millimetre – about the width of a grain of sand. They placed the drum inside a vacuum chamber cooled to a few degrees above absolute zero, minimising any interference by random noise.

By continuously firing a stream of photons at the drum they were able to get increasingly precise measurements of the position of the skin at any moment. However, this also caused the skin to vibrate at an unknown speed. When they attempted to determine its momentum, the error in their measurement had increased – just as the uncertainty principle predicts.

"You don't usually have to think about quantum mechanics for objects you can hold in your hand," says Purdy.

That the uncertainty principle holds sway at such a large scale could affect the hunt for gravitational waves, which are predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity but have never been detected.

Mitigation strategy

Gravitational wave detectors look for very slight changes in the distance between two test masses caused by passing spacetime ripples. Purdy says his team's experiment confirms long-held suspicions that quantum uncertainty could overwhelm these very small changes.

Now he and others can use the drum to explore more advanced measurement techniques to mitigate the effects. For example, uncertainty in an object's momentum could lead to future uncertainty in its position and there should be ways to minimise such knock-on effects. "You can't avoid the uncertainty principle, but you can in some clever ways make it [such that] increasing the momentum doesn't add back to the uncertainty in position at a later time," says Purdy.

His experiment is a neat demonstration of the breakdown of the traditional notion that the atomic world is quantum while the macroscopic world is classic, says Gerard Milburn of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, who was not involved in the work. Previous, attempts to blur the quantum-classical divide have involved entangling diamonds and demonstrating quantum superposition in a strip of metal.

Despite these feats, Milburn doesn't rule out the prospect of a breakdown on really large scales. "Of course maybe one day we will see quantum mechanics fail at some scale. Testing it to destruction is a good motivation for going down this path," he says.

Journal reference: Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.1231282

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Obama says public deserves to know more on drones

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama said Thursday that Americans needed more than just his word to be assured he was not misusing his powers in waging a secret drone war overseas.

The president was asked about the debate over the deadly tactic, a backbone of the US campaign against Al-Qaeda, and whether the Constitution allows the use of drones against Americans who have turned against their country.

"It is not sufficient for citizens to just take my word for it that we are doing the right thing," Obama told an online forum sponsored by Google.

The president, who has said he is working with Congress to provide more oversight of the clandestine drone war against Al-Qaeda, was also asked what was to stop the US government from using unmanned aerial vehicles at home.

"There has never been a drone used on an American citizen on American soil," Obama said in the Google Plus "Fireside Hangout."

"The rules outside the United States are going to be different than the rules inside of the United States in part because our capacity, for example, to capture terrorists in the United States is going to be very different than in the foothills or mountains of Afghanistan or Pakistan.

Debate about the use of drones has slowly been mounting following the September 2011 killing in Yemen of cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, a senior Al-Qaeda operative who was an American citizen.

The president said that he was working with Congress to ensure that the public was also able to understand the constraints and legal rationales of the US drone war.

"I am not somebody who believes that the president has the authority to do whatever he wants, or whatever she wants, whenever they want, just under the guise of counter terrorism," he added.

"There have to be checks and balances on it."

Some observers, including prominent senators, are considering whether a special court should monitor the secret drone war.

Missiles fired from unmanned aircraft have become the Obama administration's weapons of choice in its war against Al-Qaeda.

The administration's legal rationale for the targeted killings was leaked to the media ahead of Senate hearings last week on the nomination of Obama's top counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to head the CIA.

The guidelines allow the use of drone strikes against US citizens suspected of being senior Al-Qaeda operatives, even if there is no evidence they are actively plotting an attack.

Some administration critics have questioned the legality of drone strikes against US citizens, while others fear that raining death from the skies may do more harm than good in increasing anti-US sentiment.

- AFP/jc

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How we test antivirus and security software

The best antivirus software available does more than just stop computer viruses, it also addresses the myriad and complex modern threats that you'll encounter. Indeed, from the merged antivirus and anti-malware detection engines to enhancing online privacy controls, security suites are an essential part of Windows and Mac desktop life. And just like driving a car without wearing a seatbelt, you shouldn't try to get by can get by without using antivirus software just because you can.

Because of their long history of deleterious consequences to system performance, security suites deserve closer scrutiny than any other category of software.

Of course, it's important to look at how effective security suites are at stopping the bad guys. Any security suite, that can't hold up its responsibility to ensure your computer's protection isn't worth your time. Yet, there's another factor to consider. No matter how effective a security suite is, if it slows down your system too much you're not going to want to use it.

Avast Free Antivirus

Test environment

CNET currently tests security suites on a Dell XPS desktop running a 3.2GHz Core i7 processor with 8GB of DDR3 RAM, an Nvidia GeForce 8400 GS PCI-Express graphics card with 512MB of memory, a 1TB Western Digital hard drive (WDC3200AAKS), and
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1. Once we install the antivirus software that we're testing, we make sure it has the most recently available updates, including the latest virus definitions. We test using the antivirus program's default settings.

System performance testing

CNET Labs tests several areas of security suite performance in-house: boot time, shutdown time, scan time, MS Office performance,
iTunes decoding, and media multitasking. We also use a synthetic benchmark called Cinebench which taxes the system's CPU and GPU.

System-performance impact test
Actively scanning a system for viruses can have an adverse affect on overall system performance, as the antivirus engine competes with other applications for system resources.

When performing regular real-time scans, most of today's combined antivirus/anti-malware scan engines are sophisticated enough to relegate the additional overhead they introduce to the background and don't significantly affect the performance of other applications. Performing deep scans, on the other hand, often requires enough of the available system resources for the antivirus engine to have a noticeable effect on the performance of other applications.

Deep scanning is when the security suite scans every file located on all partitions found on each drive. This series of tests measures how much performance degradation selected applications suffer when a deep scan is taking place. We first run the three tests listed below, before an antivirus application is installed. We then install the antivirus app and run the same tests again--this time while the antivirus program is performing a deep scan of the system.

Trend Micro Premium Security 2013, with an interface optimized for Windows 8.

(Credit:
Trend Micro)

iTunes MP3-encoding test
Using iTunes, we time how long it takes to convert 19 320Kbps MP3 tracks to 128Kbps AAC files, totaling 169MB. This test almost exclusively exercises a system's CPU capabilities. Apple iTunes supports multithreading, so desktops with multicore CPUs are likely to perform better than comparable systems that use CPUs with fewer cores or single-core CPUs.

Multimedia multitasking test
We use Apple's QuickTime to convert a high-definition source video using QuickTime's "Movie to
iPod" selection. The source file is an H.264-encoded, 30fps, 1,920x1,072, 302MB MOV file. While the video conversion takes place in the foreground, iTunes converts a group of 128Kbps MP3 files into 128Kbps AAC files.

This test's score is based on how long it takes a system to perform only the QuickTime conversion. The iTunes conversion taking place in the background is designed to significantly increase the overall CPU workload and to create a true multitasking environment. The test exercises nearly every major subsystem, including the CPU, the memory, and the hard drive. Desktops with multicore CPUs are likely to perform better than comparable systems that use CPUs with fewer cores or single-core CPUs.

The next test utilizes Microsoft's Word 2003, Excel 2003, and PowerPoint 2003 from Microsoft Office 2003.

It starts with a macro running in Word, which performs a number of functions on a document, such as searching and replacing, changing font sizes, and creating columns. Once the Word macro completes, Excel launches and runs a macro, which performs functions on a spreadsheet, such as editing formulas and creating charts. Next, PowerPoint runs a macro, which adds graphics and text and moves images around on three different presentations. As soon as the test starts, a file copy also starts in the background, copying from one set of folders on the system's hard drive to another set of folders on the same drive. The resulting folders total 2.57GB in size. Once the copy completes, the 2.57GB folder is then compressed into a single 2.04GB ZIP file, also in the background.

This test's score is based on how long it takes a system to perform all of these tasks. Time is kept until the last task completes.

AVG AntiVirus Free 2013

This test exercises nearly every major subsystem, including CPU, memory, and hard drive. Desktops that have multicore CPUs are likely to perform better than comparable systems that use CPUs with fewer cores or single-core CPUs.

Cinebench is a 3D rendering test based on Maxon's 3D animation application, Cinema 4D. This test focuses on a system's CPU capabilities, but hits the GPU as well. Cinebench supports multithreading for up to 16 CPU cores, so desktops with multicore CPUs are likely to perform better than comparable systems that use CPUs with fewer cores or single-core CPUs.

Scanning speed test
Using the antivirus software, we scan the entire test system and time how long takes to complete the process. The quicker it takes the antivirus program to scan the folder--relative to other antivirus applications--the more efficient the program is at scanning files. Apart from the antivirus software itself, the system is virtually the same at the time of testing for each antivirus application.

Boot speed test
We time how long the system takes to boot from a full powered-off state until Windows starts and the antivirus software finishes loading. The quicker it takes the system to finish booting and loading the antivirus program--relative to other antivirus applications--the less impact the app has on boot time.

We are currently testing "wake from sleep" as well, although inconsistent scores have made it difficult to tell whether these suites actually do impact your computer's ability to wake from sleep. Therefore, we don't include it in our final determinations.

Efficacy testing

CNET looks to independent testers for security suite efficacy for a number of reasons. Maintaining a test "zoo," as they're called, is prohibitively complex.

First, it is highly risky to maintain a computer loaded with the latest malware and viruses in an environment where practically every other computer around it is connected directly to the Internet. The chance of accidentally letting malware loose on an intranet is too big of a risk for us to take.

Second, modern-day virus-makers have learned how to avoid the signature-based detections that used to foil them. That means testing must involve virus families, which means a much more nuanced testing process.

Since testing for effective virus removal is already accomplished by several independent testing organizations, CNET has opted to rely on their publicly-published efficacy benchmarks to determine which suites are the best at stopping malware.

Currently, we use AV-Test and AV-Comparatives. While we would not be opposed to accepting a third testing organization to use as well, we haven't found one to be consistent enough and public enough with their testing methodology to rely on.

We currently test Mac and Android security suites using pre-published benchmarks from AV-Test and AV-Comparatives. CNET does not perform in-house testing of security suites for those operating systems.

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Why We Walk … and Run … And Walk Again to Get Where We're Going

You have to get to a bus stop to catch the once-an-hour express ... or to a restaurant to meet a friend ... or to a doctor's office. You've got maybe a half a mile to cover and you're worried you'll be late. You run, then you stop and walk, then run some more.

But wait. Wouldn't it be better to run the whole way?

Not necessarily.

A new study by an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Ohio State University tests the theory that people subconsciously mix walking and running so they get where they need to. The idea is that "people move in a manner that minimizes energy consumption," said the professor, Manoj Srinivasan.

Srinivasan asked 36 subjects to cover 400 feet (122 meters), a bit more than the length of a football field. He gave them a time to arrive at the finish line and a stopwatch. If the deadline was supertight, they ran. If they had two minutes, they walked. And if the deadline was neither too short nor too far off, they toggled between walking and running.

The takeaway: Humans successfully make the walk-run adjustment as they go along, based on their sense of how far they have to go. "It's not like they decide beforehand," Srinivasan said. (Get tips, gear recommendations, and more in our Running Guide.)

The Best Technique for "the Twilight Zone"

"The mixture of walking and running is good when you have an intermediate amount of time," he explained. "I like to call it 'the Twilight Zone,' where you have neither infinite time nor do you have to be there now."

That ability to shift modes served ancient humans well. "It's basically an evolutionary argument," Srinivasan said. A prehistoric human seeking food would want to move in a way that conserves some energy so that if food is hard to find, the hunter won't run out of gas—and will still be able to rev it up to escape predators.

The study, published on January 30 in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, doesn't answer that question of how we make such adjustments.

Runners: Take a Break if You Need It

The mix of walking and running is also something that nonelite marathoners are familiar with. Covering 26.2 miles might take less of a toll if the runner stops running from time to time, walks a bit, then resumes a jogging pace. "You use less energy overall and also give yourself a bit of a break," Srinivasan noted. (Watch: An elite marathoner on her passion for running.)

One take-home lesson is: Runners, don't push it all the time. A walk-run mix will minimize the energy you expend.

Lesson two: If you're a parent walking with your kid, and the kid lags behind, then runs to catch up, then lags again, the child isn't necessarily trying to annoy you. Rather, the child is perhaps exhibiting an innate ability to do the walk-run transition.

Potential lesson three: The knowledge that humans naturally move in a manner that minimizes energy consumption might be helpful in designing artificial limbs that feel more natural and will help the user reduce energy consumption.

The big question for Manoj Srinivasan: Now that he has his walk-run theory, does he consciously switch between running and walking when he's trying to get somewhere? "I must admit, no," he said. "When I want to get somewhere, I just let the body do its thing." But if he's in a rush, he'll make a mad dash.

"Talk to you tomorrow," he signed off in an email to National Geographic News. "Running to get to teaching now!"

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Dorner Confirmed Dead in Autopsy on Cabin Remains

Christopher Dorner, the ex-Los Angeles police officer who declared himself on a killing spree against his former law enforcement colleagues, is dead.

Authorities this evening confirmed that remains found after a fiery standoff at a California mountain cabin Tuesday were, in fact, Dorner's.

"The charred human remains located in the burned out cabin in Seven Oaks have been positively identified to be that of Christopher Dorner," the San Bernardino County Sheriff-Coroner's Office said in a written statement. "During the autopsy, positive identification was made through dental examination."

FULL COVERAGE: Christopher Dorner Manhunt

PHOTOS: Former LAPD Officer Suspected in Shootings

In a 6,000-word "manifesto," Dorner outlined his anger at the Los Angeles Police Department for firing him, and made threats against individuals he believed were responsible for ending his career with the police force five years ago. Dorner was fired after filing what the LAPD determined to be a false report accusing other cops of brutality.

Dorner is suspected of killing four people, including Monica Quan and her fiance, who were found shot to death Feb. 3. Quan was the daughter of former LAPD Capt. Randal Quan, who was mentioned as a target of Dorner's fury in the manifesto.

Christopher Dorner Hostages: 'He Just Wanted to Clear His Name' Watch Video

Christopher Dorner Believed Dead After Shootout With Police Watch Video

Christopher Dorner Believed Dead After Shootout with Police Watch Video

Dorner is also suspected in the shooting death of Riverside, Calif., Police Officer Michael Crain, whose funeral was Wednesday.

San Bernardino Sheriff's Deputy Jeremiah MacKay, 35, a 15-year veteran and the father of two children, was killed in Tuesday's shootout at the cabin.

A second San Bernardino County sheriff's officer had to undergo multiple surgeries after he was wounded in the cabin shootout, and other officers also were wounded in earlier alleged encounters with Dorner.

After Crain's death, police tracked Dorner to the Big Bear Lake area of Southern California, where his burning truck was found in the mountains late last week.

A couple with a cabin in the area were some of the last people to see Dorner before his final encounter with police. Their 911 call to police triggered a chase that concluded with the fiery standoff at the nearby cabin.

The couple, Karen and Jim Reynolds, said at a news conference Wednesday that their ordeal lasted a few minutes but seemed like hours.

The Reynolds believe Dorner, 33, was holed up starting Friday in their unoccupied cabin in Big Bear, Calif., only steps from where police had set up a command center.

"He said four or five times that he didn't have a problem with us, he just wanted to clear his name," Jim Reynolds said. "He said, 'I don't have a problem with you, so I'm not going to hurt you.'"

Dorner tied their arms and put pillowcases over their heads before fleeing in their purple Nissan, the couple said.

Before he fled, the couple said Dorner told them that he had been watching them before he took over their cabin. Dorner told the couple he could tell they were "hard working, good people."

"He had been watching us and saw me shoveling the snow Friday," Jim Reynolds said.

They say they may have left the cabin door unlocked and that could have been the reason Dorner was able to enter undetected.

Dorner remained "calm and meticulous" throughout the harrowing ordeal, the couple said.

The Reynolds walked into their cabin around noon Tuesday when they came face-to-face with Dorner. There was no question in their minds who he was -- the suspected cop killer at the center of one of the largest manhunts in recent memory.

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Water wars loom as the US runs dry

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Zuckerberg owns nearly a third of Facebook: US regulators

SAN FRANCISCO: Mark Zuckerberg's stake in Facebook has climbed to nearly 30 percent since the leading social network made its dismal stock market debut, according to a filing Wednesday with US regulators.

Zuckerberg owns 632.65 million Facebook shares as compared with the slightly more than 500 million he held in September when the stock's sagging price prompted a promise he would not sell any for at least a year.

Zuckerberg sold about 30 million shares when the Menlo Park, California-based social network made its stock market debut in May at an opening price of $38.

Shares slid to a low of $17.55 in September but have regained ground, trading at $28.04 at the close of trading on the Nasdaq exchange on Wednesday.

Securities and Exchange Commission filings show Zuckerberg has been building his stake Facebook, the potential of which he contends is underestimated by the market.

One SEC filing showed that Zuckerberg acquired 18 million Facebook shares in mid-December at a price of zero, indicating they were tied to his compensation as chief of the social network.

-AFP/gn

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