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These 10 stories in 2011 had huge impacts that could resonate for many years, according to a ranking on CNN's website.

The top story was the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. From humble middle-class roots to running the most valuable tech company in the world, Jobs was powerful and revered. He died on Oct. 5 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

Social media's role as a tool for protestors was the running-up. Much praise was heaped on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube after they played a role in the Arab Spring, a series of protests in the Middle East that started late in 2010.

The website gives the rest of the ten most important science and tech stories to hackers, the emerging tablet markets, Facebook's "frictionless sharing", wars on patent among Apple, Google, HTC, and etc, Google+, Apple topping the World's most valuable company, IBM's Watson computer beats human champs on 'Jeopardy', and Spotify and Facebook taking on digital music.（点击美国有线电视新闻网查看原文）

2011科技界十大新闻

       美国有线电视新闻网发布一项排行，列出了2011年影响力巨大、能够震动世界多年的十大新闻。

       排在榜首的是苹果公司创始人之一史蒂夫•乔布斯的逝世。来自普通中产阶级家庭，直到领导世界最有价值的科技公司，乔布斯威力无比且受人尊敬。经历了与胰腺癌的长期斗争，乔布斯10月5日辞世。

       排在第二位的是社交媒体为示威者提供工具。2010年底，“阿拉伯之春”的火焰在中东地区被引燃，脸谱网、推特和视频网站YouTube因在抗议活动中起到的作用而受到诸多赞扬。

       排在“十大新闻”第3至10位的分别是：黑客、不断壮大的平板电脑市场；脸谱网“无缝共享”；苹果、谷歌和HTC之间的专利战；Google+；苹果成为世界最有价值公司；IBM的沃森电脑在综艺节目“危险边缘”的人机对战中击败人类冠军以及Spotify和脸谱网推出电子音乐业务。

(China.org.cn December 28, 2011)