WASHINGTON (CNN) - A rise in the theft of smart phones, cell phones and tablets across the country has prompted the wireless industry to take steps aimed at minimizing the usefulness of a stolen device. Local and federal officials and representatives from the wireless industry Tuesday announced their commitment to establishing a database to prevent the reactivation of stolen cell phones.

"Carriers now with the push of a button will be able to take highly prized stolen instruments and turn them into worthless pieces of plastic," said New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. "What we're doing is drying up the market for stolen cell phones."

The theft of smart phones has risen dramatically in some major cities. More than 40% of all robberies in New York City involve smart phones and other cell phones. And in Washington D.C., cell phones were taken in 54% more robberies in 2011 than in 2007, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

The theft of these devices often comes during violent assaults Washington Police Chief Cathy Lanier has been at the forefront of an effort to get wireless carriers to utilize the shutdown technology.

Facebook Inc., the biggest social- networking service, is buying the Instagram mobile photo-sharing application for about $1 billion in cash and stock, using its biggest acquisition yet to lure users of mobile devices.

Instagram, owned by San Francisco-based Burbn Inc., was valued at $500 million after raising about $60 million last week from investors including Sequoia Capital, said people with knowledge of the funding who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. The acquisition is expected to close this quarter, Menlo Park, California-based Facebook said today.

Instagram lets users take pictures with smartphones, retouch them with borders and filters, and then post the images on social networks. Founded in 2010, it has become the most popular free photo-sharing application on Apple Inc.'s App Store and boasts more than 30 million users. Owning it may help Facebook attract handset users and advertisers who target them, said Rebecca Lieb, an analyst at Altimeter Group LLC.

"In order to monetize mobile, Facebook needs a lot more mobile participation," said Lieb, who is based in New York. "What they bought with Instagram was a photo app with high brand recognition and an enormous audience."

Are you rockin' fake True's? Southern California designer jeans maker True Religion Apparel Inc. has won a $864-million court judgment against online Chinese counterfeiters, but actually getting that money will be a battle.

The Vernon company, whose jeans can go for nearly $500, sued 282 websites originating from China and accused them of lifting company trademarks and peddling fake goods. The websites had names such as TrueReligion4Cheap.com and ForTrueReligionJeans.com.

The defendants were a no-show in court, so the New York federal judge handed down a default judgment this month. The websites were shut down. Each defendant was also ordered to pay $8.15 million and any similar websites they created in the future will also be closed.

Deborah Greaves, general counsel for True Religion, said the websites were probably part of large counterfeiting networks run by "organized crime factors" in China. In such cases, it's not uncommon for defendants to never make an appearance, she said.

According to Richard Kurtz, the funeral director who prepared Trayvon Martin's body for burial, said the teen's body showed no signs of a fight. Trayvon Martin's body showed no signs of a violent fight when it arrived at a Miami funeral home, the funeral director said Thursday.

Richard Kurtz told CBS News that when he was preparing the teen's body for the funeral, it was clear of bruises, cuts and scrapes or any other signs of a fight that he would have covered up for the teen's wake. Those assertions directly contradict George Zimmerman's story that he was attacked by Martin and struggled with him for minutes before he shot the unarmed teen in self-defense.

"(Martin) looked perfectly normal to me when he came in and the story just does not make sense that he was in this type of scuffle or fight in anything that we could see," Kurtz said. Kurtz's interview came hours after surveillance video released from the police station shows Zimmerman hours after the shooting, seemingly uninjured.

A police report notes that Zimmerman was bleeding from his nose and the back of his head, and his father insisted to a local Orlando TV station that his son had been punched in the face by Martin. Zimmerman, 28, killed the 17-year-old after calling 911 to report a suspicious person. His father claimed that he just had gotten out of his car and walked around the corner to find an address to tell police.

Where are to so called battle wounds or injuries that Zimmerman says he substained from Trayvon? As the frustration continues to build from supporters all around world, I must say that his Father is VERY min uch correct in his statements issued below and I'm sure you feel the same. In this recent video that was just released,again, the proof VERY much in the pudding! Why all the lies?

WASHINGTON – The family of slain Florida teenager Trayvon Martin said Wednesday that newly released police video showing the uncharged shooter George Zimmerman arriving at the station for questioning discredits claims he acted in self-defense. It just shows that everything that Zimmerman has been saying, that the police have been reporting, is false," father Tracy Martin told USA TODAY as he viewed the video, carried by MSNBC, in a Washington hotel.

"From what I saw, Zimmerman had no blood on his face, had no grass on the back of his clothes, no cuts on the back of his head," Martin said. Family attorney Benjamin Crump said the video is evidence that Zimmerman's story is a lie and that officials botched their investigation the night of the shooting.