Technology - AFP

BERLIN (AFP) - Confidential data on 30 million German phone users could be consulted on the Internet as a result of an error until the phone company locked access, a spokesman for Deutsche Telekom said Saturday.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - IBM on Friday opened online doors to a virtual version of the famed Forbidden City in China that served for centuries as an exclusive realm for the nation's emperors.

DUBAI (AFP) - Computer hackers claiming to be Shiite shut down the website of Saudi-owned satellite channel Al-Arabiya on Friday, a month after Iran reported similar attacks on many of its websites by hardline Sunnis.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Computer security specialists warn that hackers are using fake YouTube pages to trick people into opening their machines to diabolical software.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Apple is expected to unveil new notebook computers, perhaps even one priced for those with tight budgets, at a "town hall" gathering at its northern California headquarters next week.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A Google-sponsored satellite has beamed its first picture back to Earth in a successful test of a camera that will supply images for the Internet giant's free online map and navigation services.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - The financial crisis has people flocking to the Internet for the latest money news along with tips on how to salvage investments and save on the routine costs of living.

TOKYO (AFP) - Sony said Thursday it will launch a beefed-up version of its PlayStation 3 in Japan this month at the same price as the current version but with double the storage capacity.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Google said Wednesday that it is expanding its advertising kingdom to include the booming online computer game market.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Research in Motion Ltd (RIM), maker of the Blackberry, unveiled its first smartphone with a touch-screen on Wednesday, its answer to the popular Apple iPhone.

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AFP) - American millionaire video game guru Richard Garriott followed in his astronaut father's footsteps Sunday, blasting off aboard a Russian rocket to become the world's sixth space tourist.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The New York Times is to merge the website of its Paris-based sister paper, the International Herald Tribune, with its own flagship site, NYTimes.com, the newspapers announced on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Research in Motion Ltd (RIM), maker of the Blackberry, released its first mobile phone with a touch-screen on Wednesday, its answer to the popular Apple iPhone.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Internet giant Yahoo! on Wednesday rolled out an updated version of its Web-based calendar, in its latest bid to stay ahead of rival Google.

VIENNA (AFP) - A new encryption system, which its creators say is unbreakable, got its first test run Wednesday in Vienna, scientists from the European Union project SECOQC announced.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - YouTube on Tuesday added links to online stores in a move crafted to pump more money from the hot video-sharing website Google bought nearly two years ago in a 1.65 billion dollar stock deal.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - MySpace and Hewlett Packard on Tuesday announced an alliance aimed at getting people to print out more of the billions of pictures digitally stored at the world's leading social networking website.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - The Consumer Electronics Association said Tuesday that sales of gadgets are thriving as people hunker down in their homes to weather the brutal economic storm battering world markets.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Talk about a back-seat driver! Ford Motor Co. has created a device which allows parents to control how fast their teenagers drive, limits the volume on the car radio and makes sure their seat belts are fastened.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Google has adapted its free email service to help those letting loose after a few evening cocktails or succumbing to lovelorn moments from firing off messages they might regret in the morning.

TAIPEI (AFP) - Taiwan's Asustek Computer on Tuesday added a new member to its low-price "Eee PC" mini laptop family after achieving what the company said is a great success in the market.

TSUKUBA, Japan (AFP) - A Japanese professor announced Tuesday he was introducing robot suits for paralysed people, helping them to walk again by detecting their next move and lifting their muscles.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Internet giant eBay Inc., which has seen sluggish growth in its online auction business, announced Monday it was cutting its global workforce by about 10 percent.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - The college roommate who helped Mark Zuckerberg start Facebook is leaving the fast-growing social networking website in a matter of weeks to create a new Internet technology firm.

OAKLAND, California (AFP) - Internet search engine Ask.com unveiled a revamp on Monday in a bid to increase its share of the market dominated by Google.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Online auction giant eBay Inc. announced on Monday it was cutting 1,000 permanent employees and several hundred temporary workers, about 10 percent of its global workforce.

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Roaming fees for mobile phone users in Southeast Asia making calls outside their own country may be cut by half early next year, according to report Sunday citing a Malaysian minister.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - If the US presidential election was being held in cyberspace, Barack Obama would win in a landslide.