Phone makers will seek to seduce new buyers with even smarter Internet-connected watches and other wireless gadgets as they wrestle for dominance at the world's biggest mobile fair starting Monday.

Along with the launches of numerous new smartphones -- dominated by South Korean giant Samsung -- tech firms are trying to conquer users' bodies and connect their environments.

IBM's CEO has said the company's plan to revamp its business to shift away from hardware and focus on business analytics, cloud computing, mobile services and security is on track.

In a media briefing ahead of an investor conference in New York on Thursday, Virginia Rometty said the company plans that the new tech markets should make up 40 percent of IBM's business, or $40 billion, in the next 4 years. That's up from 13 percent five years ago and 27 percent by the end of this year.

Apple sent invitations Thursday for a mystery event due to take place March 9, amid speculation about an imminent launch of its much anticipated Apple Watch.

The invitation simply said "Spring Forward," referring to the fact that clocks will spring forward one hour in the United States the day before for daylight savings time.

U.S. regulators on Thursday approved landmark Internet rules that would prevent broadband providers from separating online traffic into slow and fast lanes.

The Federal Communications Commission's 3-2 vote in favor of so-called "net neutrality" followed an intense debate in Washington pitting backers of online services like Netflix, Twitter and Yelp against big Internet service providers like AT&T and Verizon.

Twitter said Thursday it was ramping up efforts to crack down on impersonation on the messaging platform as well as the leaking of personal, private data.

The announcement came as an update to Twitter's online safety push announced in December.

Google said Wednesday that Gmail is now available in Burmese, marking the 74th language for the popular email service.

"As a country of 53 million, Myanmar's recent opening-up has triggered an explosion of people coming online," Google product manager Brian Kemler said in a blog post.

Google said Wednesday it was launching a reorganization of its European operations in the face of a tougher regulatory environment.

The overhaul was first reported by the Financial Times, citing Matt Brittin, an executive who will head a new unit unifying two separate European divisions.

Marriage therapist Valerie Goss turned on her computer one day and found that all of her data was being held hostage.

Malicious code referred to as "ransomware" had encrypted her files and locked them away. Cyber criminals demanded $500 in hard-to-trace virtual currency Bitcoin to give her the key. The ransom would jump to $1,000 in Bitcoin if Goss took more than a day to pay.

Under the patronage and with the presence of Minister of Telecommunication, Butros Harb, a press conference was held at the Ministry of Telecommunication Wednesday to announce the launching of The Middle East and North Africa’s Online, Mobile and Console Games Conference and Exhibition, MENA Games 2015, set to be organized by International Fairs and Promotions (IFP) Group at Mar Mikhael historical train station in Beirut on March 26 and 27 with the official support of Alfa.

Starting from the promising prospects in the digital market in Lebanon and the region, Harb noted that “the ICT sector in Lebanon is among the fastest growing in the world, with the number of SME’s operating in the sector reaching 800 companies that employ around 5,000 highly specialized developers.

Facebook said Tuesday it has boosted the number of advertisers on the social network to two million as it launched a mobile app for those managing their commercial pitches.

Dan Levy, Facebook's vice president for global marketing and small business, said the number of advertisers has doubled over the past year and a half.