Americans waited until the last minute to buy holiday gifts, but retailers weren't prepared for the spike.

Heavy spending in the final days of the mostly lackluster season sent sales up 3.5 percent between Nov. 1 and Tuesday, according to MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, which tracks payments but doesn't give dollar figures.

Amazon Thursday said it would give $20 gift cards and pay shipping costs for customers affected by problems at UPS and FedEx that delayed some Christmas package deliveries.

The Amazon pledge came after UPS in particular came under fire for late packages despite vows from retailers to meet a December 25 deadline.

Taiwanese authorities on Wednesday slapped a fine of Tw$20 million ($667,000) on U.S tech giant Apple for violating a fair trade law over .local iPhone pricing.

The Fair Trade Commission said an Apple unit in charge of Taiwan sales had interfered in the pricing and mobile phone payment rates of three local telecom service providers, despite selling them the distribution rights to the phones.

If you are on the road and want to watch live TV and recorded shows on your phone or tablet, there aren't many easy options.

Although services such as Hulu let you watch television shows over the Internet, new episodes aren't typically available until the day after they air. Your cable or satellite TV provider may offer apps for watching, but the channels offered vary from provider to provider, and trying to figure out what's available when or where can be frustrating.

Apple and China Mobile announced a long-anticipated agreement Monday to bring the iPhone to the world's biggest phone company.

The deal might help to boost iPhone sales in a market where Apple Inc. faces intense competition. The iPhone already is available in China through two smaller carriers but the latest deal links it with a bigger network and state-owned China Mobile Ltd.'s marketing power.

AT&T said Friday it would join rivals in the tech and telecom sector in publishing a "transparency report" about demands for information from law enforcement agencies.

The announcement came a day after a similar announcement from sector rival Verizon, which follow releases from big technology firms including Google, Apple and Microsoft, and intense scrutiny of these firms in light of revelations of wide-ranging U.S. government surveillance programs.

It's tough to shop for techies. They already own everything with a plug or rechargeable battery. But fear not, a slew of unique technology gifts have hit the market just in time for Christmas.

Here's a roundup of some of the season's most offbeat offerings. While these items may seem a bit wacky and bizarre, it's doubtful that the tech enthusiasts in your life own anything similar.

The world's first robot astronaut has begun chatting to the Japanese commander of the International Space Station, in what was being billed as the first conversation of its kind.

Kirobo, a pint-sized android equipped with artificial intelligence and capable of learning how to respond appropriately to humans, even put a marker down for Christmas, telling Koichi Wakata he expected a visit from a certain man bearing gifts.

U.S. Internet users are far more worried about computer hacking and theft of personal information than about online privacy and tracking by marketers, a poll showed Friday.

The survey conducted for the Computer & Communications Industry Association found that Internet users are most concerned about the theft of personal and financial information and believe that the federal government should do more to protect them.

A Japanese researcher on Friday unveiled an invention that instantly and wirelessly transmits force between two devices, in a development that could allow physical therapists to treat patients remotely.

Kouhei Ohnishi said his "force transceiver" permits two-way communication of the amount of pressure being applied and the resistance it is encountering in real time.