At a remote spot deep in the French countryside, Britons Bob and Diane Kirkwood have created an eco-friendly refuge that is like taking a step back in time.

Music comes courtesy of an old Decca 66 record player and a selection of 78s. Oil lamps and candles supply the lighting and if you want the Internet you'll have to make the trek into the nearest town.

The United States on Tuesday said it was "deeply concerned" over a sweeping new Internet law in Vietnam which bans bloggers and social media users from sharing news stories online.

The decree, seen as a further crackdown on online freedom in the authoritarian country, says sites such as Facebook and Twitter should only be used "to provide and exchange personal information".

The South Korean government voiced "concern" Monday at a White House decision to overturn a U.S. sales ban imposed on certain Apple products deemed to have infringed a Samsung technology patent.

Saturday's decision by the office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) was widely seen as siding with Apple against the South Korean technology giant in a long-running legal dispute between the two rivals.

Motorola on Thursday introduced a keenly-anticipated Moto X smartphone in a move aimed at reviving the withered mobile device maker bought by Google for $12.5 billion.

The Android-powered phone is the first Motorola smartphone created in collaboration with Google since the Internet titan completed its purchase of Motorola Mobility in May of last year.

Bed bugs, bad service and terrible food used to be inevitable risks when traveling, but a host of online review sites such as Yelp and TripAdvisor are helping savvy consumers pick the best hotels and eat like locals.

The power of good reviews quickly shows up in the cash register, producing a virtuous circle in which business owners bend over backwards to keep them coming.

Afraid there may be peanuts or other allergens hiding in that cookie? Thanks to a cradle and app that turn your smartphone into a handheld biosensor, you may soon be able to run on-the-spot tests for food safety, environmental toxins, medical diagnostics and more.

The handheld biosensor was developed by researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Communist Vietnam is to ban bloggers and social media users from sharing news stories online, under a new decree seen as a further crackdown on online freedom.

Blogs or social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter -- which have become hugely popular over the last few years in the heavily-censored country -- should only be used "to provide and exchange personal information", according to the decree.

Major German publishers have decided to continue allowing Google to display extracts of their articles despite campaigning to tighten copyright rules for online news.

Google has said it will now only display material from publishers who have "opted in" to have free extracts appear on its news page.

If Twitter is the chirping chatterbox of the Internet, trolls are its dark underground denizens.

The collision of the two is driving a debate in Britain about the scale of online hatred and the limits of Internet free speech.

Facebook on Tuesday got into the business of publishing mobile games, offering developers help at going global with smartphone or tablet titles in exchange for a share of revenue.

The leading social network announced a Facebook Mobile Games Publishing pilot program in which it will work with small or medium-sized developers and promote their works in the online community.