Dwarfed by huge jets all around, the mini-plane Thor was nonetheless an eye-catcher at the Berlin air show this week -- the small Airbus marvel is the world's first 3D-printed aircraft.
Windowless, weighing in at just 21 kilos (46 pounds) and less than four meters (13 feet) long, the drone Thor -- short for "Test of High-tech Objectives in Reality" -- resembles a large, white model airplane.

New Russian technologies, including phonecall interception and a facial recognition app, have stirred a fierce debate about privacy and data monitoring.
Infowatch, a Moscow-based IT security company managed by businesswoman Natalya Kasperskaya, found itself in hot water last month after it revealed it had invented a system that companies can use to intercept employees' mobile phone conversations.

The European Union and the United States on Thursday signed a deal to protect personal data transferred across the Atlantic in a bid to fight crime and terrorism.

Reducing errors made during surgery, bringing school books to life, enabling us to browse shops from the comfort of home -- virtual reality is not just about gaming, it will change our lives, according to some tech leaders.
"VR" is the buzz industry at Asia's largest tech fair, Computex, being held in Taiwan's capital Taipei this week. The island is hoping to become a development hub for virtual reality technology.

The global smartphone market is sputtering in 2016, with Apple likely to see its first "down" year for the iPhone, a research report said Wednesday.
Research firm IDC said worldwide smartphone sales will likely increase just 3.1 percent to 1.48 billion units, after 10.5 percent growth last year.

Microsoft is out to use Windows software to do for altered reality what it did for personal computers: make them commonplace.
The US technology giant on Wednesday announced that Windows software already powering a wide range of devices including HoloLens augmented reality headgear is being opened to partners interested in building devices for "mixed reality" experiences.

A knee-high robot designed to help around the house ended up serenading Taiwan's president as Asia's largest tech trade show kicked off Tuesday in Taipei.
The Computex fair comes as Taiwan looks to tech innovation as a way out of economic stagnation, seeking to diversify its reputation as a hardware hub best-known for manufacturing chips.

Indian police said Monday they had asked YouTube and Facebook to block a video poking fun at cricket great Sachin Tendulkar, sparking the country's latest row over freedom of expression.
Comedian Tanmay Bhat posted the clip, which also mocked famous Indian movie singer Lata Mangeshkar, on his Facebook page last week, angering right-wing politicians in Mumbai who complained to police.

Iran has set a one-year deadline for foreign social media to hand over data on their Iranian users, state news agency IRNA said Sunday.
It said the decision was taken on Saturday at a meeting of an Iranian committee on the use of cyberspace headed by President Hassan Rouhani that serves as an IT regulator.

Seducing hyper-connected "Millennials" poses an increasing challenge for luxury brands, which find their markets slowing as young, skeptical consumers force them to rethink strategies.
Goldman Sachs estimates that 92 million Americans are in the Millennial generation -- born between the early 1980s and the 2000s -- surpassing the famed cohort of postwar Baby Boomers who are now approaching a geriatric phase.
