For many of the game designers showing off their latest creations at the recent Penny Arcade video game expo in Seattle, the push to feature more mature storytelling has been one of their most significant challenges.

"We are changing as a medium," said Richard Dansky, a writer who has worked on several "Tom Clancy" games, in a talk called "You're So Mature! Is Storytelling in Games Coming of Age?"

With its highly awaited product launch next week, Apple is aiming for a new "big thing" as the iconic gadget-maker finds itself under pressure over a celebrity photo theft scandal.

Apple has been customarily tight-lipped ahead of its Tuesday event at a performing arts center where late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs introduced the Macintosh computer 30 years ago.

Google has agreed to issue at least $19 million in refunds to consumers whose children made app purchases from its Google Play store without parental consent, officials said Thursday.

The Federal Trade Commission announced that Google agreed to the settlement to resolve a probe into "unfair" practices by billing consumers for charges by children made within kids' apps since 2011.

Visit any tourist destination, and you're bound to see individuals and groups taking photos of themselves for sharing on social media. It's a declaration to the world that they were there.

Pop stars such as Rihanna and Justin Bieber have helped popularize the trend, too, by posting stylized selfies to their leagues of followers. Even politicians are taking selfies with ordinary folks these days as a way of showing how close they are to voters.

The photo-sharing service Twitpic announced Thursday it was shutting down, saying it faced an ultimatum from Twitter to abandon its trademark or lose access to the messaging service.

Twitpic, launched in 2008, allowed users to post photographs on the messaging platform before Twitter adding its own photo-sharing option in 2011.

Twitter erupted with worry Thursday after word spread that the globally popular messaging service might try to tame its raw stream of real-time posts.

Technology news website Gigaom pieced together comments by Twitter executives and came up with a picture of plans to use computer algorithms to present posts based on relevance rather than freshness.

Apple is ramping up iCloud defenses in the aftermath of hackers swiping nude photos of celebrities from the online digital vault, the Wall Street Journal reported late Thursday.

The Journal quoted Apple chief executive Tim Cook as saying iCloud accounts of film stars including Jennifer Lawrence were looted by hackers who used tactics such as correctly answering security questions to obtain passwords, or tricking victims into revealing user IDs and passwords with ruses referred to as "phishing" scams.

Samsung and other electronics companies used the IFA trade show in Berlin to showcase their holiday lineups.

New smartphones, computerized wristwatches and a virtual-reality headset were among the gadgets announced Wednesday.

From recycled cooking oil to fox meat and chemicals, a litany of food scandals have turned Chinese diners' stomachs, but a new "smart chopsticks" concept by Internet search giant Baidu could put the answer in their hands.

The device, which the firm says can tell consumers whether the food in front of them is safe to eat, was born of an April Fool's video, a spokesman said Thursday.

South Korean giant Samsung unveiled the next generation of its pioneering "phablet" and "smartwatch" gadgets at the IFA consumer electronics fair Wednesday in a bid to keep ahead of arch-rival Apple.

It also surprised technophiles with a virtual reality headset, the Samsung VR.