Once seen as a silicon valley of the Soviet Union, the tiny Caucasus nation of Armenia is hoping the launch of its first tablet computer and smartphone could kickstart a comeback for the country's tech sector.

Designed -- and soon set to be constructed -- in Armenia, the ArmPhone and ArmTab devices are seen as a key steppingstone as the landlocked state seeks to overcome crippling trade blockades from its neighbors to become an unlikely industry hub.

Chinese telecommunications equipment giant Huawei on Monday pledged to protect cyber security, following reports this month that a U.S. government agency had been secretly tapping the company's networks.

The New York Times and Germany's Der Spiegel said the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) had accessed Huawei's email archive, communications between top company officials and the source code of some of its products.

Watches that connect to your smartphone or even a satellite to ensure perfect time, regardless of where you are in the world, or alert you if you leave your phone behind?

Although not on prominent display they were a hot topic of discussion this past week at Baselworld, the world's largest watch and jewelry fair.

The fiercest rivalry in the world of smartphones is heading back to court this week in the heart of the Silicon Valley, with Apple and Samsung accusing each other, once again, of ripping off designs and features.

The trial will mark the latest round in a long-running series of lawsuits between the two tech giants that underscore a much larger concern about what is allowed to be patented.

Microsoft on Friday scrapped a policy which allowed it to peek at Hotmail messages to plug leaks or investigate intellectual property theft.

The change came after news broke last week that the U.S. technology titan peered into the account of a French blogger who had gotten hold of inside information about Windows software in 2012.

Instagram, the Facebook-owned photo-sharing service, has almost caught up with Twitter's number of U.S. users.

The market research firm eMarketer said in a report Thursday that nearly 35 million people in America accessed Instagram at least once each month as of the end of 2013, a jump of more than 30 percent from a year earlier.

Microsoft unveiled a version of its popular Office software suite for iPad tablets Thursday as the company's new chief moved to expand its "Internet cloud" footprint.

Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella laid out a vision of making the company the master of programs and services offered in the cloud for whatever gadgets people prefer.

Apple is to release its newest iPhone in September, with higher resolution and bigger screens, a report said Friday, its latest salvo in the smartphone wars where it has lost global market share to rivals such as Samsung.

The new handset, expected to be called the iPhone 6, is to come in two versions with a 4.7- or 5.5-inch screen, both bigger than the current four-inch panel, the respected Nikkei business daily said, without citing sources.

Facebook revealed Thursday it has a lab working on using drones, satellites and solar-powered planes to provide web access around the world.

"We've been working on ways to beam Internet to people from the sky," Facebook co-founder and chief Mark Zuckerberg said in a post on the leading social network.

Internet giant Yahoo Japan said Thursday it would buy almost all of domestic telecom company eAccess from its parent Softbank Corp. in a deal valued at around $3.2 billion, or 324 billion yen.

Yahoo Japan, a unit of the Japanese mobile phone and Internet service company Softbank, said the deal was aimed at further growth in its Internet services through smartphones and tablets.