Facebook is ending a feature that allowed users to hide from the social network's billion-plus members.

The feature, akin to Harry Potter's invisibility cloak, will be removed, meaning that someone looking for another Facebook user can more easily find that person.

Eric Schmidt, Google's executive chairman, said Thursday that he respects but disagrees with complaints about his company's privacy policies made by data protection authorities in six European countries.

Schmidt said the Internet search and ad giant has "very broadly communicated" its policies to authorities in the countries where the complaints have been made.

Facebook is getting rid of a privacy feature that let users limit who can find them on the social network.

Facebook Inc. said Thursday that it is removing a setting that controls whether users could be found when people type their name into the website's search bar.

Toyota on Friday unveiled the next generation of cars featuring an auto pilot system that will swerve to avoid collisions and also keep to the middle of the road, all without drivers touching the wheel.

The Japanese giant autos using the self-driving technology could be available on the market in just a few years' time.

BlackBerry co-founder Mike Lazaridis has boosted his stake in the troubled Canadian tech firm with the intention of making an acquisition bid, regulatory documents showed Thursday.

A document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Lazaridis now has eight percent of BlackBerry shares and is working with another co-founder, Douglas Fregin, "to explore the possibility of submitting a potential joint bid" for the group.

Dutch team Nuon on Thursday crossed the finish line in an epic 3,000-kilometer (1,860-mile) solar car race across the Australian outback ahead of Japan's Tokai University, avenging their 2011 defeat.

The World Solar Challenge, first run in 1987 and last held in 2011, set off on Sunday from Darwin in northern Australia with the Dutch team's car Nuna 7 taking 33.05 hours to make the punishing trip to Adelaide.

Samsung's first smartphone with a curved display screen enters the South Korean market on Thursday, as the electronics giant seeks to maintain its lead in the increasingly saturated market.

Galaxy Round -- a 5.7-inch handset with a display that is slightly rounded on both sides -- will hit stores in South Korea by Thursday afternoon, said SK Telecom, the country's top wireless operator that carries the device.

The rapid growth of the digital sector in the Arab region is leading to a surge in demand for top-tier web and mobile developers. Hiring the best has become a priority to be able to build a successful digital company across sectors, from media to advertising to e-commerce.

ArabNet bridges this gap between companies and talented developers in the ArabNet Developer Tournament 2013 – 2014, a regional competition to identify the best web and mobile developers in the Middle East.

Apple is planning to reveal iPad updates at an invitation-only event later this month, the technology news website AllThingsD reported Tuesday.

The next-generation iPad is expected to be thinner than its predecessor and boast improved camera capabilities. An upgraded version of the iPad mini is likely to list an improved screen among its features.

Panasonic will stop making plasma television screens by early next year, a report said Wednesday, as the struggling electronics giant undergoes a huge corporate overhaul.

Japan's leading Nikkei business daily said Panasonic will shutter production at its main plasma screen plant in Amagasaki in western Japan by the end of March as it puts the factory up for sale.