Mom was probably right about this: hanging out with the wrong crowd on social networks like Facebook can encourage teens to engage in risky behaviors like drinking and smoking.

A study released Tuesday concludes that teenagers who see friends smoking and drinking alcohol in photographs posted on Facebook and Myspace are more likely to smoke and drink themselves.

Simon Kamau, 26, has been in almost constant pain since he was a playful three-year-old and accidentally pierced his eye with a sharp object, but smartphone technology now offers hope.

His family live in an impoverished part of rural Naivasha in Kenya's Rift Valley region and could not afford the 80-kilometer (50-mile) journey to the nearest specialist hospital, leaving the young Kamau blind in one eye ever since.

U.S. mobile security startup Lookout built on the popularity among smartphone and tablet owners by offering its gadget-defending expertise to businesses.

Since the San Francisco-based startup launched in 2007, the number of people who have installed free Lookout malware-fighting applications on smartphones or tablets has climbed to about 40 million.

Recognizing the increasing importance of the WhatsApp application in Lebanon, touch, the leading Lebanese mobile operator managed by Zain Group, recently launched the WhatsApp Bundle.

The WhatsApp bundle is available for prepaid subscribers at just USD 4 per month and provides 200 MB. Within two weeks from the launch date, the WhatsApp Bundle has reached over 50,000 subscribers, underlying further the popularity of the WhatsApp application in Lebanon.

Smartwatches look set to dominate this year's IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin, which opens Wednesday, stealing the limelight from smart phones and tablet computers.

"One of the big hype products and topics this year for IFA are smart watches," said Annette Zimmermann, analyst at consultancy Gartner.

The secretive anti-graft department of China's ruling Communist Party has launched a website, as Beijing promotes its anti-corruption campaign with a fanfare of publicity.

The website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China officially went online this week, according to a statement posted on www.ccdi.gov.cn.

When Martin Kaellstroem was a young adult, he lost both his parents to cancer. It became a spur for him to seize the day, as a person and an entrepreneur.

The result: A lens with no off-button that captures every moment of your life.

Microsoft on Friday said that a battle to shed light on secret U.S. government requests for Internet user data would play out in court after failed peace talks.

Microsoft and Google filed suits in federal court in June, arguing a right to make public more information about user data requests made under the auspices of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Taiwanese prosecutors are investigating allegations that three employees at leading smartphone maker HTC stole trade secrets to sell to Chinese firms, reports said Saturday.

Investigators Friday searched HTC's research and development centre as well as the suspects' offices and homes after the company accused them of stealing key interface technology, according to the Taipei-based China Times newspaper.

The Lebanese army unveiled on Friday a mobile phone application that will enable direct communication between it and the people given the recent instability in Lebanon.

LAF Shield, available of IOS and Android mobile phone operating systems, allows people to take photographs, record videos, or send messages linked to their security, announced the Army Command.