According to a new report released by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, smartphone use among US teens - aged between 12 and 17 years - has witnessed a sharp rise; with nearly 37 percent of the US teens using a smartphone to gain access to the Internet.

Computer firm, Xi3 has said that it is now accepting pre-orders for its new Piston mini-PC, which was showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show 2013 earlier this year.

The company is offering a discount of $100 on the price of $999 of Piston. The discount will only be available for early buyers, who will be able to get eh new gadget for $899. The small sized Piston uses the Steam Box's Big Picture feature allowing users to play console style games on their Televisions.

In a recently-released video, senior technology analyst Eric Bleeker has voiced his opinion about the new Strategy Analytics' data which underscores an evident boom in the smartphone market in China.

In a recent revelation via its Google+ page, Internet search giant Google said that it is revamping Gmail for mobile Web and Gmail Offline, which will include many of the new features which the company brought aboard its iPhone and iPad apps in December.

Software giant Microsoft has come up with a new promotion which can be of great benefit to students, particularly those who need Microsoft's apps --- the company is giving the students a `free of charge' six-month trial of its cloud-based app suite, Office 365.

BlackBerry India has confirmed that Managing Director Sunil Dutt, who in recent times presided over the India launch of the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone, has stepped down with immediate effect.

Confirming Mr. Dutt's resignation, a spokesperson for BlackBerry India, said, "I can confirm Sunil Dutt has left his position as Managing Director, BlackBerry India with immediate effect. We wish Sunil well for the future."

New York, Mar 7 : Swedish car manufacturers Volvo has unveiled its new “pedestrian airbag,” which pops up on the outside of the car to protect people who get struck.

The state-of-the-art airbag — which the automobile company just debuted at the Geneva Motor Show — is located right under the hood of the 2013 Volvo V40, the New York Post reported.

It pops out when the car crashes into a person while traveling at speeds between 12 and 30 mph.

That’s the range in which many pedestrians are struck.

London, Mar 7 : German automobile maker Volkswagen’s new XL1 diesel-electric hybrid can cover the distance between London to Leeds in just 4 pounds worth of fuel.

The 800cc engine can take the aerodynamic motor from 0-62mph in 11.9 seconds and its top speed is 99mph, the Sun reported.

Volkswagen spent 1 billion pounds over 15 years to make it as light as possible to improve fuel economy.

The body of the hybrid car is carbon fibre reinforced plastic and the windscreen is the world’s thinnest.

Seoul, March 4 : LG Electronics said Monday that it has sold more than 10 million smartphones based on the high-speed long-term evolution (LTE) technology.

LG's global LTE smartphone sales topped the 10 million mark last week as the company made an aggressive push into the fast- growing fourth-generation (4G) market, according to an e-mailed statement.

The result came as the LTE smartphone market is expected to grow rapidly. According to Strategic Analytics, global shipments of LTE smartphones are forecast to increase to 275 million units this year, reported Xinhua.

London, Mar 3 : Apple’s much-awaited gadget, iWatch, which would be a wearable version of the iPhone, is at least three years away, one of the suppliers of the tech giant has said.

The makers of Willow glass, a flexible material expected to be used in the Apple iWatch, said that their product is not ready for use in such a complex design.

Washington, Feb 27 : Scientists have discovered the secret to becoming popular on micro-blogging site Twitter. C. J. Hutto and colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta examined the content and retweeting fate of tweets sent by 500 non-celebrities over a 15-month period.

They looked for 2800 terms that convey positive and negative emotions, including slang and swear words, a set of emoticons and common acronyms, like LOL.

The keys to success, they found, were to tweet positive messages, write clearly and retweet interesting titbits of news. People who tweeted mostly about themselves didn''t fare so well.

South Korean conglomerate, LG might be planning to launch the new Optimus G smartphone in the Indian market today.

Several reports suggest that the company will launch the new smartphone on February 27. The company confirmed reports by announcing that it would launch the "Next Gen Genius" smartphone in Mumbai. Some suggest that the new LG Optimus G is already listed on the official LG India website, which also reveals that the handset will be available in states including Delhi, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.

San Francisco, Feb 26 : LG Electronics has acquired the webOS mobile operating system technology from US IT giant Hewlett-Packard (HP), the two companies announced.

"LG has entered into a definitive agreement with HP to acquire the source code, associated documentation, engineering talent and related websites associated with webOS," the companies said in a joint press release.

As part of the transaction, LG also will receive licenses under HP's intellectual property for use with its webOS products, reported Xinhua.

London, Feb 23 : Embattled tech firm Nokia will start manufacturing cheaper mobile handsets in a bid to fend off growing competition from Chinese rivals at the lower end of the market, it has emerged.

The new models are due to be unveiled at the Mobile World Congressindustry convention in Barcelona next week.

The move suggests that Nokia is expanding its focus after concentrating in the past two years on catching up with Apple and Samsung in more expensive smartphones, the Telegraph reports.

It was revealed in a Friday announcement by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that mobile device maker HTC has agreed to settle a complaint filed by the commission over the company's alleged failure to take "reasonable steps" for fixing a security flaw in the software that runs on its smartphones and tablets.

In its complaint against HTC, the FTC had alleged that the company had failed to provide adequate security training to its engineering staff, and had also not used "well-known and commonly accepted secure coding practices."

San Francisco, Feb 22 : Google has introduced its own high-end laptop Chromebook Pixel powered by its Chrome operating system.

"With the Pixel, we set out to rethink all elements of a computer in order to design the best laptop possible, especially for power users who have fully embraced the cloud," said Google in its official blog Thursday.

According to the search giant, Chromebook Pixel, with a 4.3-million-pixel touchscreen, has the highest pixel density of any laptop screen on the market today, reported Xinhua.

New York, Feb 22 : Sony hosted a big media event in New York to introduce the PlayStation 4, but the Japanese electronics titan's next-gen gaming system never actually made an appearance during the two-hour presentation.

There was also little in way of technical details and no discussion of the price of the new console, which is supposed to be available in time for the Christmas shopping season.

PlayStation 4 will connect with smart phones and tablets and provide the option of remote play via the PlayStation Vita device.

Various leading figures from the technology sector have launched a multi-million-dollar prize that will be awarded to the scientists who find cures for world's most dangerous diseases.

DRB-Hicom Bhd has said in a filing with the stock exchange that it is planning to acquire a majority stake in Composite Technology Research Malaysia Sdn Bhd (CTRM).

DRB-Hicom will acquire a 96.87 per cent stake in the maker of aircraft composite components from the Ministry of Finance in a deal valued at RM298.3 million, according to the filing. DRB-Hicom's wholly-owned subsidiary, DRB-Hicom Defence Technologies Sdn Bhd will acquire 466.78 million ordinary shares of RM1 each in CTRM.

Washington, Feb 20 : A cutting-edge chip can instantly convert your smartphone snapshots into more realistic, professional-looking ones, an American study says.

Built by the MIT's Microsystems Technology Lab, the chip can instantly create a more realistic or enhanced lighting in a shot without destroying its ambience. The technology could be integrated with any smartphone, tablet computer or digital camera.