Google's attorneys say their long-running practice of electronically scanning the contents of people's Gmail accounts to help sell ads is legal, and have asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to stop the practice.

In a federal court hearing Thursday in San Jose, Google argued that "all users of email must necessarily expect that their emails will be subject to automated processing."

Visitors to Orlando often try new things while on vacation: thrilling roller coasters, luxury hotels, different cuisines.

Now they can try out a fully electric car — and not have to pay for gas during their vacation.

A San Francisco startup said Wednesday it has indexed all public Twitter posts dating back to the first 'tweet' ever fired off seven years ago.

Topsy is making the compendium of tweets available to marketers, businesses and others to "extract meaningful signals from the social media noise."

South Korean electronics giant Samsung on Wednesday unveiled its hotly anticipated smartwatch the Galaxy Gear, which allows users to make calls, receive texts and emails and take photos.

JK Shin, head of Samsung's mobile division, predicted the Galaxy Gear -- effectively a mobile you wear on your wrist -- would become "a new fashion icon through the world" as he launched the device at the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin.

Amid growing fears about online surveillance and data theft, Americans are increasingly taking steps to remove or mask their digital footprints on the Internet, a study showed Thursday.

The Pew Research Center report said 86 percent of U.S. Internet users have taken some steps to avoid online surveillance by other people or organizations.

Yahoo late Wednesday updated its logo with slimmer letters but kept the trademark purple color and exclamation point.

"We wanted a logo that stayed true to our roots (whimsical, purple, with an exclamation point) yet embraced the evolution of our products," Yahoo chief marketing officer Kathy Savitt said in a Tumblr blog post.

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.