U.S. videogame titan Electronic Arts (EA) on Monday released a version of word game Scrabble that people can play together whether they are using Apple devices, Android gadgets, or Facebook.
Scrabble Free broke from the pattern of limiting adversaries to folks using similar operating platforms, such as iPhone versus iPad or Android Smartphone versus a tablet computer also running on the Google-backed operating software.

Berlin's oldest university says it is partnering with Google and three German institutions to start a research institute.
Humboldt University announced Monday that the institute would open in the fall and examine the evolution of the Internet and its impact on society, science, politics and the economy.

Videogame powerhouse 1C Company is tapping into history with action titles that show who the good guys are in a battle can depend on which army is being asked.
Russian spies, prisoners, and Vietcong military advisers are among the heroes in videogames 1C will be releasing in a market accustomed to seeing conflicts through the eyes of U.S. forces.

Syrian security forces use tanks, bullets and tear gas against anti-regime protesters by day, but by night they are stealthier, targeting dissent using the opposition's own weapon, the Internet.
Demonstrators use social networking sites, notably Facebook and YouTube, to whip up support for protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule, and also to broadcast footage they say is of the authorities' ensuing crackdown.

For Charles Pillitteri, the fight against fraudsters began when he discovered fake bottles of his Canadian ice wine in Taiwan in 1998.
He tried everything to safeguard his product from counterfeiting, from 22-carat gold to invisible ink, only to realise that none would protect the consumer at point of purchase.

The steady hum of chatter and the clickety-clack of computer keyboards makes it sound like any other call center but at this Warsaw market research firm, blindness is no barrier to employment.
The operation runs so smoothly that people on the other end of the phone line have no idea that they're dealing with the visually impaired.

Apple on Friday said it was working to patch a vulnerability that hackers could use to break into the company's popular iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch gadgets.
Engineers at the California firm are fixing a weakness pointed out by the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI).

Video-game publishers seem to believe their audience would rather risk sunburn than have fun in air-conditioned comfort, so you won't find many major new games in stores during the summer. But that doesn't mean there's nothing new out there — and you don't need to search any further than the online services Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Store.
One studio that's made a big impression in the download-only market is Double Fine Productions, led by industry legend Tim Schafer. Its new release is called "Trenched" (Microsoft, for Xbox 360, $15), and it's a witty mash-up of the third-person shooter and tower defense genres.

The Washington Post said Thursday that a hacker had gained access to nearly 1.3 million email addresses and user IDs on its online jobs section.
The Post said no passwords or other personal data were compromised in the attack on the jobs section of WashingtonPost.com which occurred last week.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff inaugurated Thursday the first cable car of the notoriously crime-ridden Complexo do Alemao, as Rio prepares to revamp the slums ahead of world sport meets.
Since 2008, Brazil's second-largest city has been racing against the clock to improve security and infrastructure in its shantytowns before hosting the 2014 World Cup and the Olympic Games in 2016.
