Crime fighters have long used brains and brawn, but now a new kind of technology known as "predictive policing" promises to make them more efficient.

A growing number of law enforcement agencies, in the U.S. and elsewhere, have been adopting software tools with predictive analytics, based on algorithms that aim to predict crimes before they happen.

Hackers at an infamous Def Con gathering on Sunday were shown how to easily slip into computer networks through some routers made by Chinese electronics colossus Huawei Technologies.

"For the 20th anniversary of Def Con the gift is China," Recurity Labs chief Felix "FX" Lindner said as he opened his presentation.

A custom mobile phone network came to life in the middle of Def Con as hackers showed off their technology skills in tribute to the infamous gathering's elite "ninjas."

A Def Con team bought a telecom company van and configured a "Ninja Tel" cellular phone network to pay homage to longtime hackers who have kept the spirit of the event alive and, admittedly, just to do something "over the top."

Computer and smartphone maker Apple has been discussing with social media company Twitter the possibility of making a significant investment in it, The New York Times reported late Friday.

Citing unnamed "people briefed on the matter," the newspaper said Apple was considering investing into Twitter hundreds of millions of dollars, which could increase Twitter's valuation from $8.4 billion to more than $10 billion.

Apple and Samsung are set to square off in a California court Monday in what is seen as the biggest patent U.S. trial in recent memory.

Apple is seeking more than $2.5 billion in a case accusing the South Korean firm of copying designs and other patents from the iPhone and iPad maker in the trial in San Jose, California, federal court.

Facebook's stock hit a new low Friday after it reported lukewarm second-quarter results and didn't give an outlook for the coming months.

The stock fell $2.88, or nearly 11 percent, to $23.97 in afternoon trading Friday, after earlier trading as low as $22.28.

Google on Thursday unveiled an ultrafast Web service along with an Internet television subscription in the Kansas City area as part of a pilot project to boost broadband speeds.

The Google Fiber superfast broadband network will be available starting in September, with one-gigabyte per second speeds -- about 100 times faster than most current Internet subscriptions.

Apple pitched security measures in its mobile gadgets on Thursday during its first presentation at a premier gathering of hackers and that intent on thwarting cyber attacks.

The unprecedented talk by Apple head of software platform security Dallas De Atley at the 15th annual Black Hat conference in Las Vegas came as hackers increasingly target smartphones at the heart of Internet Age lifestyles.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics Friday posted a record net profit of 5.19 trillion won ($4.53 billion) in the second quarter, powered by strong smartphone sales despite the global downturn.

The company, the world's biggest technology firm in revenue terms, also reported a record operating profit in April-June of 6.72 trillion won.

A freak double failure in its data centers took Twitter down for around an hour Thursday, leaving millions without updates from friends, celebrities and news providers a day ahead of the Olympics.

"We are sorry," said Mazen Rawashdeh, Twitter's vice president of engineering, in a message on the company's support blog.