Northern California startup Viewdle on Wednesday released software that lets Android-powered smartphones recognize people's faces.

The free SocialCamera application available at the Android Market or online at viewdle.com/products/mobile was billed as the first of its kind for U.S. smartphone users.

Apple denied that the iPhone has a privacy problem Wednesday — and then promised to fix it. It took the technology giant a week to respond to a brouhaha over how the devices log their owners' movements.

Privacy concerns erupted last week when security researchers said a file found on PCs linked to iPhones allowed them to create maps of the phones' movements for up to a year. Combined with similar questions about Google's Android smartphone software, the news left privacy-conscious smartphone users wondering how much information they were unknowingly giving up.

Sony is warning that hackers stole password, birthday and other data about users of its PlayStation Network that connected PlayStation 3 (PS3) consoles to online games, films and more.

PlayStation Network and Qriocity streaming music service were turned off April 20 in the wake of an "external intrusion," according to Sony spokesman Patrick Seybold.

Facebook on Monday began letting members of cozy cliques formed at the social networking service share website links or photo albums without all their friends knowing about it.

A "Send" button that lets people share website links with selected cadres instead of all Facebook friends was among enhancements being rolled out to a "Groups" feature launched in October of last year.

Japanese electronics and entertainment giant Sony Corp. unveiled its first tablet computers, codenamed S1 and S2, in a direct but belated challenge to Apple's iPad.

The "Sony Tablet" S1 has a single screen and is for home use while the portable S2 has two screens, Sony told a news conference.

Emirati authorities are pushing ahead with plans to impose tighter government restrictions on the most secure BlackBerry service next week, according to the CEO of one of the Gulf nation's phone companies.

But Osman Sultan, chief executive of the telecommunications firm Du, told reporters Monday he doesn't expect the shift May 1 to cause problems for customers, who will still have access to email, Web browsing and messaging services.

Privacy watchdogs are demanding answers from Apple Inc. about why iPhones and iPads are secretly collecting location data on users — records that cellular service providers routinely keep but require a court order to disgorge.

It's not clear if other smartphones and tablet computers are logging such information on their users. And this week's revelation that the Apple devices do wasn't even new — some security experts began warning about the issue a year ago.

Major carmakers' high hopes for electric vehicles are on clear display at the Shanghai auto show, but industry leaders say it could be a decade before such eco-friendly cars go mainstream.

Wary over its growing dependence on foreign oil, China plans to become a world leader in clean-energy vehicles, pledging to invest more than $14 billion by 2020 -- and have five million of them on the road by then.

Scientists on Thursday unveiled a new kind of plastic that can repair itself when exposed to ordinary light.

The miracle material could extend the lifetime and improve the durability of dozens of polymer-based products, ranging from common household items such a bags and storage bins to inner tires and expensive medical equipment, the researchers said.

U.S President Barack Obama faces a debt crisis, angry Republicans, and a hard fight to reelection -- but at least, he noted Wednesday, he got Facebook's youthful founder to dress up.

"My name is Barack Obama, and I'm the guy who got Mark to wear a jacket and tie," the president quipped about Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg to open a campaign-style event at the social media titan's headquarters.