Criminal charges were filed Wednesday against six people in what authorities said was a global cyber-crime ring that created fraudulent e-tickets for major concerts and sporting events.

A U.S. patent made public on Tuesday bolstered rumors that Apple has designs on a smartwatch.

"The invention pertains to an electronic wristwatch," said a summary in Apple patent paperwork on record with the U.S. Patent and Trade Office.

Internet titan Google tried last year to buy streaming music service Spotify but backed off for reasons including a whopping price tag, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

The Journal cited an unnamed source as saying that Sweden-based Spotify was asking for more than $10 billion despite being valued about $4 billion in its latest round of equity funding.

The Wall Street Journal took some of its computers housing news graphics offline after they were hacked, publisher Dow Jones & Co said.

People familiar with the matter told the Journal that the move was intended to isolate any possible attacks. 

Facebook on Monday began letting people squirrel away online tidbits such as links to chew on more thoroughly later.

"Now you can save items that you find on Facebook to check out later when you have more time," software engineer Daniel Giambalvo said in a blog post on the leading social network.

Yahoo continued its quest for renewed relevance with the purchase of a startup specializing in analyzing and making money from mobile applications.

Yahoo did not disclose how much it paid for San Francisco-based Flurry, but online reports valued the deal in the hundreds of millions of dollars for the startup founded in 2005.

U.S. prosecutors on Monday unsealed indictments against six people suspected of collectively pirating millions of applications tailored for Android-powered mobile devices.

Criminal charges were leveled at leading members of "piracy groups" SnappzMarket, Appbucket, and  Applanet, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

China is now home to 632 million Internet users, a government agency said Monday, although use of social networks has dropped amid a crackdown.

The Asian giant's Internet population -- defined as those who have gone online at least once in the past six months -- has increased by 14 million since January, according to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).

South Korea's capital Seoul said Monday it planned to ban the smartphone car-hailing service Uber, saying it raised passenger safety issues and threatened the livelihood of licensed taxi drivers.

The Uber app which allows clients to connect directly with "black car" services was launched in Seoul in August last year.

U.S. online giant Amazon unveiled a Netflix-style subscription plan Friday for unlimited access to e-books, a move which could shake up the world of publishing.