When HBO rolled out a mockumentary poking fun at high tech this spring, Silicon Valley checked it out.

Initially, its namesake geeks and nerds who spend their days coding, developing and hacking in a red hot tech economy weren't so sure it was funny: "Most startups are a soap opera, but not that kind of soap opera," said Tesla CEO Elon Musk, one of the valley's most charismatic billionaires, after a premiere.

Japan on Monday began test broadcasts of satellite television programs in 4K, as major firms including Sony and Sharp bet on the super high-definition technology to rescue their embattled TV units.

A consortium of major broadcasters, TV manufacturers and communications firms rolled out the test across the country of 128 million, a move that comes with Tokyo's backing as it looks to boost the competitiveness of the world's number three economy.

Samsung announced Monday the launch of a new smartphone based on its own operating system, in a step towards independence from the Google Android platform that dominates its popular handsets.

The Samsung Z, which has been specially developed to run on the Tizen platform, will go on sale in Russia in the third quarter of this year before reaching other markets, Samsung said in a statement. 

Taiwan's leading personal computer maker Acer announced Friday that it will debut its first wearable device at the upcoming Computex trade show before shipping the products later this year. 

Liquid Leap, a one-inch touch-screen smartband with fitness tracking, phone and SMS notification and music control, will be sold together with the Liquid Jade smartphone in selected markets from the third quarter, Acer said. 

Interactive entertainment company Kabam announced Friday that it agreed with film studio Lionsgate to make a title for play on smartphones or tablet computers based on the dystopian books and films.

San Francisco-based Kabam specializes in mobile games that are free-to-play, instead bringing in revenue through tactics such as digital ads or hawking virtual goods or abilities.

Microsoft plans to weigh into the wearable computing market with a smartwatch, Forbes reported Thursday.

The U.S. technology tighten tapped into talent behind its gesture-sensing Kinect accessory for Xbox video game consoles to help make a sensor-loaded smartwatch, according to Forbes.

The workspace of the future is a lot more than a typical office cubicle.

It may be a coffee shop, the living room, an airport terminal, or anywhere technology can provide connections.

Google began late Thursday letting people in Europe formally request to be "forgotten" by the world's leading Internet search service.

The move came just weeks after the European Court of Justice ruled that individuals have the right to have links to information about them deleted from searches under certain circumstances, such as it being outdated or inaccurate.

Health sensors and devices can get better if rival companies work together, Samsung executives said Wednesday.

The South Korean company pushed for a common system so that different manufacturers — from startups to established companies — can interchange key components such as the wristband. It would be similar to how different computers are built using the same processors and memory chips, some of which Samsung makes. The company believes developing such building blocks will speed innovation and get products to market more quickly.

Apple is buying more flair, swagger and song-picking savvy with its $3 billion acquisition of Beats Electronics, a headphone and music streaming specialist founded by rapper Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, one of the first recording executives to roll with the hip-hop culture.

Wednesday's announcement came nearly three weeks after deal negotiations were leaked to the media. It's by far the most expensive acquisition in Apple's 38-year history, a price that the company is paying to counter a threat posed to its iTunes store.