A new cyberespionage tool linked to the Flame virus has been infecting computers in Lebanon, Iran and elsewhere, security researchers said Monday.

Kaspersky Lab, which was credited with revealing the Flame virus earlier this year, dubbed the new malware "miniFlame," and said it was "a small and highly flexible malicious program designed to steal data and control infected systems during targeted cyber espionage operations."

Taiwan is investigating the alleged theft by two former executives of sensitive technology from leading flat-panel maker AU Optronics and its sale to a Chinese rival, officials said Monday.

The two suspects, identified by their surnames Lien and Wang, were taken into custody and questioned by the Bureau of Investigation last month.

French media and telecom group Vivendi is in talks to merge its embattled mobile and internet unit SFR with cable operator Numericable, news media reported.

According to the Journal du Dimanche on Sunday, Vivendi and Numericable have been in talks for weeks on a deal that would give France a mobile and high-speed internet giant and greatly dilute Vivendi's stake in SFR.

Buyers of tablets that run Microsoft's newest operating system, Windows 8, are in for a pleasant musical surprise: they'll be able to handpick from a selection of millions of songs and stream them for free as long as they put up with an audio ad every 15 minutes.

The new feature, called Xbox Music, is not on offer anywhere else at the moment.

A push to lower music royalties paid by Internet radio has created political disharmony in Washington.

The row began to heat up in September, when a group of lawmakers introduced the Internet Radio Fairness Act to equalize royalty payments paid per song for digital radio, whether it is transmitted over the Internet, cable or satellite.

The decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to the crisis-torn EU on Friday sparked a stunned Twitter backlash, many reacting with derision and anger, although some netizens came to its defense.

"Let's forget about #Malala & peers, brave community workers, prisoners of conscience, & give the Nobel Peace Prize to, drumroll, the EU," one person from Egypt named @RawahBadrawi said.

The United States believes Iran was behind a major cyberattack on Saudi Arabia's state oil company and a Qatari gas firm, a former U.S. official who has worked on cybersecurity issues said Friday.

In a major cybersecurity speech on Thursday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta issued a veiled warning to Tehran that Washington is ready to take preemptive action to protect U.S. computer networks, the former official said.

A news report says federal regulators are moving closer to suing Google over allegations that the company has abused its dominance of Internet search to stifle competition and drive up online advertising prices.

The New York Times reported Friday that staff members at the Federal Trade Commission are preparing to recommend that the agency file an antitrust lawsuit against the search giant.

Apple's widely anticipated unveiling of its "iPad Mini" is expected to come on October 23, the Dow Jones technology website AllThingsD said Friday.

Reports have been swirling for months about the smaller version of the market-leading iPad, but Apple has made no comment.

The digital world is knocking at the classroom door, but it is not simply a matter of shifting from paper to screen, educational experts and interactive content producers warn.

While portable devices such as the smartphone and tablet computer have revolutionized daily life for millions of people by enabling access to the Internet, schools have largely remained untouched by new technology.