The Philippine government faced a barrage of Internet protests on Wednesday as a cybercrime law went into effect that could see people given long jail terms for posting defamatory comments online.

Major news outlets, bloggers, rights activists and other critics turned their social media profile pages black to express their outrage over the law, which also allows the government to close down websites without a warrant.

Robots that can mimic the exact brush strokes of master painters or calligraphers could recreate their work, a Japanese researcher said Tuesday.

"We have been able to teach this robot to successfully copy the brush strokes of a master of calligraphy," said Seiichiro Katsura, an associate professor of system design engineering at Keio University.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. says it has filed a motion with a U.S. court to add Apple's iPhone 5 to their ongoing patent battle.

Samsung says it filed the motion Monday with the California court, alleging that Apple's new phone infringes on eight of its patents.

Russia's dominant search engine Yandex on Monday launched its own Internet browser in the continuing face-off with its American rival Google for supremacy in the growing Russian market.

The browser became available for download at 1300 GMT and offers a relatively minimalist Russian-language interface based on the WebKit platform and Google's Chromium code.

Homes where every device is linked up and can be controlled by smartphone were touted in Japan on Tuesday when Asia's biggest tech fair threw open its doors.

Manufacturers said more and more items -- from ovens to cars -- were now able to integrate thanks to better wireless technology, offering convenience and the chance to save energy.

A voice calls application called MindMeld to be available this month promises to know what iPad users want before they do.

The application, named for the way the character Spock melded minds with other beings in hit classic science fiction television series "Star Trek," analyzes conversations in real-time to anticipate speakers' desires.

Controversial laws punishing Internet users who download pirated files with fines or jail terms came into force in Japan on Monday.

Under the new legislation they could face up to two years in prison or a maximum of two million yen ($25,700) in fines.

Iran on Monday removed online blocks on Gmail but a government Internet filtering committee official said other, additional censorship was being prepared against YouTube, according to reports.

Internet users in Iran found themselves able to freely access their Gmail accounts for the first time since the blocks were suddenly established on September 24.

Sony's new alliance with scandal-tarnished Olympus will focus on producing endoscopes and other surgical tools packed with the Japanese electronic maker's three-dimensional imaging and super-clear "4K" display technologies.

Sony Corp. President Kazuo Hirai said it's not clear when the alliance's first products will become available. He acknowledged that medical equipment requires special regulatory approval that will take longer and be a learning curve for Sony whose expertise is in gadgets and movies.

Paul Ramscar believes his Pink Dollar "app" is a lot more than just another snippet of smartphone software: it is a social game-changer that will help end discrimination against gays and lesbians.

The smartphone application aims to put members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in touch with businesses deemed friendly to sexual minorities in socially conservative Hong Kong.