Google on Tuesday opened a new online shop stocked with digital music, films, books and "apps" for Android mobile gadgets, ramping up its challenge to rivals such as Apple and Amazon.com.

The California Internet titan combined Android Market, Google Music and Google eBookstore in a Google Play "digital entertainment destination" where people can get content and store it free in the Internet "cloud."

Scientists at the world's biggest IT fair unveiled on Tuesday what they hope is the car of the future that can shrink to fit tight parking spaces and pick you up at the touch of a button.

At just 2.10 meters (seven feet) long, the futuristic cobalt-blue two-seater "pod" is not exactly roomy but was pulling in the crowds nevertheless with its extraordinary features.

Twitter on Tuesday launched Arabic, Hebrew, Farsi and Urdu versions of its website, further localizing of the popular one-to-many text messaging service.

Twitter users have long been able to fire off messages, referred to as "tweets," in those languages but will now be able to visit Twitter.com home pages with local-language notices and instructions, a spokeswoman told Agence France Presse.

The Pentagon's main research agency has created the fastest-ever land robot, named "Cheetah," which can gallop at a speed of 18 miles (29 kilometers) per hour, scientists said Tuesday.

The headless robot looks to be about the size of a small dog and is shown running on a treadmill in pictures and video released by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

There is light at hand for those who toil away in a poorly-lit office. Scientists at the CeBIT high-tech fair have developed a system that gives the feeling of working outside under blue skies.

The system, called "virtual sky", uses large flat-screen ceiling panels with 288 tiny light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that can each produce red, blue, green and white -- giving a total of 16 million color combinations.

Apple is expected to reveal a new version of its coveted iPad on Wednesday in its first major media event since the death of legendary founder and beloved pitchman Steve Jobs.

In typical Apple style, the California-based company has offered the scantest of hints as to what it will unveil on the stage of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, igniting a wildfire of rumor in the online technology world.

Anonymous on Monday gave mixed reactions to a U.S. computer security firm's report that backers of the notorious hacker group were suckered into downloading software that steals online banking information.

A message at a Twitter account for YourAnonNews blasted Symantec's findings as "wrong and libelous" while "tweets" from other accounts claiming to be voices from the loosely knit group alerted people to the danger.

Yahoo! is preparing to lay off thousands of workers in a sweeping restructuring being launched less than three months after CEO Scott Thompson took control, according to a report Monday.

The Dow Jones website All Things Digital said the shakeup of the struggling Internet giant could come as early as the end of March and could target Yahoo's public relations and marketing division, research, and region-focused and other marginal businesses.

Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt cast a science-fiction vision of the future as the world's top tech fair opened Monday, with the German IT sector predicting record sales in 2012.

"Think back to 'Star Trek', or my favorite the 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy'. Much of what those writers imagined is now possible," said Schmidt.

IBM on Monday revealed an alliance with the venerable Louvre Museum to use sensors, real-time data analysis and other Internet Age tools to make the museum smarter.

IBM's "building whisperer" has been listening to the Louvre to make the famed Paris museum better at protecting art, saving energy, and staying open for its millions of annual visitors.