Boys dressed as an iPad and an iPod were among the young revelers who stopped by the California home of the late Steve Jobs.

The San Jose Mercury News reports dry ice fog enveloped jack-o'-lanterns and thunder rumbled from hidden speakers outside the Palo Alto home where kids seeking treats have been welcomed for years on Halloween.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague issued a warning on Tuesday to countries that try to restrict Internet freedom as he opened a global conference designed to set up cyberspace "rules of the road".

Government officials, technology firms, NGOs, bloggers and security experts from more than 60 countries are at the two-day talks in London, although the main speaker, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, pulled out at the last minute.

Toyota unveiled its ambitions for high-tech healthcare Tuesday, displaying experimental robots that the auto giant says can lift disabled patients from their hospital beds or help them walk.

The company aims to commercialize products such as its "independent walk assist" device sometime after 2013 — seeking to position itself in an industry with great potential in Japan, one of the world's most rapidly aging nations.

U.S. Internet security firm Symantec on Monday exposed a cyber spying campaign targeting trade secrets at top chemical firms and linked the industrial espionage to a man in China.

At least 48 companies, including some that make advanced materials for military vehicles, were targeted in a campaign Symantec dubbed "Nitro" given the type of information at risk.

Japanese entertainment and electronics giant Sony Corp. is expected to post another quarterly loss when it reports results Wednesday as a strong yen and its struggling TV business drag on its bottomline.

It's been a tough year for Japanese exporters such as Sony, and the latest quarter is likely to reflect ongoing currency-related woes. The yen has hit multiple record highs against the dollar, which has faltered along with the U.S. economy.

Japanese electronics giant Panasonic said Monday it expected to lose $5.3 billion this year as a strong yen and one-off charges would reverse an expected profit.

The company also said it would be shuttering plants and would shifting its procurement and logistics base to Singapore, marking the first time the company's headquarters operations are to be outside Japan.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates coolly parried some harsh criticism from late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, in an interview with ABC television Sunday, saying their professional rivalry was positive.

Gates, who maintained a long rivalry with the Apple innovator, was asked about an authorized biography of Jobs by Walter Isaacson which portrayed Gates as comparatively uninspired as a creative spirit.

YouTube is making a bold step into original programming in an entertainment venture with some 100 content creators, from Madonna to The Wall Street Journal.

The Google Inc.-owned video site said Friday that it's launching more than 100 new video channels. The partners include an array of Hollywood production companies, celebrities and new media groups that will produce mainly niche-oriented videos.

Hewlett-Packard Co.'s stock recovered some of its recent losses Friday as investors applauded a change of heart about the technology conglomerate's previously announced plan to shed its personal computer decision.

The about-face announced late Thursday alleviated concerns that HP would compound its myriad of headaches by selling or spinning off a division that accounts for about one-third of the company's revenue.

Current-season shows on The CW including "The Vampire Diaries" and "Gossip Girl" are coming to Hulu.

The five-year deal announced Friday means that before the end of the year, the online video service will feature shows from five of the largest six broadcasters — ABC, NBC, Fox, The CW, and Univision. The only holdout is CBS.