BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) on Monday unveiled a pair of slim, powerful new handsets as their entries in the fiercely competitive smartphone arena.

BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 models to hit the market mid-year will run on a new generation of the Canada-based firm's smartphone operating system.

A U.N. human rights expert has marked World Press Freedom Day by hailing the epoch-making power of the Internet and the role online social networking has played in uprisings in the Middle East.

"As one activist tweeted during the protests in Egypt, 'we use Facebook to schedule the protests, Twitter to coordinate, and YouTube to tell the world'," said Frank La Rue, U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression.

Users of Sony's PlayStation Network will have to change their passwords, the Japanese entertainment and technology giant said Sunday as it looks to boost security after its system was hacked.

Sony apologised for a security breach that compromised millions of users, and said that while it had no evidence that credit card information was stolen it could not rule it out.

The United States, Britain, Australia and Hong Kong are investigating the hacking and theft of personal data from Sony's PlayStation Network, which has 77 million users worldwide, Agence France Presse reported on Saturday.

The PlayStation Network and Qriocity streaming music service were shut down on April 20 after what Sony described as an "external intrusion" and remain offline as the company upgrades security and works with Federal investigators.

The agency in charge of the world's Internet addresses on Thursday appointed veteran hacker Jeff Moss to be its chief of security.

Moss, whose hacker name is Dark Tangent, is the founder of Black Hat computer security conferences as well as an infamous DefCon gathering of hackers that takes place annually in Las Vegas.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics on Thursday showcased an updated version of its Galaxy S smartphone designed to compete against rivals such as Apple amid a legal battle with the U.S. giant.

The world's second-largest mobile phone maker aims to sell at least 10 million Galaxy S2 smartphones after its international debut in early May, said Shin Jong-Kyun, president of the mobile business unit.

Microsoft has warned users of its Xbox Live online gaming service of possible attempts to steal personal data after the Sony PlayStation Network was hacked.

The problem appeared to be restricted to one game, the popular Modern Warfare 2, the U.S. computer giant said.

Northern California startup Viewdle on Wednesday released software that lets Android-powered smartphones recognize people's faces.

The free SocialCamera application available at the Android Market or online at viewdle.com/products/mobile was billed as the first of its kind for U.S. smartphone users.

Apple denied that the iPhone has a privacy problem Wednesday — and then promised to fix it. It took the technology giant a week to respond to a brouhaha over how the devices log their owners' movements.

Privacy concerns erupted last week when security researchers said a file found on PCs linked to iPhones allowed them to create maps of the phones' movements for up to a year. Combined with similar questions about Google's Android smartphone software, the news left privacy-conscious smartphone users wondering how much information they were unknowingly giving up.

Sony is warning that hackers stole password, birthday and other data about users of its PlayStation Network that connected PlayStation 3 (PS3) consoles to online games, films and more.

PlayStation Network and Qriocity streaming music service were turned off April 20 in the wake of an "external intrusion," according to Sony spokesman Patrick Seybold.