Brazil's record defeat at the hands of Germany in the World Cup semi-final sent Twitter into overdrive, with the social network beating all records of activity for a sporting event.

A total of 35.6 million tweets were sent during the match on Tuesday that saw the Germans thrash Brazil 7-1 -- the host nation's worst loss in its 100-year footballing history.

U.S. technology giant Apple has lost a lawsuit against a Chinese state regulator over patent rights to voice recognition software such as the iPhone's "Siri", a Beijing court said.

The legal battle begun in 2012 when Shanghai-based Zhizhen Network Technology pursued Apple for allegedly infringing its Chinese patent with Siri, its "intelligent personal assistant".

A beta version of hotly-anticipated "Destiny" video game will launch on Internet-linked PlayStation and Xbox consoles this month.

The new science fiction shooter title by the studio known for global hit "Halo" is set for official release in September, but the test run for those who pre-ordered the title promises "a diverse sampling of major activities featured in the full game."

Mobile wallet service Isis is changing its name to distance itself from an acronym used to refer to militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

U.S. telecom companies AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon four years ago teamed together to back Isis, software that takes advantage of near-field communication chips in smartphones to allow people to consumate transactions by tapping mobile devices on sensor-enabled pads at shops.

Spanish firm Let's Gowex, which offers free wifi in public spaces including in Paris and New York, says it will issue a written response Monday to a damaging U.S. report that sent its shares plummeting.

Market regulators suspended Gowex shares Thursday after they dropped 60.2 percent to 7.92 euros in two days following U.S. firm Gotham City Research's highly critical report, which is disputed by Gowex.

The digital age has created a host of new etiquette dilemmas.

What should you do when your boss sends a Facebook friend request? Is it OK to take and share smartphone pictures at a friend's wedding? When should you take off Google Glass, rather than just turn it off?

Internet hackers briefly took over an Israeli army Twitter account, the military said Friday, posting an alarming message that a nuclear facility had been hit by rocket fire.

Israeli news website Ynet posted a screen shot of what it said was the offending tweet.

The scientific journal that published a study by Facebook and two U.S. universities examining people's online mood swings regrets how the social experiment was handled.

In a note of contrition, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that the decision to manipulate the content appearing on the Facebook pages of about 700,000 people without their prior consent may have violated some principles of academic research.

Heavy Twitter use can lead to conflicts and other damaging effects on marriages and romantic relationships, a study said Thursday.

The study followed up on previous research which showed similar impacts for Facebook and raises questions about whether social network use in general is bad for relationships.

More than 70,000 people have already asked Google to delete links about them under Europe's "right to be forgotten" ruling, with some of the world biggest news sites the first to be hit.

The search engine has restricted access to a BBC blog posting and several British newspaper stories under a legal ruling granting people a right to be "forgotten" in search engines, it emerged on Thursday.