Technology, Electronics | featured news

Smarter smartphones? New devices gain ability to learn by touching. There’s a form of extra-sensory perception called psychometry, whose practitioners claim to learn things about objects by touching them. Smartphones set to be released this month by Samsung and Sony will have some of that ability: they’ll learn things when you touch them to pre-programmed “tags.”

The device, running a new version of the Windows operating system, would be the first computer of the company’s own design — and would be aimed squarely at Apple’s iPad.

Nokia says it will slash 10,000 jobs and close plants as the ailing company fights fierce competition, and gave a grim outlook for most of the year, causing its shares to plummet 18 percent to close at €1.83 ($2.30). The Finnish cellphone maker also on Thursday announced personnel changes and said it has agreed to sell its luxury phone brand, Vertu.

Co-founded in 2009 by Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey, Square enables people to accept credit card payments on iPhone, iPad or Android devices... In a move that positions the company for a potential initial public offering, Square has hired former Goldman Sachs and Salesforce.com executive Sarah Friar as chief financial officer.

Multiscreen gaming is emerging as a major trend as consumers increasingly access games through their PCs, consoles, tablets and smartphones.

As much as we're used to companies offering big teasers for their future devices, it's still rare that they put the revelation itself under our control. Sony's trying just that: its mobile division's Facebook page is promising a new Xperia phone whose unveiling date is contingent on how many people "fast forward" the unveiling date from its original June 22nd.

In Steve Jobs fashion, Apple CEO Tim Cook kicked off the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco with a handful of key stats about its app ecosystem, which Cook called “an economy in itself.”

Software for the Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, dubbed iOS 6, is expected to be announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

U.S. Circuit Court Judge Richard Posner has tentatively decided to dismiss the ongoing patent litigation between Apple and Google’s newly acquired Motorola Mobility unit, the Wall Street Journal reports. A trial in the case had been scheduled to start Monday.

The company’s founder, Richard Schulze, said he was leaving the board immediately and also said he was looking to sell his 20.1 percent stake in the retailer, worth about $1.3 billion.