The Islamic State group is banning private internet access in its Syrian bastion Raqa, forcing residents and even its own fighters to use internet cafes where they can be monitored, activists say.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and activist group Raqa is Being Slaughtered Silently both reported the new restrictions on internet access.

Nearly three months after the launch of Apple's fashionably smart wrist wear, some analysts say it's not a mainstream mega-hit. But others see promise in its popularity with Internet-savvy young people.

Media outlets last week jumped on a study by research firm Slice Intelligence suggesting that, based on a large sampling of email receipts in the United States, orders for Apple Watch have plunged 90 percent since the week that the wearable computing gadget made its debut.

Poland's new ambassador is a scar-faced hit man armed with two swords and potions against monsters and dragons. His name is Geralt, hero of a Polish role-playing video game bewitching the world.

"The Witcher" is the brainchild of Warsaw-based CD Project Red, one of a growing number of cutting-edge Polish IT firms out to dominate global gaming.

Reddit became one of the most visited websites in the world on the backs of users devoted to the online bulletin board where people could post just about anything.

Reddit benefits from a free workforce of volunteers who moderate discussion forums known as "subreddits," on topics running a gamut from science and religion to white supremacy and woman-bashing.

A South Korean intelligence official has been found dead in an apparent suicide amid a growing political scandal over a covert hacking program used by the country's spy agency, police said Sunday.

The 45-year-old from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) was discovered dead in his car Saturday on a mountain road in Yongin, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Seoul.

Yahoo on Friday formally notified U.S. regulators that it is spinning off its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba to an independent new company called Aabaco Holdings.

Aabaco will wind up owning approximately 384 million shares of Alibaba Group, representing an interest of about 15 percent, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Google Inc. revealed Thursday that one of its self-driving car prototypes was involved in an injury accident for the first time.

In the collision, a Lexus SUV that the tech giant outfitted with sensors and cameras was rear-ended in Google's home city of Mountain View, where more than 20 prototypes have been self-maneuvering through traffic.

South Korea's dominant Samsung conglomerate -- run by the country's wealthiest family -- secured shareholder approval Friday for the crucial merger of two affiliates, seeing off a formidable challenge from investor activists led by a combative US hedge fund.

The victory, following a bitterly contested proxy battle, will come as an enormous relief to the Samsung Group's founding Lee family as it seeks to restructure the multi-headed corporation ahead of a generational transfer of power from ailing patriarch Lee Kun-Hee.

Google shares soared on Thursday after the Internet titan beat second quarter earnings expectations by riding hot growth of mobile search and advertising on YouTube.

The Silicon Valley-based company said that second-quarter net income climbed two percent to $3.4 billion on an 11 percent rise in revenue to $17.7 billion.

A dramatic breach at an Italian surveillance company has laid bare the details of government cyberattacks worldwide, putting intelligence chiefs in the hot seat from Cyprus to South Korea. The massive leak has already led to one spymaster's resignation — and pulled back the curtain on espionage in the iPhone age.

More than 1 million emails released online in the wake of the July 5 breach show that Hacking Team sold its spy software to the FBI and to Russian intelligence. It worked with authoritarian governments in the Middle East and pitched to police departments in the American suburbs. It even tried to sell to the Vatican — all while devising a malicious Bible app to infect religiously minded targets.