Google on Monday made it simpler for people using its popular online services to manage privacy, in a move aimed at bolstering trust.

"Everyday, we make choices that affect our privacy and security online," Google account controls and settings product manager Guemmy Kim said in a blog post.

Godzillas galore, including last year's Hollywood version, stomp on buildings, thrashing about and breathing fire, in a video game going on sale globally mid-July. But don't expect any references to radiation, the mutant reptile's trademark affliction.

Simply named "Godzilla," it's the first video game devoted to the irradiated creature in a decade. It's also the first such game for the Sony Corp. PlayStation 4 home machine, ensuring dazzling digital graphics.

Before the National Security Agency began complaining about being shut out of encrypted devices, it helped develop software for secure communications that could be adapted by the private sector.

That technology is hitting the public this month in the form of a smartphone application called Scrambl3 from a California startup which claims its "dark Internet tunnel" thwarts snooping on voice calls and messages.

Hackers pose a real danger to self-driving vehicles, U.S. experts are warning, and carmakers and insurers are starting to factor in the risk.

Expected on the road by 2020 or even sooner, driverless cars should have a wide range of cutting-edge technologies such as electronic sensors -- a group of cameras, radar, sonar and LiDAR (light detection and ranging) -- commanded remotely using software that senses road widths, identifies signs and even roadblocks.

The news remains mostly bleak for the American newspaper industry, struggling over the past decade to adapt to the new digital landscape.

The sale of the San Diego Union-Tribune in early May for $85 million underscored the horrific slump in the value of "old media" companies in recent years.

Snapchat on Friday informed U.S. regulators that it has raised $537 million in a new round of equity funding that could climb as high as $650 million.

The vanishing-message service did not disclose who bought stakes in the Los Angeles-based company, which came at a price estimated to give Snapchat a value of more than $15 billion, according to media reports.

Google announced Friday that it is working with iconic US jean maker Levi Strauss to make clothing from specially woven fabric with touch-screen control capabilities.

The Internet titan used its annual developers conference in San Francisco to reveal its so-called Project Jacquard and to spotlight Levi Strauss as its first partner.

Apple has bought a company that makes augmented-reality software, which adds information or images to real-world scenes when viewed through a special headset or even a smartphone camera.

It's the latest sign that major tech companies see big potential for products that let users view the world with extra features added by technology. Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft are all working on augmented- or virtual-reality products. Augmented reality can add hand-drawn sketches, navigational directions, historic video or computer-generated, three-dimensional images to a real-world scene. Virtual reality can make viewers feel as if they are immersed in an artificial world.

Google's updated Android mobile software seeks to make the smartphone smarter, while keeping the search titan relevant in a world where people rely on apps on the go.

At its annual Google developers conference Thursday, Google offered a preview of Android M, due for release later this year, with an upgraded version of "Google Now," the voice-activated assistant which competes with rivals like Apple's Siri and Microsoft's Cortana.

A newly-discovered glitch in Apple's software can cause iPhones to mysteriously shut down when they receive a certain text message.

Apple says it's aware of the problem and is working on a fix. But some pranksters are sharing information about the glitch on social media and using it to crash other peoples' phones.