Data breaches at retailers aren't going away but there are ways consumers can protect themselves from future heists of their payment card information.

Home Depot said Thursday that malicious software lurking in its check-out terminals between April and September affected 56 million debit and credit cards that customers swiped at its stores. Target, Michaels and Neiman Marcus have also been attacked by hackers in the past year.

Apple chief Tim Cook personally kicked off sales of the iPhone 6, joining in "selfies" and shaking hands with customers Friday outside the company's store near his Silicon Valley home.

Cook was dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans as he worked his way from one end to the other of the long queue outside the Apple Store in the city of Palo Alto shortly before it opened.

Smartphone lovers will get to show off moves almost anywhere with the Sept. 25 release of a free "Just Dance Now" game tuned for mobile Internet lifestyles.

The game crafted by Ubisoft's Massive Entertainment studio in Sweden can be played wherever there are smartphones and Internet-connected screens, letting unlimited numbers of players vie for top marks matching choreography set to trendy tunes.

Samsung announced Thursday that its eagerly-anticipated Note 4 "phablet" will be released on October 17.

The South Korean consumer electronics titan credited with being the first major manufacturer to blend tablet and smartphone features said it will begin taking orders for the coming model on Friday, the same day rival Apple launches its new-generation iPhone 6.

Twitpic is being acquired in a deal that will give renewed life to the widely used service for sharing pictures on Twitter.

It is a stark reversal in fortunes after Twitpic said in a blog post early this month that it would be shutting down on September 25 because its bid to trademark its name was being opposed by San Francisco-based Twitter.

It's easy to dismiss Apple's new iPhones as merely catching up to Android.

After all, phones running Google's Android system long have had larger screens. In addition, many Android phones already have the wireless chips that iPhones are getting for making credit card payments without pulling out a card at retail stores.

The scores of new features in Apple's software update for mobile devices can be boiled down to one word: unity.

Many iPhone owners also have iPads and Mac computers, and family members are likely to have Apple devices, too. With the new iOS 8 software for iPhones and iPads, those devices start to act like one. Apps on those devices start to unite, too.

"NBA 2K15" is angling for a slam dunk with an innovative new way to put players in the game.

The developers of the interactive basketball franchise are adding the option for gamers to digitally graft lifelike 3-D renditions of their faces onto virtual players in the series' latest installment, set for Oct. 7. The process uses the camera for either the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One game consoles to create faces for wannabe Kobe Bryants and Kevin Durants.

Control over Alibaba Group will stay in the hands of founder Jack Ma and other company veterans after the Chinese e-commerce giant goes public on the New York Stock Exchange in a record busting share sale.

A group of 27 managers dubbed the "Alibaba Partnership" will have the power to nominate a majority of board members, a structure that was unpalatable to Hong Kong's stock market and resulted in Alibaba deciding to list in New York.

Amazon.com on Wednesday expanded its array of tablets and Kindle e-readers, capping its line-up with a new flagship Fire HDX model boasting 'stunning' display and Dolby Atmos sound.

“The team has packed an incredible amount of technology and innovation into the new Fire HDX...and it’s still startlingly light,” Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos said in a release.