Google on Wednesday began allowing users to extend online searches to include messages stored in accounts at Web-based email service Gmail.

"Sometimes the best answer to your question isn't available on the public Web -- it may be contained elsewhere, such as in your email," Google search senior vice president Amit Singhal said in a blog post.

A former Google executive on Wednesday opened an online venue where college graduates with dreams of starting companies can be matched with investors and mentors.

Recent and soon-to-be graduates are invited to pitch entrepreneurial ideas at Upstart.com, which one-time Google Enterprise president Dave Girouard created as way for young people to launch businesses with "crowd funding."

A 17-year-old boy retained his title as America's fastest texter Wednesday in a duel of the thumbs staged before yelling fans in New York's Times Square.

Austin Weirschke took home $50,000 in prize money for the second time in two years when he bested 10 other texting demons in feats of thumb speed, memory and fluency in texting shorthand.

The nation's fastest texters are facing off in the annual LG U.S. National Texting Competition.

Eleven contestants from all over the country are coming to Times Square for the annual competition Wednesday afternoon. The winner gets $50,000. Competitors range from 16 to 24 years old. Last year's champion Austin Weirschke (Wear-Ski) is coming back to defend his title.

Online retail colossus Amazon on Tuesday launched its first online social game in a challenge to Zynga.

The "Living Classics" title was tailored for play at leading social network Facebook, where Zynga rose to stardom.

Applications to let users watch YouTube videos will not be pre-installed on the next generation of iPhones, iPads and iPod devices, in another sign of mounting rivalry between Apple and Google.

People will still be able to watch YouTube videos on Apple's globally popular products by linking to the service through a Web browser, but will not have the viewer software architecture pre-loaded in the unit.

A top Samsung executive testified Monday that he found "very offensive" the suggestion that the South Korean gadget giant ripped-off Apple's market-leading mobile iPhone and iPad devices.

Samsung chief strategy officer Justin Denison's remarks came in response to California-based Apple's bid to convince a U.S. jury that its rival tech giant unabashedly copied hit features from its best-selling products.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics said Tuesday it had launched a super-size version of its Galaxy Note smartphone, the latest salvo in its battle with Apple for the multi-billion-dollar handheld market.

The Galaxy Note 10.1, which went on sale on Monday in Germany and the United Arab Emirates, is almost twice as wide as its predecessor and is almost the size of a tablet.

Lenovo unveiled a lighter, quicker ThinkPad notebook computer on Monday to appeal to customers who like the convenience of tablets and smartphones.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon will go on sale later this month, the Chinese computer maker said.

Shares in Japan's Sharp, which slumped 28 percent at the end of last week after a poor earnings report, fell further Monday after Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision said it would renegotiate a deal to invest in it.

The electronics giant closed down 5.72 percent at 181 yen, its lowest level in four decades, after Friday's tumble caused by the announcement Thursday that it lost $1.77 billion in April-June and warned of a bigger full-year shortfall than first expected.