Twitter plans to set up shop in Hong Kong early next year, focusing on ad sales instead of the one-to-many messaging service banned in China.

The San Francisco-based service that has served as a platform for dissent and free speech wants to tap into booming growth in Greater China by selling ads to businesses such as exporters.

Microsoft announced Thursday it was making its Office software suite available for free to users of rival mobile operating systems from Apple and Google.

Users of Apple iPads and other devices and those with Android tablets will be able to use the apps to store documents without a subscription, Microsoft said.

Spanish police arrested 10 people accused of glorifying terrorism and inciting attacks by the Basque group ETA in Twitter and Facebook messages, authorities said Thursday.

The suspects are accused of "using social networks to commit suspected crimes of glorifying terrorism by ETA and of humiliating the victims of terrorism", the interior ministry said in a statement.

Internet retail titan Amazon on Thursday introduced a home virtual assistant always at the ready to answer questions, fetch news, play music or help with to-do lists.

The cloud-based brains referred to as "Alexa" are built into Echo speakers and seen as a challenge to "Siri" virtual assistants in Apple's coveted mobile devices.

The horrific misogynistic abuse of female figures within the video game industry has triggered debate over whether women are being accepted as equal partners in the sector.

Threats of rape, murder and mutilation have forced some women to flee their homes during the ugly two-month saga that has become known under its Twitter hashtag of "GamerGate."

Google (Xetra: A0B7FY - news) search guru Amit Singhal believes the search-engine of the future will be "a perfect personal assistant" -- knowing what you want, when you want it.

Although people can travel to the moon's surface without leaving their armchairs, search-engine developments so far are just "baby steps" to "the holy grail of search", Singhal told AFP in a rare interview.

A proposal to expand the skin color options for emojis may get the thumbs up from those calling for more diversity in the icons.

Emojis are cartoon-like pictograms — such as smiley faces or hearts — that have become popular in texts and online chats to express emotion.

My first reactions to Google's new email app, Inbox, boiled down to one part frustration, one part irritation. It's meant to make your life easier, but it's more complicated to use than Google's Gmail app.

With Inbox, you keep your Gmail email address and contacts. The Inbox app adds organizational tools.

The Swedish co-founder of The Pirate Bay website was hauled to Bangkok Wednesday following his arrest in northeast Thailand, with police from Stockholm waiting to press for his deportation to serve a jail term for copyright infringement.

Fredrik Neij, 36, was stopped late Monday at the border with Laos wearing the same short-sleeved shirt as in a wanted poster issued to immigration officials by the Swedish embassy.

Google search guru Amit Singhal believes the search-engine of the future will be "a perfect personal assistant" -- knowing what you want, when you want it.

Although people can travel to the moon's surface without leaving their armchairs, search-engine developments so far are just "baby steps" to "the holy grail of search", Singhal told AFP in a rare interview.