South Korea's Samsung and LG unveiled new smartwatches Thursday with upgraded functions and design as they step up their drive to lead an increasingly competitive market for wearable devices.

The "Gear S" is Samsung's first smartwatch able to make stand-alone phonecalls with built-in 3G alongside Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity.

Two of Canada's largest cable companies teamed up Tuesday to launch an online television service to compete with Netflix, amid fears of dwindling traditional television viewership.

Shomi, the new video-on-demand service launched by Roges Communications and Shaw Communications, will offer subscribers 1,200 movies and 340 television series initially on computers, tablets, smartphones, Xbox 360 game consoles and set top boxes.

At a humble Tokyo laboratory, Godzilla, including the 1954 black-and-white original, is stomping back with a digital makeover that delivers four times the image quality of high definition.

The effort with "4K" technology is carefully removing scratches and discoloration from the films and also unearthing hidden information on the reel-to-reel.

Facebook-owned photo-sharing service Instagram on Tuesday launched an application for capturing time-lapse videos using Apple mobile devices.

The Hyperlapse "app" was designed to let people easily make high-quality time-lapse videos even while moving around with a smartphone, according to Instagram.

U.S. media on Tuesday reported that Snapchat was valued at $10 billion based on funding pumped into the startup by a powerhouse Silicon Valley venture capital firm.

The valuation came from a move by Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers to invest $20 million in Snapchat, according to The Wall Street Journal and technology news website Recode.

Amazon is buying the videogame platform Twitch for $1 billion, bringing it access to millions of people who watch games being played on the site, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

The Journal said the deal is very close to being announced, and would put an end to talks between Google and Twitch, recently reported to be hovering as well around a $1 billion price tag.

Luxury fashion is making inroads in wearable tech as more designers try their hands at developing smart, stylish accessories and clothing aimed at tracking performance and health, or simply making connected lives easier to manage.

"We actually think the fashion industry should be in the driver's seat," Ayse Ildeniz, vice president of business development and strategy for Intel's new devices group, said at a January event in Las Vegas.

LG Electronics Inc. announced two new giant OLED TVs with ultra-high definition screens Monday, sticking with its strategy of using the exceptionally expensive OLED display technology.

The South Korean company said it will ship 65-inch OLED TVs starting September in South Korea, Europe and North America. A 77-inch model will hit shelves later this year.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Friday warned businesses to watch for hackers targeting customer data with malicious computer code like that used against retail giant Target.

A hacker software weapon dubbed Backoff is "compromising a significant number" of businesses large and small, according to an advisory put out by the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT).

Tired of the selfie? Get ready for the "thermie," or as I like to call it, the "hottie." That's when you take a picture of the heat emanating from your body, using an infrared camera that attaches to the back of your iPhone. It sounds unlikely, but it's coming.

Apple stores started selling the $349 FLIR One this week. It puts thermal imaging within reach of people who probably have never considered it before, and it opens up a whole new way of looking at the world. Warm things show up bright on the iPhone screen, while cold things are dark. It's like everything glows with its own light.