Sony Corp. is taking a deeper dive into ultrahigh-definition video as it comes out Friday with "After Earth," the first of Sony's three movies this year both shot and presented in the emerging 4K digital format. At a screening for journalists, I got a close-up look at even the pores on Will Smith's face as details were rendered with greater clarity on the big screen.

Sony and other consumer electronics makers are betting that 4K images will become the new standard, prompting consumers to buy fancier TVs just as they did when high definition, or HD, rolled out over the past decade. It could also entice more people to buy movie tickets to see for themselves what the super-clear format is like.

China is looking forward to "even-tempered talks" on cybersecurity when a Chinese military delegation meets with U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel over the weekend, the Foreign Ministry said Friday, as Washington continues to press Beijing over the issue ahead of a summit next week.

Ministry spokesman Hong Lei repeated Beijing's hopes for longer-term cooperation over hacking threats that have increasingly dominated discussions over what many see as a bilateral relationship adrift. Cyberspying is expected to feature high on the agenda at the June 7-8 meeting at a California retreat between President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

While Google prepares to release eyewear that provides a window to the Web, a startup on the edge of its campus is readying glasses that overlay the Internet on the world in 3D.

Atheer Labs on Thursday provided the first public look at prototype eyewear that lets people manipulate virtual objects, maps and more in the air in a style reminiscent of a scene in the film "Minority Report."

Microsoft unveiled an update to its latest Windows operating system Thursday that included a return of a "Start" button that had been missed by longtime users of the computer software.

The tweaked version of the operating system, nicknamed Windows Blue, will be previewed on June 26 and will be a free update for users of Windows 8.1, according to the Redmond, Washington-based technology titan.

Microsoft is trying to fix what it got wrong with its radical makeover of Windows. It's making the operating system easier to navigate and enabling users to set up the software so it starts in a more familiar format designed for personal computers.

The revisions to Windows 8 will be released later this year. The free update, called Windows 8.1, represents Microsoft's concessions to long-time customers taken aback by the dramatic changes to an operating system that had become a staple in households and offices around the world during the past 20 years.

Apple is easing its dependence on contract electronics colossus Foxconn by enlisting Pegatron to assemble a low-cost iPhone it is planning, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Taiwan-based Foxconn had the enviable position of cranking out nearly all of the California company's iPhones and iPad tablet computers but Apple chief Tim Cook is moving to diversify the supply chain, according to the Journal.

Americans pay more for their cell service than Europeans, but they're getting a lot more use out of their phones, a global wireless trade group said Wednesday.

The GSM Association urged European regulators to take cues from the U.S. It pointed out that U.S. consumers talk five times as much as Europeans on their cellphones and use twice as much data. AT&T and Verizon Wireless also have the lead in introducing the latest network technology, which means average data downloads are 75 percent faster in the U.S., the group found.

Cellphone pioneer Motorola says it's opening a manufacturing facility that will produce the first smartphone ever assembled in the U.S. — its new flagship device, Moto X.

The Texas site was once used by fellow phone manufacturer Nokia, meaning it was designed to produce mobile devices, said Will Moss, a spokesman for Motorola Mobility, which is owned by Google.

Using the Internet to spy and steal sensitive data is standard practice by all countries, according to the security chief of controversial Chinese telecoms giant Huawei.

The comments published Wednesday follow allegations that Chinese hackers gained access to secret designs for a slew of sophisticated U.S. weapons programs, and stole the blueprints for Australia's new intelligence agency headquarters.

Apple chief Tim Cook on Tuesday said he sees promise in computers shrunk down and worn like watches or other accessories, but drew the line at Internet-linked eyewear such as Google Glass.

Google Glass is "not likely to be a mass market item" but Apple is "incredibly interested" in the broader area of wearable computing, Cook said in an on-stage interview at an AllThingsD conference in California.