Apple became the first company to reach a market value of $700 billion Tuesday as shares vaulted amid upbeat news on the U.S. tech giant's gains in the smartphone market and soon-to-arrive smartwatch.

Shares rose 1.9 percent to close at $122.02, lifting Apple's market value to $710 billion, and making it the first company to hit the $700 billion milestone.

A new report says that cheaper, better robots will replace human workers in the world's factories at a faster pace over the next decade, pushing labor costs down 16 percent.

The Boston Consulting Group predicts that investment in industrial robots will grow 10 percent a year in the world's 25-biggest export nations through 2025. That's up from 2 percent to 3 percent a year now. The investment will pay off in lower costs and increased efficiency.

Samsung and Microsoft said Tuesday they had ended a patent dispute that had seen the U.S. software giant sue the South Korean conglomerate for breaching a 2011 licensing contract.

Microsoft had filed its complaint in a court in the U.S. in August, accusing Samsung of withholding payments for the use of patented Microsoft technology in its smartphones and tablets. 

The studio announced Monday that the next chapter of its $4 billion franchise will be co-produced by Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige along with Sony's Amy Pascal for a July 28, 2017, release. Spider-Man will also appear in a Marvel film prior to the stand-alone.

According to the release, other characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, such as Iron Man, Thor and Captain America, may also be integrated into future Spider-Man movies.

Watch what you say in your living room. Samsung's smart TV could be listening. And sharing.

Voice recognition technology in the South Korean company's Internet connected TVs can capture and transmit nearby conversations.

With one year under his belt, Microsoft (NasdaqGS: MSFT - news) chief executive Satya Nadella has made strides in changing the focus of the technology giant that some feared was turning into a dinosaur.

Nadella, who took over from Steve Ballmer in February 2014, has been moving to make Microsoft more relevant in the new tech world led by mobile-focused rivals such as Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) and Google (Xetra: A0B7FY - news) .

Plans to transfer control of Internet overseer ICANN from U.S. hands to a globally representative body could be jeopardized unless a deal is  reached before the 2016 U.S. elections, the group's chief warned Monday.

Fadi Chehade, chief executive of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, said opponents of the new oversight system may be deliberately trying to delay the transition set for September 30.

YouTube will remain blocked in Pakistan 'indefinitely', an official said Saturday, as experts have failed to find a way to filter content deemed offensive and blasphemous in the Muslim majority country.

The video-sharing website has been blocked in Pakistan since September 2012 over its hosting of the "Innocence of Muslims" movie that sparked furious protests around the world.

A cyber security competition began Saturday in Tokyo, with organizers aiming to show off the skills of young Japanese hackers by testing them against international rivals.

The final rounds of the Security Contest 2014, or SECCON, brought together 90 participants in 24 teams from seven nations and regions: China, Japan, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United States.

An update to Google's free online map service on Friday let users become local guides who post reviews of businesses and venues in a challenge to Yelp.

Local Guides was described by Google as a global community of the top reviewers who reap benefits based on how much they post about businesses they visit.