When it comes to mobile shopping, so far there's more buzz than buy.

As the number of people who use iPhones and other smartphones grows, companies selling everything from hardware to high fashion are touting all the new applications they're rolling out that enable shoppers to do anything from check a store's inventory while in the dressing room to order prescriptions.

Sony Corp. said Thursday it wants to become the biggest player in Japan's growing Android tablet market by changing the way the devices are used.

The Japanese electronics and entertainment giant unveiled its first tablets to the rest of the world Wednesday, diving into the intense race at home and abroad to catch Apple's iPad.

Netflix's negotiations to keep a key piece of its Internet video library have collapsed, dealing a major blow to the largest U.S. video subscription service as it raises the prices for most of its 25 million customers. The setback triggered a nearly 9 percent drop in Netflix Inc.'s stock price.

Starz Entertainment delivered the bad news Thursday in a terse statement announcing that it won't renew a contract that allows Netflix to show a lineup of recently released movies and TV shows over high-speed Internet connections.

The Obama administration has explained its effort to block AT&T's purchase of T-Mobile USA by saying it will fight mergers that would reduce competition and hurt consumers.

Yet few think the lawsuit the administration filed Wednesday signals a more aggressive stance toward acquisitions in other industries. Rather, experts say, the administration's challenge of AT&T's purchase comes down to this: Telecom is dominated by just a few big companies. Reducing the number of major players could all but kill competition and drive prices up.

Turkmenistan gave away thousands of free Chinese-made laptops to first-grade students who will start school this year, a source in the ministry of education told Agence France Presse on Thursday.

"Around 100,000 first-grade students were given priceless gifts from our honorable president -- computer notebooks for the new school year," the source said.

Facebook is preparing to bolster the programming tools it offers to licensed music services like Rhapsody, Spotify, MOG and Rdio to make it easier for users of the social network to find out what songs their friends are digging.

The tools won't amount to a unique music service on its own, since Facebook has not negotiated licensing deals with major music companies, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Hewlett-Packard said Tuesday it plans one last production run of the TouchPad, which has become a hot seller following a price cut and the announcement the company was killing the tablet computer.

Citing disappointing sales, HP, the world's largest personal computer maker, announced on August 18 that it was ending production of the TouchPad, its rival to Apple's iPad, after just seven weeks on the market.

CNN has acquired Zite, an iPad service that learns about readers' tastes and customizes a digital magazine with stories from hundreds of different websites.

CNN, a cable news channel owned by Time Warner Inc., has no plans to change Zite's format, said K.C. Estenson, general manager of CNN's digital division.

Swedish automaker Volvo Cars says it is joining forces with Germany's Siemens AG in the development of a new line of electric cars.

Volvo, owned by China's Geely Holding Group, says Siemens will make the electric motors that will be fitted into Volvo C30 Electric vehicles.

Streaming movies might not yet have the equivalent of a theater experience, with roaring crowds crunching on popcorn, but they are getting more social.

Hollywood studios have increasingly looked to social media and Facebook, in particular, as a distribution platform. The early inroads have been experimental, but turning social media users into audiences is a bright new hope for a Hollywood looking to counter sagging DVD sales.