Facebook plans to test a mobile payments service that lets users make purchases inside mobile applications using payment information they have added to their account on the social network.

Facebook Inc. said Thursday that it is working on a "very small test" and the company says there is no set schedule for making the service available to users. The service would use payment information that shoppers store on Facebook to automatically complete checkout forms of certain mobile apps. Then, the app would process the purchase.

Smartphones took a majority of mobile phone sales worldwide for the first time in the April-June quarter, a survey showed Wednesday.

The report by the research firm Gartner found smartphone sales totaled 225 million in the second quarter, or 51.8 percent of all mobile phones sold in the period.

Microsoft said Wednesday it was delaying the launch of its new Xbox One console in eight countries, while moving ahead with a November release in 13 others.

In June, Microsoft said it would start selling the new videogame and entertainment console in 21 countries, but on Wednesday acknowledged their plan had been too ambitious.

Thai police asked the operator of the popular "Line" instant messaging app for access to records of online chats, raising concerns about intrusive surveillance despite promising only suspected criminals would be targeted.

Technology Crime Suppression division chief Pisit Paoin said Tuesday that police want to review the data of users they suspect are involved in crimes, including making statements against the Thai monarchy, arms trading, prostitution and drug dealing.

Researchers in the U.S. have put together a robot that can jump and climb.

That could make it particularly useful for military search missions or supply transport.

Having turned print media upside down, the Internet now is disrupting television, forcing broadcasters to adapt to tablets and video-on-demand to hold onto views and advertisers.

"The gap between what consumers want and the way the industry is delivering it has grown so big that the industry now has to start to make some moves," Forrester Research analyst Jim Nail told Agence France Presse.

Brazil has filed a lawsuit against Samsung alleging poor working conditions at a factory in the Amazon and is demanding more than $100 million in damages, the government said Tuesday.

The Ministry of Labor said employees at the factory worked up to 15 hours a day, including 10 hours on their feet, and sometimes for 27 days straight.

Smart phones that respond to signals from plants? Laptops that coordinate irrigation at dozens of vineyards? Remote weather stations programmed to text frost alerts?

Many commercial growers are using laptops, tablets or smart phones to keep costs down and production up. Home gardeners too, if they can afford it.

With its masters required to hone their skills over decades, sushi in Japan is steeped in tradition. But it is also often a high-tech operation where robotic precision steals the limelight from the chef's knife.

The country is dotted with thousands of "kaiten" (revolving) sushi restaurants where raw fish slices atop rice balls travel on conveyer belts along counters waiting to be picked up by diners.

North Korea, one of the most isolated and censored societies on the planet, has unveiled what it says is a domestically-produced smartphone.

Industry analysts say the "Arirang", built around Google's Android OS, is likely manufactured in neighboring China, however.