Samsung Electronics has announced plans to slash the number of smartphone models it issues next year by up to one-third as it tries to cut prices in the face of intense Chinese competition.

The strategy, confirmed by a company spokesman Tuesday, was unveiled during a presentation in New York by the South Korean conglomerate's head of investor relations, Robert Yi.

From nine to five, seven days a week, Robert Schill plays video games while sitting on a plush, brown sofa in central Florida.

Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people watch. His web channel has more than 35 million hits in one year.

A new pop-up shop in the hip Marais district of Paris is giving people the opportunity to immortalize themselves with a tiny printed 3D figurine for the not so tiny price of 230 euros ($286).

The studio, called "Le Moimee Store", hails itself as the world's first specializing in 3D portraits. It allows customers to print a figurine 1/12th their size, in whatever pose they like, wearing their favorite clothes and accessories.

Facebook is preparing a new office version of its social networking site to compete with other sites like LinkedIn, the Financial Times reported on Monday citing sources familiar with the matter.

"Facebook is secretly working on a new website called 'Facebook at Work'" that would allow users to "chat with colleagues, connect with professional contacts and collaborate over documents", it said.

Facebook on Friday said it is making moves to reduce the number of promotional posts that pop up in timelines, in response to users' demands for fewer advertisements.

Beginning in January, people should start seeing fewer posts in news feeds urging them to do things such as buy products, download applications or enter sweepstakes, according to the leading social media titan.

Publisher Hachette and Amazon ended Thursday an acrimonious feud over online book sales that highlighted Amazon's market dominance and fueled protests from leading authors like John Grisham and Stephen King.

After six months in which Amazon clamped down on sales of Hachette Publishing Group books on its website, the two announced a multi-year agreement on ebook and print book sales in the U.S. market.

BlackBerry is expanding its efforts to sell mobile-security software on its rivals' smartphones and tablets to help counter the waning popularity of its own devices.

As part of its strategy outlined Thursday in San Francisco, BlackBerry unveiled several upgrades to its mobile security weapons and a partnership with smartphone market leader Samsung Electronics.

Facebook is once again trying to simplify its privacy policy, largely to address criticisms that it's too complex and lengthy for the average user.

Laid out with illustrations into short subsections, the new policy explains what types of information Facebook collects and how it uses the data. The new policy is 70 percent shorter than the old one.

Panasonic is recalling more than 300,000 rechargeable battery packs used for tablets and laptops in Japan and overseas due to concerns they may catch fire, the company said Thursday.

The electronics giant is recalling more than 107,000 rechargeable battery packs for tablet PCs sold to corporate customers overseas, and almost 208,000 packs for its "Let's Note" laptop computers due to safety concerns.

YouTube on Wednesday introduced a long-rumored subscription music video service with ad-free access to tunes in a challenge to Spotify, Pandora, Apple and others.

YouTube Music Key launched in a test, or beta, mode, in Britain, Spain, Italy, Finland, Portugal, Ireland, and the United States with free trial periods, and introductory monthly fees of $7.99.