Electronics giant Sony will invest 50 billion yen ($645 million) in scandal-tainted Olympus, the firms said Friday, as they both look to turn the page on disastrous chapters.

The investment will make cash-bleeding Sony the single biggest shareholder in Olympus, with slightly more than 11 percent of its outstanding stock.

The U.S. military's current fleet of drones will soon be overtaken by a new wave of robots that will be faster, stealthier and smarter -- operating virtually without human intervention, experts say.

The Pentagon is investing heavily in "autonomy" for robotic weapons, with researchers anticipating squadrons of drones in the air, land or sea that would work in tandem with manned machines -- often with a minimum of supervision.

Facebook on Thursday added a feature that lets people send cupcakes, coffee, stuffed animals or other gifts to friends at the social network.

Facebook said it was rolling Gifts out gradually, starting in the United States.

Sleek new PlayStation 3 consoles took their places in U.S. homes on Thursday as Sony tapped into its video game prowess to put itself at the heart of Internet Age entertainment.

The PS3 model that made its U.S. debut was slimmed to be stylishly unobtrusive but featured a beefy 250-gigabyte hard drive to store more films, music, games and other digital content.

Japanese firms on Wednesday showcased incontinence devices that combine a diaper with a personal bidet, removing waste before cleaning and then drying the wearer as they sleep.

A number of companies taking part in this year's International Home Care and Rehabilitation Exhibition in Tokyo had their automatic toilet-cum-washlets on display, aimed at Japan's burgeoning senior care market.

"Angry Birds" maker Rovio is to launch a new title Thursday allowing users to play as the "Bad Piggies" from the smash-hit game, and take revenge on the birds who attacked them with slingshots.

Rovio Asia senior vice president Henri Holm said the new game would be launched in the Taiwanese capital Taipei in the first of a series of global events.

South Korea's LG Display, one of the world's top flat-screen TV makers, said Thursday it had filed a patent infringement suit against Samsung Electronics over the use of advanced displays.

LG Display, a sister firm of LG Electronics, accused Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display of infringing seven of its patents on organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology.

Global sales of so-called smart connected devices -- computers, smartphones and tablets -- rose sharply in the past quarter, driven by smartphones and tablets, a survey showed Wednesday.

The IDC report said shipment reached 267.3 million units in the second quarter, a 27.4 percent increase year-over-year and a 2.8 percent rise from the prior quarter.

Barnes & Noble is rolling out two new versions of its Nook tablet with sleek new hardware and a sharper high-definition screen. The bookseller's move heightens the already intense tablet wars heading into the holiday season.

Barnes & Noble said Wednesday that its new Nook HD will come in two sizes, one with a 7-inch (18-centimeter) screen (measured diagonally), starting at $199, and one with a new 9-inch (23-centimeter) diagonal screen, called the Nook HD+, starting at $269.

California Governor Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed a bill clearing the way for self-driving cars to jockey with human-operated vehicles to test the technology on the state's roads.

"Autonomous vehicles are another example of how California's technological leadership is turning today's science fiction into tomorrow's reality," Brown said during a signing ceremony at the Google campus in Mountain View.