TECH NEWS: RURAL BROADBAND'ONLY ON REQUEST' says GOVERNMENT

Image copyrightGetty Images

Image captionMany farmers are crying out for faster internet connectivity, says the National Farmers' Union

The government will not automatically roll out broadband to those areas of the UK that don't yet have services, it has been confirmed.

TECH NEWS: SPACE INVADERS JOINS GAMING HALL OF FANS

Image copyrightThe Strong Museum

Image captionThis year's six inductees to the Hall of Fame span several decades and devices

Space Invaders has been inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame, almost 40 years after its release.

TECH NEWS: MICROSOFT REMOVED STORE BLOCKING FEATURE

Image copyrightMicrosoft / Windows Store

Image captionThe most popular PC games currently on the UK Windows Store.

Businesses running the professional version of Windows 10 can no longer block access to the Windows Store.

TECH NEWS: BITCOIN CREATOR REVEALS IDENTITY

Media captionAustralian entrepreneur Craig Wright says he is Mr Bitcoin

Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright has publicly identified himself as Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

TECH NEWS: COURT EXPANDS FBI ALONG POWERS

Image copyrightThinkstock

The US Supreme Court has approved a rule change that could allow law enforcement to remotely search computers around the world.

TECH NEWS: MICROSOFT BANISHES GOOGLE FROM CORTANA

Image copyrightGetty Images

Image captionMicrosoft is tying Cortana more closely to Bing and Edge

Microsoft is forcing people to use its Bing search engine with the Cortana digital assistant in Windows 10.

TECH NEWS:CARL ICHAN DROPS APPLE SHARES OVER CHINA FEARS

Image copyrightGetty Images

Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn has sold all his shares in Apple over concerns about the technology firm's prospects in China.

TECH NEWS: US GOVERNMENT DROPS ANOTHER IPHONE CASE

Image copyrightReuters

Image captionApple says it has received 5,000 requests for help gain access to iPhone data in 2015

The US government has dropped a case against Apple that sought to compel the company to provide access to an alleged New York drug dealer's locked iPhone.

TECH NEWS:STEAM SIGNS FILM RENTAL DEAL

Steam, the digital gaming platform, has started offering Hollywood film rentals to users after signing a deal with production studio Lionsgate.

TECH NEWS: APPLE, TWITTER AND FACEBOOK IN SCRUTINY

Image captionOut with the old: Facebook employees see the old Sun Microsystems logo when they head home

Sun Microsystems was a Silicon Valley giant. 

TECH NEWS: FULLSCREEN LAUNCHES YOUTUBE RIVAL

Image copyrightJack and Dean

Image captionDean Dobbs and Jack Howard are two of the popular YouTube stars on the new service

Online talent firm Fullscreen has launched its own subscription video platform to rival YouTube's offering.

TECH NEWS: MILLIONS OF MEXICAN VOTER RECORDS 'WERE ACCESSIBLE ONLINE'

Image copyrightHulton Archive

Image captionVoter records made publicly accessible online have since been removed

A massive database of Mexican voter records was made publicly accessible on the internet, a US security researcher has discovered.

TECH NEWS: BANGLADESH HACK TARGETED BANK SYSTEM

Image copyrightThinkstock

Image captionHackers allegedly targeted the Bangladesh central bank account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York

British defence contractor BAE Systems has claimed bank hackers in Bangladesh targeted software from Swift, a key part of the global financial system.

TECH NEWS: FACEBOOK HACKER DISCOVERS TRACES OF OTHER INTRUDERS

Image copyrightReuters

Image captionFacebook has paid out more than $1m to hackers who have found security bugs on its site

A hacker looking for ways to breach Facebook's internal network has uncovered traces of another hacker who got there first.

TECH NEWS: SAN BERNARDINO PHONE HACK 'COST FBI MORE THAN $1M'

Image copyrightGetty Images

Image captionFBI director James Comey is expected to earn $1.3m over the next seven years and four months

The FBI paid at least $1.3m (£900,000) to hack into the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino killers, it has been estimated.

TECH NEWS: UBER SETTLES OVER EMPLOYEE STATUS ROW

Image copyrightReuters

Image captionUber has been subject to protests from drivers

Taxi-hailing firm Uber has agreed to pay up to $100m (£70m) to settle a US legal action over whether drivers should be classified as employees or independent contractors.

TECH NEWS: $10 ROUTER BLAMED IN BANGLADESH BANK HACK

Image copyrightGetty Images

Image captionBetter network hardware would have helped police investigate the hack attack, say experts

Hackers managed to steal $80m (£56m) from Bangladesh's central bank because it skimped on network hardware and security software, reports Reuters.

TECH NEWS: AD SALES BOOSTS REVENUE FROM GOOGLE PARENT

Image copyrightGetty Images

Alphabet - Google's parent company - has reported a 17% rise in quarterly revenue after strong advertising sales on mobile devices.

TECH NEWS: PEPPER SPRAY UNIVERSITY SAYS SORRY FOR SEARCH MANIPULATION

Image copyrightReuters

Image captionStudents were pepper sprayed by campus police in 2011

The chancellor of a university has apologised over the hiring of a PR firm that promised to bury online search results about the pepper spraying of peaceful protesters.

TECH NEWS: US MULLS TECH TO DISABLE ROGUE DRONES NEAR AIRPORT

Image copyrightPA

Image captionThe Civil Aviation Authority said there have been near misses where drones have been flown close to aircraft

US politicians are considering new legislation that would allow authorities to intercept or shut down drones that get too close to airports.