The new Google Wallet app lets shoppers who own Android smartphones pay at the counter with a mere wave at the cash register — and without receiving a pocketful of change in return. It's a sign that the use of smartphones as wallets is finally catching on in America.

The cameras in many new smartphones are becoming so good that they may spell trouble for the average point-and-shoot camera. And in addition to the convenience of carrying one device, they've also streamlined photo sharing.

After Steve Jobs was diagnosed with cancer, he asked Walter Isaacson to write his biography. The new book tells the personal story of the man behind the personal computer — from his childhood in California to his thoughts on family, friends, death and religion.

The "i" prefix began as an abbreviation for the word "Internet," but ended up being much more than that. "By the time i- was fleshed out, Apple had transformed itself from a culty computer-maker to a major religion," says linguist Geoff Nunberg.

The video subscription service reported the biggest exodus in its history — even as the company's earnings rose 65 percent. Netflix lost its luster among consumers and investors by raising prices as much as 60 percent in the U.S. and bungling an attempt to spin off its DVD-by-mail rental service.

Google is teaming up with a Brazilian environmental group to offer a 3-D, on-the-ground view of one of the planet's most remote areas: the hamlet of Tumbira in the center of the Brazilian Amazon. The goal is to show how people in the Amazon live and their efforts to protect the forest.

Fuel convoys are expensive and dangerous, pushing the military to seek out new energy sources. That frequently pairs them with alternative energy startups, which some call risky ventures. For the companies themselves, the chance to work with the military means more investment and a chance to expand.