Close on the heels of its last-week announcement about having detected what it termed as the Android. Counterclank "threat" involving the most widespread fraction of Android malware, Symantec has now retracted the `malware' claims to align with a much hushed assessment of the threat by Lookout Mobile Security.

In a recent announcement in London, Pentax officially unveiled its new high-end and compact digital camera, the Pentax K-01, which is reportedly equipped with the world's thinnest fixed focal lens; and is the first camera to be designed by Marc Newson.

According to reports, a 23-year-old British student named Kieron Scott-Woodhouse - a full-time product design student at Middlesex University - is preparing to release a smartphone dubbed ADzero, which will be encased in bamboo.

Watchdog group SumOfUs has put up a new online petition in which it has demanded that Apple's next-generation iPhone - which is widely referred to as the iPhone 5 - should be the "the first ethical iPhone"; thereby hinting that the iPhone-maker should take necessary measures to clean up its act in its overseas iPhone manufacturing factories like Foxconn.

According to the latest statistics released by research firm Canalys, the 2011 fourth quarter witnessed Apple surpassing Hewlett-Packard (HP) to emerge at the top-notch position among the PC makers. However, the research firm's counting of PCs also included tablet computers.

Adding to the woes of the struggling BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion (RIM) is the fact that the company's most recent publicity stunts have fallen flat, and have drawn the people's attention for wrong reasons.

In an earlier this week announcement, Verizon had said that it will make the much-hyped Motorola Droid Razr Maxx available for purchase, both online as well as in Verizon stores, on January 26.