These days, Amazon vacuums up most of the attention when it comes to retail innovation. Voice commerce? Check. Drone delivery? Check. Automated warehouses? Check. But more than any other rival this year, Walmart seems to be challenging Amazon with aggressive efforts meant to show that it, too, is dreaming up new ways for people to …

Google on Tuesday honored Mexican-America singer Selena Quintanilla with her own Google Doodle. The logo placed above every Google search comes out the same day Quintanilla released her first studio album, self-titled “Selena,” in 1989. The Doodle includes a short YouTube video highlighting her life and music. Born in Lake Jackson, Texas, on April 16, 1971, Quintanilla started developing her …

Looking to boost buyers’ confidence in its pricier fashion listings, eBay on Monday officially launched its new eBay Authenticate program. The consignment service, first announced in January, will help people sell their new or used wallets and handbags worth at least $500. People can send these items to specialists who will then authenticate, photograph, list, sell and ship the pieces. On …

Fidget spinners, sarcasm, Sunny D. These are the hip, cool things teens know and love. Now they can add another item to that list: Buying from Amazon. The world’s biggest online store said Wednesday it has created a new feature for families, allowing moms and dads to give their teens more autonomy to purchase goods on Amazon while still under …

A central, driving force for Jony Ive and Apple’s team to create the iPhone was the pedestrian lousiness of cellphones 10 years ago. “When we worked on the iPhone, certainly a significant part of our motivation was the loathing we had for the phones that we were using,” Ive, Apple’s chief design officer, said during a rare public interview at …

Google showed off a slew of new devices at a hardware launch event Wednesday, with its Pixel 2 phone as the headliner. We discuss the new phone, as well as the Google Home Mini and Home Max smart speakers, Pixelbook laptop and a few other gadgets presented. The 3:59 gives you bite-size news and analysis about the top stories of …

Voice shopping with Walmart and Google is officially here. The world’s largest retailer in August said it would start offering a chunk of its inventories for sale on the Google Express shopping site and app, as well as on the Google Home smart speaker through voice shopping. Timed to Google’s hardware launch event Wednesday, Walmart said customers can now start …

If you can’t wait to get Google Lens, you’ll need to pay up for a new Google phone. The search giant said the image-recognition technology will preview on its Pixel phones first, including its new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, which were revealed at a hardware launch event Wednesday. The feature will be built into Google Photos and Google …

For Google‘s new Pixelbook, setting up a hotspot on the go got a lot simpler. At a hardware launch event Wednesday, Google unveiled its new Pixelbook 2-in-1 laptop.  The device can automatically pair with your Pixel phone to offer internet access when no Wi-Fi is available. The company calls the feature “instant tethering” and says it’s easier to use than …

Google is expected to reveal a big slate of new hardware Wednesday, but plenty of those announcements have already leaked. On today’s podcast, we run through a bunch of those expected devices, including the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones, as well as the Google Home Mini smart speaker. Google’s presentation kicks off at 9 a.m. PT/12 p.m. ET, …