A look at Top Tracks in Your Network on the Spotify app for Apple’s iOS. Spotify Music-streaming service Spotify is making it a bit easier for its users to find out what their friends are listening to each day. A new feature, called “Top Tracks in Your Network,” has been rolled out to Spotify apps …

Is Microsoft crafting a flagship smartphone? Microsoft Microsoft was close to trying to go head-to-head with Apple’s flagship iPhone 6 with a device codenamed McLaren — if newly leaked images are to be believed. Several photos were published on China-based site Baidu on Thursday showing a rumored flagship Windows Phone smartphone, codenamed McLaren, sitting next to an iPhone 6. Images …

eMarketer The popularity of smartphones will continue to stair-step until they account for the majority of mobile phones worldwide in 2018, according to a new report from research firm eMarketer. In 2016, 2.16 billion smartphones will be in use worldwide, marking the first time the devices have crossed the 2 billion milestone. By contrast, 1.3 billion smartphones were in use …

With the new IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps, such as Passenger+ (pictured), Apple aims to fly deeper into corporate kingdoms. Apple/IBM The partnership between Apple and IBM is starting to bear fruit. The companies, which in July struck a deal to deliver mobile apps to big businesses, on Wednesday released 10 apps as part of the IBM MobileFirst for iOS …

Smartphones — better than beer? Sarah Tew/CNET Some people like to drink, but that doesn’t mean it’s as important to them as surfing the Web from a mobile device. In a study released Wednesday by management-consulting firm Boston Consulting Group, 58 percent of respondents said that they would rather ditch booze for a week than their mobile Internet access. Nearly …

Snapchat has its first chief strategy officer in Imran Khan. Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET Snapchat has just added a new, potentially important member to its team. Imran Khan, the former head of Internet Banking at financial firm Credit Suisse, has been appointed Snapchat’s first chief strategy officer, the social network confirmed Monday to The Wall Street Journal. In his new …

Uber operates a wide range of services around the world, including its low-cost UberX. Uber Ride-sharing service Uber can’t catch a break. Just a day after Uber was banned from India’s capital territory of Delhi after the report of an alleged rape, both Thailand and Spain on Tuesday said Uber’s service is illegally operating in their countries. In Thailand, at …

A limited edition PS4, pictured left, side-by-side with the original Sony PlayStation console released in 1994. Sony The limited-edition PlayStation 4 designed to commemorate 20 years of Sony’s game console has become a big hit on eBay. Over the weekend, one eBay seller manged to sell Sony’s PlayStation 4 20th Anniversary Edition for $20,100 after 34 bids, while a second …

Women’s clothing store Bebe has become the latest retail hacking victim in a breach that exposed credit and debit card information, the company announced on Friday. Between the period of November 8 and November 26, Bebe believes that hackers gained access to its payment-processing systems and were able to nab credit and debit card data. The hackers could get cardholders’ …

Zillow Digs, the real estate aggregator’s new app for home improvement information. Zillow Real-estate search site Zillow has been hit with a lawsuit by a former employee who claims to be a victim of ageism. In a lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California, Jennifer Young, “a forty-one year-old single mother of two” hired …