If you list people’s complaints about virtual reality, they usually include how expensive the headsets can be, how clunky they are to connect by wire to a computer, and how there aren’t enough compelling games and apps. Facebook believes it’s about to make a big dent in all that with its new Oculus Quest. Powered …

Oculus ignited people’s interest in virtual reality when it announced a Kickstarter for the Rift headset in 2012, promising high quality VR for $300.  Fast-forward seven years, after a more than $2 billion acquisition by Facebook and the 2016 release of the Rift, and Oculus is preparing to launch its next-generation VR headsets.  They’re called the Oculus Quest and the …

As if there weren’t enough virtual reality headsets already, game maker Valve is preparing to release its own take on the technology. It may see odd that Valve — whose Steam online game store and popular adventure titles like Half-Life and Portal have made it a household fixture among gamers — is choosing to release its first headset now. The device, called …

Last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced a new direction for his company. Yes, it will still sell iPhones, Macs and AirPods, but now it’ll also focus on the stuff you watch, listen to and play on those devices. Apple TV Plus, a video streaming service; Apple Arcade, a paid package of games; and Apple News Plus, a subscription service …

Before, it was annoying. Now, it’s useless. Microsoft has admitted that one of the great scourges of our time, the password reset rule, is bunk. “When humans are assigned or forced to create passwords that are hard to remember, too often they’ll write them down where others can see them,” Microsoft’s Aaron Margosis said in a blog post Wednesday. Worse, Margosis wrote, …

Hidden not far from downtown Austin, Texas, a research lab is working to change the way we recycle electronics. And it’s being run by Apple. If you don’t know exactly where it is, you’ll definitely miss it. There are no signs. The parking lot is almost empty. There’s an unremarkable door at the bottom of a set of generic cement …

The future of 5G on the iPhone is getting messy. Starting in 2016, Apple used chips from both Intel and Qualcomm to power its iPhone’s modem, connecting it to 4G cellular networks. But in 2018, the company switched entirely to Intel’s wireless chips for its $999 iPhone XS, $1,099 iPhone XS Max and $749 iPhone XR. And it’s believed the …

I see a floating walkway through the opened door of my spacecraft. I pause a moment to get my bearings, then — WHOOSH — I’m hit with the bright light and heat of boiling lava a few feet away. Stormtroopers stand to my right, blaster rifles in hand in case things get messy. Three other people and I had been …

The next time you think of Apple and artificial intelligence, it might be about more than how frustrating Siri can be. The tech giant poached Ian Goodfellow, a high-profile scientist in the artificial intelligence world, from Google last month. CNBC spotted the move when Goodfellow, who helped invent a new approach to the technology, updated his LinkedIn page to indicate he’s …

Valve is known for making hit shooting games like Half-Life and Portal, and the battle strategy game Dota 2. It runs the popular Steam online game store. It’s pioneered new virtual reality technology.  Now Valve appears to be building a headset too. Enlarge Image Valve quietly announced its new Index headset last Friday. Screenshot by CNET The Bellevue, Washington, game …