Android creator Andy Rubin early Tuesday unveiled his vision for the future of consumer devices: Phones with software that’s not consumed with bloatware or extra features from carriers like AT&T or Verizon. Devices in your home that all connect and communicate with each other, regardless of whether they’re made by Apple or Samsung or Google. …

Facebook says it wants to expose you to more news sources. The social network on Wednesday said it revamped its Trending Topics feature — which shows you buzzed-about news stories on Facebook — to include a handful of stories on any given topic. Now, when you click on a trending topic, you’ll see a carousel of stories from different publications …

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, with a nearly religious zeal, has said for years his mission is “making the world more open and connected.” But in the last few weeks, that more open and connected world has led to headlines about violence, murder and, most recently, revenge porn shared on his social network. People have used Facebook Live, the company’s video …

Facebook is trying to make it easier to connect with other people during live broadcasts. Facebook Live, the social network’s livestreaming video service, on Tuesday added two new features. First off, you can chat privately with a friend during a live video, instead of just seeing the public comments on the stream. Right now Facebook is just testing the feature …

Google wants to make it easier for you to share entertainment and other stuff with your family. The search giant on Tuesday announced new ways for people to share things with up to six family members, including on Google apps such as YouTube and note-taking service Keep. On YouTube, you’ll be able to stream live TV with your family members …

Instagram is adding a new feature that groups together different kinds of Stories — strings of videos and pictures that disappear after 24 hours. The Facebook-owned photo sharing app is letting people add content to larger Stories based on locations or hashtags. For example, when you go to the app’s Explore tab, you might see a Story that says “New …

Snapchat made a big mark on augmented reality by putting digital flower crowns on real people. Now Google may make its own mark by showing you digital information about real flowers. On Wednesday, the search giant announced a big push into augmented reality, which overlays digital images on what you’d normally see through a camera. The new technology, announced at …

YouTube is trying to make its virtual reality app more social. Google’s video site announced Thursday at its I/O developer conference that people will be able to watch VR videos together while in its VR app. While you’re in there, you and a small group of friends can sync up videos to watch together simultaneously and talk to each other …

Two years ago, a Google senior vice president named Sundar Pichai flew back to his birth country of India to launch a major new initiative aimed at connecting “the next 5 billion.” He was referring to the vast number of people who did not yet have a smartphone. The effort was called Android One, and the goal was to teach …

Facebook on Wednesday laid out a compelling vision of the future where the physical world blurs with the digital world. With augmented reality, or AR, glasses, which overlay digital graphics on top of what you already see in real life, you could avoid the social pitfalls of forgetting someone’s name. The glasses would show you that person’s name above their …