In 2016, people had two colors on their minds: green and purple. The two biggest queries of the year on Google’s search engine were “Powerball” and “Prince,” according to Google itself. The company said Wednesday those were the “top trending” topics on Google, meaning they had the highest spike in traffic over a certain period …

Will you be able to watch your next favorite show right on Facebook? The world’s largest social network said Wednesday that it’s exploring funding some of its own original video content. That includes various kinds of programming, including scripted and unscripted content and sports, Ricky Van Veen, Facebook’s head of global creative strategy, said in a statement. He said the …

Oculus is shaking things up. Brendan Iribe, CEO of the Facebook-owned virtual reality company, said Tuesday he’s leaving the top job to lead a new division within the company. Oculus will be split into two groups: one focused on developing VR that’s powered by personal computers, and one for VR that’s powered by mobile phones. Iribe said he’ll be leading …

Facebook wants you to step inside live videos. The social network on Monday announced plans to release a 360-degree live video feature. That means viewers will be able to look up, down and around in videos that are being streamed live on Facebook. Live video has been crucial for Facebook as the social network tries to get people to spend …

When MTV launched on August 1, 1981, the world watched a now classic video: A rocket sits ready to blast off from its launchpad as a voice from NASA Mission Control counts down to T-minus one. The voice-over fades, the rocket fires and we cut to an astronaut planting a flag with the network’s logo on the moon’s surface. “Ladies …

When you want answers fast, chances are you think of Google: What’s the name of Prince’s third album? How tall is the Empire State Building? How long is a flight from San Francisco to New Orleans? That seemingly infinite breadth of knowledge made Google one of the most powerful companies on the planet. Now, the internet giant is hoping that …

In Google’s version of the future, a drone could deliver your pizza. The search giant’s parent company, Alphabet, is considering the launch of a drone delivery endeavor, called Wing Marketplace, for shuttling food through the air to consumers, according to a report Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal. The company has met with Domino’s Pizza and grocer Whole Foods as …

Remember when the internet went crazy over Adele rapping to Nicki Minaj’s verse on the Kanye West track “Monster”? Of course you do. Because the video, from the “Carpool Karaoke” segment on “The Late Late Show with James Corden,” was YouTube’s top trending video this year. That’s according to the Google-owned video site itself, which on Tuesday evening released its …

Google is trying to reinvent the emergency contact form for the smartphone era. The search giant on Monday unveiled a new app called Trusted Contacts, which aims to keep you safe in dicey situations — anything from a natural disaster to a walk home on a dark street. The app, only available for now on phones running Google’s Android mobile …

If you’re obsessed with “Westworld” or “Ex Machina,” you might be preparing for humankind’s impending doom. You know, the dawn of artificial intelligence. Facebook has this advice: Take a deep breath. The social network on Thursday launched a campaign aimed at demystifying AI by educating people on the basics of how it works. In a handful of short videos, Facebook …