Turns out Facebook’s trending topics have involved human influence, not just machines. Documents leaked to The Guardian show that the social-media giant employed a small editorial team, in addition to algorithms, to decide what news should appear in its box of trending topics. The box sits at the top right of Facebook’s desktop page and …

Walmart just ramped up the competition with Amazon — at least when it comes to delivering your packages. The company now guarantees that purchases will be delivered to your home in two days instead of the three it promised before. But this applies only to people who pay $49 for Walmart’s ShippingPass pilot program, an amount that’s down $1 from …

Apple’s got another new partner to make business apps smarter: SAP. The two companies on Thursday unveiled an agreement to tap into SAP’s HANA system (which lets businesses quickly analyze data and make predictions) for new iPhone and iPad apps. The effort involves a new iOS software development kit and “training academy” designed to make it easier for developers to …

The best place to see Apple and Steve Jobs memorabilia may just be…Prague? That claim surprised us, too, but the newly opened Apple Museum in the capitol of the Czech Republic says it has the “biggest private exhibition of Apple’s products in the world.” The museum stocks gadgets, clothing, photographs and other items from eight private collectors, said Cult of …

Nvidia may have just dodged a bullet. The company on Monday said it has reached a settlement with Samsung to end all pending intellectual property litigation in the US. The deal was just in time — the US International Trade Commission was slated to issue a decision later Monday as to whether it would ban Nvidia products from sale in …

This seems to be the week Samsung shows off cool gadgets we’ll probably never get to buy. First it demoed robots that sense emotion and voice-activated light switches. They’re reference designs Samsung hopes customers will build using its Artik chips, not products it will sell on its own. Then it displayed some crazy gadgets — like a virtual reality camera …

When Samsung thinks about the future of virtual reality, what it sees is a star — a Star Trek, to be precise. Injong Rhee, executive vice president and head of R&D for software and services in Samsung’s mobile business, on Wednesday gave some hints about what VR could look like in two to three years. Think holodecks a la Star …

A light switch that you can talk to and that responds to your questions. A robot that shows emotions. A home security system that tells the difference between people and animals. Sounds pretty cool, right? Too bad those smart devices aren’t hitting store shelves anytime soon. The three products are so-called reference designs that Samsung created to show what kind …

Samsung really wants you to make apps tailored for its devices, not just generic Android software. The company this week is making its pitch for why developers should be tweaking their apps to take advantage of features like the S Pen on Samsung’s Note devices or its Gear S2 smartwatch. The biggest reason is simply because Samsung is big in …

Ever forget your debit card but need cash from the ATM? Samsung’s got you covered. If you live in South Korea, that is. Residents of the country will now be able to use Samsung Pay on a Galaxy phone to withdraw cash from an ATM, no debit card needed. For now, that works only with Woori Bank in Korea. Samsung …