The Oculus Rift S virtual reality headset will go on sale May 21 in the Microsoft Store for $399.  A page in the Microsoft Store listed the VR headset as available for preorder Tuesday, then listed it as out of stock. And then the page became “unavailable.” The Microsoft Store page listed the release date …

How does Facebook affect elections? Sixty academics are getting the chance to find out.  The social media giant is opening up its privacy-protected data to researchers from 30 academic institutions across 11 countries, according to a Facebook post on Monday. The data spans from January 2017 to February 2019. The researchers were chosen by Facebook’s partners at Social Science One and the Social …

As the old saying goes, if you want something done right, do it yourself. Michael Legget, a former design lead for Google who now works for Nori, has put that into practice when it comes to Gmail’s interface. Scrolling through his inbox was “like Lucky Charms got spewed all over the screen,” he told Fast Company in an interview published Thursday. To …

Google wants you to get lost, not literally, exploring Earth. The latest update to Google Earth Timelapse adds mobile support, letting you use your phone or tablet to see how the world has changed from 1984 to 2018. The update also added visual upgrades to make exploring more accessible, said Chris Herwig, Geo Data Engineer at Google Earth Outreach, in …

Apple is recalling its wall plug adapters in Hong Kong, Singapore and the United Kingdom, according to a release published Thursday. The three-pronged adapter could break in some cases, according to Apple, and shock the user if it’s touched. Apple said its aware of six incidents worldwide. The company said the recall doesn’t pertain to Apple USB power adapters. The …

Review units of the highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy Fold began malfunctioning last week — right before its official (and now-delayed) release. An iFixit teardown, released Wednesday, found some possible explanations for what’s going wrong with the $1,980 foldable phone. Now those findings are gone.  The site on Thursday said it’s pulled its Galaxy Fold teardown, at the request of Samsung. You can still read …

Ever wanted to take Kelly Kapowski to homecoming, survive detention with John Bender or test your detective skills with the Law & Order crew? Series: Your Story Universe, NBCUniversal’s new app, lets you play episodes of your favorite shows and movies and determine the outcome. Choose and customize your character to play different episodes of shows like Saved by the …

If you didn’t have the scratch to buy a pair of Nike’s self-tying BB Sneakers, you’re not out of luck. The Puma Fi beta testing program is looking for people to try the shoes this year. Interested participants need only fill out the online form on Puma Fi’s website. To try out Puma’s shoes, you must be at least 18 …

Many Android TV users again have the ability to cast from Google Home. In response to a privacy bug, Google last month temporarily pulled the ability for Google Assistant to cast content to Android TV devices. This meant users couldn’t do things like ask their Google Home speakers to play a YouTube video or set a Google Photo album as a …

Returning your Amazon deliveries just became more convenient. You can return packages for free at your local Kohl’s store starting in July. The stores will accept “eligible Amazon items,” without a box or label, regardless of the reason, and ship them to Amazon for free, according to a release Tuesday.   The program is expanding to all Kohl’s stores in the …