Enlarge ImageGoogle CEO Sundar Pichai, left, with India Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Google headquarters. Google Google plans to install free Wi-Fi at hundreds of railway stations across India in an effort to deliver the Internet to hundreds of millions of people in that country who aren’t online. The web giant said Sunday it has …

Verizon’s new upgrade program promises a new iPhone every year. Andrew Hoyle/CNET Verizon is joining the move toward annual smartphone upgrades. The largest US wireless carrier announced Thursday that customers who purchase Apple’s smartphone when it goes on sale Friday will have the option of upgrading to the latest iPhone model each year. To qualify, customers must choose Verizon’s monthly …

Enlarge ImageIs your view of the candidates in virtual reality? Josh Miller/CNET Like to be at the Democratic presidential debate next month but can’t attend in person? CNN is promising to take viewers there through the wonders of virtual reality. CNN said Thursday that it will live-stream the October 13 debate from Las Vegas in full 3D immersive virtual reality. …

Oyster, a subscription service for e-books, is closing down. CNET Oyster, a subscription service for e-books that launched two years ago, is calling it quits. The service’s founders announced in a company blog post Monday that they will move toward retiring the existing service in the next few months. The blog post did not give a reason for the closure …

Samsung’s Galaxy S6 is said to be getting a device leasing program. CNET Samsung is reportedly planning to borrow another page from Apple’s smartphone playbook. The South Korean electronics giant is planning to introduce a program that will lease its flagship Galaxy smartphones to customers in the US market, like the one Apple introduced earlier this month, an industry executive …

Sprint is expanding its Open World add-on plan with 33 additional countries. Mike Blake/Reuters/Corbis Sprint has fired a new salvo in the wireless industry’s war for world travelers. The fourth-largest US carrier announced Thursday that it has added 33 new countries to its Open World add-on plan, promising customers cheaper voice and data rates as well as unlimited free texting. …

Expedia has won approval from US antitrust officials to buy rival Orbitz, clearing the way for a $1.3 billion merger of the two pioneers of online travel booking. The Justice Department said Wednesday that it had closed its six-month investigation into the acquisition after finding no harm to competition would result from the companies merging. “We concluded that Expedia’s acquisition …

The call of a cloud-based smartphone is proving irresistible for some. Startup Nextbit, which reached its Kickstarter funding goal of $500,000 on its first day, said late Tuesday that it has now raised more than twice that amount. After hitting its original goal two weeks ago, the company had promised to provide free quick chargers with each of its Robin …

Facebook is stepping up efforts to remove racist content posted on its German website as the country grapples with an overwhelming influx of refugees. Germany’s Justice minister, Heiko Maas, said after meeting with Facebook executives Monday that the social-networking giant had agreed to work with an Internet watchdog to identify and remove content deemed hateful or xenophobic, according to a …

After trying to win over consumers with pricier tablets, Amazon is said to be working on a slate for the more budget-conscious. The Internet retail giant is planning to introduce a $50 tablet with a 6-inch screen in time for the holiday shopping season, the Wall Street Journal reports. At half the price of Amazon’s current 6-inch HD Fire tablet, …