“Gee, Samsung, what are we going to do tonight?” “The same thing we do every night, TV viewer. Try to take over the house!” The biggest TV maker in the world has little in common with the most ambitious mouse in cartoon history, but Samsung and The Brain do share one burning desire: to control …

If you use an iPhone or iPad, you may have noticed the Apple App Store is looking a little greener than usual. Apple’s fresh hue is due to “Apps for Earth,” a partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to raise money for environmental preservation. Toward that effort, Apple will donate revenue from sales of selected apps during …

The Emmy-winning “Game of Thrones” title sequence is renowned for its stunning animations, frequently shifting destinations (which vary depending on the cities that will appear in any given episode) and compelling musical score. Until now, it’s always been a decidedly 2D affair, but a new 360-degree virtual version of the “Game of Thrones” title sequence lets you soar through Westeros …

The folks behind the USB Type-C standard have a new approach to keep sketchy cables from zapping your laptop or evildoers from hacking your phone. USB Type-C brings new perks to the mundane chore of connecting devices to each other and to chargers, but problems have cast a shadow — notably when Google employee Benson Leung’s effort to flag faulty …

Cord-cutters who want live TV can now watch American Horror Story, The Simpsons, and maybe even local Major League Baseball games for $20 a month. As long as they’re willing to give up SportsCenter. Today Sling TV, the first major nationwide provider of live TV channels delivered over the Internet without a cable subscription, now has Fox. A new base …

Mark Zuckerberg laid out a bold vision for what Facebook will be 10 years from now, with the company looking to dive into artificial intelligence and virtual reality and to connect 4 billion people to the Internet. We delve into those big plans and what they could mean for consumers. Plus, we ask whether it will be better to have …

When Lisa Peterson became homeless, she spent months without a bed of her own. But her phone never left her sight. Driving across the country, couch-surfing and staying in crisis accommodations, Lisa would charge her phone at train stations and use free public Wi-Fi to stay connected. The idea of being “homeless with a smartphone” may sound contradictory, but for …

I’ll let you in on a little secret. You don’t need to build a brand-new gaming PC to use a virtual reality headset. Sure, it would help — but with the right upgrades, your old gaming rig might be good enough. I spent most of my time reviewing the Oculus Rift with a five-year-old processor, and every game played like …

For the last 12 months, HTC fans have been waiting with baited breath to learn about the new flagship phone, the HTC 10. The details have finally been released and with the world’s first dual OIS front and back cameras for photos, end-to-end 24-bit Hi-Res sound, and streamlined Marshmallow, it hasn’t disappointed. If you’re eager to get your hands on …

If you haven’t started watching “Game of Thrones” by now, you’re way behind the pack. The sixth season of the popular, and very bloody, HBO series premieres on April 24. A lot of people have watched every episode multiple times, and they have some strong opinions about characters and alliances. It’s so popular that even Siri watches the show. Yes, …

Machine learning is considered by many to be tech’s next frontier. But for many researchers, its expense might as well place it in outer space. To help researchers and developers who might otherwise not have access to machine learning’s benefits, Google on Wednesday announced a new distributed version of TensorFlow, the artificial-intelligence engine the Web giant uses to add capabilities …

Facebook wants you to take a selfie in virtual reality. The social networking giant is building apps that make it easy to share photos with people using its Oculus Rift headsets, which put a screen so close to people’s eyes that it tricks them into thinking they’re actually in a computer-generated world. One app the company showed off at its …

Two decades ago, the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls finished the NBA regular season with 72 wins against only 10 losses. It’s the best regular season record in NBA history. In fact, no other team has won 70 games in a regular season, until this year’s Golden State Warriors who, in their final game of the regular season tonight, have a …

Facebook isn’t working on artificial intelligence just to let you text with robots. (Though it’s doing that, too.) It’s also using the technology to do something much simpler: help you quickly find the photos you’re searching for or the videos you want to see on the social network. The company showed off several new ways to use “machine learning,” a …

CNET’s Cheapskate scours the Web for great deals on PCs, phones, gadgets and much more. Questions about the Cheapskate blog? Find the answers on our FAQ page. And find more great buys on the CNET Deals page. When it comes to email, I’m old-school: I like a desktop client. That’s in part because I have multiple accounts to manage, and …