An app created by the Taliban to attract people to its cause has been removed from the Google Play store. Known as Alemarah, the app was filled with stories and statements written in the Pashto language and contained videos created by the extremist Islamic group, Bloomberg reported on Sunday. The app “is part of our …

Studies have shown that blind people often feel excluded or even isolated on social media when they’re unable to fully join in on discussions around visual media. A new feature from Facebook hopes to fix that. The company is expanding out its accessibility features with automatic alternative text — a description of what’s in an image — being provided via …

Apple’s new iPhone SE is at greater risk of catching the bends than its bigger brethren. Tests conducted by SquareTrade, which sells extended warranties for mobile devices, found the just-released 4-inch iPhone SE to be weaker than the 4.7-inch iPhone 6S and the 5-5-inch 6S Plus. Although the iPhone SE is thicker than the 6S or 6S Plus, SquareTrade said …

Apple’s iPhone SE isn’t off to a great start, judging by stats from one analytics firm. During its first official weekend of sales, the new SE snagged just a 0.1 percent share of all iPhones, Localytics said Monday. That’s well off the opening-weekend pace established by its recent predecessors. For example, the iPhone 6 logged in at 2 percent, the …

A warning to those San Franciscans who’ve gotten into the illegal hotel business by offering short-term rentals on more than one home: Airbnb is after you. The home-sharing site on Saturday said it’s investigating hosts in the city with multiple listings and plans to give “unwelcome commercial operators” the boot. The company, also based in San Francisco, released data showing …

I finally realized that Google Docs isn’t the best note-taking app. It’s too clunky for quickly jotting down notes about a project or interesting things I come across throughout the day. So, I went to the Chrome Web Store and searched for a solution that was simple, easy to access, and had only the features I needed (syncing and sign-in …

After a major outage knocked out large parts of Telstra’s network last month, the telco was slammed for an entirely different reason yesterday as customers took advantage of a day of free data. Over the course of the day, Telstra says customers churned through 2,686 TB of data — equivalent to 3.4 million HD movies, and roughly 3 times the …

Siri wants you to take her out to the ball game. Apple’s voice-activated digital assistant has been updated with a slew of historical baseball statistics just in time for Major League Baseball’s Opening Day on Sunday. Siri also knows the history and stats of 27 other pro, minor and international leagues. Siri definitely knows who National League All-Stars Andrew McCutchen …

Now playing: Watch this: Encrypt your smartphone 1:28 The battle between Apple and the FBI has brought a renewed focus on the importance of encryption. Regardless of what your opinion on the case may be, I shouldn’t have to explain the significance of protecting your personal data — and it all starts with your smartphone. These devices hold your personal …

Back in the days before the interwebs turned the music business upside down, our musical vistas were limited to our own collection or whatever was on the radio. That was a long time ago. Even today, in a world with endless choices finding new music that makes you feel something, think, or move isn’t always easy, and if it’s not …

FiiO’s K1 USB digital converter has been buried under a pile of crap on my desk for months, but it’s not my fault. The K1 is so darned small it’s easy to lose track of, but now that I’ve gotten around to listening to it I’m here to spread the news: this super-affordable gizmo is really pretty decent. You can …

Lefty, the longtime mascot for Hamburger Helper, has dreams that go beyond the food industry. He also wants to be a mover and a shaker (that’s a great pun if you think about it for a second) in the music industry. It’s an admirable and lofty dream for someone who’s just a white glove with a face on it. Related …

I would like to peek inside Ben Tardif’s dreams. I suspect everything’s in motion, spheres rocket through strange landscapes and marbles are the currency of imagination. Tardif is the creator of an epic machine called Marble Mountain. Marble Mountain sits in a small warehouse. It stands 8 feet (2.4 meters) tall and 12 feet (3.7 meters) wide. It’s mostly crafted …

Google is shutting down its Wallet Cards, the physical debit cards for Google Wallet accounts. The debit cards let Wallet users spend money from their Wallet account when shopping at a retailer that doesn’t support contactless NFC payments. Google Wallet’s physical payment card is being retired. Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET When does support for Wallet Cards end? Wallet Cards will …

Wallet-watchers: AT&T has just announced three new Samsung Galaxy phones that come in for well under $200. Their entry-level features won’t bowl you over, but they’re not meant to — these are strictly low-price plays. The $130 Samsung Galaxy Express Prime GoPhone goes on sale today, followed on May 6 by the $170 Samsung Galaxy J3 and $80 Galaxy Express …