Opera Software, a perennial underdog, has launched a new browser project to help get it out of the doghouse. The project is designed to revamp the basics of how you use a browser, Chief Executive Lars Boilesen said in an interview at the Mobile World Congress show here in Barcelona, Spain. “I want to add …

Kirk or Picard? The eternal question has stumped philosophers for generations. If you only know Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier from “X-Men” or the charming bromance buddy of Ian McKellan, it’s time to watch “Star Trek” — and thankfully every episode is coming to Stan this month. If that’s not your cup of tea, try bromance of a different kind …

So close, yet so far. That’s how my home-built gaming PC scored on Valve’s new SteamVR benchmark. The test, which you can download on Steam today, is one of the first, best ways to tell whether your PC is ready to help an HTC Vive or Oculus Rift headset transport you to another world. Enlarge Image So close, yet so …

ISIS supporters have a new target in their sights: the leaders of two of the world’s most popular social networks. The “Sons Caliphate Army,” a group of hackers associated with the militant Islamic group, posted a video Tuesday that shows photos of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey engulfed in flames and as targets for bullets. The 25-minute video, …

Update 2:15 p.m. PT, February 28: The channel in question has been removed from YouTube “due to multiple or severe violations of YouTube’s policy against spam, gaming, misleading content, or other Terms of Service violations.” The policy reads “It’s not okay to post large amounts of untargeted, unwanted, or repetitive content in videos, comments, private messages, or other places on …

Scott Reynolds founded Tavish Design in 2011 to follow his bliss. He holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering, works for IBM, and authored over 30 patents. He may be a whiz with digital tech, but when it comes to listening to music Reynolds prefers the sound of tube electronics over solid-state and LPs over digital. That’s why he designed a …

The supermarket checkout line: A prime place to catch up on the news by reading through an article on your smartphone. But not if the story hasn’t finished loading by the time you get to the cashier. Yes, it’s a trivial problem. But it’s still annoying, and it’s something Google thinks it can fix. Starting Wednesday, whenever you search for …

Facebook has finally moved past “like.” On Wednesday, the social networking giant gave all users the option of choosing from a collection of emojis called “Reactions” to respond to posts with more nuanced emotions than “like.” The new symbols, which augment rather than replace the iconic “like” button, represent expressions of love, laughter, surprise, sadness and anger. Facebook, which has …

Ever wished you had the power to influence the world around you using just your eyes? If so, the latest developments in virtual reality technology may be just what you’re looking for. Two separate companies at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week showed off modified Oculus and Samsung Gear VR headsets with built-in eye-tracking capabilities. In VR, eye tracking …

Now playing: Watch this: Hands in the air! CNET rides Samsung’s VR roller coaster 1:15 A piece of technology making us feel physically unwell is usually cause for concern, but in the case of Samsung’s VR roller coaster, it was a sure sign of success. Samsung set up its roller coaster simulator slap bang in the middle of its giant …

Xiaomi, the Chinese phone maker that has taken Asia and Brazil by storm, has its sights set on the US. The world’s second-most-valuable startup plans to sell its phones in the States by the end of 2017, Hugo Barra, former Googler and Xiaomi’s global vice president, said in an interview Wednesday. “I think we have to be in the western …

Google Docs added voice typing last year, and I hope you’ve never heard someone writing in this manner at Starbucks or a nearby cubicle at work. Should you have a workspace to indulge in voice typing, however, then you should know that Google has expanded the capabilities of voice typing. In addition to using your voice to type, you can …

Despite troubles convincing Google that its app is legit, Brave Software’s browser is now available to anyone who is sick of annoying mobile ads. Apple added Brave for iPhones and iPads to its app store on Friday, but Google rejected the app twice before publishing Brave for Android devices in the Google Play app store Tuesday night. Google’s opposition, which …

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump may be wrong about one part of what makes America great. According to a recent study, more than a third of technological innovation in this country comes from people born outside the US. A Washington, DC-based think tank surveyed more than 900 individuals who have won prestigious awards or have been awarded international patents expected …

LG is taking a break from Google’s Nexus phone program. There are no plans to build a successor to Google’s Nexus 5 or Nexus 5X phones, according to a spokesman for the Korean electronics conglomerate. “LG needs to focus on its own brand,” he said at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona on Friday. The decision comes as …