Verizon customers who use the Lumia Icon are finally getting the latest version of the Windows Phone OS — that means access to Microsoft’s Cortana digital personal assistant; a notification center; and a selection of new business-focused features. Josh Miller/CNET A year after launching the flagship Lumia Icon Windows Phone, Verizon is finally enabling users …

If your iPhone gets stolen and Find My Phone has been deactivated, Activation Lock will prevent it from being re-used by a different Apple account. James Martin/CNET A kill feature that renders a smartphone useless if stolen appears to be taking a bite out of crime. The volume of stolen iPhones dropped by 25 percent in New York, by 40 …

This old-school spirit writes the old-fashioned way. eBay/wfatzinger With technology advancing so quickly, a MacBook from 2007 might be nearly obsolete for most of us, but if you’re a ghost from the early 20th century, it makes for a downright swanky place to chill. That’s the basic pitch behind the auction of a “haunted” Apple computer on eBay that’s already …

EE offers double speed 4G in London, and plans to bring that speed bump to the rest of the country in the next few years. Tom Dymond/REX The UK’s biggest mobile phone network says it expects to sell as many Web-connected devices as it does smartphones in the next two years. Announcing a £1.5 billion investment in its network over …

Samsung’s Galaxy Note Edge includes an OLED display. CNET Samsung is planning to invest $3.6 billion in the manufacturing of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels. The South Korean electronics giant will make mainly medium and small OLED displays, a Samsung spokesman told Reuters on Tuesday. The $3.6 billion investment in the new product line will be made this year through …

James Martin/CNET Twitter on Wednesday announced it’s acquiring a small New York start-up called Niche, which connects social media stars with brands in order to create sponsored content. Think of it as a sort of talent agency for Twitter and Vine celebrities. Twitter did not disclose terms of the deal, only that it’s signed an agreement to buy Niche, describing …

The Pebble Steel debuted in January 2014, but new hardware is expected this year. Sarah Tew/CNET Pebble may be an old hand at the smartwatch game, but it still has a lot to prove. The Pebble Steel was CNET’s favorite smartwatch of 2014, but with the upcoming Apple Watch, new Android Wear watches and tons of newcomers like Swatch entering …

Sigma’s 150-600mm f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary is aimed at enthusiasts rather than pro photographers. Lori Grunin/CNET Announced back in September, Sigma has finally revealed the price and availability of its 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary lens, at least for the US: $1,100 (which converts to about AU$1,412 and £722; no pricing or avaliability yet for those locales). Six …

Rick Broida/CNET Want to share a Dropbox link with someone? There are many ways to go about it, but most of them involving a fairly clunky procession of finding, copying and pasting links. If you’re a Chrome user and a Gmail user, however, Dropbox sharing just got a whole lot quicker. The new Dropbox for Gmail extension for Chrome lets …

The Milk Music app works across Samsung Galaxy devices. Samsung A little over two months after retiring Music Hub in Australia, Samsung has announced the local launch of the radio-style Milk Music streaming service for Samsung mobile devices. Australia is one of the first countries outside the US to get the genre-based music service, which features more than 150 curated …

Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET I’m a serious procrastinator – so serious that I usually end up ignoring shipping deadlines before major holidays, which means that I usually end up scrambling to find gifts in the $1 aisle at Target. Yeah. Don’t be me. Actually, with technology, you don’t have to be me — because everything, or at least everything that matters, …

Dear Samsung: Stop experimenting with pop-up ads for TVs. You’re giving us anxiety. Worried about your privacy with smart TV voice-recording features? Your sanity may be the bigger concern if Samsung rolls out pop-up ads for television sets. It seems an early test leaked out for some users. Also in this tech-news roundup, learn what data car makers are collecting …

Streaming service Netflix is available in a range of countries and languages, including Spanish. Netflix Netflix has launched in Cuba, one of the first US companies to take advantage of a thaw in relations between the two countries. The US has imposed trade and travel restrictions since 1962 against the Caribbean island, which is 93 miles off the coast of …

Facebook Facebook on Tuesday started rolling out a way for people to post items for sale in a group — a new destination for virtual garage sales. The new features include a way to catalog the items up for sale and those you sold previously, and the ability to mark an item as sold. These groups, known as buy/sell/trade groups, …

Google will now try to deliver specific details on health and medical issues. Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET Have a question about a specific medical condition? You may now be able to find the answers you seek via Google. Obivously, you’ve always been able to search for health and medical information at Google. But now the search giant will start showing …