Virgin Mobile gives customers more options with revised rate plans. Screenshot by Scott Webster/CNET Virgin Mobile on Monday introduced its latest Android phone, the LG Tribute. Priced at $80, standout details include a 4.5-inch display, 5-megapixel rear camera, and 4GB internal storage. In addition, the carrier also made noticeable changes to its Unlimited service plans. …

Optus Optus has announced a roadmap for the rollout of 4G coverage across Australia, with more than 200 regional locations slated to gain access by April 2015 — some of them for the first time, according to the telco. The expansion comes off the back of new spectrum acquisitions for Optus, with the 2,600MHz and 700MHz spectrums to become available …

The aim of Microsoft’s Haven tech is to provide could services without access to user data. Getty Images Microsoft Research is building on its “Drawbridge” operating system technology to try to give users more confidence in the safety of the cloud. Company officials detailed that new technology, known as “Haven,” in the “Shielding Applications from an Untrusted Cloud with Haven” …

Motorola’s Moto G LTE is easier than most on the wallet. Andrew Hoyle/CNET AT&T, wasting no time shaking off the weekend, announced on Monday the upcoming arrival of the Moto G LTE . This isn’t the second-generation Moto G launched last month, mind you, it’s the LTE-ready model introduced this past June. Related Links Motorola Moto G 4G LTE review …

A Microsoft Surface Pro 3 running a touch-enabled version of Adobe Illustrator looms above, from left to right, Adobe digital media leader David Wadhwani, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen. screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET Macs, iPhones and iPads are often the computers of choice for the creative sort that Adobe Systems caters to. But the company just …

This TinyScreen has been transformed into a smartwatch. Tiny Circuits The tech world has seen a trend toward bigger screens. There are increasingly large televisions. There’s the iPhone 6 Plus. The aptly named TinyScreen from Tiny Circuits is making a name for itself on Kickstarter by bucking the super-sized trend and instead taking a minimized approach. The Arduino-powered, thumb-size color …

Google and HTC will go bigger than this with the Nexus 9. CNET HTC’s long-rumored Nexus 9 has allegedly been pictured in a Twitter leak. Upleaks, a relatively new entrant into the mobile-image-leaking niche, has posted photos of what is apparently the upcoming Nexus 9. The rear of the device is featured in the image and includes both an HTC …

Sony has yet to make a big splash in the US with mobile devices. The company is hoping its “Demand Great” event on Thursday in New York will change that. Sony CNET editor Scott Stein and photographer Sarah Tew will join me there to bring you all the details live, with photos and commentary. Doors open for the event at …

At a maker event last month, Intel’s Edward Ross sits near an LED cube built by a teenage intern at the company. Intel wants to produce the chips of choice for the maker movement. Ben Fox Rubin/CNET Intel’s Edison chip has been launched in a rocket, floated in a weather balloon, fitted into a futuristic light-emitting dress and used to …

CNET Has Apple Maps improved in iOS 8? Back in March, reports indicated were coming to the unpopular app, which debuted in iOS 6 to widespread criticism. But Apple didn’t say much about Maps when iOS 8 arrived, and the app never saw the public-transit option which was rumored to be in the works. In any case, one thing hasn’t …

Geoffrey Morrison The state of the OLED TV is good. Not great, but good. In the past year we’ve seen a dramatic decrease in prices, an expansion of sizes, and perhaps most interesting, the availability of 4K OLEDs. But that doesn’t mean everything is rosy and supergreen in OLED TV world. There’s a bit to be blue about too. A …

Jason Cipriani/CNET Apple has long offered two-step verification for iCloud accounts, but extra barrier for gaining access to your account was limited. The change was prompted after the recent celebrity photo leak. An unfortunate incident spurred Apple to secure users iCloud accounts using both two-step verification and app-specific passwords. The change requiring app-specific passwords was put into place on October …

Yahoo may invest in Snapchat with part of its windfall from Allibaba’s IPO. Richard Nieva/CNET Yahoo is in talks to invest in the popular messaging app Snapchat, as it considers what to do with the multibillion-dollar cash haul it got from the market debut of the e-commerce giant Alibaba last month, according to The Wall Street Journal. The investment round …

The HTC One M8 has failed to lure in customers, as Apple and Samsung continue to dominate the smartphone market. Andrew Hoyle/CNET Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC had a better-than-expected third quarter, but it had more to do with effective cost cutting than actual sales. HTC posted a net profit of NT$640 million ($21 million), or NT 78 cents per share, …

Matt Elliott/CNET I understand that Apple is only trying to be helpful with its new predictive text engine in iOS 8. It offers suggestions as you type, learning your writing habits and favorite phrases over time and tailoring its suggestions to your way of texting and emailing. I’ve tried using this new feature for two weeks now and find the …