Microsoft has seen the future, and it’s filled with bots. No, not robots or flying drones, but rather these new apps that can perform simple tasks at your beck and call. Want to book a flight? Microsoft believes a bot can do that for you. Need to remember to send an email to your boss? …

Amazon doesn’t just want to sell us televisions and toilet paper. It wants to be there for us when that TV needs to be mounted and that toilet has to be unclogged. That’s the gentle reminder the online retailer offered on the first anniversary of Amazon Home Services, which connects you to local service providers such as plumbers, painters and …

Imagine what would happen if the greatest analytical minds in history came back to the land of the living. Those with a more scientific leaning might hope they could use their powers of logic and innovation to solve some of the world’s biggest problems. Gamers might secretly wish they would immediately start fighting each other in hand-to-hand combat. Well, if …

The clock is ticking for Microsoft. With every passing day, the world moves further away from the idea of using a phone running on its Windows 10 software. Sure, plenty of folks are comfortable with a Windows-powered PC or even tablet. But a Windows phone is increasingly becoming a foreign concept. Microsoft, however, doesn’t appear to be in a rush. …

With the calendar soon turning to April, it’s time for all procrastinators to start thinking about filing their taxes. This year, you have until Monday, April 18 to submit your tax return, thanks to Emancipation Day, a Washington DC holiday that falls on Friday, April 15 this year. And residents of Maine and Massachusetts have until Tuesday, April 19 to …

Welcome to Build. Microsoft’s annual developers conference begins today with a keynote address that starts at 8:30 a.m. PT/11:30 a.m. ET. Expect Windows 10 updates to take center stage, with news on Office, Xbox and HoloLens to be on the docket as well. Watch the event live stream here: CNET’s Ian Sherr is in the room at San Francisco’s Moscone …

In an era of inclusiveness, HBO’s take on “Game of Thrones” can sometimes seem awfully, well…white. Not just white, but like so many fantasy worlds, it seems pulled straight out of the mind of an unabashed anglophile. This is a little odd when you consider that “A Song of Ice and Fire” author George R.R. Martin is a longtime resident …

Even though they don’t actually hover and they’re prone to fires, hoverboards are still as popular as ever. But good luck heading out to buy them; retailers are dropping them left and right over safety concerns — I’m sure you’ve heard of at least one of the many reports of boards catching fire or exploding. While you can still find …

Google wants everyone to wear cardboard boxes on their faces. It wants that so much that it’s just announced a plan to make it easier for Apple iPhone developers to write VR apps. That’s a big deal because, first, the iPhone is the biggest rival to phones powered by Google’s Android mobile operating system, and second, until now there hasn’t …

Windows 10 will get its first major update this summer. Terry Myerson, Microsoft’s executive vice president of the Windows and Devices Group, detailed the free update at the company’s annual Build developer conference on Wednesday. The “Windows 10 Anniversary Update” will bring improvements to the Hello login feature and the Cortana voice assistant. It will also add support for Microsoft’s …