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 …