A Chat With Oculus VR Founder Palmer Luckey
Los Angeles — A few years ago, journalism major Palmer Luckey dropped out of Cal State Long Beach to work on a device that would wrap a small computer monitor across a person’s face. With the company he founded, Oculus VR, ready to finally sell those virtual-reality display goggles to consumers early next year, the 23-year-old Luckey is giddy. At a conference that Oculus — now owned by Facebook — held in Hollywood last month, Luckey...
Microsoft Steps Up To Stop Revenge Porn
Microsoft wants to help victims of revenge porn regain control of their images and privacy. Revenge porn — when someone, usually a spurned ex, shares private and sexual images of another person online without that person’s consent — is on the rise, and Internet companies including Google and Reddit have tried to combat it. Now Microsoft is stepping up. The company said last week that, when it is notified by a victim, it will remove...
The Little Search Engine That Could
Redmond, Wash. — In Microsoft’s expensive, decadelong battle against Google’s search engine, no detail is too small. Derrick Connell, a Microsoft vice president in charge of the engineering side of the 4,000-person team that builds the company’s Bing Web search, takes work home with him every weekend. Connell reviews lists of common queries people type into the search boxes at Google.com and Bing.com. His team has spliced the universe...
Microsoft Makes Bold Predictions
Microsoft expects its newest operating system, Windows 10, to be running on 1 billion computers within two to three years. The figure, which includes desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones, was repeatedly touted Wednesday at Microsoft’s annual conference for application developers. Microsoft has struggled to get companies to make apps for Windows mobile devices, part of a self-perpetuating cycle that makes Windows smartphones less...
Tech Battle Drives PC Prices Down
San Francisco — Google is releasing its cheapest Chromebook laptops yet, two versions priced at $149 aimed at undercutting Microsoft’s Windows franchise and gaining ground in even more classrooms. Various PC manufacturers have been working with Google to design lightweight laptops running on the Chrome operating system since 2011. The newest versions are made by Hisense and Haier. Hisense’s Chromebook can be ordered beginning Tuesday...
