From PC World: Chromebooks aren’t crummy anymore. Samsung’s new Chromebook 2, announced Friday, joins a growing cadre of Chromebooks that aspire to more than being cheap. They have powerful CPUs, interesting features, and in the Samsung Chromebook 2’s case, an extra-sturdy chassis so it won’t get...

From CNET: Google's advertising machine rolls on, but not without its sputters.

The world's largest search engine on Thursday said sales rose 20 percent to $16.52 billion in the third quarter ended September 30. Profit, minus some costs, was $6.35 a share. Analysts were expecting sales of $16.59...

From DailyTech: Sony has come under fire recently for its decision to abandon updates for its smartphones that were little over a year old. For example, the Xperia L, which was released in May 2013 launched with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, but was only updated to Android 4.2. The Xperia M (released in...

From PC World: HTC and Motorola may have been tapped to make Google’s new mobile Nexus devices, but Nexus 7 veteran Asus wasn’t given the cold shoulder: It’s making the Nexus Player, a puck-like set-top box that signals Google’s renewed assault on the living room with Android TV.

And good news...

From CNET: iPhone 6 users will be able to see more of Skype courtesy of the latest update to the mobile app.

Released Wednesday in Apple's App Store, Skype 5.6 for the iPhone offers an optimized and scaled interface for the larger-screened iPhones, Skype said in a blog post. Specifically, the new...

From DailyTech: Google is opening up the floodgates today with news releases; one of which is a new mobile operating system and two of which are new mobile hardware products. Together, all three products represent Google’s vision for the future of mobile computing.

The first announcement involves...

From PC World: Swiping credit cards or using payment systems like Apple Pay at stores could become much safer thanks to a new Intel system, which could also make it easier for retailers to secure data after transactions are completed.

With security breaches and customer data theft on the rise...

From CNET: Hoping to capture some of the growth in the Internet of Things and automotive infotainment, wireless chips giant Qualcomm agreed Wednesday to buy British chipmaker CSR for $2.5 billion.

CSR, based in Cambridge, England, should help Qualcomm become a bigger player in portable audio...

From DailyTech: As we’ve detailed in a few articles over the past month, the Droid Turbo will be a Verizon Wireless-exclusive device that will pack in a humongous 3900 mAh battery. Two weeks from today, Motorola plans to launch its latest Droid smartphone in ages:

In addition to the official reveal...

From InfoWorld: Google considers Amazon.com as its biggest search competitor, ahead of traditional rivals like Yahoo and Bing, as people looking to buy something are more likely to search on the online retailer's website.

Amazon.com is more focused on commerce, "but, at their roots, they are...