In today’s Bulldog wrapup of technology news:

  • Facebook’s Oculus to start selling hand controllers
  • Judge questions Airbnb in fight over San Francisco law 
  • Backpage.com raided, CEO arrested for sex-trafficking
  • Despite recall, Samsung tips higher-than-expected profit

The details:

  • Facebook’s Oculus to start selling hand controllers

Facebook says it’s working to make virtual reality more social as the industry gets more crowded.

With a host of leading tech companies now selling VR products, Facebook’s Oculusdivision is hoping to distinguish its offerings with more interactive and social experiences. At an event Thursday, the company announced a long-awaited shipping date — Dec. 6 — for its Oculus Touch hand controllers, designed to let users make gestures and grasp virtual objects within the simulated worlds projected by Oculus Rift headsets.

  • VIDEO: testing out the VR controllers. Watch at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbpAXBMkh6s

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, meanwhile, donned one of those headsets for an onstage demonstration in which he visited Mars, played virtual cards with two other people, then made a video call to his wife while standing in a digital simulation of his living room.

Zuckerberg said his company has invested $250 million to back developers building new games and other virtual-reality programs for Oculus, and is vowing to double that amount. He also said the company is working on a prototype for a mobile VR headset that doesn’t have to be linked to a personal computer, which the Oculus Rift requires, while promising a better experience than current headsets powered by smartphones, like those sold by Samsung and Google.

Other Oculus executives showed a host of new virtual-reality games for their platform and new tools for software developers to build programs in which multiple players can interact.

  • Judge questions Airbnb in fight over San Francisco law

A federal judge expressed skepticism Thursday that aSan Francisco ordinance setting fines for short-term rental websites that process bookings for unregistered units violates federal law.

The ordinance does not prevent companies such as Airbnb from listing ads for units that are not registered with the city, U.S. District Court Judge James Donato said. He said it only penalizes the booking of those places through the companies.

Donato made the comments during a hearing on Airbnb’s request for an injunction blocking enforcement of the law. He did not immediately issue a ruling.

San Francisco-based Airbnb is the world’s largest short-stay online rental company.

Critics have long complained that its business model encourages landlords to take already scarce rentals off the market.

Airbnb supporters say they couldn’t continue to live in San Francisco without the extra money they make renting out space.

The ordinance passed earlier this year carries fines up to $1,000 per violation and possible criminal prosecution.

  • Backpage.com raided, CEO arrested for sex-trafficking

State agents raided the Dallas offices of adult classified ad portalBackpage.com and arrested Chief Executive Officer Carl Ferrer following allegations that adult and child sex-trafficking victims were forced into prostitution through escort ads posted on the site.

Ferrer, 55, was arrested on a California warrant after arriving Thursday in Houston on a flight from Amsterdam. Authorities also issued warrants for the arrest of the site’s controlling shareholders, Michael Lacey, 68, and James Larkin, 67.

“Making money off the backs of innocent human beings by allowing them to be exploited for modern-day slavery is not acceptable in Texas,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, said in a statement.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris said that Ferrer was arrested on felony charges of pimping a minor, pimping, and conspiracy to commit pimping. He is being held in lieu of $500,000 bond and will face an extradition hearing before he can be returned to California.

Under California’s law, felony pimping is defined as making money off of prostitutes or soliciting customers for prostitution.

  • Despite recall, Samsung tips higher-than-expected profit

Samsung Electronics Co. estimated its profit rose more than expected in the July-September quarter likely helped by its component businesses that helped offset the cost from an unprecedented recall of its flagship smartphones.

The South Korean company said in an earnings preview Friday that its third-quarter operating income rose 6 percent to 7.8 trillion won ($7 billion), compared with 7.4 trillion won a year earlier.

That was slightly higher than forecasts. According to financial data provider FactSet, analysts expected a figure of 7.5 trillion won.

Samsung said sales fell 5 percent from a year earlier to 49 trillion won ($43.9 trillion) during the three-month period.

The company will disclose its full results including earnings and divisional breakdowns later this month.

The results give clues about the short-term financial impact of its first global recall of smartphones. Last month Samsung recalled 2.5 million units of the Galaxy Note 7 just two weeks after its debut as consumers reported that batteries were overheating and catching fire.