Ryan Nakashima

Google is biting off a big piece of device manufacturer HTC for $1.1 billion to expand its efforts to build phones, speakers and other gadgets equipped with its arsenal of digital services. It’s buying the HTC engineering team that built the Pixel smartphone for Google in a cash deal, the companies said in a joint statement Thursday. Google is also getting a non-exclusive license for Taiwan-based HTC’s intellectual property to help support Pixel phones. Google’s previous forays into hardware haven’t panned out to be big winners so far. It paid $12.5 billion for smartphone maker Motorola Mobility for $12.5...

A new self-balancing electric scooter from Segway grows on you.Like a comfortable pair of shoes, it takes you places, but on wheels. Unlike a skateboard that can shoot out from under you, Segway’s MiniPro — and allhoverboards for that matter — try to stay under your center of gravity. That makes them easier to ride than a skateboard, and because of its electric motor, a lot less work. In the couple weeks I had to play with it, I came to view the MiniPro less as a dangerous new toy and more like a bicycle. It’s a way to make public transit more...

If you’re used to thinking of drones as a passing fad, last week’s CES gadget show should give you second thoughts. Tiny, self-piloted copters promise to buzzily follow you around like something out of a Neal Stephenson cyberpunk novel. New drones that could find lost wilderness adventurers or help them see out above treetops; others purport to carry a human passenger at the touch of a button. None of this, of course, will be happening overnight. Limited battery life means that many commercial models can’t fly for more than about 20 minutes at best. Manufacturers haven’t yet figured out...

​TuneIn, the app that gives users free access to thousands of live radio stations around the world, is launching an $8-a-month premium subscription service that throws in ad-free listening, audiobooks and live play-by-play coverage of Major League Baseball and soccer from the Premier League and the Bundesliga. The seemingly disparate offer caters to listeners who have varied tastes, says TuneIn CEO John Donham. That could be news in the morning, music at night, live sports whenever a good game is on, and a good book for long commutes. “It turns out people want more than just one thing,” he...

Discovery is unleashing the first videos for its virtual reality network, Discovery VR, a fledgling service that is testing the limits and capabilities of the immersive format. The videos debuting Thursday on DiscoveryVR.com, YouTube and on Android and iPhone apps, reveal some of the promise of the medium, which covers every angle you could possibly look and is navigable by moving a smartphone around you or even clicking and dragging the viewing angle around with a mouse. In the short video, “Shark Shipwreck,” sharks swim around and above you — one even bumps the camera rig — as a...

When Apple launches its Apple Music streaming service at the end of June, it will affect things big and small in the music industry. Hundreds of millions of iPhone and iPad users in more than 100 countries will get to try the $10-per-month service for free for the next three months when it is pushed to their devices with a free upgrade. They’ll get unlimited access to tens of millions of songs during the trial, and afterward be required to pay a monthly fee for access, instead of paying for each album or song download. “It’ll change the way you experience music forever,” CEO Tim Cook promised Monday at Apple’s annual...

The Supreme Court shot down Aereo’s business model this week, but that doesn’t mean customers’ desire for a better TV experience is gone. Americans are still fed up with huge channel bundles, high prices, poor service and the lack of ability to watch all their shows on all their devices. That’s part of why Aereo was attractive: It offered local broadcast channels and a few others on multiple devices for just $8 a month. Industry watchers say the pay TV business must continue to evolve to win over unhappy customers, even if the nation’s top court said grabbing signals...

Amazon set out to do something different with the unveiling of its first smartphone Wednesday. How about a completely new way of interacting with your phone, for starters? As part of the showcase of its brand new “Fire Phone,” Amazon.com Inc. took the wraps off a feature it calls “dynamic perspective.” Turns out, it’s more than just a gimmick that allows you to see in 3-D. The feature makes use of four infrared cameras pointed at your face that help judge whether you’re looking at the screen straight-on, at an angle and how close you are to the screen....

Amazon is launching a music streaming service for its Prime members, adding yet another freebie to its popular free-shipping plan ahead of the expected unveiling of its first smartphone next week. Starting Thursday, Amazon.com Inc. will offer more than a million tracks for ad-free streaming and download to Kindle Fire tablets as well as to computers and the Amazon Music app for Apple and Android devices. The service, called Prime Music, is likely to be integrated with an Amazon smartphone expected to be previewed on Wednesday. People who pay $99 a year for Prime can listen to tens of...