Articles by Kris Holt

Blockbuster fighting game series Super Smash Bros. is expanding its ranks with the addition of three new characters to its upcoming installment The fourth title in the series will continue the tradition of pitting characters from a string of Nintendo franchises against each other in battle arenas....

Amazon is ramping up its drone delivery project and is hoping for Federal Aviation Administration approval to conduct outdoor testing on its own property The company has petitioned the FAA for an exemption from rules barring it from testing the devices....

There may yet be life in Aereo After the Supreme Court appeared to deliver a death blow to Aereo by ruling its service was unlawful, the company has latched onto a part of the court's decision in an effort to stay alive....

With tensions deepening between Amazon and publisher Hachette, Amazon sent a peace offering to authors caught in the middle of the dispute. While negotiations drag on, authors should receive all of the revenue from their e-book sales, Amazon proposed in a letter to some authors and agents from David Naggar, VP of Kindle content and independent pub...

LG has launched its Android Wear-powered G Watch around the world The smartwatch can be ordered from Google Play and purchased at retailers in the United States, Canada, France, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Australia, India, Japan and South Korea.

Google has kicked explicit pornographic advertising from its ad network. The company said it made the AdWords change, which it announced in March and recently brought into effect, "as an effort to continually improve users' experiences with AdWords." Advertising policies were updated to reflect the updated stance on sexually explicit content, whic...

Microsoft is said to be preparing the launch of a wearable fitness device that will be compatible with the iOS and Android platforms, as well as Windows Phone. While the device likely will display the time, along with notifications from the user's smartphone, the form factor is a wristband rather than a smartwatch, according to Paul Thurrott's Sup...

Google has acquired music-streaming service Songza, adding to its portfolio of streaming media properties Songza provides custom music playlists intended to match whatever situation listeners find themselves in, effectively providing a fitting soundtrack to their lives....

Fans of the sitcom Community have cause to celebrate after Yahoo renewed the show for a sixth season. Creator and showrunner Dan Harmon has signed on, along with seven core cast members. The season will have at least 13 episodes and will air weekly starting this fall....

YouTube last week announced the addition of new bells and whistles for videographers, apparently to encourage them to create more high-quality content Among the new tools is a creator studio smartphone app for viewing analytics and managing channels, among other things. An updated audio library offers thousands of royalty-free sound effects, along ...

The Supreme Court has declined Google's appeal of a lower-court ruling in a class-action lawsuit that alleges it violated federal wiretap laws with its Street View cars The court left in place a decision the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals handed down in September. The appeals court declined to dismiss the case, ruling that Google was not exempt ...

Google has started to remove search results in certain cases in Europe, in compliance with the European Union's new "right to be forgotten" rules The EU last month ruled that the company must allow individuals to request the removal of links to news articles, court judgments, and other documents that might turn up in results when searches are condu...

Aereo may be dead in the water after the Supreme Court on Wednesdayruled it broke federal law by retransmitting programming without paying copyright fees The company, which allows consumers to watch broadcast TV over the Internet, had been in long-running battles with broadcasters over the legality of its service.

Though early purchasers of the LTE model of Google's Chromebook Pixel were promised two years of limited data, it appears Verizon has reneged on those assurances The WiFi-only Pixel cost US$1,299 while the LTE model set back consumers an extra $150. Those who bought the system through the Google Play Store when it went on sale last April were offer...

Specifications for HTC's 8.9-inch Volantis tablet, which may be renamed "Nexus 9," have been reported by Android Police. The device will ship with a 2048 x 1440 display, a Tegra K1 Nvidia Logan 64-bit processor, and 2 GB RAM. It will have the option of either 16 GB or 32 GB of storage, and will come with 8 megapixel rear-facing and 3 megapixel fro...

Apple reportedly is preparing to ship multiple versions of a smartwatch this coming fall, as competition increases in the wearable technology space Its long-rumored smartwatch will be available in multiple screen sizes and will include more than 10 sensors that will allow it to track the wearer's health and fitness metrics, among other information,...

Lego fans are about to experience a new way to play with their favorite plastic bricks, both in the physical and virtual worlds The company on Thursday announced its line of Fusion playsets will become available in August. The sets combine traditional brick construction play with video games through new technology. The goal is to allow people -- e...

Apple is making a foray into the entry-level desktop market with the introduction of a lower-cost iMac The 21.5-inch, all-in-one system features a 1.4 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor. That increases to up to 2.7 GHz with Turbo Boost Speeds. It includes an Intel HD 5000 graphics card, 8 GB of memory and a 500-GB hard drive.

Amazon is poised to reveal its very first smartphone, and the rumor mill is in full swing The device isexpected to include a 3D display, and it reportedly will be available exclusively on AT&T with its new sponsored data service bundled in.

Amazon reportedly is adding an important new tributary to its river of products this week: a smartphone line. The company has a media event scheduled for Wednesday and expectations are high that it's about to reveal its first mobile device "Amazon has already seen some success in the tablet space (with Fire HD and HDX) as well as the home entertain...