The ABC's of Google's Alphabet announcement

When Ruth Porat, Google's chief financial officer, addressed analysts on a conference call for the first time in July, she preached one thing: balance.

"A key focus is on the levers within our control to manage the pace of expenses while still ensuring and supporting our growth," she said at the time.

If only they knew the half of it. Balance was at the center of a bombshell announcementMonday, when the company created Alphabet, a holding company for Google's many businesses.

Samsung looks to get a head start on Apple with its next jumbo smartphone

Samsung hopes to get the jump on Apple. But will it be enough?

On Thursday, Samsung will host its second Unpacked event of the year to introduce its newest phablets, the jumbo-sized hybrids between smartphones and tablets. The company is expected to release the Galaxy Note 5, which will include a metal back instead of plastic and an improved stylus, as well as the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, which is believed to have a 5.7-inch screen that curves over the sides of the device.

Astronauts taste space lettuce, become zero-g food critics

Astronaut Scott Kelly poses with the lettuce before harvest

Decades of astronauts have had to make due with freeze-dried, vacuum-packed foods. They probably dream about things like crisp salads packed with gorgeous leafy greens harvested from a field.

Dream no more, dear astronauts. Fresh lettuce in space is now official. Astronauts on the International Space Station got their first taste of space-grown greens Monday.

Windows 10 update triggers reboot glitch for some users

Microsoft has rolled out a major new update for Windows 10 that's causing headaches for some users.

Pushed out last Wednesday, a major update for Windows 10 dubbed KB3081424 is designed as a cumulative update, which means it incorporates all of the bug fixes previously released for the new OS. But KB3081424 is proving itself to be buggy.

Nvidia Shield recall impacts 'vast majority' of tablets it sold, CEO says

Nvidia's Shield tablet recall includes the "vast majority" of devices the company has sold, CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said.

Nvidia on Friday announced that 8-inch Shield tablets sold between July 2014 and July 2015 have a battery that is susceptible to overheating and could pose a fire hazard. The company said that no other Shield products, including the Shield Android TV set-top box and the Shield gaming portable, are part of the voluntary recall.

Yahoo is trying to become one of the smartphone cool kids

When Marissa Mayer became CEO of Yahoo three years ago, the former Google executive staked her reputation on one thing: bringing Yahoo, an ailing pioneer of the early Internet, into the smartphone age.

To that end, Mayer made one of her biggest moves just over a week ago, unveiling a mobile app called Livetext, a video-chatting service aimed at teens. It's only the second brand-new mobile app the company has introduced during her tenure.

Regulators shut down T-Mobile's push for more wireless spectrum

All five commissioners on the Federal Communications Commission unanimously voted Thursday to stick with a "spectrum reserve" it adopted last year for the auction, tentatively scheduled for March. The FCC's move comes as little surprise since FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler signaled in June that the agency had not planned to increase the amount of spectrum it was setting aside for smaller players.

Tesla Model S owners, take heart: Hack requires physical access to car's onboard computer

File this one under hacks that are technically possible -- but may be more trouble than they're worth.

Two security researchers have discovered a way to hack a Tesla Model S and bring the vehicle to a stop. However, the hack requires physical access to the inside of a Model S, making it difficult for any malicious hackers to pull off.

Apple denies report it's getting into wireless business

Apple on Tuesday shot down a report that it's in talks to introduce its own wireless network in the US and Europe.

Business Insider, citing unnamed sources, on Monday reported that Apple was working on a mobile network similar to Google's Project Fi.The publication said Apple's wireless service would allow customers to pay the company directly for data, calls and texts, while automatically switching between carriers to give users the best service. Business Insider said it would be at least five years before Apple's service would launch.

Acer unveils low-cost Windows 10 Cloudbooks as rival to Chromebooks

Looking for an inexpensive laptop that runs Windows 10? Acer has a couple of new devices up its sleeve.

Announced Tuesday, Acer's Aspire One Cloudbook 11 and Aspire One Cloudbook 14 are cloud-oriented laptops geared toward people who don't mind limited storage and midrange hardware specs if that means they'll pay less money. Acer is calling them "cloudbooks" because they tap into the cloud: You get a one-year subscription to Microsoft Office 365, access to Microsoft's OneDrive to store and sync your files online, and use of Acer's own cloud-enabled apps.

Intel ups referral bonus to achieve more diversity in its workforce

Intel will offer thousands of dollars in cash bonuses to employees who refer women, minorities, and veterans to its workforce.

The chipmaker will pay up to $4,000 in bonuses to employees who refer a woman, minority, or veteran to its workforce, the company confirmed in a statement to the Wall Street Journal on Monday. The fee is double Intel's current referral bonus and viewed by the company as a way to increase chances of having women and minorities receive more representation in a job applicant pool that has disproportionately consisted of white men.

What you need to know about artificial intelligence, and the imminent robot future

Do androids dream of electric sheep? That's unclear, but I know for sure that every kid dreams of intelligent, thinking robots -- certainly every kid who goes on to work at CNET, in any case.

Today, my sci-fi-fuelled childhood fantasies of a bot with a "brain the size of a planet" are closer than ever to being realised. Artificial intelligence, or AI, the practice of making a machine behave in a smart way, is already changing our world and is, by my reckoning, the most fascinating field of technology right now.

The truth about Ultra HD 4K TV refresh rates

There's a simple rule of thumb for companies that market electronics: When it comes to specs, a higher number usually preferred. Sure, there are exceptions -- you want things like response time, load times and mobile device weight to be low -- but generally, more equals better. It comes down to the "speeds and feeds" aspect that still dominates a lot of tech shopping: when you line up a bunch of similar TVs, phones, laptops or tablets, the ones with the higher numbers get the edge. Think about battery life, display resolution, screen size, processor speed, memory and storage capacity -- just to name a few.

Uber to spend $1B over nine months for India expansion

Car-hailing service Uber is looking to dramatically broaden its presence in India.

The company will invest $1 billion over nine months to expand across India, Uber said on Friday. The cash will be used to bring its service to more cities across the country, as well as to let the firm offer new products and payment options to customers, Uber said.