How Facebook is bringing virtual reality gaming within touching distance

Oculus Rift has linked up with Microsoft as it prepares to bring VR to the home, and developers’ enthusiasm appears undiminished by past disappointments

Oculus virtual reality controller plans: Xbox One gamepad and Oculus Touch

Facebook subsidiary reveals Microsoft partnership and new hand-tracking controllers for its Oculus Rift headset’s 2016 debut

Oculus Rift virtual reality headset to ship with Xbox One controller – as it happened

Facebook’s VR subsidiary reveals new games and hand-tracking Oculus Touch controllers ahead of E3 games show, as well as EVE Valkyrie demo

Has Oculus accidentally revealed the Rift two days ahead of launch?

Oculus CEO dismisses leaked images as “old placeholders”, but do they hint at the first consumer release of the Rift headset?

Tech industry groups urge US to avoid policies that would weaken encryption

Open letter sent to Obama from groups representing Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft as report suggests fear of surveillance costs economy $35bn a year

A millennial’s verdict on Instagram ads

Some might resent the imminent influx of more ads into their feeds but how else will the app make money?

‘Baby yoga’ video on Facebook sparks internet censorship debate

NSPCC calls on government to intervene over video showing screaming baby being roughly dunked in bucket of water

Sheryl Sandberg on husband’s death: ‘I have lived 30 years in these 30 days’

Facebook’s chief operating officer writes an emotional post about the ‘void’ of the month since her husband, David Goldberg, died in an accident

Your Instagram feed is about to be invaded by more ads

Facebook-owned photo-sharing service forges ahead with advert plan, opening it up to local and global marketers

Oculus VR’s second virtual reality film stars a hedgehog named Henry

Facebook VR subsidiary’s in-house studio follows up its first film with ‘a heartwarming comedy’ created by Pixar and DreamWorks veterans

YouTube promises more measures to tame its comment trolls

‘One of the hardest things to do is scaling openness, whether you run an internet platform or whether you run a country,’ claims Robert Kyncl

From Digikala to Hamijoo: the Iranian startup revolution, phase two

In Iran, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook are among many blocked sites, spurring young entrepreneurs to invent their own. If sanctions ease, will all that change?

Facebook users plan protest against site’s ‘real name’ policy at headquarters

Drag queens, transgender people and others part of #MyNameIs coalition will demand removal of fake name reporting option and clearer appeals process

Apple beats Google to be named world’s most valuable brand

Brandz power list also sees Facebook soar thanks to Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions, while Vodafone is top UK brand

The return of virtual reality: ‘this is as big an opportunity as the internet’

Twenty years ago the man who pioneered commercial VR saw his market shrink to zero. Now he’s excited again – and so are Microsoft, Google and Facebook …