Facebook M virtual assistant will compete with Siri and Google Now

From restaurant bookings to dog-friendly beach recommendations, social network’s new technology blends AI with human helpers

20 best new iPhone and iPad apps and games this week

Microsoft Translator, InboxVudu, MSTY, Morpholio Journal, Monsters Ate My Metropolis, Loot & Legends, March of Empires and more

Rock Band 4: prepare to dust off your old plastic instruments

New version of the rhythm-game classic doesn’t reinvent the genre – but it does reinvigorate it enough to spark talk of a revival come its release later this year

Privacy pressure group EFF announces stronger Do Not Track standard

Disconnect and Adblock joins Electronic Frontier Foundation in coalition hoping to pressure advertisers to obey user preferences on tracking

Yes, Microsoft is uncool but don’t write it off just yet

Microsoft may look left behind as technology favours smartphones, but it is still PCs that run the world

Windows 10: it launched so quietly you may have missed it

Despite the lack of flourish and giant ads, a lot rides on the success of the new Windows version for Microsoft and its chief executive

Windows 10: what it means for PC and Xbox One gamers

Microsoft has launched its latest operating system, promising to shake up the whole gaming ecosystem. But will it?

Apple stock continues tumble despite better-than-expected earnings

Shares off 5% before lunchtime on Wednesday even in face of Apple Watch’s likely $1bn sales as analysts say investors are spoiled by company’s success

20 best new Android apps and games this week

Microsoft Hyperlapse, WifiMapper, Booking Now, Musical.ly, This War of Mine, Mission Impossible, Warhammer 40,000 and more

Windows 10: more Microsoft apps are coming to Android and iPhone

Chief executive Satya Nadella says Microsoft is not getting out of mobile, but strategy is shifting from Windows Phone to Windows 10 everywhere

Caspar Bowden obituary

Anti-surveillance campaigner and former Microsoft privacy chief who warned of online state snooping many years before Edward Snowden

What does Microsoft’s $7.6bn, 7,800-person layoff mean for Windows Phone?

Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella is writing off the company’s Nokia devices purchase and pulling back from being a smartphone manufacturer

Microsoft to cut 7,800 jobs as it takes $7.6bn loss on mobile phone business

Cuts will add to more than 12,000 jobs eliminated in past year as CEO Satya Nadella says the company is reassessing its money-losing smartphone business