How Megan Smith is trying to bring her Silicon Valley sensibility to the White House as US CTO  —  Her Task Is to Wean the White House Off Floppy Disks  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama's top technology adviser cringes when she hears highly educated adults say how bad they are at science and math …

Withings launches Activité Pop, a $150 version of its $450 fitness-tracking wristwatch  —  The Withings Activité Pop is a cheaper brand of beautiful fitness-tracking wristwatch  —  It's not Swiss Made, but it's not $450 either  —  The Withings Activité is a watch.

HP unveils its 5K monitor, available in March for $1299, alongside curved, 4K, and 3D displays  —  HP intros a slew of monitors, including curved, 5K and 3D models  —  HP just announced a boatload of new monitors here at CES and impressively, they seem to combine every big tech buzzword from the past few years.

Apple's marketing priorities are driving the pace of software releases at the expense of quality  —  Apple has lost the functional high ground  —  Apple's hardware today is amazing — it has never been better.  But the software quality has taken such a nosedive in the last few years that I'm deeply concerned for its future.

Lenovo announces new Broadwell-powered ThinkPad X1 Carbon, refreshed X, T, L, and E series laptops, “ThinkPad Stack” peripherals  —  ThinkPads get Broadwell and break the 100 million mark  —  Lenovo says it's crossed a huge milestone with its ThinkPad line that's impressive …

Roku TV to support 4K content, starting with Netflix and a TV set from TCL; Insignia and Haier to offer Roku TV on select models  —  Roku to stream 4K Ultra HD Netflix on future models  —  CES is a prime occasion for all parts of the TV industry to promote the slow but inevitable march …

Nest adds 15 new partners, now integrates with smartlocks, lighting and home appliances  —  Nest's thermostat gets smarter with support for more third-party devices  —  Nest is today announcing a handful of new additions to the company's “Works with Nest” program, a designation given …

Nvidia's new Tegra X1 chip features an 8-core 64-bit CPU and a 256-core Maxwell-based GPU, powers Drive CX/PX car computers  —  Nvidia announces Tegra X1 SoC with Maxwell-based GPU [Updated]  —  LAS VEGAS, NEVADA—Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang took to the stage this evening to kick off the company's CES.

Four-year-old Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS still ships on some new devices, gets partial support from Google via Play Services updates  —  Android 2.3 Gingerbread—Four years later, the OS just won't die  —  Years of support means the OS looks very different today than it did in 2010.

Benefits of selling software outside the Mac App Store: lower fees, bundles, getting customers' contact information  —  The Benefits of Selling Software outside the Mac App Store  —  When you get swept along in the shininess of the App Store it's easy to forget that you no longer know who your customers are.

Netflix Cracks Down on VPN and Proxy “Pirates”  —  Due to complicated licensing agreements Netflix is only available in a few dozen countries, all of which have a different content library.  —  Some people bypass these content and access restrictions by using VPNs or other circumvention tools that change their geographical location.

Belkin expands its WeMo line of connected devices with door, window, keychain, alarm, and motion sensors; coming second half of 2015  —  Belkin expands WeMo line with four new sensors  —  Belkin has added a variety of sensors to its popular WeMo line of connected home products …

Xiaomi launches Redmi 2 with LTE, Snapdragon 410 CPU, improved 2MP front camera; goes on sale in China Jan. 9 for about $112  —  Xiaomi Announces Redmi 2 Smartphone Packing LTE, A 64-Bit Snapdragon, And More  —  Xiaomi doesn't have much of a presence in the US, but it's one of the most prominent smartphone makers in Asia.