Motorola I can just hear Android users laughing all the way to, um, wherever Android users like to go to laugh at the Apple faithful. “$400 for a watch? My Moto 360 cost me $170.” Yep, that’s the deal o’ the day: Amazon has the Motorola Moto 360 smartwatch for $169.99 shipped. That’s for the …

TextNow This is an update of a deal I posted a couple of months ago. Now it’s even better! You know the deal with free or nearly-free phones: The not-so-fine print locks you into a service contract for two full years, with monthly rates that are anything but competitive. Alternately, if you want a no-contract phone, be prepared to pay …

If you prefer handwriting to tap-typing, MyScript Stylus makes it possible on iOS. MyScript For geeks of a certain age, the first smartphones weren’t phones at all, but rather PDAs. And although these devices offered tiny onscreen keyboards similar to what we use today, the preferred data-entry option was stylus-powered handwriting recognition. Whether you long for those days or just …

Screenshot by Rick Broida/CNET See if this sounds familiar: You like the New York Times, you’d love to read the New York Times on the go, but you just couldn’t justify a $7.99/month subscription fee for NYT Now, the company’s mobile app. That was the deal when the app debuted last year, and no doubt the venerated paper was hoping …

iClever Ever notice how car chargers are mostly terrible? In my experience, built-in USB ports deliver only a trickle charge, and a lot of cigarette-lighter adapters are the same way. Modern phones and tablets need more juice. Meanwhile, ever notice how most cheap Lightning cables are terrible? In my experience, unless they’re MFi certified, you’re lucky to get a couple …

Now there’s a scene you don’t see every day: an iPad and a mouse! Citrix Can an iPad really take the place of a laptop? For many a business user, there’s one key element missing: a mouse. Sure, you can use a fingertip for things like selecting text and dragging and dropping spreadsheet cells, but that’s nowhere near as precise. …

I used PhraseExpress to insert the image credit below. Why type the same thing over and over? Screenshot by Rick Broida/CNET Yesterday’s post about Norton Identity Safe, the surprisingly good free password manager, got me thinking about other great freeware — the utilities I use daily and, frankly, couldn’t live without. And I don’t know about you, but sometimes I …

You know the drill: everyone gathers around for photos, and then everyone in the photos says, “Hey, can you send me those?” Now comes the hassle of sending a bunch of text messages and/or emails — provided you have all the necessary phone numbers and email addresses, of course. That’s how most of us learned to share photos, but surely …

GoGroove Regular Cheapskate readers know that when it comes to TV audio, I recommend — no, insist on! — a sound bar. Anything less is cheating your ears in a way that’s just unforgivable. But what should you expect to pay for a decent one? A hundred bucks? Two hundred? Not today: GoGroove is offering its BlueSync SBR Bluetooth sound …

Slivver There are many reasons you might find yourself in need of a stylus. Jotting notes or sketching images on a phone or tablet, for example, is much easier with a plastic tip than a big old finger. If you need to sign your name electronically, like for many an app-powered purchase these days, a stylus again wins the day. …