Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 augmented reality headset, which was introduced at Mobile World Congress back in February, is now available to buy, the company announced Thursday. Earlier this year, Microsoft showed CNET the next-generation headset up-close. The self-contained, comfortable flip-up device has no controllers. It uses hand and eye tracking, and slides over glasses. I was impressed how …

What’s the difference between a hybrid smartwatch and a regular smartwatch? In the hybrid category, Fossil’s Hybrid HR mixes physical watch hands with an always-on display that shows information and notifications. It almost feels like an old-school Pebble watch fused with an everyday analog-style watch. The Hybrid HR isn’t Fossil’s first smartwatch with physical hands. There are plenty of Fossil …

This story is part of The 2010s: A Decade in Review, a series on the memes, people, products, movies and so much more that have influenced the 2010s. When I started at CNET 10 years ago my beat was laptop reviews. I admitted, even then, that I wasn’t terribly interested in laptops, and I’m still not. What I was excited …

I’ve been trying out the AirPods Pro, available now, for less than 24 hours. After being an early AirPods meme in 2016, I was obviously curious how the new Pro buds would feel now that AirPods are… well, everywhere. I thought about this back in the spring, when the AirPods were slightly revamped with a wireless charge case. And, now that the AirPods Pro …

The expected thing happened: Google is acquiring Fitbit for $2.1 billion. What this all means, well… depends on who you are. Fitbit? Google? The wearer of a Fitbit or a Wear OS watch? Google’s hardware head, Rick Osterloh, confirmed the news Friday morning and also directly confirmed that there are Made by Google wearables to come. Having reviewed many, many …

Is a Chromebook a laptop? Is it a budget machine? Is it something you’d just use online? Is it something you’d make your main computer? I can’t entirely answer all these questions, because I haven’t come to terms with them either. I’ve used Chromebooks for years. My kid lives on them at school. I had to work on a Chromebook, …

I’ve seen touch-sensitive areas on phones and wearable devices before. But I’ve never seen an entire phone case become a touch surface. That’s exactly what San Jose startup Sentons is trying to do, with ultrasonics that work like sonar to register touch and pressure anywhere on a gadget’s surface. The possibilities seem incredibly weird, and extremely useful. In my hands was …

Slim metal body, large touchpad, expansive 13.3-inch screen. Is it a MacBook Air? Or, a Surface Laptop? No, it’s a Google Pixelbook. Next to Google’s newest Pixel 4 phones, Pixel Buds earbuds and Nest products at Google’s fall hardware event, there’s also a new made-by-Google Chromebook in town. It isn’t a convertible tablet-hybrid or a snap-on-keyboard solution like last year’s Pixel …

If the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max are out of your price range, check out the iPhone 11 review. It starts at only $700 and has many of the same features as the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max.  Apple never put the “Pro” label on an iPhone the way it does with MacBooks and iPads. But that all changed …

I get used to my new virtual face and virtual body, crisp and clean and legless. I’m swiping through several options. They’re cartoonish, in a 3D-animated Pixar or Dreamworks way. I give a thumbs-up to myself in the mirror. I smile. Thumbs-down, I frown. Thumbs up and thumbs down, I make a shrug-like face. I’m wearing Facebook’s recently released Oculus …