Sean Hollister

Welcome your new robot overlords with this terrifying gaming PC

You know that moment where the giant evil robot dragon opens up its gigantic jagged metal mouth — only to reveal a death ray powerful enough to subjugate the planet? Well, Asus has captured that moment at CES 2017 in the form of a new gaming PC. It’s called the Asus ROG GT51CH, because Asus …

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5 reasons why Windows on ARM could change computing

If Microsoft could go back in time, I’ve a pretty good idea what would happen. CEO Satya Nadella would hand his younger self the code for Microsoft’s new Win32 on ARM emulator. It’s the missing piece of the puzzle that could finally let Microsoft build Windows phones, razor-thin tablets and tiny laptops that people might actually want to buy. It …

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Disney to produce TV spin

Disney has agreed to make TV shows for Snapchat, but don’t expect your favorite cartoon princesses to tag along for the ride. Technically, it’s the Disney-ABC Television Group that signed a deal to make several shows for the teen-favorite social network. ABC’s long-running dating reality show “The Bachelor” will be first out of the gate. According to a press release …

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The only true 15

Strange but true — when we went looking for a Windows alternative to the new 15-inch MacBook Pro, only one laptop stood out. Right now, the Dell XPS 15 is the only machine with portability and performance to match Apple’s largest laptop. Problem is, its CPU and graphics are about to be a year out of date. It looks like …

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France will let drones deliver the mail (kinda)

Drone deliveries are taking off. Amazon delivered its first package. Alphabet is delivering burritos. 7-Eleven has delivered all kinds of stuff. And now, France has become the first country to let its national postal service deliver mail by drone — as long as you live on a single, 9-mile long postal route. Let me rephrase that: as long as you …

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Snapchat Spectacles might be destroyed by glassholes, just like Google Glass

You can’t buy Snapchat’s Spectacles for $130. Even if that’s what it says on each and every receipt. The real price is anywhere between $750 and $2,000 — because that’s how much you’ll pay scalpers on eBay or Craigslist. Or the price is hours and hours of your time: time to wait, and watch, and drive, and hours to stand …

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Microsoft Visual Studio is coming to Mac, kinda

Microsoft has a problem: Many developers use Macs, and Mac developers aren’t as likely to code for Microsoft platforms if they don’t have tools built for their operating system. That may be why Microsoft announced Monday that a full, native version of its Visual Studio IDE (Integrated Development Environment; a place to code, debug and test) is coming to the …

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Is Facebook secretly building a phone?

On a cloudy day this May, in the dull fluorescent light of a plain white Google conference room, Rafa Camargo, Richard Wooldridge and Blaise Bertrand told CNET their plan to disrupt the phone market. Ara, a Lego-like phone with modular parts, would let buyers snap on a better camera, additional batteries or any other creative hardware a developer might dream …

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Google’s modular phone may live on

I want a phone with six batteries, so I never run out of juice. I want a phone that lets me upgrade the camera, screen, even processor, so I’m never out of date. Enlarge Image This guy? He worked on the StarTAC, RAZR, Droid, Amazon Fire Phone *and* led Google’s Ara team. He’s at Facebook now. Gabriel Sama/CNET If that …

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How Apple blew the MacBook name game

One word could have made all the difference. “Air,” instead of “Pro.” If Apple had introduced a new MacBook Air last week, the company wouldn’t be facing down a mob of angry creative professionals. It might not have Apple software developers questioning whether the company has lost its way. Because the new MacBook Pro basically is a MacBook Air — …

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