Shara Tibken

Amazon Alexa Prize offers $2.5M to get voice assistant chatting

Amazon is hoping some universities start getting chatty with Alexa. The online retailer announced on Thursday the Alexa Prize, a $2.5 million award for college students who develop technology to make it more natural to talk with Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant. The company said the goal of the competition is to build a “socialbot” on …

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Amber Alerts on mobile can now link to missing child’s pic

Amber Alerts are about to get more detailed. The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday adopted new rules to strengthen the Wireless Emergency Alerts system that delivers critical warnings and information to Americans on their wireless phones. The system sends Amber Alerts for missing children, as well as weather alerts and other emergencies. Under the new rules, WEA alerts for 4G …

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Qualcomm reportedly in talks to buy NXP for over $30B

Qualcomm is in talks to acquire fellow chipmaker NXP, according to a new report. Qualcomm, the world’s biggest maker of wireless chips, may strike a deal with NXP in the next two to three months, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The deal would likely be valued at over $30 billion, the publication said. The Journal, citing unnamed sources, warned …

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HBO, Cinemax land on PlayStation Vue as new channel package

PlayStation Vue users can now catch up on all of the “Game of Thrones” drama they want. Sony on Thursday said HBO and Cinemax are now available on its streaming TV service. Both are offered as standalone channels for $15 each per month (the same price as the HBO Now app that works on Apple, Android and Amazon devices). HBO …

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Samsung will have 500,000 Galaxy Note 7 replacements in stores Wednesday

Now playing: Watch this: Get a new Note 7 today — or else face the nagging alerts 1:17 Samsung will have enough Galaxy Note 7 phones in stores Wednesday to replace half of the devices recalled for a battery problem. Stores will have replacements for the rest of the affected phones by the end of the month. The South Korean …

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Warning: If you want an iPhone 7 Plus or jet black 7, don’t line up at an Apple store

Now playing: Watch this: Apple sold out of iPhone 7 Plus, jet black iPhone 7 1:03 Enlarge Image About a dozen spots were being saved as of 9 a.m. PT on Thursday at San Francisco’s Union Square store, about 24 hours before the iPhone 7 was available. Shara Tibken/CNET If you’ve got your heart set on an iPhone 7 Plus …

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Samsung officially recalls Note 7 after US agency weighs in

It’s official. If you’ve still got a Samsung Galaxy Note 7, you’ve got to hand it over. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission on Thursday announced an official recall for all Note 7 phones sold in the country before September 15. The group said “consumers should immediately stop using and power down the recalled Galaxy Note 7 devices” and contact …

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Samsung Galaxy Note 7 owners can get replacement by Sept. 21

If you’re a Galaxy Note 7 owner, you’re in luck — finally. You’ll be able to get your replacement within the next week. Samsung on Thursday said new Note 7 replacement devices will be available in the US at most retail locations no later than Sept. 21. The update came as the US Consumer Product Safety Commission on Thursday issued …

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Only 13 percent of Samsung Note 7s sold in US have been exchanged

Samsung has been warning Galaxy Note 7 users for a couple weeks to exchange their potentially explosive devices, but so far, only a small percentage has responded. Tim Baxter, president and chief operating officer of Samsung Electronics America, said in a video on Thursday that only 130,000 people in the US have exchanged their Note 7 units for other devices. …

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Apple’s iOS 10 update freezes some iPhones

Another iOS update, another round of glitches. Apple on Tuesday released the latest version of its mobile software, iOS 10. The problem is some users — including me — had issues downloading the update. After going through the download and install process over Wi-Fi, the iPhone showed an error window and indicated you needed to plug it into iTunes on …

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