Recently I’ve had some less-than-stellar experiences with doctors. When I went to a podiatrist for help with a foot issue, he seemed stumped and offered a smattering of wild-guess suggestions. (None of them worked.) When I went to a vision clinic for an eye exam and updated prescription, I waited 45 minutes to actually get …

The only thing better than a fun optical illusion is a fun optical illusion you can eat. Tokyo product designer Duncan Shotton created Soy Shape, a collection of soy-sauce dipping dishes that transform the savory brown liquid into classic optical illusions. The secret is in the layers built into the dishes. Deeper sections make for darker colors. Related stories This …

Facebook is probably doing a happy dance right now. The social network on Tuesday reported that users streamed 8,500 hours, which works out to 356 days, of video on Facebook Live over the course of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions last month. “We saw extraordinary use of Facebook Live during the conventions,” said a Facebook spokesman in an emailed …

It’s all fun and good until someone tweets the wrong thing. When the Olympics start Friday, social media is likely to light up with pride for sports, countries and various teams as they come together in Rio to compete for the next few weeks. But your local plumber will have to sit it out. Businesses have long been expected to …

Worried you aren’t getting enough exercise this summer? Don’t just sit there: Clip on a fitness tracker and get going. Fitness trackers are wearable devices that deliver a stream of data about your workouts, like the number of steps you’ve walked or the total calories you’ve burned, and nearly all of them can sync over Bluetooth with your smartphone, letting …

While you sip your nitro coffee out of a mason jar in a tiny San Francisco coffee shop, you can now snap a selfie and add a “hipster” sticker designed just for the city. The photo- and video-sharing app Snapchat on Tuesday launched Geostickers, allowing users to send city-specific stickers along with their snaps to friends. The new feature follows …

Samsung’s latest flagship will be landing down under on August 19, and you’ll be able to preorder the Galaxy Note 7 starting on August 5 from Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, Virgin Mobile, JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, Samsung Retail and Samsung.com.au. Jump to the bottom of the story for a round-up of preorder and plan deals. We’ll keep that updated as more …

There’s no turning back now for USB Type-C. Samsung has embraced the new data and charging port for its Galaxy Note 7, announced Tuesday as the latest model in a lineage of high-end stylus-equipped phones. It’s not the first phone maker to embrace USB Type-C, but with 24 percent of the first quarter’s 349 million phone market, it’s the most …

Now playing: Watch this: Cortana gets some new tricks in Windows 10 2:30 Enlarge Image Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET Windows’ latest operating system has just received its first major update in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, so-called because it dropped right around the OS’ one-year anniversary. The Anniversary Update is free for all Windows 10 users (Windows 7 and 8/8.1 users …

The internet loves to be stumped. The internet loves cats. Those two obsessions come together in a single photograph making the rounds on social media. On Twitter, people are challenging each other to find a cat hidden in a pile of wood within 10 seconds. At least one Twitter user is 20 minutes into the challenge and still flummoxed. Related …

Google may launch Android 7.0 Nougat as soon as Friday. This particular prediction came from known and generally reliable leaker Evan Blass, aka @evleaks, in a tweet on Saturday. “Android 7.0 releases next month, with the 8/5 security patch,” Blass said in the tweet. Assuming Blass is correct, an August launch would be early for a new release of Google’s …

Hulu has sealed a deal to become the only non-Showtime source for streaming “Homeland,” the premium cable network’s tense terrorist-espionage series. Starting immediately, people who subscribe to either of Hulu’s plans ($7.99 a month with commercials or $11.99 a month without ads) can watch the first four seasons of the show, Hulu said Monday. The Emmy-winning series concluded its fifth …

Philips on Monday unveiled a new health platform and ecosystem of products to empower people to take greater control of their health. The Dutch healthcare company isn’t targeting fitness buffs, but rather regular people at risk for a chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, heart disease and high cholesterol. The company previously announced four health-related products at the IFA …

Mixing and matching. Deciding which combination of components sounds best to you. Buying new pieces of gear to fit into a system is one of the more enjoyable aspects of the AV hobby. Yet until now, no one has really thought to take this concept to tabletop speakers. But Sonic Blocks is looking to change that. The Sonic Blocks ecosystem …

Best Buy kicked off an early August Apple sale just in time for back to school shopping. Highlights include: Beats: All Beats Solo 2 Wireless headphones are $179 at Best Buy. While the MSRP is $299, retailers like Amazon usually sell the same set for $199. iPad Mini 2: It’s the entry level iPad, but the Mini 2 is worth …