Tough Mudder is the infamous 20 kilometre obstacle course that’s encouraged more than two million people around to world to plant their face in mud, endure electric shocks and deliberately plunge into something called the “arctic enema”. Microsoft has announced that the Band 2 is the “official smartwatch and fitness tracker” for the 2016 Australian …

TiVo is reducing the price of both models of its Bolt DVR by $100, but the company has also announced it’s cutting the free year of service. The new price confirmed by TiVo is $199 for the 500GB (originally $299) and $299 for the 1TB version (originally $399), and the “updated” version will be denoted by a white retail box …

Hulu may be prepping a new online service aimed at cord-cutting consumers. The company, which already provides a video-on-demand service, plans to launch a new subscription service that would stream network and cable TV content, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the plans. Hoping to roll out the new service during the first quarter of …

Nvidia may have just dodged a bullet. The company on Monday said it has reached a settlement with Samsung to end all pending intellectual property litigation in the US. The deal was just in time — the US International Trade Commission was slated to issue a decision later Monday as to whether it would ban Nvidia products from sale in …

Microsoft’s lower-end Lumia 650 is now available for pre-order in Australia before arriving in retail on May 23. The phone will cost AU$299 and will be available from the Microsoft store as well as JB Hi-Fi, Big W, The Good Guys and even Australia Post. Announced back in February, the 650 has a 5-inch 1,280×720-pixel AMOLED screen, an 8-megapixel camera …

Bev Dutro’s 82-year-old mother has trouble remembering things. Sometimes she can’t recall what she wore or who visited her last. Dutro and her two siblings found caring for their mother, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s five years ago, increasingly difficult. They miscommunicated about visits and doctor appointments. When their mother imagined a fire in the house, they had a hard …

Not with Telstra, Optus or Vodafone? Fear not — the little guys of Australia’s telco industry are getting 4G. Thanks to a new wholesale deal with Telstra, mobile resellers AldiMobile, Woolworths Mobile, Telechoice and Better Life will now be able to offer their customers 4G coverage. ALDIMobile is the first off the blocks, promising 4G (where it’s available) at no …

Australians are being slugged with higher prices for less content and lower quality digital services, thanks to the “pervasive” use of geoblocking technology in Australia — and it’s time for the Government to put a stop to it. That’s according to a new draft report on Intellectual Property Arrangements, released by the Productivity Commission. The Productivity Commission’s 601-page report had …

Vodafone is shaking things up on prepaid, announcing a new customisable prepaid plan with a message to customers: Don’t use your good money on inclusions that you don’t need. The MyMix prepaid plan lets users tweak their data, call inclusions and plan expiry period, moving each inclusion up or down in value on a sliding scale within the MyVodafone app. …

I’m no stranger to Audio Technica headphones, especially their more affordable models, but this one, the ATH M70x over-the-ear headphone has a $419 MSRP/$299, £219, AUS299 street price, and faces stiff competition. Even so, first impressions were very positive, so before I knew it I had racked up quite a few hours on the ATH M70x. The Audio Technica ATH-M70x …

From time to time I’ve covered sound art shows at museums and exhibitions, but Tom Sachs’ “Boombox Retrospective, 1999-2016” is my all-time favorite. I knew something was up when I spotted a pair of 10-foot tall loudspeakers flanking Sachs’ “Presidential Vampire Booth” sound system dominating the museum lobby. While the funky-looking white-painted speakers weren’t playing at all loud, the music …

We’re fans of UE’s Roll Bluetooth speaker, a compact, waterproof wireless speaker with a unique design that sounds very good for its size and has decent battery life. When it was released last summer it listed for $100, but in recent weeks has come down to $70 on sites such as Amazon. But Best Buy now has it for $50, …

Tokyo is a wonderfully frenetic city of lights, high rises and concentrated insanity. It’s equal parts “Blade Runner,” “The Fifth Element,” “Ghost in the Shell” and, well, just about every other sci-fi movie you can think of. For years, Tokyo’s Akihabara district was the place to score cheap electronics. As the Internet became a thing and manufacturing largely moved out …

The Obamas have started a Twitter feud with England’s royal family. OK, so it’s not a real fight…but it’s still fun. Who doesn’t like a little trash talk? “Hey, Prince Harry,” Michelle Obama says in a video posted to her Twitter account Friday. “Remember when you told us to bring it at the Invictus Games?” President Barack Obama, who is …

CNET’s Cheapskate scours the Web for great deals on PCs, phones, gadgets and much more. Questions about the Cheapskate blog? Find the answers on our FAQ page. And find more great buys on the CNET Deals page. Linksys I think your cable bill is high enough without the monthly modem-rental fee, don’t you? Indeed, if you’re paying $6-8 per month …