Apple wants you to ditch your old iPhone with new payment plan

You’re itching to get your hands on a new iPhone but can’t afford the big upfront payment. Maybe you like the idea of monthly payments but don’t want to commit to buying the newest iPhone available each year. Apple has a program for you. The company on Thursday revealed its new Trade Up With Installments …

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What you need to know about Nextbit Robin’s Smart Storage feature

The Nextbit Robin is a new breed of Android smartphone — one that manages its own internal storage as you load more apps or content onto the device. Over time, the Robin’s Smart Storage feature learns your usage patterns and knows what apps, photos and videos you’re most likely to use or need. When the 32GB of internal storage starts …

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Turn off notifications from websites in Chrome on Android

Some mobile websites, like Facebook, will deliver push notifications to Chrome on Android so you don’t miss an update or reply. This usually comes in the form of a pop-up asking you to allow notifications. If you’re quickly scrolling through a site, it’s too easy to accidentally tap the pop-up. Looking for a way to turn off these notifications for …

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Apple releases software update to correct ‘error 53’

Apple has released a new version of its iOS mobile operating system that fixes iPhones disabled by the infamous error 53. The error, first reported by The Guardian two weeks ago, affected users who had used a third party to fix a cracked screen or a failing Touch ID-enabled home button. Error 53 appeared as a security measure, said Apple, …

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Put weather info on the lock screen of Nextbit Robin

In an effort to make the lock screen of the Nextbit Robin more useful, the company designed a clock that’s big and easy to read. Just below the current time is the date, and, if you enable it, just below that you can view weather conditions for your current location. However, you’ll need to activate the weather feature before weather …

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This trash bin can drive to the curb and back

Most of the things inventor and YouTube host Colin Furze has created are more for entertainment and shock value than actual usefulness. Case in point: his real-life Wolverine claws. Or his magnetic boots that let him hang upside down from anything metal. Or his high-voltage ejector bed. Or…well, you get the idea. But now Furze has created something truly useful. …

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Watch a homemade flip

Sure Batman might have some really cool toys, but it’s kind of hard to beat the simple elegance of the batarang. Part boomerang, part ninja throwing star, the whizzing weapon has delivered plenty of “kablooeys” to the noggins of evildoers over the years. Now, bad guys in Germany had better watch out. YouTube inventor Patrick Priebe, who lives in Germany, …

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Microsoft’s Translator app plays catch

Microsoft has a couple new tricks up its sleeve to help it better compete with Google Translate. Released Thursday, the version of Microsoft Translator for the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch now includes optical character recognition, or OCR. That means the app can translate text that’s in an image. You could use your iPhone to snap a photo of a …

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Twitter will now help you find the perfect GIF

GIFs are everywhere on the Internet and now you’ll see more of them on Twitter. The company just introduced a new GIF search engine for you to find and add the moving images to your tweets and direct messages. Twitter added support for GIFs way back in 2014, but you had to find them on a separate site and upload …

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T

Nowadays, you’re more likely to watch your phone than talk on it. Thanks to the explosion of streaming video apps such as Netflix, YouTube and HBO Go, countless hours of entertainment are at your beck and call. Grab a little boob tube on the train home or kill a few minutes on your coffee break. The growth of mobile video …

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If Facebook ‘likes’ were votes, the next US president would be…

Americans aren’t known for their turnout at elections, but that’s not to say they’re averse to voting. Millions of them vote every single day in a sense — by clicking the “like” button on Facebook posts, profiles and pages. Now, the folks at FiveThirtyEight, an ESPN-owned site that focuses on polling, politics and more, have created a national map and …

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4K Blu

If you preordered your 4K Blu-ray discs at Amazon you might want to look away now: electronics retailer Best Buy has started selling discs two weeks before the official date. CNET spotted titles including “Hitman: Agent 47”, “Fantastic Four” and Academy Award hopeful “The Martian” at the 14th St Manhattan outlet of Best Buy today. Meanwhile online retailer Amazon lists …

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This $100 in

I get a lot of headphones in for review from brands I’ve never heard of. Most of them are nothing special and some are outright stinkers, but then there are the ones I want to know better. 1More’s Triple Driver in-ear headphone was in the last category, not least because the packaging was elegantly presented and easy to sort out. …

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Samsung Galaxy S7 allegedly revealed in leaked images, video

Samsung is set to pull back the curtain on its new Galaxy S7 phone this weekend. Several of the phone’s reported specs have already leaked, and now a video and images apparently offer a close-up. Blog site Android Authority released the video and images Wednesday, citing an anonymous “insider.” The source also noted that the Galaxy S7 will be dust …

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How to delete a photo or video from the iOS Messages app

My brother and I often text about the shared misery we experience as Cleveland Browns fans. I recently received a Billy Manziel shirt as a joke gift from a friend (who, I should point out, is a long-tortured fan of the Buffalo Bills) and texted a picture of me wearing it to my brother. Now that Johnny Manziel’s exploits have …

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