New 8

You’re in luck if you’ve held onto a Nintendo Entertainment System, as 2016 is once again time for the classic console to shine. On January 30, artist and developer Riki Iwasaki released 8-Bit Music Power, a chiptune album that plays off a NES cartridge instead of a CD, meaning you’ll need Nintendo’s original home console, …

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Enter for your chance to win* an Olio smartwatch!

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. Greetings, cheeps! I’m off-duty this week, but that won’t stop me from keeping the cool stuff coming — starting with this killer contest. …

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Samsung Galaxy S6, S6 Edge bite into Android Marshmallow

If you’re a Samsung Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge owner disgruntled that your expensive phone’s software is a generation behind rivals, you’ll be glad to hear the latest version of Google’s Android is arriving. Samsung said Monday it will update the two top-end phones to Android 6.0 Marshmallow software starting immediately and update some other Galaxy devices gradually as well. …

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Photographers and audiophiles, two of a kind?

I first became aware of the photographer/audiophile connection when I was a high-end audio salesman in the 1980s. I couldn’t help but notice a significant percentage of my customers were professional photographers. At first I had no idea why, but both groups share a fascination with capturing reality — images for photographers, and sound for audiophiles — as accurately as …

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Amazon shows its artsy side with ‘The New Yorker Presents’ series (Q&A)

In a documentary segment of “The New Yorker Presents,” gay Mexican wrestler Saúl Armendáriz flashes through an arena crowd while wearing a mile-long sequined coat. Then he struts around the ring to the beat of disco anthem “I Will Survive.” A skit in another episode of the TV show tackles the rumor that novelist Honoré de Balzac drank 50 cups …

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How a BlackBerry could be the phone of my dreams

The phone you see in the picture below doesn’t actually exist. It probably never will. But it could. Here’s how BlackBerry and Verizon Wireless could team up to build the phone of my dreams — and bring BlackBerry’s brand back from the brink of irrelevance. Enlarge Image We asked concept artist Pierre Cerveau to bring the BlackBerry Droid to life. …

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Scalia’s death lights up Twitter

Twitter served as the nation’s town square Saturday as politicians, personalities and everyday folk flocked to the social network to offer thoughts on the death of US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Within hours of his death, Twitter users had sent more than 650,000 tweets about Scalia. A jurist on the court for three decades, 79-year-old Scalia was one of …

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Still listening with earbuds? Maybe it’s time for an upgrade.

If you’re still listening to music with the free earbuds that came with your smartphone, I have news for you: just about any decent headphone will sound a whole lot better. Face it, with those ‘buds dangling from your ears you’ve never heard solid bass, natural midrange or clear highs. Your music is “funneled” through the aural equivalent of pinholes, …

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Apple Music gains subscribers at a fast clip

Apple Music may be the new kid on the block, but it appears to have the right stuff. Apple’s new streaming-music service has more than 11 million subscribers, according to Apple executives Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi. The two revealed the milestone, along with several other Apple tidbits, on an episode of John Gruber’s podcast “The Talk Show” published Friday. …

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There’s another emoticon keyboard hiding in your iPhone

At some point, you’ve probably seen the infamous shrug emoticon: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Emoticons (not to be confused with emoji) are a series of characters put together to make a face, animal or some other funny character. Think of emoticons as the traditional smiley face — with a lot more personality. Crafting an emoticon like the shrug-face takes a lot more work …

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Hoopla! The inventor of basketball returns

The inventor of basketball made a guest appearance at an NBA event on Friday, scoring a swish 125 years after he created the sport. Dr. James Naismith, a Canadian educator who developed hoops as a wintertime sport while teaching in New England, popped up as a hologram in Toronto during the NBA’s All-Star Technology Summit. A 3D-esque image of Naismith …

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Dr. Dre may get R

Apple is getting into show business, and in a decidedly un-Apple-like way. The technology titan is set to back a series from rapper Dr. Dre, who will produce and star in “Vital Signs,” according to the Hollywood Reporter. Dre (real name Andre Young) joined Apple alongside music producer Jimmy Iovine when the company bought Beats in 2014 for $3 billion. …

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Get an Acer Chromebook 11 CB3 for $90

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. Cheap things come to those who wait. If you were a Chromebook early adopter, you might have paid as much as $250 to …

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Here’s a list of emoticons and their meaning

If you unlocked the emoticon keyboard on your iOS device, then bookmark this page. As noted in the guide that detailed how to activate the hidden keyboard on your iOS device, it’s not easy to figure out just what each of the emoticons actually mean. Thankfully, the website linked to above lists various Asian emoticons and their respective meanings. For …

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Crave giveaway: Custom

Enlarge Image Josh Miller/CNET Editor’s note: This week’s giveaway has a Twitter component. Please read the below rules carefully. We’ve turned off comments on this post to avoid confusion as to how to enter the contest. Congratulations to Chris H. of Saint Joseph, Missouri, for winning a Playbulb Sphere color-changing light from MiPow last week. Now for this week’s prize… …

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