If you were on the Internet in the ’90s, then you may be familiar with ASCII art. This refers to using text characters to create a picture. Enlarge Image Instagram photo tuned into ASCII art. Photo by Nicole Cozma/CNET Thanks to a trick shared on The Next Web, you can easily create your own ASCII …

You can now broadcast live video to your Facebook friends. (But you may like Periscope better.) Watch CNET Update below to learn how to use Facebook’s new Live Video tool, now available for US iPhone accounts — and coming soon to Android. Facebook may be the best option for videos you only want your friends to see, but Twitter’s Periscope …

Enlarge Image We’ll find out soon if Donald Trump’s social media windfall trumps his absence at the Republican debate. Porter Gifford/Corbis Donald Trump snubbed an invitation to Thursday night’s Republican presidential debate. The unsociable act only won him more friends. The real-estate magnate and tonsorial innovator grabbed 38 percent of debate mentions on Twitter, according to data from the social …

Facebook is banning private gun sales on its main social network and Instagram too. The Menlo Park, California-based company said Friday that it plans to stop person-to-person firearms sales on its networks. The ban, actually an update to a policy that already prohibits the sale of marijuana, pharmaceuticals, and illegal drugs, does not apply to for-sale posts by licensed gun …

This story is part of CES 2016. Our editors bring you complete CES 2016 coverage and scour the showroom floor for the hottest new tech gadgets around. Congratulations to Chris D. of Turlock, California, for winning part 1 of our CES swag giveaway extraordinaire last week. Now, on to part 2. This week’s winner gets a nice big padded Patagonia …

HTC’s upcoming flagship handset could finally get a 2,560×1,440-pixel resolution, according to an unnamed source close to tech blog VentureBeat. If true, the unannounced One M10 would be the first HTC phone to get the sharp display, one that the Samsung Galaxy line has had for a year. The handset is also tapped to have a 12-megapixel camera (HTC calls …

Sky introduced a whole bundle of new products and services this week in an attempt to persuade you not to spend money on its competitors. The broadcaster announced a new Now TV box on Friday and revealed the price for the luxury Sky Q service it unveiled in November. With a slick interface, Sky Q is designed to provide a …

The pitches almost write themselves: “Mozart in Cupertino.” “Unbreakable Timmy Cook.” There’s no telling what new series we’ll be binge-watching if a recent report is on the money and Apple starts churning out original TV shows. The Cupertino, California-based tech giant has been speaking with TV producers and studios about creating programs that would be offered exclusively to iTunes customers, …

Two new flagship smartphones from LG are coming in 2016 — and they won’t be hitting the market without some backup. The K10 and K4 phones will launch around the world in the coming weeks, the South Korean company promises. It said that Europe would get the devices this week, followed by Asia, the Middle East and Latin America in …

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. If there’s a less sexy tech term than “software as a service” (aka SaaS), I haven’t heard it. So when I first discovered …

The country is set to go officially crazy for Super Bowl 50 on February 7. If you’re not among the 75,000-odd lucky fans who get to watch the game in person at Santa Clara’s Levi’s Stadium, you’ll probably be among the 110 million-plus people watching it on a TV. Here’s how to make that TV look its best for the …

The Next Web recently uncovered what’s perhaps the easiest way to share your Snapchat account with friends and family members. Sure, the service has long had unique Snapcodes users could share and scan to add someone, but the process required extra steps. Now, each Snapchat users has his or her own unique URL. When shared, a user can open the …

How do you sell something that people already own? You make it smarter. You make it prettier. You let people control it from their phone. That was the formula that made the $250 Nest thermostat so successful, and other companies have been aping it ever since. These days, you can even buy home security cameras and door locks that have …

Ten months ago I heard snippets of an unreleased Rihanna song that was, presumably, one of the tracks on her upcoming, yet-to-be-announced album. Her raw, scratchy vocals evoked a sadness uncharacteristic of the exceptionally GIF-able songstress. The lyrics, which extol the virtues of musing over an old lover while drinking whiskey, drown the listener in a morose vulnerability usually expected …

iPhone chargers, be gone. We’d love to ditch you, and it looks like Apple might too. The Cupertino, California-based company is developing new wireless charging tech for iPhones that could be ready as soon as 2017, Bloomberg reported Friday, citing unnamed sources familiar with Apple’s plans. Wireless charging technology isn’t new. Several iPhone rivals have incorporated it, allowing people to …