AT&T adds ZTE ZMax 2 to its GoPhone plans

The ZTE ZMax 2 features a 5.5-inch display. ZTE ZTE’s new ZMax 2 has Android 5.1 Lollipop and slightly refreshed specs compared to last year’s model . It’s still an affordable option — it will be available on prepay for $150 on AT&T from September 25. Chinese hardware-maker ZTE is now the fourth-largest smartphone vendor in the US. The company …

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Get a Canon multifunction color laser printer for $179

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. Enlarge ImageThe Canon ImageClass MF8280CW color all-in-one wireless laser printer does it all without expensive ink cartridges. Canon As a small-business owner, I print, scan and copy a fair number of documents. And …

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Xiaomi unveils China

Enlarge Image Xiaomi On Friday Apple will be launching its iPhone 6S around the world, which it hopes will continue its rapid market share growth in China. Xiaomi, possibly in an attempt to stifle the Californian tech giant, on Tuesday announced a new handset that’s exclusive to the country. The Chinese company, which is the fourth largest smartphone maker in …

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Avoid entering the Facebook vortex with Detox for Facebook

If you mindlessly check Facebook throughout the day and end up wasting more time than you’d like to admit reading the trivial comings and goings of your friends and family, then you may want to check out Detox for Facebook. This browser extension for Chrome, Firefox or Safari replaces your Facebook news feed with an actual news feed. It’s not …

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Instagram now larger than Twitter as user tally climbs to 400 million

Instagram’s photo sharing app has become one of the largest social networks for mobile devices. CNET Even more people are using Instagram. The photo-sharing service tallied 400 million people who use its app at least once a month, a jump of 25 percent from December, the company said Tuesday. That’s also more than the 316 million people who use Twitter. …

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The full moon effect: Chinese seniors attack drone bearing mooncake vouchers

Enlarge ImageMooncakes for the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. © Ninprapha Lippert Kaktusfactory/the food passionates/Corbis In July, Uber tried to win customers in Singapore by using drones to deliver ice cream to its users. This week, a man in China tried to win the heart of his girlfriend by sending her a drone bearing gifts — but he was stifled by a …

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Groupon to slash 1,100 jobs in the next year

Groupon says it will reinvest the savings from its cost-cutting moves. Rick Wilking/Reuters/Corbis Groupon plans to cut about 1,100 jobs, mostly in its sales and customer service operations, and end doing business in several markets around the world, the company said Tuesday. The job cuts represent about 10 percent of the company’s global workforce. As part of the cost-cutting measures, …

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3D

Enlarge ImageThe Loom Launcher Wizard is ideal for Harry Potter fans. Video screenshot by Amanda Kooser/CNET The Loom Launcher’s promo video on Kickstarter starts off in a suitably dramatic fashion, with designer Adrian van Wijk intoning about how the creation is “the first all-in-one, mechanical, 3D-printed, multi-shot rubber band launcher with a self-priming trigger.” Then it ascends into cat footage …

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Streaming music pumps up the volume, crosses $1 billion in US sales

Streaming, just 5 percent of US music revenue five years ago, now represents a third of the industry. CNET The nation’s music streams are creating a flood. US sales from streaming music in the first six months of the year surpassed $1 billion for the first time, a music industry trade group said Monday. The Recording Industry Association of America …

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Create a custom watch face on your Apple Watch

Enlarge Image Jason Cipriani/CNET With the release of Watch OS 2 — here’s how to update to the new operating system version — Apple is adding new features and capabilities to its Apple Watch. One of those additions is the option to create custom watch face backgrounds out of photos stored on the user’s iPhone. Enlarge Image Screenshot by Jason …

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Oyster, the Netflix of e

Oyster, a subscription service for e-books, is closing down. CNET Oyster, a subscription service for e-books that launched two years ago, is calling it quits. The service’s founders announced in a company blog post Monday that they will move toward retiring the existing service in the next few months. The blog post did not give a reason for the closure …

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Skype glitch may prevent you from making calls

Skype users will have to try the Web version if they need to make calls for now. Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET A technical glitch affecting Skype early Monday may be thwarting many users from making or receiving phone calls. Skype acknowledged the issue on Monday in a message posted on its Heartbeat site, which alerts Skype users to status issues, …

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See a 5K Retina iMac take on an anti

In the gadget torture-testing world, when you’ve already dropped an iPhone 6 thousands of feet, frozen and smashed an iPhone 6 Plus with a sledgehammer and ended an Apple Watch’s time with a rifle, all you can do to top it off is literally take your game to a much higher caliber. More torture tests Yes, someone put an Apple …

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