Watching a movie on a DVD may seem archaic in this streaming age, but you shouldn’t have to pay a fee to play a DVD on your computer. For many people, the Windows 10 upgrade doesn’t come with software to play a DVD movie. Microsoft is charging $15 for the program in its app store, …

Daniel Terdiman/CNET Couch potatoes with a Chromecast streaming stick can now take advantage of even more channels, including HBO Now. Cord-cutters with an HBO Now monthly subscription and a Chromecast device have access to the network’s full lineup of TV series and movies using its Android and iOS apps, making it one of the easiest ways to catch up on …

Enlarge Image IFA, the huge Berlin tech show that’s Europe’s equivalent of the Consumer Electronics Show in the US, opens in early September, just a few weeks away. And that means it’s high time for rumors, speculation and leaks of the tech to be announced there. To that end, CNET has obtained two photos from a person familiar with Huawei’s …

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. This is an update of a deal I first wrote about early this year. Not only is the price a bit lower, a few areas have been clarified (and, ahem, corrected). What do …

CNET Microsoft has introduced a DVD Player app for Windows 10 for people who still want to pop in a good, old-fashioned disc to watch a movie. Officially rolled out July 29, Windows 10 has won praise for introducing several new and interesting features, including the new Start menu, the Cortana voice-activated digital assistant and the Edge browser. But it’s …

The Obsidian is an entry-level phone with a 4.5-inch display. ZTE The summer months tend to deliver modest models like Thursday’s announcement of the ZTE Obsidian for T-Mobile. Arriving August 13, the value-priced Obsidian is a starter Android phone with low-end hardware. It comes with a 4.5-inch display with 854×480-pixel resolution, and a low-powered 1GHz quad-core processor with 1GB RAM. …

Apple’s instruction page for deregistering iPhones from the iMessage system. Screenshot by Steven Musil/CNET Apple got a partial victory this week in a lawsuit over text messages. In a ruling handed down Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh said that a lawsuit accusing Apple of not delivering text messages sent from iOS devices to Android devices could not proceed as …

Just two years after Apple revamped the app switching interface with iOS 7, it’s changing it again. Instead of providing thumbnails of apps placed next to one another, Apple has opted to place the same thumbnails in a stack. Double-click the home button on your iOS device to view the new interface. In the past, you would scroll from right-to-left …

Google plans to keep its Nexus 4, and other devices secure with timely updates. Josh Miller/CNET Google announced plans to roll out monthly security patches for its Nexus smartphones and tablets on Wednesday, including a patch for the Stagefright exploit that could affect as many as 95 percent of Android devices. Starting today, select devices will receive software updates designed …

Samsung wants its Smart TV buyers to use its Samsung Pay payments system. Samsung Samsung will try to entice Smart TV buyers to pay for items using its Samsung Pay payments system. Dubbed Samsung Pay on TV, the payment service will allow Samsung Smart TV owners to pay for items using a TV-engineered version of Samsung Pay. Like Apple Pay, …

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. Some of my favorite deals are on the simplest products. Like, you know how you never have enough pens? And you know how sometimes it’s easier to use a stylus on your phone …

Satellite TV provider Dish Network said regulators have sent it mixed messages about its prospects for competing in the wireless market. Dish Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen said during the company’s second-quarter conference call that the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to deny a $3.3 billion credit it gave to two of Dish’s affiliates in the last spectrum auction, which ended in …

Now you don’t have to see racist content on Reddit, unless you opt in. Reddit users now have the option of not seeing racist or hateful commentary on the popular online community unless they choose to, thanks to an update to its content policy. Chief Executive Officer Steve Huffman announced the new policy on the community forum site Wednesday, though …

iPhone sales got hotter last quarter in Europe but cooled off a bit in the US. CNET The iPhone’s market share grew during the second quarter throughout Europe as well as China, Japan and Australia but dipped in the US, research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech said in a report released Wednesday. For the second quarter of 2015, the iPhone’s market …

Organizing and viewing push notifications on an iOS device was made easier when Apple incorporated Notification Center as we know it with iOS 7. A quick swipe from the top of your iOS device’s screen reveals a list of notifications, waiting for you to take action or presenting you with information. Try as you might to make sense of the …