Fitbit, the first wearable tech company to go public, saw its shares soar during its first day of trading as a public company, a sign that fitness-and-health tracking gadgets are more than just a passing fad. The shares, trading under the symbol “FIT,” closed Thursday at $29.68 on the New York Stock Exchange, giving Fitbit …

Google announced new projects having to do with eyewitness videos. Joan E. Solsman/CNET YouTube — and the ability for people to easily shoot videos from their phones — has changed the way news outlets report on big events. Now Google wants to help the media find eyewitness videos and make sure they are trustworthy. To do that, the search giant …

Shipments of wearable devices are expected to surge. Sarah Tew/CNET Smartwatches and fitness bands are finally catching the public’s eye, at least according to industry predictions. An estimated 72.1 million wearable devices are forecast to ship in 2015, market researcher IDC said Thursday. If so, that number would be a bounce of 173 percent from the 26.4 million wearables that …

The humble keyboard never looked so good. Keyboardio We don’t usually give much thought to keyboards. They’re utilitarian devices that help make our computers function and our commands known. But what if keyboards were also works of art, something gorgeous to look at, a pleasure to view as well as type on? That’s the concept behind the Keyboardio Model 01, …

You can now buy an Apple Watch at an Apple Store as long as you make an online reservation first. Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET Apple Watch buyers will now be able to reserve the wearable device and pick it up at a local Apple Store. On Wednesday, Apple’s new Reserve and Pick Up service opened for business at Apple online …

Hulu’s $7.99-a-month subscription service has dropped the “Plus,” but it still gives members earlier access to some full episodes and lets them watch on mobile devices. Joan E. Solsman/CNET Hulu Plus is dead, but the service lives on, same as it ever was. The streaming-TV service simplified its name Tuesday to purely Hulu for both its free tier and its …

The 15 Stations app replaces a blank wall with a historical video. Aloysius Low/CNET If you happen to be in Singapore sometime this week, you may want to check out 15 Stations, an exhibition piece that combines art, history and augmented reality technology and is located at a disused railway station in the vicinity of the central business district. For …

Don’t worry, it’s supposed to do that. Nextbook This is an update of a post from last year. Better specs, cheaper by a buck. Woot! The term “hybrid PC” has pretty much vanished from the tech vernacular, but it still applies to a certain product category: a laptop with a removable screen. Or maybe a tablet with a keyboard dock. …

The Federal Communications Commission’s new Net neutrality rules have been in effect for less than a week, and the agency is about to receive its first formal complaint from a company alleging harm. Commercial Network Services, a San Diego-based company that operates webcams and streams live video feeds, said it will soon file a formal complaint against cable giant Time …

$300 off-contract gets you a 13-megapixel camera. Sarah Tew/CNET We’ve known for a few months now that AT&T would be the only US carrier to get the 5.7-inch Microsoft Lumia 640 XL …and we finally have details. The carrier will start selling the midrange phablet on June 26 (both online and in retail stores) for $300 off-contract. You can also …

Matt Elliott/CNET Just as you need wind to fly a kite, you need users to make a social network fly. For social news app Kite to take off, it needs users because it relies on humans, not computers, to deliver the news. “There are two types of curation that work: social is one and the other is journalistic curation,” developer …

A preview of the request screen as seen after uploading files. Dropbox A new Dropbox feature, announced on Wednesday, allows a Dropbox user to request files from someone. Instead of creating a series of shared folders where you and coworkers can upload files (making the files viewable by everyone who has access to the folder), file requests add a level …

V-Moda Bespoke headphones accessories like XL cushions and laser engraved side panels (also called “shields”) have been popular sellers on V-Moda’s website for years, but the company is ready to move into the next stage of production with custom 3D-printed shields sourced from raw metals, stainless steel, and even precious metals like 14k white gold and platinum. Steve Guttenberg/CNET V-Moda …

Americans love their mobile devices enough that 44 percent of households are now “wireless only.” Sarah Tew/CNET Mobile users in the US consumed 26 percent more mobile data last year than they did in 2013, according to a new report. Scoping out the mobile data landscape for 2014, the mobile industry trade group CTIA found that smartphones and tablet owners …

Steve Guttenberg/CNET Some say the first true consumer high-res digital audio format was the Super Audio CD (SACD) that was introduced by Sony/Philips in 1999. The DVD-Audio (aka DVD-A) disc arrived soon after, and their prolonged format war produced no decisive winner. Both formats sounded better than CD, there’s no doubt about that, but not better enough to woo huge …