Starbucks smartphone wireless charging arrives in London

Rest your smartphone on a charging pad, and hey presto — you’ve got power. Luke Westaway/CNET Coffee behemoth Starbucks is caffeinating your smartphone, bringing its wireless charging pads to 10 shops in London. Wireless charging does exactly what it sounds like, and lets you power up your gadgets without the use of irksome cables, or …

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Get $5 off my favorite mobile charger

Yes. Yes, yes, yes. RAVPower All mobile chargers are created equal, right? Wrong. They come in lots of different shapes and sizes, of course, with different battery capacities that determine how much juice you can wring out for your mobile devices. And the vast majority are standalone power bricks, requiring cables not just for charging your phone, tablet, or whatever, …

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iPhone shipments last quarter likely to set a record

Will Apple crush its previous iPhone sales record? CNET Apple’s big-screened iPhone 6 and 6 Plus may have drummed up overall iPhone shipments as high as 69 million last quarter, based on new analysis from Morgan Stanley. In an investor note released Tuesday, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty offered her firm’s latest prediction for iPhone shipments, upping its previous forecasts …

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Facebook promises fewer hoax stories in your News Feed

Facebook is cracking down on hoax stories appearing in the News Feed. Facebook Facebook is updating its News Feed with a feature designed to reduce the number of fake and hoax stories that users see, but the social network says your daily dose of satire should remain unaffected. In an update on its blog, Facebook said it was acting on …

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Netflix CEO sees plenty of room to coexist with HBO online

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings during a YouTube broadcast discussion of prior earnings. Screenshot by Joan E. Solsman/CNET Yes, Netflix and HBO can get along just fine. That’s according to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who said on Tuesday in a video conference call that he believes customers could potentially subscribe to both Netflix and HBO’s future streaming service. Netflix could be …

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Amazon to fold its mobile

The Amazon Wallet beta is ending six months after launch. Amazon Amazon will pull the plug on its Amazon Wallet beta on Wednesday, six months after it launched the limited mobile-wallet effort. The Internet retail giant began informing users by email on Tuesday that it is shutting down the beta and removing the app from app stores. The beta’s closure …

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PlayStation Network’s first original show ‘Powers’ up on 10 March

“District 9” star Sharlto Copley is Detective Christian Walker in “Powers”. Sony Power up your PlayStation for the first PSN-produced TV show. Sony-backed cops’n’superheroes show “Powers” begins on 10 March. “Powers” is the first original scripted show produced for the PlayStation Network. It features “District 9” prawn star Sharlto Copley and relative newcomer Susan Heyward as detectives investigating crimes related …

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Overstock.com to launch Amazon video

Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne says his company wants a piece of the market Amazon has heavily invested in. Screenshot by Donna Tam/CNET Overstock.com, known for selling products online at discount prices, will launch a video-streaming service in the first half of this year, pitting it against larger rival Amazon and its Instant Prime Video, the company announced Tuesday. The new …

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SpaceX lands $1 billion from Google and Fidelity

Like others in the tech industry, Space X CEO Elon Musk is tinkering with satellite Internet service. CBS Google is cementing its interest in outer space. The company, along with investment firm Fidelity, is pumping $1 billion into SpaceX, the rocket company co-founded by billionaire Elon Musk. The deal, confirmed on Tuesday by SpaceX, is just the latest bet Google …

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Facebook supports 4.5 million jobs worldwide, social network says

Sheryl Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg, surrounded by fellow Facebook employees, cheer at the ceremonial opening bell the morning Facebook went public. Facebook A Facebook-commissioned study says the world’s largest social network is making a tsunami-sized splash on the global economy. According to the study, conducted by Deloitte, Facebook added $227 billion to the global economy and helped to support 4.5 …

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Netflix will begin streaming ‘The Interview’ on Saturday

The next stop for controversial comedy “The Interview”: Netflix. ‘The Interview’ will make its debut on Netflix this Saturday. Sony Pictures/Screenshot by CNET The online streaming video service said Tuesday that the film, starring Seth Rogen and James Franco as Americans who get the opportunity to interview the leader of North Korea, will debut on its site on Saturday. “The …

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How to restore File Explorer to your taskbar

Left: Backup way to access File Explorer. Right: Easy way to restore File Explorer. Screenshot by Rick Broida/CNET I consider File Explorer an essential component of Windows, so much so that I never understood why Microsoft didn’t make it a more prominent part of the OS. In fact, it was only recently that Explorer earned a long-overdue spot on the …

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Netflix gets boost from strong international growth

Netflix will air Tina Fey sitcom “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” in March. The series joins a large group of new original shows on Netflix in 2015. Netflix Netflix’s trek around the globe is one that even Marco Polo would deem impressive. The world’s largest online-video streaming company, which produces the eponymous show about the Venetian merchant, released its fourth-quarter results Tuesday. …

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Twitter next up to tap emerging markets with ZipDial acquisition

Twitter has acquired India-based ZipDial, as it seeks to appeal to the billions of people who are expected to come online for the first time in the next several years. ZipDial, which has been a strategic business partner with Twitter in India for the last two years, focuses on mobile users. Its service allows them to place a toll-free call …

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Amazon to make its own movies, from theatre to your computer in four weeks

The cast and crew of Amazon’s “Transparent” celebrate their Golden Globe wins. Steve Granitz/WireImage/Getty Amazon is getting ready for its close-up: it’s moving from making TV to making movies rumoured to appear in theatres before going online on Amazon Prime Instant Video. The online retail giant launched Amazon Studios in 2010 to develop and fund new shows that would be …

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