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Facebook’s Gear VR app wants to be YouTube for 360

Want to view immersive, 360-degree Facebook photos or videos in your Samsung Gear VR headset, like this White House tour? It hasn’t been particularly easy — you’ve had to browse the social network first on a 2D screen, then save a video or hunt for a button before popping it on your head. That may change with the introduction of …

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Weeping Angel: Did the CIA really hack into TVs?

Weeping Angel (noun): 1. A terrifying monster from the popular UK sci-fi series “Doctor Who,” which resembles a harmless winged statue — until you blink or look away. 2. An alleged spying tool, co-developed by the CIA and the UK’s MI5 security agency, which lets a Samsung Smart TV (specifically, the F8000 Smart TV) pretend to turn itself off — …

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Movado, Tommy Hilfiger and Hugo Boss are making Android Wear smartwatches

Get ready for more of your favorite watch brands to start peddling smartwatch alternatives. Movado Group has announced its own line of smartwatches compatible with Android Wear 2.0, Google’s newly-updated smartwatch software. Movado previously made a line of smart analog smartwatches via a collaboration with HP. It looks like Movado Group’s making a leap to Google. Movado Connect, one of …

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Gaijin rejoice: AR app translates Japanese menus to English

Going to a new country is fun, but trying to make sense of foreign menus isn’t so great. Fret not, gaijin in Japan: Carrier NTT Docomo wants to help all of those visiting The Land of the Rising Sun. The company’s Food Menu Translation AR app, though not conveniently named, uses your phone’s camera to scan menus and conveniently translates …

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Apple to WikiLeaks: Our latest iOS stops potential CIA hacks

Now playing: Watch this: Apple, Samsung, LG respond to WikiLeaks dump 1:36 Apple says its latest iOS already fixed many of the exploits listed in WikiLeaks’ document dump. Josh Miller/CNET As fallout continues from WikiLeaks releasing thousands of documents claiming to show the CIA’s secret hacking tools, Apple says its iPhones and iPads are safe. That is, if you’ve upgraded …

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WikiLeaks and the CIA’s hacking secrets, explained

The CIA may be equipped with an arsenal of hacking tools that can give it access to your phone, computer and other devices, according to a report by CBS News. (Disclosure: CNET is part of CBS Interactive, which is owned by CBS.) But what’s really going on? Updated March 8 at 2:40p.m. PT with CIA statement. What did WikiLeaks publish? …

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Google Play Music jumps into podcasts with ‘City Soundtracks’

Google Play Music, the company’s audio streaming service, is launching its first original podcast, a travel-show-like documentary series called “City Soundtracks.” The first three episodes are now available on Google Play Music and iTunes. Each includes a prominent music figure from the profiled city. Cities and artists covered in this initial batch are Austin, Texas/Spoon, New Orleans/Big Freedia and Oakland, …

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Here’s the best way to use Dropbox on a Chromebook

Buying a Chromebook doesn’t necessarily mean you need to make Google Drive your cloud-storage boo. There is no reason to severe a long and meaningful relationship with Dropbox just because Google Drive is baked into Google‘s Chrome OS. You can always access Dropbox via the Web on a Chromebook, but a better way is to use a Chrome extension that …

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Pinterest buys Jelly in quest for sweet search combo

Jelly and pushpins? Doesn’t sound quite as lip-smackin’ as a PB&J. But you never know. Digital-scrapbooking tool Pinterest said Wednesday that it’s acquired Jelly — the search site co-created by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone — to “accelerate our efforts in building the world’s first visual discovery engine.” Since its relaunch, Jelly has been a little like Q&A site Quora, with …

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