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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. And find more great buys on the CNET Deals page. Everyone knows there’s no such thing as a free lunch, but free cell service? Believe it or not, …

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Switch to Boost Mobile, get discounts and free phones

Boost Mobile, in an effort to pull customers away from other wireless carriers, today announced a limited-time promotion. Effective immediately, Boost is offering discounted rate plans and free phones to subscribers who port their number from competing service providers. The promotion underscores a growing interest in and demand for prepaid wireless providers, which are often more affordable and don’t require …

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Listen up: Amazon’s Alexa is taking over our homes (The 3:59, Ep. 4)

Amazon’s Echo smart speaker had twins. The e-retailer unveiled on Thursday two new devices powered by Alexa, the same digital voice assistant housed inside the Echo. There’s the $130 Amazon Tap, essentially a portable, battery-powered Echo, and the $90 Echo Dot, which adds Alexa’s brains to any speakers you already have. Preorders started Thursday and the devices are scheduled to …

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MythBuster Adam Savage builds ‘The Martian’ spacesuit

You don’t have to be stranded on Mars to want the impressive spacesuit worn by Matt Damon in “The Martian.” “MythBusters” co-host Adam Savage admired the NASA spacesuit, which was designed by Janty Yates and brought to life on screen by FBFX special effects studio, so he decided to build a replica of the highly-detailed costume. Related stories ‘The Martian’ …

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Drumpf Twitterbot learns to imitate Trump via deep

Sometimes politicians say things they wish they could take back, especially online. And in other cases, their words become the kind of fodder comedians dream of for the perfectly hilarious monologue. But what happens when you have a presidential candidate whose speeches almost sound like an absurdist bot run amok? Related stories Frank Underwood would ‘take Trump down,’ says ‘House …

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Glitch bot turns watching news into an extreme sport

Watching and processing a constant stream of news can feel like a 24-hour job when you consider how much information is relayed on TV and the Web these days. In his latest Twitter-bot project Glitch News Network, UK-based artist Eric Drass, aka Shardcore, takes advantage of various online news sites to make quick, nonsensical videos. The social-media bot “scrapes various …

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Faster editing and easier cropping with Google Photos

With its unlimited free storage option, Google Photos is a great place to store your photo library in the cloud. Despite offering some basic editing tools, it has been less attractive as a photo-editing studio. With a recent update, however, Google Photos is better suited to perform quick edits to your photos. There are two new additions to Google Photos. …

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How to order an Amazon Echo Dot without an Amazon Echo

Earlier today, Amazon took the wraps off the Echo Dot, an adorable little sibling to the company’s popular Echo smart speaker. You can pair it with a Bluetooth speaker or just use it as a standalone virtual assistant. The problem is, you can’t preorder one — not unless you already own a full-size Echo. For the moment, the only official …

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