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Why ‘the year of the smartwatch’ finished with a whimper

A whole year has gone by, filled with smartwatches. Apple makes them. Google’s software powers them. Sony, Samsung, Asus, Motorola, Pebble. Fossil. Tag-Heuer. It’s starting to come from everywhere: Everyone wants to put a high-tech thing on your wrist. There’s a problem, though: none of them feel necessary, or even necessarily desirable. In fact, most …

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Sounding good: Emotiva Big Ego USB desktop digital converter

Do you have a big ego? Sorry, I couldn’t resist, but I’m talking about Emotiva’s terrific new desktop digital converter, the Big Ego. One thing was clear from the get-go, Big Ego is a wee bit bigger than thumbdrive-sized USB digital converters like the AudioQuest DragonFly, Audioengine D3 or the Meridian Explorer 2, the Big Ego’s all-metal chassis measures 5.3 …

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Decode those weird symbols on the back of your phone

A tiny trash can with an X through it, an exclamation point and a bunch of acronyms. You’ve probably noticed these little marks lurking on the back of your phone, laptop or charger and maybe you’ve even wondered why they’re there. These tiny emblems are certification marks, used by government agencies and regulatory organizations to show that the product meets …

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Do you enjoy your speakers, if not, why not?

This isn’t so much a question of “Do you have the best speakers,” it’s more do you have the right speakers? Do they make you happy, or are they just getting by? If your Sonos Play:1 speaker rocks your world with Adele, Beethoven or Sufjan Stevens, that’s great, but if music isn’t making you happy, you might need something better. …

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How to set up iCloud Drive

Apple iCloud Drive has arrived. It now operates as a standalone service on both OS X and iOS, catching it up to Dropbox and other cloud services that allow for quick and convenient uploads so you can access your files across your Apple devices while freeing up some local storage on your devices in the process. Let’s have a look …

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How to name a group conversation in Messages for iOS

Apple’s iOS 9 is chock-full of useful features, some of which you might easily overlook. A great example: conversation naming. OK, maybe “great” is overstating it, but it sure is handy. When you start a group chat in the Messages app, it’s not always easy to know at-a-glance just who’s in that group. And if you have a lot of …

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BlackBerry’s Android bet is still looking for its big payoff

A lot hinges upon the success of BlackBerry’s newest smartphone, the awkwardly named Priv. The company’s first phone to run Google’s Android mobile software, and not its own BlackBerry 10 operating system, represents a make-or-break moment. If the Priv fails to turn enough heads, that could spell the end of BlackBerry as a smartphone maker. It’s a grim thought for …

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Get a Microsoft Surface 3 tablet for $399

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. As my holiday gift to you, I’m going to skip my usual rant about Microsoft’s Surface tablets being kind of pointless without a …

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