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Airbnb vows greater cooperation with cities

Airbnb has promised to play nice with local governments. The San Francisco-based home-sharing company on Wednesday published a policy statement in which it vowed to pay its “fair share” of hotel and tourist taxes, share anonymized data on hosts and guests who use the service, and prevent people from listing properties other than their permanent residence. All three of these …

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Wearable tech takes flight as UK airline EasyJet debuts LED and sensor

Wearable technology is about to take off. UK airline EasyJet is sending new uniforms down the runway that are covered with LED lights and built-in sensors. Budget flyer EasyJet, founded in 1995 by the colourful entrepreneur Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, is the UK’s biggest airline by number of passengers carried. The airline is celebrating its 20th anniversary by trying out new …

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T

LOS ANGELES — T-Mobile customers will get a chance to clear through their backlog of “Scandal” or “Veep” on their smartphone. The company’s new “Binge On” program, unveiled Tuesday, will let you stream videos from Netflix, HBO Go and more than 20 other services. T-Mobile will work to add more streaming services over time. The video is optimized at a …

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Get a Google Chromecast for $17.99 shipped

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. Talk about a stocking-stuffer. While supplies last, Efurb has the refurbished Google Chromecast streaming-media stick for $27.99 shipped. But if you’re new to Efurb, all you have to do is register (for free) …

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Apple Music is for ‘everyone,’ even Android users

Apple’s always orchestrated its music business to draw you in deeper, but now it’s playing for a different crowd. The Cupertino, California, electronics giant Tuesday released a test version of its Apple Music streaming service for Google’s Android operating system, the mobile software that powers the majority of the world’s devices. The company’s only other major Android app helps you …

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The future of playtime: Interactive toys

Now playing: Watch this: High-tech toys raise privacy concerns 2:19 A new wave of interactive toys wants to make playtime more personal than ever. In partnership with Mattel, San Francisco-based ToyTalk has released Hello Barbie, an Internet-connected doll that can have a conversation. Hello Barbie processes speech in a similar manner to a virtual assistant like Siri or Cortana. Press …

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How a startup’s tiny dots could lead to better smartphone photos

MENLO PARK, California — The future of photography is arriving here with a steady drip, drip, drip. At least that’s the plan for InVisage Technologies, a 75-person startup that hopes its exotic new material known as quantum dots will dramatically improve smartphone cameras when it arrives in devices in the first quarter of 2016. “It’s revolutionary on a number of …

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How to enable pop

The BlackBerry Priv’s Android-powered software is full of small tweaks and customizations BlackBerry has implemented, all with the goal of providing a better user experience. One such feature is called Pop-Up Widgets, which makes it possible to activate a widget from an app’s icon without taking up precious real estate. As useful as the feature may sound, Pop-Up Widgets aren’t …

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Microbot Push makes dumb buttons smart

Remember “Lost”? Specifically, remember the season-two story arc that saw John Locke pushing a button every 108 minutes, ostensibly to prevent global catastrophe? If only he’d had a Microbot Push. This automated, app-powered “robot finger,” currently seeking funding on Indiegogo, can push nearly any mechanical button. In other words, it makes dumb buttons smart. Consider: It could turn on your …

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