Enlarge ImageThe winning doodle for the 2014 Doodle 4 Google contest. Audrey Zhang/Screenshot by CNET Google flavors its home page with doodles that commemorate significant people and events. The vast majority of the doodles are created in-house, but the search giant also hosts an annual contest for children. The Doodle 4 Google contest challenges students …

Whenever you write an email or IM to someone you don’t know very well, you want to be as polite as possible. This will help keep the lines of communication open while you get to know their etiquette preferences and sense of humor. To help you out, the Politeness Web tool from FoxType Labs can be used to check the …

The male peacock spider doesn’t have an extensive showreel. When you’re the size of a fingernail, it’s hard to command the attention of wildlife filmmakers — if camera crews haven’t spent years stepping over you in the undergrowth, then they haven’t had the gear required to capture your colours in glorious detail. Compared to lightning-fast cheetahs or a pride of …

iOgrapher GoPro cameras are great for mounting on people and things in ways you can’t with traditional cameras. However, the design also makes them tricky to use as more than a point-of-view camera. The iOgrapher Go solves this by giving you a way to mount a GoPro onto a frame between two large handgrips made out of strong, lightweight polycarbonate …

Enlarge Image Sprint Sprint prepaid brand Boost Mobile is adding a few new smartphones to its contract-free lineup. And you won’t have to pay very much to get your hands on them: they’re both available for less than $150. First up is the HTC Desire 626s, available for $130. It’s running Android 5.1 Lollipop on a 5-inch, 720p display, and …

There’s no shortage of file managing apps for Android devices. Astro File Manager has long been my personal favorite, though the Play store is full of worthy alternatives. However, Google has included a bare-bones file manager in Android 6.0 Marshmallow, as pointed out by How-To Geek. For those who don’t need a file manager on a regular basis, it should …

Enlarge ImageApple CEO Tim Cook, pictured at the BoxWorks conference last month, has pushed his company into new markets such as wearables. Josh Miller/CNET LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. — More than 6.5 million people have signed up for Apple Music since the $10-a-month streaming music service launched at the end of June, CEO Tim Cook said Monday. Another 8.5 million people …

Would you pay more than $3,000 for the high-end version of Microsoft’s Surface Book? Microsoft Microsoft has revealed the highest-end model of its Surface Book but this one is pricey compared with your average Windows 10 laptop. Added to the Surface Book lineup on Friday, the new edition is outfitted with an Intel Core i7 processor, 16 gigabytes of memory …

The new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus. Sarah Tew/CNET Apple has once again raised the cost of apps Down Under, just over a year and a half after Australians were hit with an App Store price hike thanks to the country’s falling dollar. “When foreign exchange rates change, we sometimes need to update prices on the App Store,” Apple said …

The Nexus 5X smartphone, one of two new beacons for those who want a “pure Android” device, became available Monday. Made by LG for Google, the Nexus 5X is up for sale at the online Google Store and also via major wireless carriers and retailers in the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, India, Korea and Japan. Nexus phones don’t offer all …