When Tom Cruise told then-NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe that the space agency’s website was “three clicks to oblivion,” he wasn’t talking about how easy it was to click from the NASA site to the one promoting his movie “Oblivion.” He was talking about how poorly he felt the old NASA site was designed. That’s what …
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Get a Raspberry Pi 2 and free router for $41.73
Raspberry Pi Hey, is that a whole freakin’ computer in the palm of your hand? It is if you’re holding the latest Raspberry Pi , a microcomputer that’s powerful enough to run Windows 10. Sound interesting? So is this: For a limited time, Newegg has the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B for $41.73 shipped, a price that includes a free …
Read More »Apple polishes desktop, laptop Macs
The 15-inch MacBook Pro is getting component upgrades. Sarah Tew/CNET For many people, Apple is all about the iPhone and iPad, but the company that made its name selling computers hasn’t abandoned the Mac product line. Apple released on Tuesday a revamped version of its 15-inch MacBook Pro, adding the new Force Touch trackpad, among other upgrades. Force Touch uses …
Read More »Starting over: Legendary designer Andrew Jones set to launch a brand new speaker line
I spoke with Andrew Jones by phone last week, just as he was finishing tweaking a prototype of his latest speaker design, the bookshelf Debut at ELAC’s brand-new design lab in Southern California. He started out working as a research engineer for KEF, then moved on to Infinity and later rose to prominence at TAD, where he designed the $80,000 …
Read More »How accurate is the Apple Watch’s step counter and distance tracking?
Sarah Tew/CNET There’s no doubt that the Apple Watch can do a lot of things. It can be used to communicate with others, view notifications from an iPhone and even pay for items with Apple Pay. It’s also a dedicated activity tracker that can measure active calories burned, active minutes, the number of times you stand throughout the day, your …
Read More »Quickly change between search providers in Safari on OS X
The new version of Safari combines the search and location bar, and adds gesture support for tabs on Mac trackpads. James Martin/CNET Setting your default search provider for Safari on OS X is a simple process: open Preferences in Safari, visit the Search tab and select your provider from the list. Google, Yahoo, Bing and DuckDuckGo are made available to …
Read More »US regulator orders PayPal to pay $25 million in refunds, fines
PayPal neither confirmed nor denied wrongdoing in its settlement with the consumer watchdog. Getty Images The US consumer finance watchdog has ordered PayPal to pay $25 million in refunds and fines, stemming from the regulator’s claims the payment company illegally signed up users for PayPal Credit, its online credit service. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Tuesday PayPal deceptively advertised …
Read More »Seeking a refund on unwanted text message fees? You may be out of luck
Not all AT&T customers looking for a refund on unwanted text messages will get every dollar back. FTC officials say the amount of money set aside may not be enough to cover all refunds. CNET/Marguerite Reardon More than 3 million current and former customers have applied for refunds as part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over fraudulent …
Read More »WhatsApp, Kik, Viber or ReTXT: Which third
James Martin/CNET There is no shortage of third-party messaging apps in either the iTunes App Store or the Google Play Store and it’s pretty easy to see why. While every smartphone has a default messaging app, none have many extras. Sure, you can send photos and videos, and probably emoticons, but beyond that the default chat apps are pretty bare. …
Read More »Apple debuts Lightning Dock for iPhone 6, 6 Plus
This Lightning Dock works with the Apple iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Apple Apple finally gets around to bringing out its own Lightning Dock for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The company, on the heels of unveiling a new 15-inch MacBook Pro and cheaper iMac with Retina 5K display, also quietly put up a new dock connector on …
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