This story is part of Gift Guide, our year-round collection of the best gift ideas. Many of us haven’t ditched the disk, and for good reason. Streaming services often change up what is available or offer little in the way of features, like director commentary or behind-the-scenes clips. If you’re building a home entertainment space …

There really isn’t a “Zoom for VR” yet, despite many companies working on offering virtual meeting rooms. The mainstream work tools most people use haven’t made the leap. Facebook, which is trying to push its entire company into the metaverse, doesn’t have one yet. Meanwhile, Microsoft is finally pushing Teams into a VR/AR-bridged tool that’s arriving in beta form in the …

People using Zoom’s free basic service to video chat with family or co-workers may start seeing ads once their meeting has ended.  Zoom is launching a pilot advertising program that will show ads on “the browser page users see once they end their meeting,” Janine Pelosi, the company’s chief marketing officer, said Monday in a blog post. People using the …

Nov 2021 Editor’s note, Nov. 2: The Apple Watch Series 7’s larger screen and faster charging make an already great smartwatch even better, which is why we’ve given it a CNET Editors’ Choice Award. Our original review follows. The Apple Watch has long been considered the gold standard of smartwatches, and that holds true with the Series 7. There isn’t …

Last year, Razer used its deep knowledge of mechanical keyboards and gaming mice to perk up your work experience with its first accessories made for productivity. That line is now getting three new additions: the Razer Pro Type Ultra keyboard, Pro Click Mini mouse and Pro Glide XXL mouse mat.  For the $160 Pro Type Ultra keyboard (which converts to …

T-Mobile has continued adding customers to its network, announcing on Tuesday that it brought on 673,000 postpaid phone customers during its third-quarter earnings.  The carrier added a total of 1.3 million postpaid users to its network during the period. Postpaid customers, who pay at the end of the month, are valued more highly by the investment community as a key …

If there’s one thing that every party needs, it’s music and lighting. And withBlack Friday looming, you can expect the prices for portable speakers in particular to start dropping. The Ortizan portable Bluetooth speaker caught my eye today with features like waterproof protection and multi-color LED lights that pulse with your music. This speaker looks like a lot of fun, …

Facebook will shut down its facial recognition system this month and delete the face scan data of more than 1 billion users, the company said Tuesday. It cited societal concerns and regulatory uncertainty about facial recognition technology as the reasons. More than one-third of the app’s daily active users have opted into its Face Recognition setting, the social network noted …

Microsoft is bringing a new collaboration tool to Office in the form of Loop, it said Tuesday. The app lets you and your teammates create blocks of content that can be easily “copied, pasted, and shared with others,” letting you work together on documents in real time.  It consists of three elements: Components are smaller documents like lists, tables, notes, …

This story is part of Gift Guide, our year-round collection of the best gift ideas. Looking for a new Chromebook? Best Buy has a new deal that may be worth your attention.  The big-box retailer is offering a $200 discount on an 11-inch HP Chromebook x2 11, dropping it from $599 to $399. The Chromebook, which has 8GB of RAM …