Cell phones are endlessly handy. You can make calls with them, play games, find your way around unfamiliar cities — and lure escaped peacocks.  That’s how a Boston police officer used his device this week when faced with a big bird that had broken out of the Franklin Park Zoo.  Enlarge Image Snowbank out and …

For the most up-to-date news and information about the coronavirus pandemic, visit the WHO and CDC websites. With the coronavirus locking down millions of Americans in their homes and forcing first responders to adapt in the age of social distancing, having a strong, consistent broadband signal is more important than ever. This crisis has exposed the country’s digital divide and threatens …

Amazon continues to make small but worthwhile improvements to the Fire Tablet lineup. Today, for example, the company announced two new Fire HD 8 models, adding a faster processor, more storage and USB-C to the mix. In fact, the Fire HD 8 Plus also supports wireless charging, a rarity among modern tablets. Although you can preorder the new Fire HD …

The latest Alienware Area-51m R2 is essentially a small gaming desktop with a screen and keyboard attached. The monster gaming laptop is getting its first refresh since the first Area-51m arrived last year when it posted some of the best gaming performance we’d seen in the category. It goes on sale on June 9 starting at $3,050. International prices aren’t …

We all know there are a lot of streaming services out there, but did you know that here in the US, there are over 100? They’re all asking you to download, watch and pay (via your dollars, watching ads or both) — and subscribing to them all would cost over $900 a month — so how do you choose which …

Back in October, Amazon updated its value-price 10-inch tablet, the Fire HD 10, and now its popular Fire HD 8 gets a similar update, adding a faster processor, 2GB of RAM (up from 1.5), USB-C charging and 32GB of storage in the base 8-inch model (up from 16GB). The new model is $90, or $10 more than the previous HD …

For the most up-to-date news and information about the coronavirus pandemic, visit the WHO and CDC websites. Companies around Silicon Valley are reconsidering their work-from-home strategies amid the coronavirus pandemic, telling employees they can work remotely after the crisis subsides. Apple is reportedly taking a different tack, sharing plans to potentially bring employees back to its offices by the summer. …

Amazon’s Fire TV platform now has a free section that it says will highlight a curated selection from thousands of free TV shows, movies, news and more.  The new “Free” tab began rolling out to Fire TV users in the US on Tuesday. It opens with a row of free, ad-supported streaming apps, including the Amazon-owned IMDb TV, Tubi, Pluto …

Slack on Wednesday rolled out a major update to its iPhone and Android apps, which aims to improve navigation and make it easier to access DMs and availability and status settings. The mobile improvements follow a big update to Slack’s desktop platform that arrived in March, just as coronavirus lockdowns and quarantines were beginning and more people started working from …

For the most up-to-date news and information about the coronavirus pandemic, visit the WHO and CDC websites. Amazon said it’s removed its waitlist for online grocery deliveries and pickup in most cities, a change that will allow more customers to get food delivered to their homes during the coronavirus crisis. The e-commerce heavyweight a month ago said new Amazon Fresh …