Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET I’m a serious procrastinator – so serious that I usually end up ignoring shipping deadlines before major holidays, which means that I usually end up scrambling to find gifts in the $1 aisle at Target. Yeah. Don’t be me. Actually, with technology, you don’t have to be me — because everything, or …
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Dear Samsung: Stop experimenting with pop-up ads for TVs. You’re giving us anxiety. Worried about your privacy with smart TV voice-recording features? Your sanity may be the bigger concern if Samsung rolls out pop-up ads for television sets. It seems an early test leaked out for some users. Also in this tech-news roundup, learn what data car makers are collecting …
Read More »Netflix begins streaming in Cuba as relations with US thaw
Streaming service Netflix is available in a range of countries and languages, including Spanish. Netflix Netflix has launched in Cuba, one of the first US companies to take advantage of a thaw in relations between the two countries. The US has imposed trade and travel restrictions since 1962 against the Caribbean island, which is 93 miles off the coast of …
Read More »Facebook takes on Craiglist, adds tools for selling to a group
Facebook Facebook on Tuesday started rolling out a way for people to post items for sale in a group — a new destination for virtual garage sales. The new features include a way to catalog the items up for sale and those you sold previously, and the ability to mark an item as sold. These groups, known as buy/sell/trade groups, …
Read More »Google plays doctor with answers to your health questions
Google will now try to deliver specific details on health and medical issues. Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET Have a question about a specific medical condition? You may now be able to find the answers you seek via Google. Obivously, you’ve always been able to search for health and medical information at Google. But now the search giant will start showing …
Read More »Google taps Yezz as module provider for Project Ara
These are sketches of the conceptual developments for modules by Yezz. DDM Brands January has been a hectic month for Luis Sosa. In a matter of days, the CEO of Miami-based DDM Brands (and co-founder of Yezz) traveled from his headquarters in Miami to a Google developers’ conference in Mountain View, Calif., to yet another one in Singapore, taking some …
Read More »Debut Ubuntu phone’s first flash sale announced, more to come
Ubuntu’s software for phones swaps apps for “scopes”, which you find by hitting the orange Ubuntu logo. Rich Trenholm/CNET The first Ubuntu phone goes on sale in a limited run Wednesday, but don’t worry if you miss out: there’ll be around three more “flash sales” before the end of the month. The BQ Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu edition is the first …
Read More »Flipboard aims for more users with jump to the Web
Flipboard Popular mobile news app Flipboard has finally made the jump to the Web with a website you can access from any browser. Starting today at flipboard.com, you can pick topics and read stories in a format optimized for the desktop, but with that magazine feel that’s made the apps so successful on smartphones and tablets. With the addition of …
Read More »Open Source Virtual Reality gains 13 more partners, gives away VR kits to universities
Scott Stein/CNET Open Source Virtual Reality (OSVR) , the initiative from Razer and Sensics to connect multiple VR software and hardware partners together, had a good handful of partners at CES 2015, and 13 more have been announced today. The new partners include Jaunt — a maker of cinematic VR experiences that already has apps for Google Cardboard — plus …
Read More »iOS 9 reportedly to focus on stability more than new features
The successor to iOS 8 may be more concerned about stability and performance than new features. CNET Apple may use iOS 9 to add greater stability and performance enhancements to its mobile operating system. Expected to be unveiled at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June, iOS 9 will come packed with a number of “under-the-hood” improvements, according to 9to5Mac, which …
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