January, 2018

• 17 January

  Get an Apple EarPods two

  

  CNET’s Cheapskate scours the web for great deals on PCs, phones, gadgets and much more. Questions about the Cheapskate blog? Find the answers on our FAQ page. Find more great buys on the CNET Deals page and follow the Cheapskate on Facebook and Twitter! One, good. Two, better. Especially at this price. A4C Long live the headphone …

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• 17 January

  Tim Cook says people didn’t pay attention to iPhone battery update

  

  Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that’s taken over our lives. A little inattention from Apple? Justin Sullivan / Getty Images Apple squirmed a little after it was revealed that it was secretly slowing older iPhones to protect their batteries from excessive degradation.  Cupertino subsequently apologized and instituted a battery replacement program for a mere $29. On …

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• 17 January

  Brave browser gives away million dollars in BAT crypto tokens

  

  Browser maker Brave is handing out about $1 million worth of cryptocurrency-backed tokens it hopes will help build a better online advertising system. Brave developed a technology called the Basic Attention Token (BAT) designed to pay publishers, YouTube contributors and others who today rely on advertising revenue or subscription payments. For now, you can set up Brave to send BATs …

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• 17 January

  Google’s Project Fi offers a sort of unlimited plan

  

  Google’s cell phone service, called Project Fi, is changing how its billing works. Previously offering a simple model of paying for whatever data you use, the plan now caps how high your bill can go if you tend to use a lot of data. This new “bill protection” comes with a catch: Google will cap your speeds if you cross …

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• 17 January

  Nomad’s Wireless Hub charges 5 devices at once

  

  With homes filling up with mobile devices that constantly need charging, more accessory companies are releasing “charging hubs” that allow you to charge multiple devices at once. Some of the latest ones, like Nomad’s Wireless USB Hub ($80), incorporate a wireless charging top along with multiple charging ports that allow you to connect various charging cables. Nomad’s wireless charging component …

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• 17 January

  Buy a Galaxy S8 or Note 8, get free AKG Bluetooth headphones

  

  If you’re in the market to buy a Samsung Galaxy S8 or Note 8 phone, you’ll want to act fast. Samsung is giving away a free set of AKG Bluetooth headphones with purchases of either of the two phones, along with the Galaxy S8 Plus and Galaxy S8 Active as well. The headphones are AKG Y50BT on-ear headphones, which Samsung values at $180 (about …

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• 17 January

  Facebook watch party opens streaming video to groups of people

  

  What do you get when you cross an online chat room with streaming video? A Facebook watch party. The social-network colossus has begun testing the watch party feature, which works with both Facebook Live videos that are broadcast as they’re recorded and with ordinary Facebook videos that already are published. “In a Watch Party, members of a group can watch …

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• 17 January

  3 awesome features coming to Firefox that you can get right now

  

  When Firefox 59 is released in March, it will add controls for setting permissions for how the browser accesses your location along with your computer’s camera and microphone. It will also include a global setting for blocking sites from asking to be allowed to send you notifications. These settings will be most welcomed — particularly the ability to shut off …

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• 17 January

  Net neutrality allies are ready to fight. But can it be saved?

  

  The battle to save net neutrality is heating up. Senate Democrats have edged closer to overturning the Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of Obama-era net neutrality regulation, and lawsuits challenging the agency have been filed. But net neutrality supporters shouldn’t hold their breath. These efforts are long shots. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida is flanked by Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts …

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• 17 January

  Occipital Tracking maps rooms so VR can involve less tripping

  

  When wandering around with a VR headset on, I’m afraid of going too far without someone to spot me. The reason is simple: I can’t really see where I’m going. Odds of tripping over a chair or a table are extremely high. One company seems to have tried to solve that problem, and I tried out the result deep in …

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