March, 2017

• 1 March

  Bluetooth speaker deal: JBL Charge 2+ for $65

  

  If you’re looking for a deal on a pint-size Bluetooth speaker, Harman Audio is selling factory-recertified JBL Charge 2+ speakers for $65 on its site in a variety of color options, with a limit of two per customer. That’s $15 less than what it costs to buy a recertified Charge 2+ on Amazon. (You can …

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• 1 March

  Moto Z, this is your mission: Make Motorola relevant again

  

  The Motorola identity crisis is over. Last year was a confusing time for the business. First, there was the plan to phase out the Motorola name in favor of “Moto by Lenovo,” its Chinese parent. Then there was the question of how the Lenovo brand would co-exist with Moto. With a new leadership team, things have changed. The business will …

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• 1 March

  Kill these 4 trackpad settings to get more from your MacBook mouse

  

  I switched to a MacBook years ago for two reasons: MacOS (OS X, at the time) felt more stable (fewer freezes and crashes) and less paranoid (fewer warnings and updates) than Windows, and the MacBook trackpad felt more responsive and less skittish than any Windows laptop I had tried. Over the years, Apple has added new features and gestures to …

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• 1 March

  Microsoft’s new VR headset could bridge HoloLens, Windows and Xbox (hands

  

  Microsoft doesn’t have its own VR headset. It has five — last year, Acer, Asus, Dell, HP and Lenovo all signed on to make wearable screens for Windows PCs. There’s just one thing: Microsoft insists that these five devices aren’t virtual reality headsets. They’re “mixed reality.” This week, as Acer starts shipping the first developer-oriented headset, we’re finally coming to …

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• 1 March

  Trump’s address to Congress sets Twitter activity record

  

  President Donald Trump’s speech Tuesday night set a record for tweets sent during a presidential address to Congress. The address, Trump’s first to Congress since his inauguration in January, garnered 3 million tweets, Twitter said late Tuesday. Tuesday night’s activity easily surpassed the previous record of 2.6 million tweets sent during former President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address …

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• 1 March

  I still watch my plasma TV, even though my OLED is better

  

  Some years ago — 2009 to be exact — I bought a 65-inch Panasonic plasma when plasma TVs were the best TVs on the block. They distinguished themselves with superior black levels, accurate colors, and better off-angle viewing than LCDs. They did have some downsides — namely their relative heftiness compared to LCD, a perceived propensity for burn-in or image …

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• 1 March

  Galaxy S8 leak: Is this Samsung’s next big phone?

  

  We’ve seen the blurry photos, read the rumors and pored over gorgeous concept designs. But a new leak gives us a more complete look of what could be the Samsung Galaxy S8‘s full-body design. Dealing with the aftermath of its disastrous Galaxy Note 7 recall caused Samsung to postpone the Galaxy S8’s launch, which typically takes place at the annual …

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• 1 March

  Indians flock to digital wallets after PM Modi killed cash

  

  It looks like Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s move to take a chunk of the country’s cash off the streets has done tremendous good for digital wallet apps — and especially PayTM. The company’s CEO Vijay Shekhar announced on Twitter that it crossed the 200 million users milestone on Monday, adding that he hopes to reach 500 million by 2020. …

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• 1 March

  Snap’s sequel to Spectacles: Drones?

  

  Snapchat turned heads when it redefined itself as Snap and released candy-colored camera glasses. Next, will it be turning eyes upward to watch for unmanned aircraft? The company has worked on making a drone, The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing three unnamed people briefed on the project. Snap didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The report comes …

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• 1 March

  Mobile search engine Baidu goes dark for nearly 20 minutes

  

  Baidu is China’s equivalent of Google, but hundreds of millions of questions went unanswered when the mobile version of the search engine broke down for 18 minutes last night, reports SCMP. Almost two hours after service was resumed, the company behind China’s largest internet search engine apologised (for the third time) on its official Weibo account. “We missed more than …

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