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. And find more great buys on the CNET Deals page. Everyone knows there’s no such thing as a free lunch, but free cell service? Believe it or not, …
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March, 2016
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3 March
Switch to Boost Mobile, get discounts and free phones
Boost Mobile, in an effort to pull customers away from other wireless carriers, today announced a limited-time promotion. Effective immediately, Boost is offering discounted rate plans and free phones to subscribers who port their number from competing service providers. The promotion underscores a growing interest in and demand for prepaid wireless providers, which are often more affordable and don’t require …
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3 March
Listen up: Amazon’s Alexa is taking over our homes (The 3:59, Ep. 4)
Amazon’s Echo smart speaker had twins. The e-retailer unveiled on Thursday two new devices powered by Alexa, the same digital voice assistant housed inside the Echo. There’s the $130 Amazon Tap, essentially a portable, battery-powered Echo, and the $90 Echo Dot, which adds Alexa’s brains to any speakers you already have. Preorders started Thursday and the devices are scheduled to …
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3 March
MythBuster Adam Savage builds ‘The Martian’ spacesuit
You don’t have to be stranded on Mars to want the impressive spacesuit worn by Matt Damon in “The Martian.” “MythBusters” co-host Adam Savage admired the NASA spacesuit, which was designed by Janty Yates and brought to life on screen by FBFX special effects studio, so he decided to build a replica of the highly-detailed costume. Related stories ‘The Martian’ …
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3 March
Drumpf Twitterbot learns to imitate Trump via deep
Sometimes politicians say things they wish they could take back, especially online. And in other cases, their words become the kind of fodder comedians dream of for the perfectly hilarious monologue. But what happens when you have a presidential candidate whose speeches almost sound like an absurdist bot run amok? Related stories Frank Underwood would ‘take Trump down,’ says ‘House …
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3 March
Glitch bot turns watching news into an extreme sport
Watching and processing a constant stream of news can feel like a 24-hour job when you consider how much information is relayed on TV and the Web these days. In his latest Twitter-bot project Glitch News Network, UK-based artist Eric Drass, aka Shardcore, takes advantage of various online news sites to make quick, nonsensical videos. The social-media bot “scrapes various …
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3 March
Faster editing and easier cropping with Google Photos
With its unlimited free storage option, Google Photos is a great place to store your photo library in the cloud. Despite offering some basic editing tools, it has been less attractive as a photo-editing studio. With a recent update, however, Google Photos is better suited to perform quick edits to your photos. There are two new additions to Google Photos. …
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3 March
How to order an Amazon Echo Dot without an Amazon Echo
Earlier today, Amazon took the wraps off the Echo Dot, an adorable little sibling to the company’s popular Echo smart speaker. You can pair it with a Bluetooth speaker or just use it as a standalone virtual assistant. The problem is, you can’t preorder one — not unless you already own a full-size Echo. For the moment, the only official …
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3 March
Apple Customer Support will now help you via Twitter
Have a problem with your iPhone or Mac? You can now hop onto Twitter to seek out a helping hand. On Thursday, Apple unveiled a new Twitter account called @AppleSupport. As Apple describes the new account: “We’re here to provide tips, tricks and helpful information when you need it most, and if you have a question, well — we’re here …
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3 March
This free iPhone app will surely lead to funny conversations
Let’s face it, most of the time our conversations with friends and loved ones are repetitive. They all follow the same pattern — more or less — from beginning to end. Rando is a free iPhone app that wants to help you change that. As the name implies, the idea behind Rando is to be completely random. The app is …
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