It isn’t fun watching an old love suffer. On Wednesday, Google announced it’s casually dropping $1.1 billion on a deal with HTC that will allow it to hire some of the beleaguered company’s staff, as well as license some of its intellectual property. Rumours of a tie-up had circulated for a while, but the deal turned out to …
Read More »Tag Archives: google
The state of the smartphone, iPhone X edition
10 years ago, Apple’s first iPhone changed the world. It proved that an always-on, always-connected pocket computer wasn’t just for nerds. Now smartphones are just “phones,” and it’s sometimes tough to keep track of the dizzying array of new features they offer. (Even for us here at CNET.) So in honor of the iPhone X, the tenth-anniversary iPhone, let’s remind ourselves …
Read More »Opera’s latest developer update adds support for VR playback
Opera is jumping onto the VR bandwagon. Opera Developer 49, the browser’s latest developer update, lets you watch all videos online using an embedded feature called the VR 360 player, the company said in a blogpost today. It works for VR headsets compatible with OpenVR, including the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, and will even work with 2D videos. More …
Read More »Fired Google engineer wonders if KKK names are cool
Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that’s taken over our lives. Do you judge someone by his title, or by his actions? Chet Strange / Getty Images James Damore has become a spokesman for, well, what? He seems to believe that he’s a free thinker, there to take on the entrenched liberal views of Silicon Valley. …
Read More »Nest comes knocking again with smart doorbell, security system
It’s been more than two years since Nest entered a new product category, but the smart home company is now coming off the sidelines. On Wednesday, Nest, which is owned by Google‘s parent Alphabet, showed off two new devices during a press event in San Francisco. The first is an internet-connected doorbell called Nest Hello, which has a camera, speaker …
Read More »Google inks $1 billion deal with HTC for Pixel talent
Google has reached an agreement with HTC, but it isn’t the much-rumored deal to buy the handset maker. Instead, the tech giant is paying the struggling Taiwanese phone maker $1.1 billion in cash to hire certain HTC employees, many of whom are already working with Google on the Pixel line of phones. Google will also license HTC intellectual property. The …
Read More »Moto X4 now available under Google’s Android One and Project Fi
These days, there is no shortage of well-made, midrange phones that are affordable. (Here are our favorite cheap phones, to name a few.) But with Google‘s inclusion of the recently released Motorola Moto X4 into its Android One and Project Fi endeavors, there’s one more compelling bargain phone to consider. Priced at $399, the Moto X4 will be the first …
Read More »Apple wants you to get very excited about, oh, the App Store
Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that’s taken over our lives. My plan is to spend the evening finding interesting apps on the App Store. Apple/YouTube screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET Please lie here on my chaise-longue and we’ll play word association. When I say “App Store,” what word first comes into your mind? “Whatever,” perhaps. Or …
Read More »Pixel 2, Pixelbook, Home Mini: Everything Google that leaked
On October 4, we’re pretty sure Google will reveal a phone — or two. But now, we’re wondering if the company will have any surprises left. Droid Life, a long-running Android news site, is reporting that it managed to get its hands on pictures and prices for not one, not two, but five new Google hardware products that will allegedly be revealed …
Read More »Amazon reviewing its recommendations for bomb
Amazon said Wednesday it’s reviewing its website after a British TV station found the company may have been helping people buy bomb-making ingredients through its “frequently bought together” feature. The report from Channel 4 News said Amazon’s site would recommend customers buy together combinations of elements required for making crude bombs. In one instance, Amazon cued up a recommendation for …
Read More »