Technology news

• Google said to be prepping new VR headset -- without the cardboard - CNET

  07-02-2016 22:21 via cnet.com
  
  New smartphone-based headset will sport improved sensors and lenses housed in a solid plastic casing, according to the Financial Times.
  
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• Beyonce might be the black Bill Gates one day (so her new song says) - CNET

  07-02-2016 22:00 via cnet.com
  
  Technically Incorrect: A surprise song -- already a viral monster -- released exclusively on Tidal, shows Beyonce's admiration for the Microsoft co-founder.
  
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• Insider Q&A: Competing with cable's Internet offerings

  07-02-2016 20:15
  
  Chet Kanojia, the founder of startup TV service Aereo, has a new offering that could shake up the cable industry again. His new Internet service, Starry, would compete with cable companies in big cities. ...
  
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• This is what happens when you swing an iPhone around your head (while skiing) - CNET

  07-02-2016 20:00 via cnet.com
  
  Technically Incorrect: A video of a man skiing down a mountain and apparently swinging an iPhone 6 around on a string mesmerizes YouTube.
  
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• Google Ireland staff paid much less than London colleagues

  07-02-2016 17:09
  
  Average wage of £72,000 compares with London staff average salary of £160,000 – despite booking £5bn sales from UK advertisers in 2015Workers at Google Ireland, the search group’s European sales hub, earn less than half the £160,000 average wage of colleagues in London despite the British sales team only providing a supporting role to their Irish counterparts.
  Google bosses will be grilled by parliament’s public accounts committee this week over how they
  
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• License plate readers a double-edged sword for NY village

  07-02-2016 16:56
  
  When this Long Island village switched on its "ring of steel" last fall, it knew it was getting a potent policing tool. The system of 27 cameras would scan the license plate of every single vehicle ...
  
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• Looking for a great deal on a TV? Super Bowl time is the right time - CNET

  07-02-2016 14:00 via cnet.com
  
  In this edition of Ask Maggie, CNET's Marguerite Reardon offers thoughts on when to get a bargain on a TV and why this year in particular is likely to offer some great deals.
  
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• Why your fitness band might be lying to you video - CNET

  07-02-2016 13:50 via cnet.com
  
  This will make your fitness tracker a lot more accurate. Sharon Profis explains on "You're Doing it All Wrong."
  
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• Review: UPDATED: Sony Xperia Z5

  07-02-2016 12:52 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Introduction and designUpdate: Sony Xperia Z5 launched in the US today, with a few changes. We revised our review to reflect the Android phone's altered features.Something feels different with the Sony Xperia Z5. After years of too-hasty handset updates from Sony with minimal enhancements (the Xperia Z3+ back in May was no exception), this finally feels like a worthwhile advance on the previous model.The problem is, does anyone really need a new phone from Sony? The Xperia Z1 only launched in 20
  
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• Review: UPDATED: Sony Xperia Z5 Compact

  07-02-2016 12:51 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Introduction and designUpdate: Sony Xperia Z5 Compact released in the US today, albeit with minor changes. All of those are reflected in our new review.The Xperia Z5 Compact stands alone: Sony is the only Android manufacturer making a small high-end phone right now. That means that it could be the last stand for compacts. If the Z5 doesn't deliver, it's likely to be the last time we see top specs in a scaled-down form factor, for a while at least.But it does deliver. Like the Xperia Z3 Compact b
  
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• Fifty apps that are reinventing mobile gaming

  07-02-2016 12:00
  
  Solve a murder mystery, grow a tree, spend the day as a sailor, be a spider… mobile developers are rethinking everythingInnovation is an overused and abused word in the technology industry but if you strip it down to the basic principle of “new ideas”, it’s clear that there’s a lot of it going on in mobile games. When you gather some of the best examples together, you realise how many new ideas are out there. For example, there have been some creative experiments w
  
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• Who will speak for Brittin? Not MPs on the warpath over Google

  07-02-2016 10:00
  
  Google’s big man in northern Europe speaks in glowing terms of London as a base – which might make things awkward at his select committee hearingHere’s Matt Brittin, Google’s boss in northern Europe, speaking in 2012: “Google set up in London 11 years ago now and it was a natural choice. It is such a cosmopolitan international city and there is a huge array of talent you can access – and that’s the most important thing for Google when building its teams
  
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• When self-monitoring becomes uncomfortably intimate…

  07-02-2016 10:00
  
  The fitness tracker craze has taken a paternalistic turn with a US university asking students to wear wristbands. Has datafication gone too far?‘Apple’s iPhone sales disappoint but profit beats targets,” said the headline. It turned out that Apple sold “only” 74.77m iPhones in the fiscal first quarter of 2016, which is less than a 1% increase on the same period a year ago. So what happens? The share price plummets and Alphabet (aka Google) overtakes Apple as the wor
  
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• Is the price of a video game ever really right?

  07-02-2016 09:30
  
  The creator of The Witness has defended its £29.99 price tag. But how do you measure the true value of a video game?Of all the bargains to be had in the Harrods New Year sale, none shines quite so ostentatiously as the store’s 24-carat gold-plated Xbox One, sat in gaudy resplendence under thick, presumably ram-raid-proof Perspex. While the console (purportedly the only one of its kind) had endured an ego-shanking £3,500 discount to its original £5,999 price tag, it remain
  
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• From a glass box to the Red Planet: The strange journey of the Australian Martian-in-training - CNET

  07-02-2016 07:18 via cnet.com
  Physicist and comedian Josh Richards is ready and willing to die on Mars. But first he has to survive a see-through, mocked-up habitat in Sydney, Australia.
  
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• Electra Loft 3i: bike review | Martin Love

  07-02-2016 07:00
  
  Affordable and stylish, this classic town bike is perfect for city slickersThe Loft is made by Electra, a Californian bike company. They call it a ‘flat-footer’, which means its frame has been designed so that when you stop you can put your feet flat on the ground. For anyone who has given themselves a temporary vasectomy as they tipple over on tiptoes, this could be a godsend.The relaxed geometry also means it is incredibly comfortable to ride around town. It’s been designed w
  
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• Audi A4 saloon: car review | Martin Love

  07-02-2016 07:00
  
  Take a deep breath and relax. In Audi’s revamped award-winning A4 saloon you are in the best possible companyPrice: £25,900
  Top speed: 155mph
  0-62mph: 6.6 seconds
  MPG: up to 74.3If you were blindfolded (maybe with one of those catlike velvet masks), would you be able to tell what sort of car you were travelling in? Probably not. We may admire the look of our cars, but we hardly ever engage the rest of our senses. Yet they all have their own distinctive smell (in my case, petrol with
  
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• Gag-filled 'Deadpool' regenerates gory, immature hilarity for grown-ups (review) - CNET

  07-02-2016 06:00 via cnet.com
  
  "Deadpool" marks the triumphant return of the R-rated comic book hero with blunt-force, rapid-fire comedy. Hope you like your jokes vulgar, juvenile and very meta.
  
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• Oregon Trail game co-inventor talks pioneer survival and life lessons - CNET

  07-02-2016 02:03 via cnet.com
  
  In a new Reddit interview, Don Rawitsch reveals his thoughts about creating the educational and entertaining Oregon Trail computer game. Plus, his idea on how the game could become a movie.
  
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• Memorial to man who made the Mallard runs into row over a duck

  07-02-2016 01:05
  
  A change to the statue of Sir Nigel Gresley, designer of the world’s fastest steam locomotive, sparks storm on Facebook and TwitterIt seemed such a good idea at the time – a dignified event to mark the life of one of Britain’s greatest engineers, designer of a much-loved transport icon. But now the event is threatening to unleash an undignified battle involving superglue and rubber ducks.A statue of Sir Nigel Gresley is due to be unveiled in April, marking the 75th anniversary
  
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• For Super Bowl, ESPN taps tech in San Francisco (pictures) - CNET

  07-02-2016 00:48 via cnet.com
  
  The network may not be broadcasting the big game itself, but its high-tech mobile studio has set up shop in the City by the Bay to provide commentary. CNET takes an inside look.
  
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