Technology news

• 'Stranger Things' Erica offers snarky Thanksgiving advice - CNET

  23-11-2017 22:26 via cnet.com
  The surprise hit character of season 2 has some choice responses to serve up to your nosy family members.
  
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• The absolute best Xbox One Black Friday deals and discounts - CNET

  23-11-2017 22:22 via cnet.com
  We scoured the depths of the internet to find all the best Black Friday deals for all your Xbox needs.
  
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• Facebook Messenger testing Snapchat-style 'streaks' feature - CNET

  23-11-2017 22:05 via cnet.com
  Another day, another Facebook ripoff of a Snapchat feature.
  
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• Apple Mac Pro

  23-11-2017 20:35 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Like Clippy from Microsoft Office 97, the Mac Pro shows up from time to time simply to remind you that it still exists. And, although it hasn’t shown its face in a new light since late 2013, it won’t be long before we see it reinvented, in the form of the iMac Pro slated for December.
  US readers: score the Mac Pro on Amazon for a cool $500 off the list price for $2,499 – that's 17% off!Of course, we understand that not everyone needs a monitor, mouse and keyboard attached to th
  
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• Fitbit Alta

  23-11-2017 20:15 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Fitbit wants you to know that now, more than ever, it makes a model that can match your taste. The Alta is the popular fitness tracker company's latest attempt to reach the last remaining few holdouts who haven't been sold on its previous efforts, like the Fitbit Charge HR and Fitbit Surge.[Update: Since this review was written we've seen the release of the Charge 2, Flex 2, the Ionic smartwatch as well as the Alta HR that is very similar to this fitness tracker but comes with heart rate trackin
  
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• Now TV Smart Box

  23-11-2017 19:50 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Sky's new Now TV Smart Box is in many ways very similar to its existing Now TV Box. It still offers a temptingly cheap way of getting Sky's suite of Now TV streaming services onto your TV, it still offers access to a wide range of other on-demand services, and Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are still annoyingly absent.[Update: Since the original release of the Now TV Smart Box there's been a lot of movement in the set-top box market. For one thing, most TVs sold nowadays have streaming services
  
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• Best Black Friday 2017 deals at Newegg available now - CNET

  23-11-2017 19:44 via cnet.com
  From gaming laptops to headphone bargains, Newegg has quite a few good deals. Here are the ones that are still available.
  
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• The 12 best Black Friday 2017 deals at Walmart available now - CNET

  23-11-2017 19:10 via cnet.com
  Many of Walmart's best deals are already starting to sell out online. Here are the best ones we've found that are still available.
  
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• Huawei MediaPad M3 8.0

  23-11-2017 18:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  The Huawei MediaPad M3 is a small tablet. It's slim, it's light, and it's handy – and the 4G version can even double as a gigantic phone, as long as you don't mind all your calls coming out at speakerphone volume.[Update: The Huawei MediaPad M3 originally launched at the £300/$300 (around AU$400) mark but we've seen the price drop since it was first released in 2016 and it's now about £219/$219 (around AU$280) making it even more affordable than before.]For years the MediaPad s
  
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• The 25 best Black Friday deals at Target you can get right now (updated) - CNET

  23-11-2017 18:42 via cnet.com
  The retailer is sweetening the pot with gift cards on some products -- in addition to some nice price cuts. Here are the best deals we've found for 2017, nearly all of which are already available online.
  
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• Russian Fancy Bear hackers' UK link revealed

  23-11-2017 18:00 via bbc.co.uk
  When notorious Russian hackers hired servers from a UK-registered company, they left a trove of clues.
  
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• Data breach hits Department of Social Services credit card system

  23-11-2017 18:00 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Data includes employees’ names, user names, work phone numbers, work emails and system passwordsThe Department of Social Services has written to 8,500 current and former employees warning them their personal data held by a contractor has been breached.In letters sent in early November the department alerted the employees to “a data compromise relating to staff profiles within the department’s credit card management system prior to 2016”. Continue reading...
  
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• Acer Aspire S3

  23-11-2017 17:36 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  The Acer Aspire S3 is an Ultrabook-style laptop with a difference. It's quite light, portable and good-looking, but also incorporates a dedicated graphics processor, making it one of the few laptops in its class that could be called a gaming device.What's the price of this sort of versatility? The Acer Aspire S3 with the Nvidia GeForce 735M cost £799 (around US$1280, AU$1470) at launch, but that was a good few years ago now, so you can pick this up at some very competitive prices.Read on t
  
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• The 35 best Black Friday 2017 deals you can get right now (updated) - CNET

  23-11-2017 17:30 via cnet.com
  Happy Thanksgiving. Nearly all the Black Friday online deals are already available now. Here are the absolute best ones we've found so far.
  
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• Acer Aspire One Cloudbook 11

  23-11-2017 17:22 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  With the immense success of applications like Office 365 and tools like OneDrive, Microsoft has done well to stay in the cloud. That's also where ultra portable laptops like the Acer Aspire One Cloudbook 11 comes from. Available in two screen sizes, 11.6 and 14-inch, the Acer Cloudbook is a low-cost, lightweight, system that takes full advantage of Windows 10.Given how every configuration is equipped with an 1.6GHz Intel Celeron dual-core processor and 2GB of memory, the Cloudbook isn't built fo
  
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• HP Envy 15 x360

  23-11-2017 17:15 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  The HP Envy 15 x360 (model 15-u000na) is a thin and light device that flips between laptop and tablet modes with a hinge that rotates through 360 degrees, and its 15.6-inch screen makes it one of the biggest hybrids we had seen when it first released.That was quite a while ago now, and since then, there have been a number of larger and better convertible laptops, yet the HP Envy 15 x360 remains an excellent buy, even today. One reason for that is that a number of price cuts have been applie
  
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• Singapore aims to drive up standards for autonomous vehicles with test centre

  23-11-2017 17:14 via zdnet.com
  Spanning two hectares, the new test site will be used to trial communication and interaction between autonomous vehicles and other road vehicles.
  
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• Uber hacking: customers not at risk of financial crime, says minister

  23-11-2017 15:10 via theguardian.com
  Digital minister Matt Hancock says government still trying to gauge number of people affected in the UKThere is no evidence that Uber customers who had their personal details stolen are at risk of direct financial crime, a minister has insisted, despite hundreds of users complaining that their accounts have been hacked from Russia.The digital minister, Matt Hancock, told the House of Commons that the government was still trying to gauge the number of people in the UK affected by the global breac
  
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• Ultra-fast £190m broadband fund up for grabs

  23-11-2017 15:06 via bbc.co.uk
  Public bodies will be able to apply for a share of the cash to help roll out full fibre broadband.
  
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• Lenovo IdeaPad U310

  23-11-2017 14:53 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  The Lenovo IdeaPad U310 is a 13-inch Ultrabook, more in keeping with the likes of the Asus Zenbook UX32A, Lenovo's own IdeaPad Yoga (but without the touch capabilities, or the flexible spine), or the MacBook Air.Though it trims down on screen size from the IdeaPad U410, it keeps the funky design sensibilities. With a choice of finishes for the outside, including the fetching blue colour we had, and stark white (with slightly sparkling finish) on the inside, it definitely looks like more of a hom
  
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• Unbeatable Black Friday pricing for LG OLED TVs video - CNET

  23-11-2017 14:50 via cnet.com
  To buy or not to buy? Tech Today gives you advice about Black Friday deals on LG OLED TVs.
  
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• Lenovo IdeaPad 320S

  23-11-2017 14:39 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  As the Lenovo IdeaPad 320S shows, you can safely choose a more affordable 'budget' variant of a more expensive device without having to compromise too much when it comes to performance.Why spend loads of money, when sometimes a great budget laptop will meet all our needs? Why invest close to a grand on the Lenovo IdeaPad 720S when you could have its (slightly larger) little brother, the decidedly affordable Lenovo IdeaPad 320S?Yes, if you want the power to wrestle polygons you're better off look
  
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• Google Alphabet's Schmidt: Here's why we can't keep fake news out of search results

  23-11-2017 14:31 via zdnet.com
  Google's search algorithms have a problem ranking truthful information when two groups oppose each other.
  
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• Samsung Galaxy A5

  23-11-2017 14:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  The 2017 Galaxy A5 is the third phone Samsung has produced with exactly this name. It first appeared at the very end of 2014, and Samsung has updated and tweaked the style for each new model.[Update: The Samsung Galaxy A5 has dropped in price since launch, making it much more affordable.]
  Looking for a low-cost handset? Here are our best cheap phonesEach year the phone has classed-up its act a little, leading to this 2017 version, which you could easily mistake for a top-end phone. Dig deep enou
  
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• ISS astronauts will still have a turkey feast this Thanksgiving - CNET

  23-11-2017 14:30 via cnet.com
  Turkey, mashed potatoes and corn bread is on the menu, despite orbiting over 400km above the Earth.
  
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• Canon IXUS 265

  23-11-2017 14:25 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Whenever someone asks me to recommend a compact camera that is sleek, stylish, feature-packed and offers great quality, those from the Canon IXUS range usually spring to mind.The 265 sits at the top of Canon's current line-up of its stylish brand (it generally refers to its more enthusiast based cameras as PowerShots).It features a 16-million pixel CMOS sensor, which is back-illuminatedfor better performance in low light. It also features a Digic 4+processor, which is a couple of generations bel
  
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• Facebook, Google and start-ups oppose net neutrality U-turn

  23-11-2017 14:15 via bbc.co.uk
  Opponents say the proposed changes could threaten the US's start-up ecosystem.
  
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• Canon EOS Rebel T5i / EOS 700D

  23-11-2017 14:09 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Although the Canon EOS 650D was the first DSLR to have a touchscreen, Canon sensibly decided that the touch controls should be in addition to rather than instead of the button and dial controls.[Update: The EOS Rebel T5i (known as the EOS 700D outside the US) has since been replaced by the EOS Rebel T6i / EOS 750D and EOS Rebel T7i / EOS 800D. These newer models offer a number of improvements, notably higher-resolution 24MP sensors and better performance characteristics. However, that does mean
  
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• Sony Alpha A7S II

  23-11-2017 13:51 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  After the introduction of the Sony Alpha 7 II and Sony Alpha 7R II it was only a matter of time before Sony introduced the update to the Alpha 7S, its 12Mp, low light and video-centric model which has become popular in the film and television industry. Sure enough, the Alpha 7S II was announced in September 2015 and is now on sale.[Update: The Alpha A7S II (or to give it its full technical name, the ILCE7SB.CEC) has been around now for a while, but is still one of our favorite cameras that shoot
  
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• Samsung Q9F QLED TV (QE65Q9F)

  23-11-2017 13:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Just when you thought the AV world must have run out of confusing acronyms, Samsung has decided to hit you with another one: QLED, and the Samsung Q9F is its flagship. [Update: The Q9F continues to be an excellent TV at the end of 2017. We recently awarded it the title of best TV for gaming due to its low input lag which it combines with exceptional image quality (which is important if you're picking up one of the 4K consoles on the market, namely the Xbox One X or PS4 Pro). It's still Sams
  
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• Dyson AM09 Hot + Cool fan heater

  23-11-2017 13:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Dyson’s fan line has impressed ever since it first entered homes, safely removing the dangerous blades of traditional fans in favor of Dyson’s smart bladeless air multiplier technology. The Dyson AM09 Hot + Cool , as its name suggests, is a fan heater – as equally adept at cooling a room as it is at warming one. A number of refinements to earlier models makes the AM09 the best revision of the line yet (not taking into account the connected variants), but it comes with a he
  
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• ​Google: Here's how we predict battery life based on your usage patterns

  23-11-2017 13:43 via zdnet.com
  Google plants a machine-learning model on Pixels for more accurate battery-life predictions.
  
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• Sony Alpha A7

  23-11-2017 13:40 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  The compact system camera market is still relatively new to the camera world, but it's still able to produce new cameras that shake up the system just a little bit.[Update: The Alpha A7, along with the Alpha A7R, was Sony's first entry into the world of full-frame photography. It's since been replaced by the Alpha A7 II (which we reckon will be updated soon), but it's still available and cheaper than ever. Performance is a bit sluggish compared to newer models, but if you're looking for a very a
  
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• Sony Cyber-shot RX100 IV

  23-11-2017 13:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  The Sony RX100 range of compact cameras has won plaudits from critics and consumers alike over the past couple of years, finding favour as a model which you can slip into your pocket or handbag when you don't want to carry a DSLR or CSC around with you.[Update: The RX100 IV (referred to as the DSCRX100M4 by some retailers) has since been replaced by the RX100 V. Identical in many ways, the RX100 V offers an even more impressive performance, including a more advanced AF system and 24fps burst sho
  
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• Dyson Cinetic Big Ball

  23-11-2017 13:18 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  We think the Dyson Cinetic Big Ball is an excellent vacuum, and it can now be snapped up for even less, making it a great deal.[Update: The season of savings is upon us, and if you're in the market for a new vacuum cleaner you'll want to check out our best vacuum cleaners.]It's hard to deny Dyson's position at the forefront of cutting-edge vacuum technology, with most other vacuum makers regularly playing catchup in an arena that's been dominated for years by the trendsetting company.
  The best D
  
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• Are TVs really cheaper than ever? We go back a few decades to see - CNET

  23-11-2017 13:00 via cnet.com
  Beyond the Black Friday deals and disposably cheap TVs, are televisions getting more or less expensive? Let's find out.
  
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• Intel ME bug storm: Is your machine among 100s just named by Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo?

  23-11-2017 12:47 via zdnet.com
  Hardware vendors race to identify and provide updates for dangerous Intel flaws.
  
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• Which Windows laptop should I buy for £500?

  23-11-2017 12:43 via theguardian.com
  Stuart is looking for a high-spec laptop at a low price. There are some good options, and Black Friday may reveal a few more If you were in the market for a new laptop, what would you buy if your absolute maximum budget was £500?I’ve always liked 17in widescreen laptops but will switch to 15in, preferably with an Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 1TB hard disk. StuartMy first thought was that your best bet was a refurbished ThinkPad from Tier1Online, but it turns out that you
  
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• Samsung Q8C QLED TV (QE55Q8CAMT)

  23-11-2017 12:42 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  Samsung’s big TV story for 2017 is QLED which, in Samsung’s case, refers to TVs such as the Samsung Q8C that create their colours using Quantum Dots enclosed in a new metallic casing. [Update: Samsung is discounting a number of its TV's this holiday season. The Samsung QE55Q8CAMT (to use its UK model number) is a prime contender. Be sure to check our guide to the best 4K TVs to keep an eye on the competition (and, more importantly, their prices) before you part with your hard ea
  
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• Garmin Fenix 3

  23-11-2017 12:40 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  While the world fawns over the Apple Watch, serious runners and adventurers know an outdoor sports watch is a far better way of spending your money, and the Garmin Fenix 3 is the firm's most ambitious effort yet.[Update: Like the look of the Fenix 3? Then keep an eye on our Black Friday deals, as you could bag yourself a saving on this top notch running watch.]Following on from last year's Garmin Fenix 2, the Fenix 3 brings with it a new colour screen, more activity modes and faster GPS locking.
  
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• Huawei Watch

  23-11-2017 12:35 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  The Huawei Watch was a hotly anticipated premium Android Wear device, it has a fully circular screen, it's made from expensive materials, and the battery life is actually half decent.[Update: If you're in the market for an Android Wear smartwatch then keep an eye out for a Black Friday deal, as we're hearing it could see a price drop over the sale period.]Released after the Apple Watch, the Huawei Watch is part of the third generation of Android Wear devices. It's got a few new tricks that have
  
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• Despicable tea? An adorable Minions cafe bursts out of Japan - CNET

  23-11-2017 12:34 via cnet.com
  The food may look pretty, but don't expect your taste buds to be awed.
  
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• Facebook to expose Russian fake news pages

  23-11-2017 12:25 via bbc.co.uk
  It will release a tool to let people see if they had followed now-deleted Russia-linked pages.
  
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• Tesla's all-electric semi truck will start at $150,000 - Roadshow

  23-11-2017 12:11 via cnet.com
  The entry model will have a 300 mile range, or for $180,000 you can get a version with a 500 mile range.
  
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• #Starvecrow review – first ever selfie movie needs an upgrade

  23-11-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Shot mostly on camera phones, this British drama about a group of insufferable twentysomethings has little going for it besides zeitgeist bragging rightsAfter found footage and phone footage films, here, with the inevitability of a man in belted jeans launching a new iPhone model to a crowd of saucer-eyed disciples, is the first ever selfie movie – a naive and self-indulgent piece with very little going for it other than zeitgeist bragging rights.Shot mostly on camera phones by the actors,
  
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• Open source's big weak spot? Flawed libraries lurking in key apps

  23-11-2017 11:10 via zdnet.com
  To avoid becoming the next Equifax, it could be a good idea to scan your apps for vulnerable open-source libraries.
  
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• OnePlus: Inside its smartphone factory

  23-11-2017 11:03 via bbc.co.uk
  Click gets exclusive access to a factory in Shenzhen to see how the new OnePlus 5T phone is made.
  
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