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CNET

Education will play a bigger part of TikTok

Bryan Thoensen, who oversees content partnerships at TikTok, said that during the coronavirus pandemic TikTok is seeing people not only spending more time watching videos but also experimenting with the creation of different types of content, including in sports, gaming, cooking, fashion, and beauty. TikTok users are already doing more than just dancing and lip-syncing on the video app.

“It’s not just music. It’s, you know, all these different formats, from cooking to Q&A…” Thoensen said.

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Place your bets: An Apple tablet, laptop — or both?

Is Apple going to take a crack at a hybrid? Or is it eying a more conventional product? Those are burning questions that analysts and the supply chain are trying to figure out, CNET reports. Predicting Apple’s next move has become a sport. With the supply chain (in the case of Apple, largely the collection of component suppliers) the arena where, after some trial-and-error, a final product emerges the winner. Market researchers are the bookies, calculating the odds based on their best educated guess from supply chain sources.

The iPhone 6 is the latest example: the odds seem to favor a 4.8-inch (roughly) phone and, possibly later, a larger phone-like device…

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Bill Gates: I assume my phone’s not being tapped

In some fascinating comments about privacy and security, the Microsoft co-founder admits that he does use e-mail to send confidential messages. And he expects a level of security from his gadgets, CNET reports. “It’s not as if government surveillance is absolutely bad in all cases.”

Oh, that’s a relief. With all the revelations over the last months, I’d begun to wonder.

Thankfully, with these words (and others), Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates tried to offer some reassurance to those thinking of moving to some distant private island as a form of escape.…Read More

CES 2014: What to expect

In less than a week, the tech world will again turn its attention to Las Vegas as established companies and hopeful newcomers flock to the desert for CES 2014, CNET reports. Now in its 47th year, CES remains one of the most important events on the industry’s calendar, even as other shows like Mobile World Congress and IFA battle for the gadget spotlight. As we’ve long done, CNET will be on the ground in force at CES to show you everything, whether it’s just an idea or a real product with a power switch. Lindsey Turrentine, Editor-in-Chief of CNET Reviews, outlines our complete plans in her post from yesterday, but you can be sure that we’ll cover every inch (or centimeter) of the show floor with live blogs of major press conferences, video First Looks of the hottest products, and live events from CNET’s stage. And if you’d rather take your tech news in Spanish, CNET En Espanol will be in Vegas, as well…

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Google Glass adds Hangouts, YouTube, iOS support in XE12

Google continued its promise to update Glass on a monthly basis by releasing XE12, CNET reports. The last update of 2013 is packed full of features Glass Explorers have been requesting, and in some cases begging for, the last few months. The update includes full support for Hangouts conversations with a single person or a group of contacts. Glass users can now share photos through Hangouts, something that was previously only possible with social networks. Beyond Hangouts support, the ability to upload videos recorded with Glass directly to YouTube was added. A lock screen, Play Music improvements, and the return of Wink are also included in the update. As you may recall, Wink is a feature that when enabled allows Glass wearers to take a photo by winking…

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Nine tech torments I’d like to see fixed in 2014

I know it’s the season of thankfulness and giving, but it’s time to complain, CNET reports. I enjoy technology, and I appreciate how difficult it is to write all that software and design all that hardware. I use it every day, usually for many hours, and it has improved my life in countless ways. But when there are shortcomings I encounter over and over, my irritation skyrockets. The thing is, many of these problems can be fixed. The computing industry is fixing big problems with USB ports and cables. I no longer have trouble getting iOS 7’s control panel to show with a swipe up from the bottom of my iPad’s screen. My ISP just upgraded my network at no charge to me so that my online backups take minutes or hours, instead of hours or days. Specks of dust on my SLR’s image sensor were really irritating on my last camera but now hardly ever bug me. Improvements give me heart. But for now, here’s why my glass isn’t always half full. I hope that some of these will be fixed in 2014…

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Wi-Fi routers: More security risks than ever

More major brand-name Wi-Fi router vulnerabilities continue to be discovered, and continue to go unpatched, a security researcher has revealed at Defcon 21, CNET reports. Jake Holcomb, a security researcher at the Baltimore, Md.-based firm Independent Security Evaluators and the lead researcher into Wi-Fi router vulnerabilities, said that problem is worse than when ISE released its original findings in April. The latest study continues to show that the small office and home office Wi-Fi routers are “very vulnerable to attack,” Holcomb said…

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Google: GPAs are worthless

Kids, you know that studying is boring, CNET reports. Now I can tell you that it’s useless, too. Oh, of course I always knew this deep down inside, but I was waiting for the one thing that would confirm this: data. My eyes and ears are bathing in the finest and most accurate data money can buy: data from Google. The quote that Google’s Laszlo Bock — who enjoys the stunningly human title of senior vice president of people operations — emitted to The New York Times is joyous: “GPA’s are worthless as a criteria for hiring, and test scores are worthless.” You see, I wasn’t exaggerating. Google has finally decided that academic excellence is just that — academic…

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Comcast expands Wi-Fi network with new ‘neighborhood’ initiative

Comcast is making it even easier for its broadband subscribers to access the Internet outside the confines of their homes, CNET reports. For the past couple of years, the company, along with several other cable operators, has been building out a Wi-Fi network in public areas, such as train platforms and in small businesses such as cafes and retail locations, to allow its broadband customers mobile access to the Internet at no additional charge. On Monday, the company will make two announcements that will expand this network…

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