Facebook's Messenger app: Practical is the new sexy

Facebook's Messenger app: Practical is the new sexy The app's fundamental change is a philosophy christened "mobile-to-mobile," which is meant to signify that people using Messenger are immediately available to each other. The conversation view in Facebook's new Messenger app for Android. With the Tuesday release of a new Messenger application, Facebook is making a much stronger case to be your go-to smartphone app...

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Intel to make quad-core 64-bit ARM chip

Irony alert: Intel to make quad-core 64-bit ARM chip Intel will make quad-core chips for a customer that uses technology from rival chip designer ARM. Intel is slated to make what will probably be the first 64-bit quad-core ARM processor on an advanced manufacturing process. In what can only be described as highly ironic, Intel is set to make what will easily be one of the first quad-core 64-bit ARM processors. On...

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Google+ boosts photo, chat features

Google+ boosts photo, chat features The social network is flexing new photo and video muscles to lure in content creators. Also, Amazon sells cheap e-books with the MatchBook program. CNET Update is always Auto Awesome: This episode of Update offers a quick overview of the new features on the Google+ social network. The changes rolling out this week include updates to the Hangouts chat service, allowing users to...

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This is why there aren't more Samsung Galaxy Gear apps

This is why there aren't more Samsung Galaxy Gear apps The Korean electronics giant still operates under an invite-only strategy for apps to run on its smartwatch, and it's unclear when that will change. SAN FRANCISCO -- Wonder why the Samsung Galaxy Gear has so few apps? The answer is simple -- the Gear app store is still invite-only for developers. Gear debuted last month with about 70 apps. Since that time, one...

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Motorola unveils Project Ara for custom smartphones

Motorola unveils Project Ara for custom smartphones The highly modular approach aims to let you swap in items such as keyboard, battery, or display so that your handset stays up-to-date much longer than today's smartphones. An example of a Project Ara customized handset. Motorola has announced a new initiative to help smartphone users take handset customization beyond ringtones, wallpaper, and body colors to its very...

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Nokia sold 8.8 million Lumia phones in Q3

Nokia sold 8.8 million Lumia phones in Q3 The wallet-friendly Lumia 520 drove the 19 percent quarter-on-quarter increase. Nokia sold 8.8 million Lumia phones in the past three months, a 19 percent increase over previous numbers, driven in large part by the success of the wallet-friendly Lumia 520. The company also appears to be gaining ground in North America. Although Nokia only sold 1.4 million phones in North America...

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Adobe hack attack affected 38 million accountsAdobe hack attack affected 38 million accounts

Adobe hack attack affected 38 million accounts The recent security breach that hit Adobe exposed customer IDs, passwords, and credit and debit card information. A cyberattack launched against Adobe affected more than 10 times the number of users initially estimated. On October 3, Adobe revealed that it had been the victim of an attack that exposed Adobe customer IDs and encrypted passwords. At the time, the company said...

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Samsung's curved display is no gimmick, says researcher

Samsung's curved display is no gimmick, says researcher The Galaxy Round's curved display has an appreciable impact on display quality, says DisplayMate Technologies. Samsung Galaxy Round with curved display: 'a major and very important new display technology.' (Credit: Samsung) The curved display on Samsung's Galaxy Round offers distinct advantages in reducing reflections and the high glossiness of flat displays, according...

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Samsung shipped more phones than Nokia, Apple, LG combined

Samsung shipped more phones than Nokia, Apple, LG combined The Korean handset maker captured 29 percent of the global mobile phone market in the third quarter, says research firm Strategy Analytics. Samsung's Galaxy Note 3 helped it win 29 percent of the mobile phone market. Samsung shipped a record 120 million phones last quarter, beating Nokia, Apple, and LG combined, Strategy Analytics said Tuesday. The quarter showed...

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ARM unveils graphics chip design with up to 16 cores

ARM unveils graphics chip design with up to 16 cores ARM licensees such as LG Electronics will likely be shipping graphics chips in the coming years based on a new Mali-T760 design. Samsung Galaxy Note 3: Samsung designs its Exynos chips with ARM's Mali graphics. ARM, which designs processors for smartphones and tablets, has disclosed a new graphics chip design with many more processor cores than in the current generation....

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Google+ fires up its photo features

Google+ fires up its photo features The company announces a bevy of photography upgrades, including improved tools for photo editing and search. Google introduced new photography features for Google+ on Tuesday. SAN FRANCISCO -- Google's social network might not have the fire power the company would like, especially now that Facebook has gone public and Twitter is on its way to doing so. But Google+ has steady footing in some...

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Nintendo cracks open door to smartphones, tablets

Nintendo cracks open door to smartphones, tablets -- sort of President Reggie Fils-Aime breaks from his usual no-mobile shtick and shares with CNET how Nintendo uses smartphones and tablets to build buzz. Nintendo President Reggie Fils-Aime at the CNET offices in New York. (Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET) The latest "Super Mario" or "Zelda" title may never end up on a smartphone or a tablet, but that doesn't mean Nintendo isn't thinking...

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