A CNET journalist testing the Apple Watch Series 4's ECG feature against a hospital-grade electrocardiogram unexpectedly had the device flag an irregular heartbeat in his own heart, matching the hospital's findings. Doctors later determined the anomaly was benign, likely caused by stress and sleep deprivation, but the moment shifted his view of the watch from a novelty gadget to a legitimate health tool. He later gave Apple Watches to his parents, and one flagged an issue that led to his father's diagnosis and treatment for a serious heart condition.
cnet.com
· 2026-09-21
CNET released its daily hint and answer breakdown for the Sept. 20 edition of NYT Connections: Sports Edition, puzzle number 727. The four categories covered Maryland teams, former NHL cities, NFL rookie wide receivers, and sports terms drawn from the NATO phonetic alphabet.
cnet.com
· 2026-09-20
CNET's daily puzzle guide published hints and the solution for the Sept. 19 Wordle, puzzle number 1,918. The word, WAKEN, has no repeated letters, contains two vowels, starts with W and ends with N. The previous day's answer, Sept. 18, was SNOWY.
cnet.com
· 2026-09-18
Newly unredacted court documents from copyright lawsuits against OpenAI and Microsoft reveal internal comments from executives acknowledging that scraping published journalism to train chatbots amounted to theft on a massive scale. Microsoft's Brent Hecht reportedly described it as possibly 'the largest theft of labor in human history,' while an OpenAI executive warned that products like ChatGPT posed an 'existential threat' to publishers.
cnet.com
· 2026-09-18
CNET released the solutions for the September 18 edition of NYT's Strands puzzle, themed around agreements. The nonspangram words were PACT, TREATY, CONTRACT, COVENANT and AGREEMENT, with the spangram revealed as LETSMAKEADEAL.
cnet.com
· 2026-09-18
Breville has launched the Eye Q 850 Auto Toaster, a $300 device that uses a pulsing internal light sensor to track the bread's color as it toasts, rather than relying solely on a timer or fixed temperature settings. A CNET reviewer tested the toaster for a month and found the sensor-based approach generally delivers consistent results, though with some caveats worth noting. The sensor only operates in the left slot, and the machine features a motorized lift instead of a spring-loaded pop-up mechanism.
cnet.com
· 2026-09-17
CNET is revisiting its original 2007 review of the first iPhone, written by Kent German and Donald Bell, as Apple prepares to launch the foldable iPhone Duo starting at $2,000. The original review praised the iPhone's design but criticized its missing features, slow EDGE network, and $499 price tag, which required a two-year AT&T contract.
cnet.com
· 2026-09-16
CNET reviewed a low-cost sliding pizza peel, a wooden board fitted with a manual conveyor belt made of nonstick, fiberglass-like material rather than actual cloth. Instead of shoving a rigid peel entirely under a raw pizza, users only need to get the leading edge under the dough before pulling the conveyor toward themselves to load it, then reversing the motion to launch it into the oven.
cnet.com
· 2026-09-16
CNET published its daily hints and full solutions for the NYT Strands puzzle #924, dated September 13. The puzzle's theme, tied to secret agents and espionage, centers on the spangram UNDERCOVER along with related words like MOLE, AGENT, ASSET, PLANT, OPERATIVE and COUNTERSPY.
cnet.com
· 2026-09-12
Apple introduced its first foldable phone, the iPhone Duo, at a launch event where CEO John Ternus showed off the $2,000 passport-style device with dual 48-megapixel rear cameras. The phone opens for preorder Oct. 16 and hits stores Oct. 23, arriving years after competitors already established the foldable phone category. CNET staff writers offered varied reactions, from excitement about foldables regaining relevance to skepticism about buying the very first version.
cnet.com
· 2026-09-11
A CNET survey found that 52% of US adults would consider upgrading their smartphone mainly for longer battery life, while 55% cited price as their top motivator. The findings arrive just before Apple's Sept. 9 event, where the company is expected to unveil its first foldable phone alongside the iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max and Ultra models.
cnet.com
· 2026-09-09
CNET's latest People's Picks survey asked readers to rate phone brands on customer satisfaction, battery longevity, and price-to-value. Google came out on top with a 4.52 out of 5 average score, narrowly edging out Motorola at 4.45, while Samsung and Apple trailed with 4.19 and 3.87 respectively.
cnet.com
· 2026-09-08