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CNET is running a reader survey throughout October asking which security and privacy software people rely on to protect their devices. The two-minute survey covers threat protection, ease of use, performance impact, value and overall satisfaction, and applies to both free and paid tools. Results will be compiled into a roundup of top-rated products published the following month.
CNET has opened a reader survey through October asking which security software people rely on most, covering threat protection, ease of use, performance impact, value and overall satisfaction. The company says it will compile responses into a roundup highlighting top-rated privacy and security tools.
CNET's latest holiday shopping survey found that 43% of US adults are frustrated by fake or misleading discounts, while 35% worry retailers inflate baseline prices before sales. CNET deals editor James Bricknell explained that retailers often inflate a product's listed recommended retail price rather than the sale price itself, making a modest 5-10% discount appear far larger.
CNET's People's Picks survey found readers rated Mint Mobile, a mobile virtual network operator, as their most satisfying carrier with an average score of 4.68 out of 5, outranking the three major network carriers. CNET senior editor Jeff Carlson attributed part of Mint's high marks to its marketing, including actor Ryan Reynolds' past involvement, alongside its affordable pricing plans starting at $15 a month.
CNET's annual holiday shopping survey found that 73% of holiday shoppers intend to buy tech products or services this season, budgeting an average of $808 — $123 less than last year. The survey also found 32% of respondents plan to start shopping before November, 27% plan to wait for sales, and 84% expect frustrations such as misleading discounts, quick sellouts and inflated baseline prices.
CNET reviewer John Carlsen tested the SandBar Roller Starter Kit, a $30 device with two 8-inch lint rollers, an extendable handle and two preinstalled rolls, designed to clean pet hair and litter from between bed sheets in one pass. The dual-roller design lets it clean top and bottom sheets simultaneously without snagging, and SandBar sells six-pack refill rolls for $20, or $16 each with a subscription.
Amazon is selling the Bluetti Elite 200 V2 portable power station for $899, a 25% discount off its usual $1,199 price, as part of Prime Big Deal Days. CNET's testing gave the unit a 9.9/10 score and a Lab Award for Most Efficient Large Unit, citing 81% round-trip efficiency and nearly 96% of its advertised 1,987.98Wh capacity.
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 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'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.
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 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.