Category: Technologies

Fans will gather around TVs on Feb. 11 to watch the Kansas City Chiefs take on the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl, and to see Usher headline the halftime show. But hours before that, Puppy Bowl XX is airing, with two teams of cute, adoptable dogs on the green turf.

The Puppy Bowl action happens at 2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT) on Sunday, Feb. 11, with a pregame show that starts at 1 p.m ET (10 a.m. PT). Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the event will feature more than 125 dogs, a halftime kitty show, and a new puppy assistant coach. During the show, viewers will meet pets from all over the country and learn how to potentially adopt a furry new family member. Among the stars are a group of special needs pups, a tiny dog named Sweetpea who weighs in at 1.7 pounds, and the latest inductees to the Puppy Bowl Hall of Fame.

The event will be simulcast live across multiple networks and streaming platforms: Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, TBS, TruTV, Discovery Plus and Max. Here’s how to stream the furry face-off if you don’t have cable.

Where to stream the 2024 Puppy Bowl

Stream the Puppy Bowl with a VPN

Perhaps you’re traveling abroad and want to stream the Puppy Bowl while away from home. With a VPN, you’re able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the show from anywhere in the world. There are other good reasons to use a VPN for streaming, too.

A VPN is the best way to encrypt your traffic and stop your ISP from throttling your speeds. Using a VPN is also a great idea if you’re traveling, find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network and want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins. Streaming TV can be a bit smoother with a reliable, quality VPN that’s passed our tests and security standards.

You can use a VPN to stream content legally as long as VPNs are allowed in your country and you have a valid subscription to the streaming service you’re using. The US and Canada are among the countries where VPNs are legal, but we advise against streaming or downloading content on illegal torrent sites. We recommend ExpressVPN, but you may opt for another provider from our best list, such as Surfshark or NordVPN.

Follow the VPN provider’s instructions for installation and choose a country where the Puppy Bowl will be streaming on a service like Max. Before you open the streaming app, make sure you’re connected to your VPN using your selected region. If you want to stream the show on more than one device, it’s possible you’ll need to configure each one to ensure you’re signed in. Go to settings and check your network connections to verify you’re logged in and connected to your VPN account.

If you run into issues with streaming, first make sure your VPN is up and running on its encrypted IP address. Double-check that you’ve followed installation instructions correctly and you’ve picked the right geographical area for viewing. If you still encounter connection problems, you may need to reboot your device. Close all apps and windows, restart your device, and connect to your VPN first. Note that some streaming services have restrictions on VPN access.

Amazon has a ton of deals, but trying to find something good can make your head spin. Reader, don’t risk your neck. Instead, check out the bargains we’ve collected below. The deals range from headphones to Wi-Fi extenders, so there’s something for everybody. And be sure to check back regularly, because we constantly unearth new bargains and update this page. Looking for something for a family member or chum? Take a gander at one of CNET’s great gift guides.

Best Amazon deals you can shop this weekend

Even though we’re all walking around with a notepad in the form of a smartphone, if you’re communicating with someone who has a hearing impairment, sign language can be much better. If you’ve always wanted to learn American Sign Language, this all-in-one bundle that’s available on Stacksocial can teach you the basics. And these 13 courses are going for just $17, an 83% discount on the original $104 price. That buys you lifetime access to these courses, so you can learn ASL at your own pace.

The bundle includes 29 hours of instruction that’ll teach you useful signs and improve your communication. You don’t need any prior knowledge of ASL to get started: These sessions cover the alphabet, colors and numbers, as well as nouns, verbs, adverbs, business terms and more. With periodic reviews along the way, you’ll be able to correct your form and ensure you’re signing accurately.

Read more: Best Language Learning Apps for 2023

During Samsung’s Galaxy S24 smartphone launch, one little announced tidbit got me very excited: The devices will be able to upload HDR photos to Instagram.

The deal involves just one product family from one smartphone maker and one social media app. But I, a serious photographer, am giddy about it because it likely means we can expect HDR photography to spread to more devices, more apps, more web browsers and more photo editing software.

In other words, the Samsung-Instagram partnership could help begin a new, better chapter in digital photography. That’s an improvement all of us can appreciate, not just photo nerds like me.

HDR stands for high dynamic range, and for photography, it means pictures accommodate a broader span of bright and dark tones. That can make photos more realistic and vivid, particularly ones with dramatic lighting differences. Bright skies are bright instead of washed out. Sunsets explode with color. Scenes often look more like they did in person with your eyes.

HDR has caught on in video, though there are complications. For photos, though, it’s unusual. A variety of compatibility and capability constraints have held back HDR photos. For the technology to work, you need file formats that can store the data, cameras that can capture photos in HDR, editing tools that let you manipulate HDR shots, and displays that can reveal the extra tones.

Which is why I’m psyched about Samsung and Instagram.

The partnership could be a starting point that lets many more people benefit from the technology, solving enough of the problems to get around HDR photography’s chicken and egg problem: There’s no point in supporting HDR photos if they can’t be displayed properly, and there’s no point in trying to display them properly if the photography hardware and software doesn’t produce HDR photos.

HDR photography progress

The tech took a big step toward the mainstream in 2023 as Adobe added HDR photo support to Lightroom, a top editing and cataloging tool for photo enthusiasts and pros. That really opened my eyes, revealing just how much scene data my cameras had been capturing for years that I didn’t appreciate.

For a good illustration of what HDR photography can offer, check the blog post from Adobe engineer and photographer Eric Chan explaining the feature. But check it in Chrome or a Chromium-based browser like Edge or Brave, because Firefox and Safari don’t support HDR photos.

“Tones and colors have more room to spread out: brighter highlights, deeper shadows, improved tonal separation and more vivid colors,” Chan said. “As a result, photos optimized for HDR displays have greater impact and provide an increased sense of depth and realism.”

Another step was Adobe’s creation of “gain map” technology for photo file formats. Gain maps expand a regular photo with extra HDR information, letting non-HDR products display the ordinary photo and HDR-capable products show the extra tonal range.

Google built gain maps into Android 14’s Ultra HDR format, and that’s the approach Samsung is using, too, the company said. Samsung calls it Super HDR, though.

Bright displays required for HDR photos

Phones, tablets and laptops need to reach high brightness levels to show HDR photos well. Adobe recommends peak brightness of 1,000 nits. That’s now common on high-end smartphones, but less so on laptops and even rarer on external monitors.

Samsung’s Galaxy S24, S24 Plus and S24 Ultra reach peak brightness of 2,600 nits, up from 1,750 nits on last year’s S23 generation. That helped the phones win plaudits from testing company DXOMark.

Instagram’s detailed plans aren’t yet clear. Parent company Meta said HDR photography won’t stop at Samsung phones.

“Samsung is the first manufacturer we’ve worked with to make this feature available, so Galaxy S24 users will be the first to be able to capture, post and view HDR photos in [Instagram’s] Feed as soon as the Galaxy S24 device is available,” spokesperson Cullen Heaney said. But the company is working with other Android partners and Apple to handle HDR photo uploads and viewing.

3D printing company Bambu Lab has ordered a recall on its latest product, the A1. The company released a blog post stating that some of its A1 machines could have damaged cables that connect the heat bed to the main body of the printer. This damage could be enough to cause a fire, and in one case discussed on the Bambu Forum, it caused burns to the machine as well as causing a power cut in a user’s home.

On the blog post, Bambu Lab identified several ways this issue could occur:

We should have designed the strain relief (SR) better to protect the cable from any damage. Our investigation has identified several factors that may cause this damage:

• Rough handling during transportation, like dropping the package in certain directions so that the root of the cable is impacted.
• During installation, if the base is vertically placed on the table with the cable side at the bottom, all the weight of the printer will be concentrated on the root of the cables and cause damage.
• After the installation, the cable’s root on the printer base is impacted by external force by accident.

Bambu Lab has offered two distinct resolutions to this issue. If your cable is damaged — you can tell by the squeezed-in shape of the cable near the printer base — then you can fill in this form to have the damaged machine shipped back and a new one sent out. If you find damage on your A1 cable you should stop using it immediately and fill in the form as soon as possible. No one wants your printer to catch on fire.

If your printer doesn’t have any signs of damage but you are still worried about it, you can 3D print a cable guard that can attach to your A1 to help protect your cable from the kink. Bambu hasn’t said if it will start to include the cable guard with new shipments of the A1, but the company did say it would be repackaging the ones it currently has to make sure the cable isn’t damaged in transit.

The review unit that CNET received shows some early signs of that damage, and I don’t remember it being there when I first started using it. The A1 review unit has been through 240 hours of use at this point in a somewhat confined space, so I will be reaching out to Bamabu through the form to see what the next steps are and printing the cable protector to see how that works.

Valentine’s Day is nearly here, and streaming services know it.

Streamers are packing this month with brand-new content fit for Feb. 14, from romantic comedies to reality TV premieres to Hallmark dramas. Netflix and Prime Video are leaning heavily into the lovefest, and you can find more to set your heart aflutter on Peacock and Hulu.

Because you deserve all the love this February, we’ve gathered up as many new romantic titles on streaming services as we could. Some big premieres include season 6 of Love Is Blind; the new rom-com Players, with Gina Rodriguez; and a fresh version of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Whether you’re watching with a significant other or embarking on a solo Valentine’s-themed binge-a-thon, streaming services have plenty to offer in the love department.

Apple’s Vision Pro mixed-reality headset is now available to the general public. Its retail starting price is $3,499, and not everyone will be willing to spend that much money on a computer you wear on your face.

Read more: Apple Vision Pro Review: A Mind-Blowing Look at an Unfinished Future

That said, you still might be interested in taking the Vision Pro for a spin; the headset is compelling. It’s a technical marvel, with impressive visuals. And you don’t necessarily need to be an Apple fanatic to be curious about trying out Apple’s foray into spatial computing.

If you check out our review of the Vision Pro by CNET’s Scott Stein, you might understand why.

If the price does give you pause, but you still want to test out the Apple Vision Pro right now, there’s some good news: v-pre You don’t have to drop thousands of dollars. You can just go to an Apple store. Scroll on for details about that.

Want to learn more about the Vision Pro? Here’s what you need to know before buying the Vision Pro, and here are all the apps that will and won’t appear on the Vision Pro.

Sign up today for a Vision Pro demo at your local Apple Store

Starting Friday, Feb. 2, you can sign up for a demo of the Apple Vision Pro at your local Apple Store.

During the roughly 25-minute demonstration, an Apple Store employee will go through the process of using the headset with you.

Be warned: with the frenzy surrounding the Apple headset, you can expect long lines this weekend, and the demos are first come first serve, so get there early if you want a good chance of trying out the Vision Pro this weekend.

To get a demo on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, you’ll need to head to your local Apple Store and sign up in person. Once you’re at the store, the process is easy: Find an Apple employee, tell them you want to demo the AVP, give them your name and contact information and reserve a demo time. You can leave the store and come back if your appointment is later on in the day.

The process to book a demo next week (Monday through Thursday) is easier — you can do it online. Head to either Apple’s Vision Pro page or the Apple Store app and tap the Book a demo button. After you sign in with your Apple ID (you’ll need two-factor authentication enabled), book your appointment. Right now, you can book a demo for Feb. 5 through 8.

I got to demo the AVP today, and it went pretty smoothly. I waited in line, an Apple employee checked me in and then I came back during my appointment time. From there, I scanned my face to get fitted for the Vison Pro, and because I wear prescription glasses, I had them scanned to get the appropriate Zeiss Optical Inserts. An Apple employee then walked me through various gestures to navigate the AVP, and I got to browse the internet in Safari, check out spatial videos shot on the iPhone and watch a really immersive video demo from Apple TV.

While you’re here, check out what iPhone spatial videos look like on the Vision Pro.

The weekend’s Premier League action gets underway with a clash that could have big implications for both ends of the table as Everton hosts Tottenham on Saturday at Goodison Park.

The hosts dropped back into the relegation zone in midweek after playing out a goals draw with Fulham, with Sean Dyche’s men having failed to register a win in their last five Premier League matches.

Spurs got back to winning ways on Wednesday with a 3-2 victory over London rivals Brentford, which moved them up to fourth in the table. Boss Ange Postecoglu will nevertheless be well aware that his side need to improve on the road if they’re to maintain their top-four challenge, with his side having registered just one win from their last five away days.

Below, we’ll outline the best live TV streaming services to use to watch the game live wherever you are in the world.

Everton vs. Tottenham: When and where?

Everton host Spurs at Goodison Park on Saturday, Feb. 3. Kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m. GMT (7:30 a.m. ET, 4:30 a.m. PT in the US and Canada, and 11:30 p.m. AEDT in Australia.

How to watch the Everton vs. Tottenham game online from anywhere using a VPN

If you find yourself unable to view the game locally, you may need a different way to watch the game — that’s where using a VPN can come in handy. A VPN is also the best way to stop your ISP from throttling your speeds on game day by encrypting your traffic, and it’s also a great idea if you’re traveling and find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network, and you want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins.

With a VPN, you’re able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the game. So if your internet provider or mobile carrier has stuck you with an IP address that incorrectly shows your location in a blackout zone, a VPN can correct that problem by giving you an IP address in your correct, non-blackout area. Most VPNs, like our Editors’ Choice, ExpressVPN, make it really easy to do this.

Using a VPN to watch or stream sports is legal in any country where VPNs are legal, including the US, UK and Canada, as long as you have a legitimate subscription to the service you’re streaming. You should be sure your VPN is set up correctly to prevent leaks: Even where VPNs are legal, the streaming service may terminate the account of anyone it deems to be circumventing correctly applied blackout restrictions.

Looking for other options? Be sure to check out some of the other great VPN deals taking place right now.

Livestream Everton vs. Tottenham in the US

Saturday’s Everton-Tottenham match is streaming on USA Network, which you can access as part of your cable package or at the NBC Sports website with a valid login, and can be streamed via Sling TV and other more expensive streaming TV services.

Livestream the Everton vs. Tottenham game in the UK

Premier League rights in the UK are split between Sky Sports, Amazon Prime Video and TNT Sports (previously known as BT Sport). The Everton vs. Tottenham game is exclusive to TNT Sports — showing on its TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports 1 HD and TNT Sports Ultimate in 4K.

Livestream the Everton vs. Tottenham game in Canada

If you want to stream Everton vs. Tottenham live in Canada, you’ll need to subscribe to Fubo. The service has exclusive rights for this Premier League season.

Livestream the Everton vs. Tottenham game in Australia

Football fans Down Under can watch this EPL fixture on streaming service Optus Sport, which is showing every single Premier League game live in Australia this season.

Quick tips for streaming the Premier League using a VPN

• With four variables at play — your ISP, browser, video streaming provider and VPN — your experience and success when streaming EPL matches may vary.
• If you don’t see your desired location as a default option for ExpressVPN, try using the “search for city or country” option.
• If you’re having trouble getting the game after you’ve turned on your VPN and set it to the correct viewing area, there are two things you can try for a quick fix. First, log into your streaming service subscription account and make sure the address registered for the account is an address in the correct viewing area. If not, you may need to change the physical address on file with your account. Second, some smart TVs — like Roku — don’t have VPN apps you can install directly on the device itself. Instead, you’ll have to install the VPN on your router or the mobile hotspot you’re using (like your phone) so that any device on its Wi-Fi network now appears in the correct viewing location.
• All of the VPN providers we recommend have helpful instructions on their main site for quickly installing the VPN on your router. In some cases with smart TV services, after you install a cable network’s sports app, you’ll be asked to verify a numeric code or click a link sent to your email address on file for your smart TV. This is where having a VPN on your router will also help, since both devices will appear to be in the correct location.
• And remember, browsers can often give away a location despite using a VPN, so be sure you’re using a privacy-first browser to log into your services. We normally recommend Brave.

TikTok sounds a little different this week. On Feb. 1, many users woke up to discover the music from videos they made or watched had been removed due to a dispute between TikTok and Universal Music Group. Those videos were muted, even if only a few seconds of the song by the UMG artist was included, and UMG music was no longer available for use in new videos.

Huge stars are involved in the dispute with the video-sharing social media app — UMG artists include Taylor Swift, the Beatles, Billie Eilish, Drake, The Weeknd, Bad Bunny and many more. You can see the full list of artists on UMG’s site. TikTok is a massive social platform and music app, with more than a billion users worldwide, and more than 100 million in the US. And the site is no stranger to controversy, thanks in part to the fact that its parent company, Bytedance, is Chinese. US lawmakers say Chinese laws allow China’s government to demand data from companies based there, though TikTok says such fears are unfounded. Still, the federal government, and some states, have banned its use on government or state devices.

TikTok creators can make videos using music accessed via the site’s library. Millions of TikTok videos use those sounds. According to Forbes, Taylor Swift’s song Cruel Summer alone had been used in almost 2.5 million videos. Here’s what you should know about the dispute, and how to swap in other music if your videos have been affected.

What happened to the videos?

Videos that TikTok creators had previously made using then-allowed artists were still on the site Thursday. But they were marked with a note indicating that the music was no longer available. Sound for the entire video was muted, even if the affected artist’s music was used only briefly. The videos could still be watched, but on a site where dancing and lip-syncing are a huge part of the content, those videos are essentially useless without any sound.

The change is worldwide, not just affecting TikTok videos made in certain countries.

How to swap in other music

If the music was removed from one or more of your videos — and some TikTok creators had hundreds or thousands of videos affected — you’ll see a message on the thumbnail for those videos. TikTok should provide you with an option to select a new sound from music that isn’t from UMG. That list includes Paul Russell’s TikTok-popular song Lil Boo Thang, Cyndi Lauper’s 1983 hit Girls Just Want to Have Fun and music by Coolio, Green Day, Weezer and others.

Some video creators have tried the stopgap of using a sped-up or otherwise tweaked version of the UMG song they used originally, but audio-detection software will likely ban those clips as well. Video creators may want to start looking for independent music that’s available on TikTok, or provide their own background soundtrack. In fact, the ban could end up being a boon for savvy independent musical artists, if they’re able to see their music go viral due to many creators suddenly seeking out new music.

UMG’s complaints

The yanking of the music didn’t come as a surprise. Two days before the contract between the two businesses was set to expire, UMG published a letter on its site declaring its intent to “call time out” on TikTok. UMG said in the letter that the company had been pressing TikTok on three issues: “appropriate compensation for our artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI, and online safety for TikTok’s users.”

UMG also said that “TikTok proposed paying our artists and songwriters at a rate that is a fraction of the rate that similarly situated major social platforms pay.”

TikTok’s response, and UMG’s reply

UMG’s letter was lengthy. TikTok fired back with a short, three-paragraph response. Without giving details about the three issues mentioned in the UMG letter, TikTok called the dispute “sad and disappointing” and accused UMG of putting “their own greed above the interests of their artists and songwriters.”

“TikTok has been able to reach ‘artist-first’ agreements with every other label and publisher,” the statement said. “Clearly, Universal’s self-serving actions are not in the best interests of artists, songwriters and fans.”

In July, TikTok had reached a new agreement to license music from Warner Music Group, so songs from those artists are still available. They include Lizzo, Panic! at the Disco, Blake Shelton and the Doors.

In a statement sent to CNET after TikTok’s response, a representative for UMG expanded further.

“TikTok still argues that artists should be grateful for the ‘free promotion’ and that music companies are ‘greedy’ for expecting them to simply compensate artists and songwriters appropriately, and on similar levels as other social media platforms currently do,” the emailed statement said. “TikTok didn’t even attempt to address the other issues we raised regarding harmful AI and platform safety.”

TikTok didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Apple Vision Pro hit Apple stores around the US on Friday, so grab that extra $3,499 you’ve got just sitting around and head on over. Or maybe not. That price — the starting price — isn’t realistic for most of us, but there is a way you can try the pricey device for free.

The Vision Pro is Apple’s first mixed-reality headset. As CNET’s Scott Stein describes it, it’s a “full iOS-ready computer in the form of a VR headset, with an ability to blend the real world and virtual objects together in your vision.”

In his Vision Pro review this week, Stein also calls it one of the hardest products he’s ever had to evaluate. He praised it as the “best wearable display” he’s ever tried. But since it’s so expensive and there are so few VisionOS apps at launch, he’s not recommending it to any of his friends or family. Yet.

Here’s a look at what to know about the Apple Vision Pro.

Reviews so far

Expensive though it is, the device is intriguing. CNET’s Stein praises its amazing micro-OLED display, mostly fluid hand-eye control interface, and its blend of real and virtual worlds. “Playing back personal 3D memories feels transporting,” he says, calling it “the most advanced blend of mixed reality in a standalone device that I’ve ever experienced.”

CNET’s Bridget Carey notes that the release of the Vision Pro feels similar to the world-shaking release of the Macintosh computer in 1984.

“Consumers today may be asking themselves some of the same questions as four decades ago — a high price for a novel machine leaves folks wondering, “Is it worth it for what it can do? How different will it feel to operate? What programs can I run on it?” Carey writes.

Try a demo

You can get a free demonstration of the device at an Apple store, where you’ll notice the staff carrying the headset around on a platter, as if it’s a gourmet dinner.

The demonstrations are 25 minutes long, and guided by employees. If you’re hoping to get a demo Feb. 2-4, the device’s first available weekend, you need to sign up at your local Apple store, and expect long lines. Once you’re at the store, head to the Vision Pro display area, scan a QR code on a sign-up iPad and reserve your demo time.

If you can wait until next week, things get easier. Head to either Apple’s Vision Pro page or retail store page and find the “Book a demo” button. Right now, you can book one for Feb. 5-8.

Apps for the Vision Pro

Apps that are available at launch include Amazon Prime Video, Crunchyroll, Disney Plus, ESPN, Zoom and more.

There are two kinds of apps for it. Compatible apps aren’t optimized for the headset, but will work, though they’ll appear in a window. Native apps are built specifically for VisionOS, the device’s operating system. They’ll give you a more immersive experience.

You won’t find apps for Netflix, YouTube, Spotify and Meta, and it doesn’t look like those companies will be building dedicated apps. If you want to watch, say, Netflix on the Apple Vision Pro, you can, but you’ll need to use a web browser to do so.

Pricing and what’s included

The Vision Pro pricing begins at $3,499 for 256GB of storage. Pay $3,699 and you can get 512GB, while it’s $3,899 for 1TB.

The headset comes with two different head strap options, one called solo knit and one called dual loop, so the owner can choose the fit that works best. It also comes with a light seal, two light-seal cushions, a cover for the front of the device, polishing cloth, battery, USB-C charge cable and USB-C power adapter.

If you haven’t spent enough money, you can purchase additional options, such as a travel case and battery-pack holder.

Eyeglass wearers need prescription lens inserts

Other VR headsets can fit over your glasses, but the Vision Pro does not — a trend that’s been coming for years.

So if you do wear glasses, you’ll need to get outfitted for prescription lens inserts made by Zeiss. They cost $99 for reader inserts, and $149 for prescription lenses. The lenses snap in magnetically and are easy to change in and out.

CNET reviewer Scott Stein says he was able to get lenses for his severe nearsightedness, but notes that he’s heard of some people who don’t meet the prescription cutoffs.