Pebble, one of the first tech firms that jumped into the smartwatch foray via a Kickstarter campaign, has been unaffected by the competition brought by the Apple Watch, says the company CEO Eric Migicovsky.

Migicovsky revealed that the company’s sales has improved, which experienced a double year-over-year growth. Apple Watch had "no material impact" on the company, Migicovsky claimed, adding that this is due to the difference in the market the companies tap.

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I hate leaving the house. Don't get me wrong, I love nature and fresh air, but my fellow humans can be sort of annoying. A trip to Walmart, or a mall, can be the most soul-crushing experience -- fewer people have manners nowadays. In other words, many shoppers do not know how to properly behave in public. This is why I try and do all my shopping online.

If you are a glutton for punishment, maybe you enjoy shopping in brick and mortar stores. With Christmas -- and other holidays -- approaching, many stores will have special hours, both shortened and extended. Now Google is making it easier to see these special holiday hours.

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Stat attack: Dropbox has more than 400 million users worldwide. Out of that number, some 8 million are business users.

From those 8 million, there are more than 150,000 paying ones. Those are the numbers given by the company’s chief executive officer Drew Houston, during the Dropbox Open conference, held in San Francisco yesterday.

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In the world of malware, one of the most recent trends is ransomware -- malicious software that either blocks access to a computer until a fee is paid, or files are encrypted until a ransom is put forward. As with ransomware and kidnapping, a ransom is often demanded by hackers and instigators of DDoS attacks.

This is precisely what happened to 'secure' email provider ProtonMail the other day when it found its datacenter inundated with traffic. At the time, the company asked for donations to cover the costs of the "quite expensive solutions" needed to fight back against "the sophistication of this attack". But rather than fighting back, ProtonMail decided to pay the ransom instead. This could prove to be a terrible mistake.

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Don't feel like cleaning? That's where robotics take over. The "creatures", like home automation, are a growing segment of today's tech market. After all, who wants to vacuum or get up to turn lights on or off? Yes, we're an increasingly lazy species.

Samsung is rolling out, so to speak, an automated vacuum cleaner to rival the long-standing king, Roomba. The company wanted to push the product out in time for the holiday shopping season, stating that customers need to get ready for, and clean up after, the parties. It states that "In fact, a recent survey found that almost one-third of consumers said they stress about cleaning the floors and rugs when they think about holiday entertaining".

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Since a new version of Android is initially available only on a handful of devices, most of which feature a Nexus logo on the back, you can expect its market share to be extremely low in the first few months following its release. Lollipop, for instance, needed over two months to break past the 0.1 percent barrier -- and we are only talking about Android land here.

The latest version of Android, however, is already proving to be way more successful. In just a month, Marshmallow has reached 0.3 percent of Android devices. This adoption figure comes from Google's Android distribution share chart, which was just updated with data collected in the seven days ending November 2.

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What’s the next step after an operating system upgrade on a Mac or PC? To see if you can work with your existing applications. When moving to OS X El Capitan and Windows 10 I got off to a rough start, which left me frustrated.

Let’s address the El Capitan problems first. Did the upgrade install? Yes! Was I able to work? Nope.

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According to a new survey 83 percent of app users say location is crucial to their app experiences, but nearly 40 percent are hesitant to share their location.

These are part of the findings of a study by Skyhook Wireless which looks at the extent to which people turn location services on or off for their apps and tries to understand why many smartphone users choose not to take advantage of the benefits sharing location can bring.

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Windows Insiders working with the preview builds of Windows 10 are used to the odd quirk here and there. Windows 10 Build 10586, released yesterday, is no different.

This latest build is widely believed to be the Threshold 2 release that is expected to roll out later this month. While it fixes numerous issues and adds new features when compared to the RTM build, it can also remove the Insider Hub. Here's how to get it back.

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Deciding whether to upgrade your operating system is always a big decision. It is one that should not be made lightly, especially when it is a major upgrade like Windows 10.

Over the years, there have been mixed reviews regarding Windows upgrades. I just need to mention the word 'Vista' and some IT folk breakout into a cold sweat!

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ASCII art is a graphics design technique dating back to the 1960s, where pictures are produced entirely from text characters.

The results are, well, basic. But they can have plenty of retro appeal, and producing them is a whole lot easier than you think.

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While I am not a hardcore gamer, I do enjoy gaming on both my PC and Xbox One. While playing single-player games can be fun, I much prefer the online multiplayer variants. I am still blown-away at the concept of playing a game against random people from around the world. Keep in mind, my first console was a hand-me-down Atari 2600 -- you younger cats probably take it for granted.

While playing against other people is cool on its own, I also like talking with them. Whether trash-talking or planning strategies, gaming with a headset is super great. If you are going to invest in a headset, however, you should do it right. I have been searching for a really nice headset for games, movies, music and chat and recently came across the Logitech G633 Artemis Spectrum RGB 7.1 Surround Sound Gaming Headset. When looking for accessories, Logitech is always a great place to start. Will the G633 continue the long tradition of quality?

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On Wednesday, the Investigatory Powers Bill was published in draft form, but it was in the wake of 9/11 that the UK government started its mass surveillance programs, spying on the online activities of British citizens. Under the guise of the 1984 Telecommunications Act, this surveillance was moved up a gear in 2005. Former deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg says that very few politicians knew about it.

Clegg only learned of the surveillance programs that were used to harvest emails, phone records, and texts in 2010, and questioned whether it was necessary. The former PM makes the revelations in an article for the Guardian in which he says that after Edward Snowden NSA and GCHQ spying revelations, "the knee-jerk response from the government was to play the man and ignore the ball".

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Microsoft is preparing a huge update to Windows 10, codenamed Threshold 2. We don’t know exactly when it will be made available, only that it’s coming this month.

In advance of that update, Microsoft is in the process of rolling out a new Insider Preview build which has all the hallmarks of being a test run of Threshold 2, or the Fall Update, as it’s likely to be known.

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My favorite video service is probably not what you expect. No, it is not Netflix or Hulu, but the free YouTube. Yes, when I am on my PC or tablet, I prefer watching Barnacules, iJustine and PewDiePie rather than Hollywood movies and prime-time TV shows. Say what you like, but I am certainly not alone in this regard.

Today, Google is improving YouTube in a really cool way -- it is delivering virtual reality. Using the search-giant's Cardboard face mask, you can experience VR-optimized content as if you are really there! Existing non-VR content can be viewed using Cardboard too.

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