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This is part of our Road Trip 2016 summer series "Life, Disrupted," about how technology is helping with the global refugee crisis -- if at all. The email was a shock. "Unfortunately, my application for residence permit has been rejected," wrote Safinaz Awad, a Syrian computer programmer who until that moment in early August represented a success story for asylum seekers in Sweden.Jonathan Persson of Stockholm startup Bigspin stands with employee Safinaz Awad. Sweden has deferred Awad's asylum application to Greece. Laura Hautala/CNET After traveling from Syria to Greece to Stockholm last year, Awad, who is in her early 30s, landed a full-time job at a Stockholm-based tech startup in May. He...

[embedded content] We've all had fantasies of a future where robot chefs live in our homes and make us any meal we desire at any time of the day. But sadly, robots aren't quite sophisticated enough for home use as of yet. But that didn't stop Simone Giertz, a YouTube vlogger known for making hilariously crappy robots, from making her own simplistic robot to make her a sandwich. On Friday, Giertz posted the video "The Sandwich Robot" to show off all that a robot arm can and caot do for its hungry master.Not surprisingly, the robot -- armed with a plastic knife -- couldn't figure out how to get peanut butter from the jar to the bread. "I had a robot arm make me a sandwich with help from my fri...

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.Bad day in the bathroom. Getty Images It could happen to any of us. Our phones are so precious that if we dropped one down a public toilet, we'd climb in to get it back. Wouldn't we? What did you say? You'd call a Task Rabbit? This wasn't the choice of 20-year-old Cato Betsen Larsen. The Norwegian was in Drammen, southe Norway, when he participated in a drama.As Norway's VG News reports -- relying on the intrepid work of Drammens Tidende -- his friend's phone fell down a public toilet. Larsen, though, is svelte. He's also an amateur diver. So he volunteered to climb into the toilet to get it out. It ...

Can blind job screenings make for more-just hiring practices? Getty Images You can't judge a book by its cover.It's an old cliche, but it's one that even the most cutting-edge tech firms might want to revisit -- at least if they mean what they say about diversifying their workforces.On Thursday, Speak With a Geek, a technology industry recruiter founded in 1999, revealed the eye-opening results of its experiment with blind job auditions.In blind auditions, candidates' identifying details are stripped away and employers judge on qualifications alone -- gender, race or even where applicants went to school aren't part of the hiring calculus. On two different occasions, Speak With a Geek present...

[embedded content] Some people like to live on the edge, but daredevil Flaviu Ceescu prefers to unicycle on the edge. On Wednesday, Ceescu posted a YouTube video of himself and a friend having fun on top of a very tall abandoned factory chimney measuring 840 feet high (256 meters) at CET Targu Jiu in Romania. The video shows Ceescu riding his unicycle the chimney's rim, as well as performing various circus tricks such as balancing on pieces of wood and juggling oranges. He also shows how scary the climb down can be as he slowly maneuvers through bent metal railings, crumbling stone walls and the kind of rickety ladder not even Indiana Jones would trust. Much of the footage is from Ceescu's p...

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.Enlarge ImageWill this move the African-American community? If so, to what? Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET Recent analysis suggests Donald Trump doesn't write all his tweets.On Saturday moing, however, his Twitter account was adoed with a musing that felt as if it came instantly from his exalted mind.It read: "Dwayne Wade's cousin was just shot and killed walking her baby in Chicago. Just what I have been saying. African-Americans will VOTE TRUMP!"On Friday, Nykea Aldridge, cousin of the Chicago Bulls guard, was walking with a man and pushing a stroller, when they were approached by two men.One ...

It's even bigger than it looks. Standing in front of it, my head tilted back -- it's huge. It's sci-fi come to life: an 18-meter/59-foot tall Mobile Suit from the anime series "Gundam." Built initially to celebrate the series' 30th aiversary, the enormous statue has traveled around a bit. It now stands guard in front of the DiverCity mall on the artificial island of Odaiba in Tokyo Bay. It doesn't walk around (sadly), nor can you climb up into it (bummer), but for fans of the anime, or anyone who just digs giant robots, it's pretty cool. Here's how it looks up close. Fundam with Tokyo's giant Gundam...

See more stories from CNET Magazine. Michael Muller It starts iocently enough, with the same exact transaction you've performed a thousand times before. You walk up to an unassuming ATM kiosk, slip a plastic debit card into the slot, punch in a personal code and withdraw cash. Convenient, absolutely, but ATMs can host hidden dangers, especially for travelers already distracted by luggage, train schedules or herding an unruly family through an airport. It's a scam called ATM skimming, and it's only one of the pitfalls to watch out for, especially when traveling in unfamiliar territory, whether you're on vacation or a work trip. And with a little preparation, you can outwit the crooks.Beware t...

This is part of our Road Trip 2016 summer series "Life, Disrupted," about how technology is helping with the global refugee crisis -- if at all. Maria Booth and I sit at a table at Mälarpaviljongen, a gay-friendly bar and cafe in Stockholm. It's a suy, breezy day on the Baltic waterway that surrounds the city. The cafe's floating patio bobs gently in Riddarfjärden Bay. We're talking about Facebook. She's worried about a change taking place in her country that she saw first on the world's biggest social network: People she knew were posting comments against immigrants, calling them criminals and drains on society. "It has become perfectly legitimate to say we should close our borders," says B...

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.Enlarge ImageWhere on the dashboard is its moral compass? KAREN BLEIER/AFP/GettyImages I think of morality as a feather that shifts in the wind and occasionally brushes your face delightfully as it falls to earth.I'm still perturbed, however, whether technology has a fine grasp of it. Or whether it can.I'm moved by the news that Uber has launched its driverless vehicles in Pittsburgh. It crossed my mind whether these cars have already been programmed whom to kill if they face a moral dilemma.For example, the car is about to hit another car with three people inside. It can swerve out of the way, but t...

Apple Music and Tidal have leaned on exclusives as the battle to catch up to Spotify's lead in subscribers. Taylor Martin/CNET The rivalry between the subscription music giants may be tuing bitter. Spotify has been penalizing some artists who provide music exclusively to its main competitor, Apple Music, according to a Bloomberg report. Citing uamed people familiar with the practices, the report said Spotify search results bury tunes by artists who give their material to Apple Music first. The company also waed acts it will exclude Apple-exclusive music from featured Spotify playlists once it's available to stream there, the report said. A spokeswoman for Spotify said statements about buryin...

Enlarge ImageBrits hoping to see the Northe Lights earlier this week received a false alarm email. But hey, at least the lawn got mowed. Aloysius Low/CNET "Get off my lawn" took on new meaning on Tuesday. A group of British scientists sent out a notification that the Northe Lights would be visible in their area, but it tued out to be a backyard boo-boo.AuroraWatch UK is run by Lancaster University's space and planetary physics group, and uses readings from magnetometers to determine if the striking aurora borealis will be visible across Britain. The group uses Twitter,Facebook and email to let followers know when they should head outside and search the skies.They sent out such an alert on Tu...

Subscribe to the Apple Byte PodcastiTunes MP3 | RSS MP3 | FeedBuer MP3SoundCloud | Google Play | TuneIniTunes video | RSS video | FeedBuer videoYouTube | Livestream| Stitcher Extra Crunchy Podcast, Ep. 52 Your browser does not support the audio element. Why you should update your iPhone right nowiPhione 7 NEWS:Apple Plans iPhone for Japan With Tap-to-Pay for SubwaysApple to Eliminate Home Button in 2017 iPhoneA Design Defect Is Breaking a Ton of iPhone 6 PlusesiPhone 6s Bests Samsung's New Galaxy Note 7 in App Speed TestSIRI NEWS:Siri's voice to benefit from machine leaing improvements in Apple's iOS 10Barbra Streisand says 'Sept. 30' iOS update will fix Siri's pronunciation of her nameApple...

[embedded content] One character that would make trailers for "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" so much better is Jar Jar Binks, said absolutely no one ever. But that didn't stop fan Michael Murdock from making "Rogue Binks: A Star Wars Story" with Jar Jar standing in for Jyn Erso. The video, which was posted Wednesday on YouTube, also features the "Star Wars Holiday Special" version of Princess Leia as Mon Mothma, complete with that horrible Wookiee Life Day song. Other notable cameos include Boss Nass, Wicket the Ewok, Chewbacca Mom and George Lucas himself, with a rather ominous Disney logo backlighting him. Not sick of Jar Jar yet? Murdock also edited the aoying Gungan into "Star Wars: The ...

Close Pokemon Go: The dream features we want to see in the next update Drag Pokemon Go got really big, really fast.Want proof? Just ask ComScore. The researcher reported this week that Pokemon Go reached 55 million mobile users in the US this July, during the first full month the mobile game was available. Thanks to that huge audience, the augmented-reality game ranked 13th among all mobile apps in the country, beating out social media stars Snapchat and Pinterest. Facebook was No. 1 on the list.Additionally, engagement was particularly high, with the Pokemon Go ranking fourth in total time spent with the app, behind on...

Enlarge ImageNow that the PlayStation Now streaming service is coming to Windows, could consoles end up losing out to the cloud? Mike Sorrentino/CNET Can streaming services like PlayStation Now end the console war? Or will the battle between Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation consoles continue forevermore? Chat with us live today on CNET's Livestream and YouTube pages at 3:30 p.m. ET, 12:30 p.m. PT and 8:30 p.m. UK, where the Open_Tab crew will dive into whether these machines could get displaced by the cloud. Plus, we check out the Geckobot -- a green robot that when assembled can climb up walls.[embedded content] Tell us what you think about the console war for us to read live on toda...

In mid-June, Dave Jackson bought a Frito-Lay variety pack through AmazonFresh for $10.44. When he retued to the Amazon mobile app soon after, it coaxed him to purchase more of the snacks through its "Buy It Again" feature. But the very same variety pack under the "Buy It Again" baer didn't cost $10.44. It was $22.94. The same thing happened after buying Snickers bars for 89 cents apiece on AmazonFresh, Amazon's grocery delivery service. Yet again, Amazon invited him to buy more, but for $4.95 each, more than five times the previous price. What was happening? Jackson, a web administrator in San Jose, Califoia, believes he found a handful of bugs on Amazon after it recently combined the listin...

Enlarge ImageMovie villains can be extra-deadly if they're cybeetic. Click to enlarge chart. SolarWinds Villains in sci-fi movies have an advantage over your regular Joe bad guy from off the tough streets of New York. Sci-fi baddies can be cybeetically enhanced, with robotic and other parts adding to their general menacing aura. Darth Vader was kind of a big jerk as Anakin Skywalker, but add in his imposing and life-sustaining black armor and he's a force to be fled from. And Agent Smith in "The Matrix" seemed like a meanie when we thought he was a human, but he jacked up the scary level once we saw him twisting and dodging bullets and realized what he really was. SolarWinds, a provider of I...

Congratulations to last week's wier, Alan C. of Brighton, Colorado, for wiing season 6 of "Game of Thrones" on digital HD. We here at CNET's San Francisco headquarters are busily packing up in preparation to move for a bit while our digs get a fancy new remodel. In the process, we've uncovered piles and piles of cool stuff (plus WinZip for Windows XP and lots of paper clips). I combed some of the shiny new goods we've collected recently, and the result is this week's prize, our CNET Moving Day Grab Bag packed with fun. Here's just some of what this week's wier will score tucked inside a sturdy padded laptop backpack from CAT.Enlarge Image James Martin/CNET * "Game Art," by Matt Sainsbury, a ...

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.She can do two things at once. Allegedly. Getty Images I have visitors arriving from Norway next week and I'm worried that they're just going to ignore me. They might be educated sorts, but I fear they could be in the grip of Pokemon Go, which seems to have infiltrated Norway's highest echelons. As my evidence, might I present Trine Skei Grande? No, she's not Ariana's mom. She is, however, the leader of the Norwegian Liberal Party and she's just been caught playing Pokemon Go during a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday.As Norway's News In English reports, the hearing was discussing the future of Norw...