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Best headphones for under $100

Headphones are among the most popular products on CNET, and, not surprisingly, many of you are looking for a pair that delivers a lot of bang for the buck.

With that in mind, I've put together a list of our favorite headphones that offer good -- and sometimes excellent -- performance for the money. It's a bit of a hodgepodge of products, with a mix of in-ear, on-ear, and over-the-ear headphones, and even a few Bluetooth models.

Since there are literally thousands of models available, we've most likely missed some great deals, but we're determined to find as many headphone bargains as we can, so feel free to offer up your own nominations in the comments section below. We'll be reviewing additional headphones throughout the year and will be updating this list as we go along. … Read more

How Best Buy can learn from B&H Photo

This is how you sell tech gear:

Yesterday I walked into B&H Photo in New York, which claims to be the country's largest non-chain camera store, and asked one of the many sales representatives if he was an expert on tripods. He smiled and responded: "It's a ball and three legs so you really don't need to be an expert."

I told him I needed to upgrade my tripod and he showed me how to get more life out of my old one. A few weeks ago, a B&H sales person … Read more

Best Buy employee asks for receipt, allegedly attacked

It's a curious business when Best Buy employees ask you for your receipt as you leave the store.

But never so curious that you want to physically assault them.

However, as CBS St. Louis reports, at the Fairview Heights Best Buy in St. Louis, an altercation allegedly occurred when a 61-year-old employee asked a couple if he could inspect their receipt.

Latoya Thompson, 38, allegedly found the request somewhat offensive. The result was that she has been charged with disorderly conduct and her 39-year-old husband Hickey with felony aggravated battery, after the employee was allegedly beaten to the ground.… Read more

Here comes Microsoft Surface Pro, 64 bits and all

Microsoft's Windows 8 Pro version of the Surface will arrive soon, giving consumers probably one the highest performing tablets to date.

Microsoft is already dropping not-so-subtle hints that the device is coming "early in 2013." And now it appears to have made its debut at the FCC.

Let's look at what else Microsoft is saying about the 2-pound tablet that sets it apart from the current Surface RT tablet.

64-bit computing in a tablet: Surface with Windows 8 Pro is "a 64-bit tablet PC." That's not a trivial point. You get all of … Read more

BestBuy will now convert your discs to digital files from your PC

People who want to convert their physical DVDs to an online digital format can now do so via Best Buy, and without leaving home.

Now available as a beta program, Best Buy's CinemaNow service promises to convert your discs into an UltraViolet format that you can store and watch online. UltraViolet is a system that lets you house your movies and TV shows in the cloud and then access them from an Internet-enabled device.

To use Best Buy's CinemaNow service, you have to create an account and then download the CinemaNow Player for your PC or Mac. Choosing … Read more

iPhone 5 case roundup from A-Z

Update, December 18, 2012: Added 15 new products, including cases from Element, Tavik, Loop, Pure.gear, uNu, Knomo, Spigen SGP, Mapi, Trident, and Ballistic.

With the launch of every new iPhone comes an onslaught of cases to protect it.

What's the best one? Very hard to say. The problem is that everybody has different tastes in cases. And, of course, some folks choose not to bother with them at all.

In doing this roundup, I've tried to present a good selection of products, highlighting some of the better cases that have hit the market -- or are about … Read more

The best-sounding audio products of 2012

I've covered a lot of great sounding budget gear this year, but the very best audio is far from cheap. That's hardly unique to high-end audio; the best cars, cameras, and clothes are always pricey, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that cutting-edge audio can be crazy expensive. What follows is a list of most astonishing gear I listened to this year. I love my job!

Best of CES 2012: Where are they now?

CES is almost here, but it's important to keep in mind that the biggest consolidated electronics show of the year is often a mixed indicator of the year's actual tech trends. Case in point: consider CES 2010, where "big" products included smartbooks and Cell TVs, but the major wave of Android phones and the iPad were nowhere to be found.

With that in mind, let's look at CES 2012's Best Of awards winners and see where they are now that the year's about to come to a close. Were they Editors' Choice winners? … Read more

Apple names top apps, games of 2012

Apple has once again named its top picks for software released on its various application stores.

Formerly dubbed iTunes Rewind, Apple's gone back to a simple "Best of" header, with editorial choices from the App Store for iOS and OS X.

Taking top honors for the iPhone was Bad Robot's Action Movie FX, the software that adds computer generated action sequences to video you've shot on your iPhone or iPad. The software actually came out last December, though its developers put out version 2.0 this October. Meanwhile, Ubisoft's $2.99 Rayman Jungle Run … Read more