Month: January 2022

Enlarge (credit: Andriy Onufriyenko/Getty Images)

Wi-Fi 6E products only started arriving in the US last year, but the tech world is always looking toward what’s next. Wi-Fi 7 represents the next generation of the wireless network protocol, and today marks the first time someone has claimed to make the technology work.

Wi-Fi 7 isn’t available yet, since the Wi-Fi Alliance is still creating the standard. Also known as the IEEE 802.11be standard, Wi-Fi 7 is expected to provide a max throughput of “at least 30GBps,” according to the Wi-FI Alliance, which is quite a bump from Wi-Fi 6’s 9.6GBps claim and an even bigger jump from WiFi 5’s 3.5GBps. Keep in mind, however, that all three speeds are theoretical. Don’t expect to hit these numbers while surfing the web at home.

The next Wi-Fi standard aims to manage the growing networking needs of evolving technologies, like 4K and 8K streaming, virtual and augmented reality, and cloud gaming and computing, by reducing latency and jitter through improvements to the physical (PHY) layer and medium access control (MAC).

Enlarge / Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick. (credit: Flickr / Bobby Kotick)

Two months ago, The Wall Street Journal published a bombshell report accusing Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick of widespread mismanagement surrounding the sexual assault and discrimination allegations and lawsuits embroiling the company. Now, new reports suggest that the aftershocks of that November reporting were key to bringing Microsoft and Activision together for an industry-changing $68.7 billion acquisition deal, first announced Monday.

That timeline is according to behind-the-scenes reports from The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, both of which suggest the deal came together quickly in the two months following the Journal’s November report on Kotick.

According to “a person familiar with the matter” cited by Bloomberg, Microsoft initially reached out in part to offer support and address “concerns about the treatment of women at Activision” after that report. But Microsoft also wanted “to ensure that if Kotick and the board were willing to sell the company, Microsoft would be well positioned to make an offer,” as Bloomberg put it.

Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica)

Welcome back to another Dealmaster. Our latest roundup of the best deals from around the web includes a sale on Amazon’s Fire tablet lineup. While the Fire HD 10 is still a bit higher priced than we’ve seen in past deals, the 8-inch Fire HD 8 is down to $45, which matches the lowest price we’ve tracked.

As we’ve said before, a Fire tablet is mainly ideal for those who just want a tablet for basic reading, video viewing, and web browsing for as low a price as possible. They are decidedly slower and less premium than recent iPads, they’re saddled with lockscreen ads by default, and they don’t play nice with nearly as many apps, since they have no official access to the Google Play Store or Google apps.

But the Fire HD 8 runs Amazon’s Fire OS well enough, the 1200×800 display isn’t a total mess, the device is comfortable to hold, and it can last a few days on a charge. We wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon updated this model later this year, but for now, it’s still competent and, most importantly, very affordable. It’s also worth noting that the Fire HD 8 Plus, which adds a gigabyte of RAM (from 2GB to 3GB) and wireless charging with a compatible dock, is also back down to its all-time low price of $55. Given that Fire OS isn’t heavily dependent on multitasking, we think the base Fire HD 8 is a better buy for most people, but if you like the idea of using the wireless charging dock (and turning the tablet into an Alexa smart display in the process), it’s an option.

Enlarge / Apple has stopped providing security updates to iOS 14. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

Update, 3:30pm: Apple has pointed us a support page, published in September of 2021, that mentions iOS 14 receiving updates for “a period of time” as evidence that iOS 14 security updates were always intended to be a short-term offering. That notice’s lack of specificity doesn’t address our core complaint about Apple’s lack of security timelines and transparency, but we’ve updated the article accordingly.

Original story: When iOS 15 was first unveiled, Apple announced that the upgrade wouldn’t be mandatory for people who wanted to stick with iOS 14. The new operating system would still be offered to every device that could run it, but iOS 14 would keep getting security updates so that people wouldn’t be left vulnerable just because they were happy with the performance and stability of the OS they were already running.

But last week, 9to5Mac and others noticed that the iOS 14.8.1 update had stopped being offered to phones running iOS 14. The only upgrade option was for the latest version of iOS 15, currently 15.2.1. We’ve confirmed with Apple that this isn’t an error; iOS 14 is no longer being updated, and anyone who wants the latest security updates will also need to accept the other changes in iOS 15.