standard
Latest
The next version of Thunderbolt is built for multi-monitor setups
Intel has unveiled the next version of Thunderbolt, and the new standard is aimed at multi-display users.
The Matter smart home standard is finally available
The Matter smart home standard has finally been released, and companies like Amazon, Apple and Google are adopting it.
The EU will require USB-C charging for mobile devices by the end of 2024
The EU has voted to require USB-C charging ports on mobile devices by the end of 2024, and Apple may be the most affected.
Senators call for a common charger standard in the US
US Senators are joining the EU in demanding a common charger standard for mobile devices.
AMD, ARM and Intel back a universal standard for chiplets
AMD, ARM and Intel are among the companies backing a universal standard for the chiplets in the devices you own.
Google's speedier internet standard is now an actual standard
Google's QUIC data technology is now an official internet standard, potentially improving connections worldwide.
Anova's Sous Vide Precision Cooker Pro is $200 off on Amazon
Anova's Pro Sous Vide Precision Cooker is a whopping $200 off.
China, Huawei propose internet protocol with a built-in killswitch
China, Huawei and Chinese carriers want to redesign a key aspect of the internet -- and while there may be some upsides, their ideas have raised some alarm bells. The Financial Times understands that the group has proposed a new internet protocol at the ITU, New IP, that theoretically offers more efficient addressing and network management than the existing TCP/IP standard but also appears to have hooks that allow authoritarian regimes to censor and surveil their residents. Most notably, there would be a "shut up command" that would let a central part of the network cut off data going to or from an address. As you might guess, that could be handy if China wanted to silence an activist without resorting to extra tools.
Apple engineers propose a way to make using two-factor texts easier
If you've ever used online banking or any other highly-secure website, chances are you've encountered a one-time passcode (OTP) before. These are SMS messages sent to your phone with a unique code that verifies your identity with the website you're on. For a lot of users, inputting this code into the website involves tapping back and forth between the browser and the SMS client -- and in some cases even having to physically write down the code, because it's so long or complicated. Now, Apple engineers have put forward a proposal designed to make the whole process easier and more secure.
Apple says EU push for universal phone charger would 'stifle innovation'
The European Parliament has renewed its push for a phone charger standard through an amended draft law, and it won't surprise you to hear that Apple has raised objections. The iPhone maker has issued a statement arguing that rules dictating a common connector in phones "stifles innovation" and would hurt the public more than it helped. To support its claims, the company commissioned a study from Copenhagen Economics claiming that a common charger move would cost €1.5 billion (about $1.7 billion), more than negating the €13 million ($14.4 million) in potential environmental benefits. It even suggested the EU might create an environmental problem by "disrupting" hundreds of millions of people who use Apple devices with Lightning ports.
Google Play now supports Samsung's HDR10+ alternative to Dolby Vision
Samsung unveiled HDR10+ as a way to bring HDR tech on par with Dolby Vision without paying Dolby's royalties. So far, it hasn't attracted a lot of other TV makers and content distributors besides Panasonic and Amazon. However, Samsung has now announced two significant new partners in both those areas with Vizio TVs and Google Play streaming. That should make it easier for consumers to not only find HDR10+ content, but play it back as well.
Twitter will fund development of an open social media standard
Twitter is funding a team to develop an open and decentralized standard for social media. CEO Jack Dorsey announced the effort, called Bluesky, today. In a series of tweets, Dorsey said Twitter will fund a "small independent team" of up to five open source architects, engineers and designers, and that the platform will provide just one direction: find an existing decentralized standard to advance or create one from scratch.
Adobe, Twitter and the New York Times team up to fight digital fakes
Adobe, Twitter and the New York Times are tired of seeing fake media propagate, and they're teaming up to do something about it. The trio has launched a Content Authenticity Initiative that aims to create a standard for digital media attribution. Ideally, you'd know whether or not a picture or video is legitimate simply by examining the file -- you'd know if it had been manipulated.
Tech industry sets official standard for 8K TVs
The tech industry just took another step to nail down the specs for 8K TV. The Consumer Technology Association has unveiled the official display definition for 8K sets, including a logo TV makers can use. Any model needs to output at a minimum 7,680 x 4,320 resolution, support 24, 30 and 60 frames per second, produce 10-bit color, support key HDR functions and use HDCP 2.2-level content protection. It also has to upscale any video to 8K.
22 states join California to sue the Trump admin over emissions standards
A group of 22 states have joined California in suing the Trump administration, which revoked that state's right to set its own emissions standards. On Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced a plan for national vehicle emissions rules. The One National Program Rule would set federal standards on fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions, aligning with the administration's aim to scale back Obama-era targets.
EPA pushes national fuel economy standard in face off with California
The Trump administration has announced plans to create a national vehicle emissions standard. The new "One National Program Rule" would allow the federal government to set uniform fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions standards. The move, announced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), is the latest in the Trump administration's feud with California.
Google pushes for an official web crawler standard
One of the cornerstones of Google's business (and really, the web at large) is the robots.txt file that sites use to exclude some of their content from the search engine's web crawler, Googlebot. It minimizes pointless indexing and sometimes keeps sensitive info under wraps. Google thinks its crawler tech can improve, though, and so it's shedding some of its secrecy. The company is open-sourcing the parser used to decode robots.txt in a bid to foster a true standard for web crawling. Ideally, this takes much of the mystery out of how to decipher robots.txt files and will create more of a common format.
PCI Express 6 spec promises massive headroom for AI and storage
PCI Express 5.0 has barely been finalized, but that isn't stopping its creators from dreaming about what comes next. The PCI Special Interest Group has unveiled a PCI Express 6.0 specification that should deliver up to a blistering 256GB per second across 16 lanes -- that's twice as fast as the yet-to-ship PCIe 5.0 spec, and four times as much as the 4.0 spec that's only just reaching computers. The PCI-SIG aims to achieve the feat by using Pulse Amplitude Modulation technology that can carry twice as much data as existing methods without needing to double the transmission bandwidth and use ridiculously high frequencies.
Honda's compact EV swaps mirrors for side cameras
Not only will Honda's cool little electric vehicle, the Honda E, come with cameras instead of side mirrors, they'll be offered as a standard feature. The compact cameras will sit where their mirror predecessors did, and inside, drivers will find a six-inch screen at each end of the dashboard. Honda says they'll reduce drag, boost efficiency and offer a better perspective.
HDR10+ support comes to Samsung and Panasonic 4K TVs (updated)
Samsung's upstart HDR10+ format took a big step in its fight against Dolby Vision for HDR supremacy. The group announced that Panasonic and Samsung have deployed HDR10+ firmware to select 2018 4K TVs, and that 20th Century Fox will start encoding new films using the tech. That means if you buy a new 4K TV from Samsung or Panasonic, you'll soon be able to watch programs that look better than those encoded with regular HDR10.
