Month: February 2018

Greetings, Arsians! Courtesy of our friends at TechBargains, we have another round of deals to share. While this isn't the hottest time of year for tech deals, the Dealmaster is still digging up discounts where he can. Today we're highlighting a discount on TCL's S series Roku TVs, the 49-inch model of which is currently down to $330 on Amazon.

Yes, this TV has technically been at that price for a few weeks now, but the drop still represents a $20-30 cut for a strong budget 4K TV. In general, the tail-end of winter is a good time to buy a new set: part of that is because new models are on the horizon, but it lets those who don't need the absolute latest and greatest get a still-quality set for far less than its initial going rate. TV prices constantly cycle like that.

If you're not in the mood for a new TV, though, we've also got deals on Amazon's Fire TV boxes, lots of PCs from Dell and Alienware, Bluetooth headphones, PlayStation VR, and more. Take a look for yourself below.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Anders Clark | EyeEm)

AT&T is talking up the benefits of paid prioritization schemes in preparation for the death of net neutrality rules while claiming that charging certain content providers for priority access won't create "fast lanes and slow lanes."

"[T]he issue of paid prioritization has always been hazy and theoretical," AT&T Senior VP Bob Quinn wrote in a blog post today. But that's about to change, because "business models for services that would require end-to-end management" have begun to come into focus, he wrote.

"The rhetoric of this debate has centered on the concept of prohibiting fast lanes and slow lanes on the Internet," he wrote. "Let me clear about this—AT&T is not interested in creating fast lanes and slow lanes on anyone's Internet."

Enlarge (credit: Getty | Lily Dale)

Tweens and teens are sending and receiving racy messages at increasing rates, a new meta-analysis in JAMA Pediatrics suggests.

Rehashing data from 39 high-quality studies, researchers estimate that around 27 percent of youths aged between 12 and 17 receive sext messages on their phones and—to a lesser extent—on their computers. About 15 percent reported sending sensitive videos, pics, and texts. The gap between senders and receivers could mean that some teens may not be fessing up to the spicy trend; some senders may dispatch their risqué communiqués to multiple people; or some receivers just don’t reciprocate. Perhaps the worst-case scenario is that receivers forward sext messages without consent. About 12 percent—one in eight youths—admitted to doing this, though only five studies touched on this scenario.

Sexting has “a unique ability to catalyze adult anxiety when children and adolescents engage in it,” psychologists Elizabeth Englander and Meghan McCoy from Bridgewater State University wrote in an accompanying editorial. “Yet there is not a great deal of research examining sexting, its prevalence, its causes, and its repercussions,” they note.