Month: January 2021

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  LG's 2021 OLED lineup. [credit: LG ]

Today is the first day of the annual Consumer Electronics Show, and while 2021 is obviously an irregular year, that hasn't stopped the routine unveiling of new product refreshes from Big Tech companies. That includes LG, which at this point may be best known for the OLED TVs and OLED panels it provides to other companies for their own devices.

LG's updates to its OLED lineup are going to be modest for most buyers this year. The company is touting brighter HDR on its highest-end TVs, but most people won't splurge for those devices, so we're mostly looking at lightly expanded gaming features and response-time improvements, as well as new or ostensibly improved AI-driven picture optimizations. Generally, no one who bought an LG OLED last year is going to feel like they jumped the gun too soon here.

The bigger story, then, may be OLED making its way into smaller and smaller screen sizes. Last year, LG introduced its first 48-inch OLED TVs, which was a sizable drop from the previous floor of 55 inches. But the company seems to be going even smaller in late 2021, and we might even see LG's panels finally venturing into desktop-monitor territory in the somewhat near future.

Enlarge / A very exaggerated image of Qualcomm's sensor. It is not this big. (credit: Qualcomm)

Qualcomm is launching a new in-screen fingerprint sensor for smartphones, the "Qualcomm 3D Sonic Sensor Gen 2." Qualcomm says its ultrasonic fingerprint sensor "will be available in new sizes that are 50% faster and 77% larger compared to Gen 1," but it still seems pretty small compared to a fingerprint. Just as the Gen 1 version appeared in the Galaxy S10 and S20, there's a good chance you'll see this sensor in the upcoming Galaxy S21.

In-screen fingerprint readers can be fast, accurate, and reliable, provided you actually hit their center, which can be a challenge. Being under a smooth, flat pane of glass means there's no tactile guidance for where to stick your finger. Early generation fingerprint readers have been pretty small, requiring pinpoint accuracy to hit the sensor. An in-screen fingerprint reader big enough to never miss, even without looking, would be a huge improvement, and while we've seen companies talk about a product like that, no one has shipped one to the market.

In December 2019, Qualcomm made it sound like it had met the goal of making a huge fingerprint reader by announcing the "3D Sonic Max." It sounded like a revolution, with a claimed 30mm×20mm surface area, which is so big it was possible to scan two fingerprints side by side. I don't think you'd ever want to do that, but the point is just that you would never miss the scanning area because it is so large. The 3D Sonic Max has yet to see a commercial release, but Qualcomm tells us it will ship in a product before the end of 2021.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

The malware used to hack Microsoft, security company FireEye, and at least a half-dozen federal agencies has “interesting similarities” to malicious software that has been circulating since at least 2015, researchers said on Monday.

Sunburst is the name security researchers have given to malware that infected about 18,000 organizations when they installed a malicious update for Orion, a network management tool sold by Austin, Texas-based SolarWinds. The unknown attackers who planted Sunburst in Orion used it to install additional malware that burrowed further into select networks of interest. With infections that hit the Departments of Justice, Commerce, Treasury, Energy, and Homeland Security, the hack campaign is among the worst in modern US history.

The National Security Agency, the FBI, and two other federal agencies last week said that the Russian government was “likely” behind the attack, which began no later than October 2019. While several news sources, citing unnamed officials, have reported the intrusions were the work of the Kremlin’s SVR, or Foreign Intelligence Service, researchers continue to look for evidence that definitively proves or disproves the statements.

Enlarge / Derrick Evans in the West Virginia House of Delegates. (credit: Derrick Evans)

The Republican lawmaker who was arrested for storming the US Capitol has resigned from the West Virginia State Legislature. "I hereby resign as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, effective immediately," Derrick Evans wrote in a one-sentence letter to West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice on Saturday.

Evans also released a statement saying, "I take full responsibility for my actions, and deeply regret any hurt, pain or embarrassment I may have caused my family, friends, constituents and fellow West Virginians. I hope this action I take today can remove any cloud of distraction from the state Legislature, so my colleagues can get to work in earnest building a brighter future for our state." Evans also wrote that he hopes his resignation will help "begin the healing process" for the United States.

Evans, who served in the state legislature for just one month before his resignation, was part of the Trump-incited insurrectionist mob that broke into the US Capitol on Wednesday last week in an attempt to stop certification of Joe Biden's presidential election victory. Evans livestreamed himself on Facebook while chanting Trump's name and yelling, "We're in! We're in! Derrick Evans is in the Capitol!" In another video he posted earlier in the day, he said that "people who are tired of liberals running this country and stealing elections" should "get off the couch and show up today in force and send a message." The Trump-incited mob violence led to the death of a US Capitol police officer.

Enlarge / Very, very recently, in a game industry not very far away... (credit: Lucasfilm)

Star Wars games will now be gathered together under the revitalized Lucasfilm Games banner. An announcement today on StarWars.com highlights the new Lucasfilm Games logo, which will appear in all future titles surrounding the Star Wars franchise. A new sizzle reel highlights some of those existing licensed titles, ranging from Star Wars Battlefront II to Sims 4: Journey to Batuu.

Gamers of a certain age may remember the Lucasfilm Games brand from the '70s and '80s, when it was used for original, internally developed games ranging from Rescue on Fractalus! to Maniac Mansion. The Games Group got folded into the newly formed LucasArts in 1990, a brand that became known for dozens of games, including many classic PC adventure titles.

By the time Disney purchased Lucasfilm for $4 billion in 2012, downsizing at LucasArts was already well underway, with the company mostly handling licensing for Star Wars games developed at other companies. Disney's then-CEO Bob Iger noted that the company was "likely to focus more on social and mobile than we are on console" for games going forward, which wasn't seen as a great sign for LucasArts or its Star Wars 1313 action-adventure game project.

Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica)

Today's Dealmaster roundup includes a rare $10 discount on the gray version of Logitech's MX Master 3, which we consider the best wireless mouse for most people for offering a comfortable design and genuinely useful productivity features. Also available for $10 off is Ring Fit Adventure, the popular Nintendo Switch fitness game that doubles as a nifty lite RPG. Beyond that, we also have discounts on recommended gear like Eufy's Indoor Cam 2K and the Apple Watch Series 6, a big Xbox Game Pass Ultimate deal for new subscribers, and a number of Amazon Echo speakers, among others. You can find our full roundup for the day below.

Note: Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.

Enlarge / A screengrab from TI's video demoing the IP HOE display. (credit: Texas Instruments)

The topic of driver distraction is one we've covered a lot here at Ars. Whether due to the proliferation of smartphones, touchscreen infotainment systems that are now fitted to most new cars, or people simply not paying attention, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 400,000 people were injured and 2,841 killed as a result of distracted drivers in 2018.

Researchers are split as to whether the real problem is cognitive overload or drivers simply not having their eyes on the road ahead, with some automakers and technology companies trying to tackle the second issue through the use of gaze-tracking driver monitoring systems. But a new technology demoed by Texas Instruments at this year's (virtual) CES might mean there's much less reason for drivers to take their eyes off the road ahead.

Specifically, the tech uses a small projector embedded in the car's dashboard and a layer of holographic film laminated within the sandwich of glass that makes up a windshield to project an in-plane hologram of the car's instrument cluster and navigation directly into the driver's line of sight.