Month: March 2023

Enlarge (credit: Razer)

Gaming laptops aren't just for gaming; these powerful notebooks come with plenty of processing and graphics power, making them versatile enough to be everyday computing systems. Whatever your needs are, we've scoped out some of the best deals on gaming laptops available today,

A discount on the Acer Predator Helios 300 is by far the best deal we found. Packed with Intel's Core i7 processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti graphics, this gaming notebook is now priced at $1,400 in a special one-day promotion that takes $700 off the original $2,100 list price. If you're into portability and require discrete performance, the Asus ROG Gaming Tablet takes on a unique form factor in the mobile gaming space. It has a Surface Pro-like tablet design with a built-in kickstand and detachable folio keyboard and is now $600 for a promotional price of $1,300.

We also have deals on gaming notebooks from MSI, Lenovo, Alienware, and Razer. Happy gaming!

Enlarge (credit: Qualcomm)

Here's an interesting bit of news out of Mobile World Congress: Qualcomm says the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 has been certified as the "world’s first commercially deployable iSIM (Integrated SIM)." What the heck is an iSIM? Didn't we just go through a SIM card transition with eSIM? We did, but iSIM is better than eSIM. We'll explain, but the short answer is that iSIM is the next step in the continual march to reduce the size of SIM cards.

OK, so SIM cards are (in the smallest "nano" size) little 12×9 mm plastic cards that you physically stick into your phone. SIM stands for "Subscriber Identity Module," and these cards mostly just identify you to your cell carrier, allowing your device to be provisioned for the cellular service that you pay a monthly bill for. The idea is that if you buy a new phone, or have multiple phones, you can just move the SIM card over and—if there aren't any compatibility problems—your service could be easily moved between phones.

In ye olden days, these cards would store some actual data like contacts and messages, but with the advent of smartphones, all of that moved to the cloud. Today a SIM card can store up to 265KB of data in that 12×9 mm card, which is absolutely horrible data density considering similarly sized MicroSD cards can go up to 1TB, or about 4.2 million times more data. SIM cards are a huge waste of space in an industry that is very aggressive about saving space, so they needed to go.

Enlarge / Windows 11 is mixing things up with an improved volume mixer, among other features. (credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft released a batch of significant updates to Windows 11 earlier this week, adding tabs to the Notepad app, integrating the AI-powered "new Bing" into the taskbar's search box, and previewing iPhone pairing, complete with rudimentary iMessage support. And Microsoft continues to test other features in public via its Windows Insider Program, particularly in the more experimental Dev channel. These builds are likely to form the basis for the operating system's big 23H2 update later this year.

This week's Dev channel build demonstrates a new and improved volume mixer for Windows and its apps directly from the Quick Settings menu at the bottom-right of the taskbar. The new mixer allows you to switch between output devices and control the volume of your output, and it shows per-app volume and mute settings so you can quiet down or silence an individual app. It's an improvement over the current Quick Settings controls, which only offer system-wide volume adjustments and require multiple clicks to change output devices.

This build also expands a feature called "Auto Color Management" (ACM). ACM is hardware-accelerated, system-level color management that ensures colors in apps look the same on different displays with different capabilities, and it's designed as a replacement for older Windows color management technologies like Image Color Management (ICM) and the Windows Color System (WCS).

Enlarge / Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at a press conference in Daytona Beach Shores on January 18, 2023. (credit: Getty Images | SOPA Images)

A proposed law in Florida would force bloggers who write about Gov. Ron DeSantis and other elected officials to register with a state office and file monthly reports or face fines of $25 per day. The bill was filed in the Florida Senate Tuesday by Senator Jason Brodeur, a Republican.

If enacted, the proposed law would likely be challenged in court on grounds that it violates First Amendment protections of freedom of speech and the press. Defending his bill, Brodeur said, "Paid bloggers are lobbyists who write instead of talk. They both are professional electioneers. If lobbyists have to register and report, why shouldn't paid bloggers?" according to the Florida Politics news website.

The bill text defines bloggers as people who write for websites or webpages that are "frequently updated with opinion, commentary, or business content." Websites run by newspapers or "similar publications" are excluded from the definition.

Enlarge (credit: NurPhoto / Contributor | NurPhoto)

Last fall, it looked like trouble for Microsoft when the European Union launched an in-depth investigation into its acquisition of Activision, but it now seems that Microsoft will emerge victorious. Three people familiar with the European Commission’s opinion on the matter told Reuters that, by agreeing to make a few more concessions, Microsoft will likely win EU antitrust approval on April 25.

According to Reuters, the European Commission is not expected to ask Microsoft to divest large parts of Activision—like separating out its Call of Duty business—to win approval. Instead, long-term licensing deals of lucrative games that Microsoft has offered to rivals could suffice, in addition to agreeing to “other behavioral remedies to allay concerns of other parties than Sony,” one insider told Reuters.

Microsoft declined Ars' request to comment, but the company told Reuters that it is "committed to offering effective and easily enforceable solutions that address the European Commission's concerns." Microsoft has previously opposed any proposed remedies forcing the merged companies to sell the Call of Duty franchise.

Enlarge (credit: NurPhoto / Contributor | NurPhoto)

Last fall, it looked like trouble for Microsoft when the European Union launched an in-depth investigation into its acquisition of Activision, but it now seems that Microsoft will emerge victorious. Three people familiar with the European Commission’s opinion on the matter told Reuters that, by agreeing to make a few more concessions, Microsoft will likely win EU antitrust approval on April 25.

According to Reuters, the European Commission is not expected to ask Microsoft to divest large parts of Activision—like separating out its Call of Duty business—to win approval. Instead, long-term licensing deals of lucrative games that Microsoft has offered to rivals could suffice, in addition to agreeing to “other behavioral remedies to allay concerns of other parties than Sony,” one insider told Reuters.

Microsoft declined Ars' request to comment, but the company told Reuters that it is "committed to offering effective and easily enforceable solutions that address the European Commission's concerns." Microsoft has previously opposed any proposed remedies forcing the merged companies to sell the Call of Duty franchise.