Weekly recap

Weekly Tech Recap - № 324 - Activision Blizzard purchase, Linux phone, Wi-Fi 7, big bitcoin theft and Radeon RX 6500 XT

By Laurent Gloaguen,

January 21, 2022.

Microsoft purchases Activision Blizzard for 69 billion

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands. © Blizzard Entertainment.

Microsoft announced plans to buy Activision Blizzard for a record-setting US$ 68.7 billion. Activision Blizzard is one of the largest game publishers with Call of Duty, Diablo, Warcraft, Tony Hawk, Overwatch, and Candy Crush among its franchises. The transaction will make Microsoft the third largest video game company in the world in terms of revenue, behind Tencent and Sony, and its games division will then consist of a constellation of thirty development studios. Microsoft promises to offer as many Activision Blizzard games as possible -- whether new or backlist -- in its Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass programs as soon as the transaction is concluded. Game Pass now has over 25 million subscribers, while Microsoft continues to acquire studios to round out its offerings. The announced agreement comes just fifteen months after the purchase of publisher ZeniMax/Bethesda -- known for The Elder Scrolls, Wolfenstein, Doom and Fallout among others -- for the more modest sum of US$ 7.5 billion. Microsoft expects to close the deal with Activision Blizzard in fiscal year 2023, which begins July 1, 2022, assuming the transaction doesn’t come under fire from antitrust regulators including the Federal Trade Commission.

⇨ Ars Technica, Kyle Orland, “Microsoft set to purchase Activision Blizzard in $68.7 billion deal.”

2022-01-18

New Linux PinePhone Pro

PinePhone Pro. © Pine64.

Just two years ago, we relayed news of the release of the PinePhone, with Linux operating system compatibility as its standout feature. Pine64 is back with a new, amped-up version, the PinePhone Pro. The device is based on a Rockchip RK3399 SoC which includes two Cortex A72 CPUs and four Cortex A53 CPUs. It features a 6-inch (1440×720) LCD screen, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of eMMC storage and a 3000 mAh battery, rechargeable by USB-C (15W). It also has a headphone jack, a 13MP main sensor and an 8MP front sensor./p>

You can easily pop the phone open to change the battery, access a microSD slot, pogo pins and privacy DIP switches to physically disable the microphone, rear camera, front camera, headphones, tethering, and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth. You can also equip it with different optional back panels that can add features like a fingerprint reader, wireless charging or an additional 6,000 mAh battery. The suggested retail price will be US$ 599, but it’s available for pre-order at the introductory price of US$ 399. Pine64 says it will continue to manufacture the original PinePhone, still available for the ridiculously low price of US$ 150. The Pro model will ship starting January 24. Keep in mind, however, that Linux operating systems for mobiles are still far behind Android or iOS. PinePhones are therefore better suited for tinker techs and DIY enthusiasts.

⇨ Ars Technica, Ron Amadeo, “The PinePhone Pro brings upgraded hardware to the Linux phone.”

2022-01-17

Wi-Fi 7 is coming

Just as Wi-Fi 6E products hit the market, Wi-Fi 7, the next generation of wireless networking protocol, is on its way. The Wi-Fi Alliance network hasn’t quite finalized the standard yet for what is also known un-sexily as IEEE 802.11be, but that didn’t prevent specialty chipmakers like MediaTek from preparing compatible prototype devices for demonstration purposes. The company wants to show its customers and partners upfront how smoothly network-traffic flows, even with interference or congestion, with the simultaneous use of several frequency bands.

Wi-Fi 7 should deliver a theoretic maximum throughput of at least 30GBps, which is a nice boost from Wi-Fi 6’s 9.6GBps and an even bigger leap from Wi-Fi 5’s 3.5GBps. The standard aims to improve users’ experience with new technologies such as 4K and 8K streaming, virtual and augmented reality, as well as cloud gaming. Wi-Fi 7 should also be backward compatible with products using the 2.4, 5, and 6 GHz frequency bands. While there is no official date yet for the IEEE 802.11be standard, MediaTek says that the first Wi-Fi 7 devices should be available in 2023.

⇨ Ars Technica, Scharon Harding, “Wi-Fi 7 hardware demos herald next-gen wireless networking.”

2022-01-19

Big crime hits Crypto.com

Remember when thugs burst into banks, all guns blazing? With the digital age, that era seems truly over. Today, thieves hunch over a keyboard and pull off big heists without risking their hides. Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com just acknowledged that it lost more than US$ 30 million in Bitcoin and Ether following a hack that occurred on January 17. During the operation, 483 Crypto.com users had their accounts compromised, but the company says all affected customers have been fully reimbursed for the losses. The hack exploited a flaw in the 2FA authentication control.

The Crypto.com hack is the latest in a long line of attacks targeting cryptocurrency exchanges. According to a report by NBC News, 2021 saw more than twenty exchange hacks. Each time, the hacker made off with more than US$ 10 million, and in six cases the value of the stolen funds exceeded US$ 100 million, with almost US$ 200 million netted in the attack on BitMart last December.

⇨ The Verge, Corin Faife, “Crypto.com admits over $30 million stolen by hackers.”

2022-01-20

AMD’s new graphics card with… wait for it… 4GB of VRAM!

In a 2020 blog post, AMD claimed that 4GB of VRAM was obviously inadequate for modern PC gaming and that it could cause countless issues for users, ranging from error messages to sluggish framerates. Well now, AMD is releasing a new graphics card, the RX 6500 XT for US$ 199 with… 4GB of VRAM. Meanwhile, the blog post with AMD’s categorical verdict mysteriously disappeared from its site (but the Internet has a long memory...).

Yet it seems that AMS’s statements in 2020 were completely justified given the new card’s unanimously negative reviews in tech media. Reviewers point out that performance is roughly the same as the card’s immediate predecessor, the RX 5500 XT – a card released in late 2019 at a lower price and with more video outputs. Performance is on par with a 2016 Nvidia GTX 1060. Jarred Walton of Tom’s Hardware notes: “Let’s be frank for a moment: I think AMD went too far cutting down the features, particularly on the memory configuration.” He adds: “Of the six games with ray tracing that we tested […] only one qualified as even remotely playable: Fortnite. And even it wasn’t without trouble.” When they tell you that 4GB isn’t enough...

⇨ The Verge, Tom Warren, “AMD hides, then restores claim that 4GB of VRAM is ‘not enough’ just as it launches a 4GB GPU.”

⇨ The Verge, Sean Hollister, “AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT meta-review: even desperate gamers should think twice.”