When Dolby Atmos was still in its infancy, this three-dimensional surround standard was only achievable with the right passive speakers and AV receiver. Fast forward many years later, though, and now even some of the cheapest soundbars on the market will virtualize an entire Atmos configuration. Results-wise, this emulation doesnt deliver the sheer bravura of a wired-up speaker array, but its going to save you thousands of dollars on expensive hardware and installation costs.Of course, not all Dolby Atmos-compatible soundbars are created equal, which is why we only search for the best of the best when vetting through soundbar deals. Lo and behold, our pals at TCL are bringing the audio fire today: For a limited time, you can purchase the TCL S4BH S Class Soundbar for over half off. Thats right youll only pay $70 compared to the $150 sticker price that this model usually sells for.Why you should buy the TCL S4BH S Class SoundbarDelivering up to 100W at max power, the TCL S4BH features a streamlined design that meshes nicely with TVs, AV components, and home decor. With its plug-and-play connectivity, just a single HDMI eARC connection is all youll need to get started. And if your LED or OLED is on the older side, the S4BH is also equipped with a digital optical port (though this connection wont pass a full Dolby Atmos / DTS:X signal). Youll also be able to stream music wirelessly via the soundbars Bluetooth input.RelatedWhile this TCL soundbar doesnt include a wireless subwoofer, the S4BH does include a built-in bass reflex port for added low-end clarity. When paired with the S4BHs Auto Room Calibration tech, this TCL bar automatically calibrates sound output to match your listening space.We see plenty of TCL TV deals on a weekly basis, but seldom have we encountered a soundbar sale from the popular brand. That being said, were not sure how long this markdown will stick around, meaning today could be the last day to save more than 50% on this great Dolby Atmos soundbar.Editors Recommendations

Best Buy often has many of the best laptop deals around, and thats certainly the case today. Right now, you can buy the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 OLED gaming laptop for $1,525. Normally priced at $2,000, this deal brings its price down to just $1,525, saving you $475 off its sticker price. Its packed with great hardware, including a super sweet-looking OLED screen. One of the most tempting gaming laptop deals around, this is perfect for anyone short on space or keen to game on the move. Lets take a look at what it has to offer.Considered to be one of the best gaming laptop brands around, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 16-inch gaming laptop highlights why the brand is so well respected. The laptop has an Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU along with 16GB of memory and 1TB of SSD storage. More memory would have been appreciated here, but its not a dealbreaker, given its price point.The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 16-inch gaming laptop also has a GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card, which can be paired up with the laptops 16-inch OLED screen. Its OLED ROG Nebula Display has a rapid response time of 0.2ms while it offers a vivid 2.5K resolution and a silky smooth 240Hz refresh rate. Being an OLED display, you also get deep blacks and super vivid colors, so it looks great no matter what youre playing. While more sizeable than some other gaming laptops, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 16-inch gaming laptop is still pretty light for what it has to offer at just over four pounds and with a premium aluminum chassis, which looks and feels great.RelatedThe Asus ROG Zephyrus features in our look at the best gaming laptops, with this 16-inch model proving nearly as successful. It has all the features you need, right down to an intelligent cooling system that keeps things running well. Theres also a six-speaker system with Dolby Atmos support.The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 16-inch gaming laptop is a great device for anyone keen to game on the move in style. It normally costs $2,000, but right now, you can buy it at Best Buy for $1,525. The $475 saving is pretty sizeable, and its unlikely to stick around forever. If it sounds like the one for you, hit the buy button now before you miss out.Editors Recommendations

Looking for great monitor deals to go alongside your gaming rig? Dell is the place to go. Today, it has the Alienware 27-inch QD-OLED gaming monitor for $200 off. The impressive screen normally costs $900, but right now, you can buy it for just $700, which is a much more affordable price point to level up your gaming setup. The screen is perfect for connecting to your high-end gaming PC or console as its packed with great features, which means youll get the best from your gaming time. Heres why this deal is too good to pass up on.Buying one of the best monitors doesnt really cut it when it comes to gaming, as you need more fast-paced related features. With the Alienware 27-inch QD-OLED gaming monitor, you get what youd expect from the best gaming monitors compared to those aimed at work. A veritable checklist of all the essentials, the 27-inch screen is a QD-OLED panel, so you get all the benefits of anOLED panel, such as deep blacks and vibrant colors, along with a brighter picture than standard OLED.The Alienware 27-inch QD-OLED gaming monitor has a QHD resolution of 2560 x 1440 and a high refresh rate of 360Hz. It also has AMD FreeSync Premium Pro adaptive sync support, so youre guaranteed a great-looking image.RelatedElsewhere, the QD-OLED technology provides fantastic clarity and high color purity, which eliminates glowing, haloing, and blooming around lights, while VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 adds to the deep nature of the blacks. Theres also 99.3% DCI-P3 coverage and an infinite contrast ratio. An ultra-fast 0.03ms response time in gray-to-gray is great to see, too. Other built-in tools add to the many ways to improve the looks of your games. All you really need is to make sure you have one of the best gaming PCs to get the most out of this high-end screen.The Alienware 27-inch QD-OLED gaming monitor is typically priced at $900, but right now, Dell is cutting its price substantially. That means its down to $700 for a limited time, which is a pretty good discount on such a high-end monitor. If youre looking to upgrade your gaming setup, this is sure to appeal to you.Editors Recommendations

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US vs rental prices Big landlord settles with US, will cooperate in price-fixing investigation Six landlords added to RealPage lawsuit; Cortland settles and will cooperate. Jon Brodkin Jan 7, 2025 4:36 pm | 4 The RealPage website on a laptop in August 2024. Credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg The RealPage website on a laptop in August 2024. Credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreThe US Justice Department today announced it filed an antitrust lawsuit against "six of the nation's largest landlords for participating in algorithmic pricing schemes that harmed renters."One of the landlords, Cortland Management, agreed to a settlement "that requires it to cooperate with the government, stop using its competitors' sensitive data to set rents and stop using the same algorithm as its competitors without a corporate monitor," the DOJ said. The pending settlement requires Cortland to "cooperate fully and truthfully... in any civil investigation or civil litigation the United States brings or has brought" on this subject matter.The US previously sued RealPage, a software maker accused of helping landlords collectively set prices by giving them access to competitors' nonpublic pricing and occupancy information. The original version of the lawsuit described actions by landlords but did not name any as defendants.The Justice Department filed an amended complaint today in order to add the landlords as defendants. The landlord defendants are Greystar, LivCor, Camden, Cushman, Willow Bridge, and Cortland, which collectively "operate more than 1.3 million units in 43 states and the District of Columbia," the DOJ said."The amended complaint alleges that the six landlords actively participated in a scheme to set their rents using each other's competitively sensitive information through common pricing algorithms," the DOJ said.The phrase "price fixing" came up in discussions between landlords, the amended complaint said:For example, in Minnesota, property managers from Cushman & Wakefield, Greystar, and other landlords regularly discussed competitively sensitive topics, including their future pricing. When a property manager from Greystar remarked that another property manager had declined to fully participate due to "price fixing laws," the Cushman & Wakefield property manager replied to Greystar, "Hmm... Price fixing laws huh? That's a new one! Well, I'm happy to keep sharing so ask away. Hoping we can kick these concessions soon or at least only have you guys be the only ones with big concessions! It's so frustrating to have to offer so much."FBI raided Cortland officeCortland manages over 80,000 rental units in 13 states. The FBI raided its Atlanta office in May 2024 as part of a criminal investigation."Cortland is pleased to announce the US Department of Justice filed a proposed settlement that would resolve the Antitrust Division's civil investigation into Cortland related to antitrust violations in the multifamily housing industry," Cortland said in a statement provided to Ars today.Cortland's statement said that last month, "the Antitrust Division informed Cortland that it had closed its criminal investigation into pricing practices in the multifamily industry. As a result, Cortland and its employees are no longer subject to the criminal investigation that motivated the Department of Justice's May 2024 search at Cortland's headquarters in Atlanta."The settlement, if approved in federal court, would prohibit Cortland from accessing or using external nonpublic data from RealPage or other sources. Cortland said in its statement that it has developed its own software for managing revenue."We believe we were only able to achieve this result because Cortland has invested years and significant internal resources into developing a proprietary revenue management software tool that does not rely on data from external, non-public sources," Cortland said.RealPage fights lawsuitRental companies have previously denied using software to collectively set prices in response to class action lawsuits. In December 2022, the National Multifamily Housing Council trade group said that "the highly fragmented nature of the rental apartment industry fosters competitive pricing, not anticompetitive behavior. No single owner or operator can 'set' rents for an entire market because other owners can always price over or under based on numerous circumstances. We believe rents in every market are dictated by the dynamics of that local marketthe supply of housing, the demand for housing, economic conditions and more."RealPage filed a motion to dismiss the US lawsuit in early December. The company has said its software "benefits both housing providers and residents," and "makes price recommendations in all directionsup, down, or no changeto align with property-specific objectives of the housing providers using the software." Landlords don't have to follow the recommendations, the company says.The Justice Department says that landlords did more than use RealPage in the alleged pricing scheme. "Along with using RealPage's anticompetitive pricing algorithms, these landlords coordinated through a variety of means," such as "directly communicating with competitors' senior managers about rents, occupancy, and other competitively sensitive topics," the DOJ said.There were "call arounds" in which "property managers called or emailed competitors to share, and sometimes discuss, competitively sensitive information about rents, occupancy, pricing strategies and discounts," the DOJ said.Landlords discussed their use of RealPage software with each other, the DOJ said. "For instance, landlords discussed via user groups how to modify the software's pricing methodology, as well as their own pricing strategies," the DOJ said. "In one example, LivCor and Willow Bridge executives participated in a user group discussion of plans for renewal increases, concessions and acceptance rates of RealPage rent recommendations."DOJ: Firms discussed auto-accept settingsThe DOJ lawsuit says RealPage pushes clients to use "auto-accept settings" that automatically approve pricing recommendations. The DOJ said today that property rental firms discussed how they use those settings."As an example, at the request of Willow Bridge's director of revenue management, Greystar's director of revenue management supplied its standard auto-accept parameters for RealPage's software, including the daily and weekly limits and the days of the week for which Greystar used 'auto-accept,'" the DOJ said.Greystar issued a statement saying it is "disappointed that the DOJ added us and other operators to their lawsuit against RealPage," and that it will "vigorously" defend itself in court. "Greystar has and will conduct its business with the utmost integrity. At no time did Greystar engage in any anti-competitive practices," the company said.The Justice Department is joined in the case by the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington. The case is in US District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.Jon BrodkinSenior IT ReporterJon BrodkinSenior IT Reporter Jon is a Senior IT Reporter for Ars Technica. He covers the telecom industry, Federal Communications Commission rulemakings, broadband consumer affairs, court cases, and government regulation of the tech industry. 4 Comments

A gaming OS for US Bye-bye Windows gaming? SteamOS officially expands past the Steam Deck. Legion Go S is cheaper without Windows; upcoming OS beta will allow for personal installs. Kyle Orland Jan 7, 2025 3:51 pm | 47 The Lenovo Legion Go S will be the first non-Valve hardware to be officially "Powered by SteamOS" Credit: Lenovo The Lenovo Legion Go S will be the first non-Valve hardware to be officially "Powered by SteamOS" Credit: Lenovo Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreAlmost exactly a year ago, we were publicly yearning for the day when more portable gaming PC makers could ditch Windows in favor of SteamOS (without having to resort to touchy unofficial workarounds). Now, that day has finally come, with Lenovo announcing the upcoming Legion Go S as the first non-Valve handheld to come with an officially licensed copy of SteamOS preinstalled. And Valve promises that it will soon ship a beta version of SteamOS for users to "download and test themselves."As Lenovo's slightly downsized followup to 2023's massive Legion Go, the Legion Go S won't feature the detachable controllers of its predecessor. But the new PC gaming handheld will come in two distinct versions, one with the now-standard Windows 11 installation and another edition that's the first to sport the (recently leaked) "Powered by SteamOS" branding.The lack of a Windows license seems to contribute to a lower starting cost for the "Powered by SteamOS" edition of the Legion Go S, which will start at $500 when it's made available in May. Lenovo says the Windows edition of the deviceavailable starting this monthwill start at $730, with "additional configurations" available in May starting as low as $600. The Windows version of the Legion Go S will come with a different color and a higher price. Credit: Lenovo Both the Windows and SteamOS versions of the Legion Go S will weigh in at 1.61 lbs with an 8-inch 1200p 120 Hz LCD screen, up to 32GB of RAM, and either AMD's new Ryzen Z2 Go chipsetor an older Z1 core.Watch out, Windows?Valve said in a blog post on Tuesday that the Legion Go S will sport the same version of SteamOS currently found on the Steam Deck. The company's work getting SteamOS onto the Legion Go S will also "improve compatibility with other handhelds," Valve said, and the company "is working on SteamOS support for more devices in the future."A promised beta version of SteamOS will be released publicly before May, Valve said, "which should improve the experience on other devices, and users can download and test this themselves. And of course we'll continue adding support and improving the experience with future releases." We found this logo hidden deep in an abandoned steel forge. Credit: Aurich Lawson | Steam The official launch of the "Powered by SteamOS" program has been a long time coming; Valve's Lawrence Yang said as far back as 2022 that the company is "excited to see people make their own SteamOS machines." More recently, Valve confirmed that it was working on official SteamOS support for the Asus ROG Ally.On the Steam Deck itself, the SteamOS experience has been consistently improving over the years thanks to new features and new updates to the Proton compatibility layer that allows Windows-based games to run on SteamOS' Linux core. But SteamOS as a whole has been held back somewhat by the aging Steam Deck hardware, which is not up to the most graphically demanding modern games.Now that SteamOS will be available more widely, players will be able to enjoy the platform's best-in-class interface and gaming features on a wide variety of hardware form factors and power levels. That has to be at least a little bit worrisome to the people at Microsoft's games division, who have gotten used to Windows being the de facto PC gaming solution for decades now.Who knows, maybe Valve CEO Gabe Newell's 2013 prediction that Linux was the future of gaming was simply a little bit too early.Kyle OrlandSenior Gaming EditorKyle OrlandSenior Gaming Editor Kyle Orland has been the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica since 2012, writing primarily about the business, tech, and culture behind video games. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He once wrote a whole book about Minesweeper. 47 Comments

Rocky Mountain High-jinks Dirty deeds in Denver: Ex-prosecutor faked texts, destroyed devices to frame colleague Sometimes, data collection can work for you. Nate Anderson Jan 7, 2025 3:38 pm | 13 Denver, the Mile High City. Credit: Bill Ross / Getty Images Denver, the Mile High City. Credit: Bill Ross / Getty Images Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreWhen suspicion began to mount that the young prosecutor, Yujin Choi, might have faked her sexual misconduct allegations against a Denver District Attorney's Office colleague, investigators asked to examine Choi's laptop and cell phone. But just before Choi was to have turned them in, her devices suffered a series of unlikely accidents.First, she said, she managed to drop her phone into a filled bathtub. When she pulled the phone out of the water and found it was not working, Choi went to her laptop in order to make a video call. When the call ended, Choi then knocked over a bottle of waterwhoops!directly onto the computer, which was also taken out of commission. So, when the day came to hand in her devices, neither was working."Im devastated that I may have tanked the investigation on my own, but that I also lost all of my personal data that were very important to me," Choi wrote to investigators. She had even, she added, gone to the local Apple Store in an attempt to retrieve the data on the devices. No luck.The rather improbable story came to light this week after articles were published in the Denver Post and New York Times. The news stories were based on a December 31, 2024, ruling against Choi from Colorado's Office of the Presiding Disciplinary Judge, which handles complaints against lawyers in the state."In our view, [Choi's] narrative is not plausible," said the ruling. It appeared more likely to the judge that Choi had purposely destroyed her devices.These days, of course, if you get to the point where you are contemplating device destruction as a way out of a scandal, you're probably screwed already, given how much data about our activities is backed up to cloud services, stored on remote servers, or otherwise held by third parties. That was the case with Choi's situation, too, which deteriorated sharply after she went from being accuser to being accused.How we got hereChoi was a young attorney a few years out of law school, working at the Denver District Attorney's Office in various roles between 2019 and 2022. Beginning in 2021, she accused her colleague, Dan Hines, of sexual misconduct. Hines, she said at first, made an inappropriate remark to her. Hines denied it and nothing could be proven, but he was still transferred to another unit.In 2022, Choi complained again. This time, she offered phone records showing inappropriate text messages she allegedly received from Hines. But Hines, who denied everything, offered investigators his own phone records, which showed no texts to Choi.Investigators then went directly to Verizon for records, which showed that "Ms. Choi had texted the inappropriate messages to herself," according to the Times. "In addition, she changed the name in her phone to make it appear as though Mr. Hines was the one who had sent them."At this point, the investigators started looking more closely at Choi and asked for her devices, leading to the incident described above.In the end, Choi was fired from the DA's office and eventually given a disbarment order by the Office of the Presiding Disciplinary Judge, which she can still appeal. For his part, Hines is upset about how he was treated during the whole situation and has filed a lawsuit of his own against the DA's office, believing that he was initially seen as a guilty party even in the absence of evidence.The case is a reminder that, despite well-founded concerns over tracking, data collection, and privacy, sometimes the modern world's massive data collection can work to one's benefit. Hines was able to escape the second allegation against him precisely because of the specific (and specifically refutable) digital evidence that was presented against himas opposed to the murkier world of "he said/she said."Choi might have done as she liked with her devices, but her "evidence" wasn't the only data out there. Investigators were able to draw on Hines' own phone data, along with Verizon network data, to see that he had not been texting Choi at the times in question.Nate AndersonDeputy EditorNate AndersonDeputy Editor Nate is the deputy editor at Ars Technica. His most recent book is In Emergency, Break Glass: What Nietzsche Can Teach Us About Joyful Living in a Tech-Saturated World, which is much funnier than it sounds. 13 Comments

Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) has probably been infecting people for centuriesROGER HARRIS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARYAlarmist headlines that warn of China once again being overwhelmed by a mysterious new virus have dominated in the past few days. But the virus reported to be responsible for a surge in respiratory infections there, called human metapneumovirus, or hMPV, is actually neither mysterious nor new, and authorities in China have rejected claims that its health system is overwhelmed.What is human metapneumovirus?It is one of the many different viruses known as cold viruses because they infect the cells lining our respiratory tract, causing common cold symptoms, such as a sore throat, runny nose, coughing and sneezing, which may persist for a few days. You have almost certainly had an hMPV infection studies of antibodies show that just about everybody gets infected by it by the age of 5. As with flu, people can be reinfected throughout their lives as immunity fades and new variants evolve. AdvertisementHow dangerous is hMPV?In most people it only causes mild symptoms, but, like other cold viruses, it can occasionally be more serious and even deadly. Severe infections usually occur in people who are vulnerable for some reason, including very young children, older people and those with an impaired immune system or conditions such as asthma.Globally, the virus is estimated to have killed at least 11,000 children aged under 5 in 2018. For comparison, another cold virus called respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, is estimated to kill 60,000 children globally every year.How long has hMPV circulated in people?It has probably been spreading in humans for centuries. The virus was first discovered in 2001, in samples taken from children in the Netherlands who had respiratory infections. Since then, it has been found in stored samples from as early as 1976, while antibodies to the virus have been found in blood samples from the 1950s. Get the most essential health and fitness news in your inbox every Saturday.Sign up to newsletterWhere did it come from?Closely related viruses known as avian metapneumoviruses circulate in birdsand the human metapneumovirus is thought to have evolved from one of these. However, this is thought to have occurred around 200 years ago, so the situation with hMPV is very different to that with the covid-19 virus, which only jumped to humans in late 2019. While hMPV is now a human virus, it can infect some other animals, including chimpanzees and gorillas.What kind of virus is it?It belongs to a group called paramyxoviruses, which consist of a single strand of genetic material in the form of RNA enclosed in a protein coat. Other paramyxoviruses include measles and Nipah. The genome of hMPV is around 13,000 letters long and codes for just nine proteins meaning it has a relatively small, streamlined genome, like many other respiratory viruses.Is there a treatment or vaccine against hMPV?There are no specific treatments for hMPV infections or any approved vaccines. However, several potential vaccines are being developed. For instance, in 2024 a team at the University of Oxford began testing an mRNA vaccine designed to protect children against both hMPV and RSV.Why are there so many cases in China?It is normal for waves of cold and flu infections to occur during winter, and some years these waves are larger than others for reasons that arent well understood. More infections overall mean there will be more severe cases and therefore more hospital admissions. Theres nothing to indicate anything abnormal. So far, it looks like the normal endemic seasonal nasties doing what they do, writes Ian Mackay at the University of Queensland in Australia, who points out that there was a similar scare in 2023.How do we know we arent seeing the start of another pandemic?The covid-19 virus was a new virus, meaning people had no immunity to it. This allowed it to spread widely and made it more likely to cause severe infections. By contrast, the hMPV variant spreading in China reportedly only varies from other hMPVs by a few mutations, meaning most people apart from young children already have some immunity.There have been claims that this new variant is more likely to cause severe infections, but even if true, this doesnt mean it will cause another pandemic. In fact, Mao Ning, a spokesperson for Chinas foreign ministry, said on 3 January that the respiratory infections appear to be less severe and spread on a smaller scale compared with the previous year.Topics:viruses

Fermats last theorem remained unsolved for hundreds of yearsAlessandro Gandolfi/Panos PicturesThe following is an extract from our Lost in Space-Time newsletter. Each month, we hand over the keyboard to a physicist or mathematician to tell you about fascinating ideas from their corner of the universe. You can sign up for Lost in Space-Time here.If the dream of every fledgling scientist is to make a discovery that will change the course of history, then the nightmare is that, having made the announcement and hit the headlines, someone discovers that you made a mistake and you will face