The Weather Channel will come to YouTube TV sometime in 2022. Google and Allen Media Group, the network’s owner, announced the move as part of a broader multi-year partnership that sees the media company becoming a Google Cloud client. AMG says The Weather Channel is one of several networks it plans to bring to the service in 2022 and beyond. The company also plans to work with Google on streaming apps for Android phones and tablets, as well as Google TV and Android TV devices. The exact timing of when all of that may happen Google and AMG didn’t say. Still, the deal is a significant one for the search giant. It will help it address one of the more notable gaps in its live TV offering.

Lenovo has revealed its latest batch of devices geared toward students. Perhaps the most eye-catching offering is a Snapdragon 7c-powered Windows 11 tablet. The company suggests the 10w Tablet might be a great fit for younger students, since the device has a rugged design with a rubber bumper and Corning Gorilla Glass on the Full HD, 10.1-inch display. The screen has a 16:10 aspect ratio and 400 nits of brightness. There are 2MP front-facing and 8MP rear-facing cameras too.

Lenovo

The tablet comes with a detachable keyboard and there's an optional pen. The 10w Tablet has a 30Whr battery and comes with up to 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM and up to 128GB of eMMC storage. Unfortunately, there's only one USB-C port, but there is a headphone jack, which should help students avoid having to fiddle with the Windows Bluetooth settings. The tablet weighs 573g (1.26 lbs) and 1.1kg (2.42 lbs) with the keyboard.

Lenovo suggests the Snapdragon platform will help deliver responsive performance, dependable WiFi connectivity and an extended battery life. The ARM-based Windows experience hasn't historically beengreat, but we haven't seen Windows 11 running on Snapdragon 7c chipsets as yet. Microsoft has seemingly improved the Windows-on-ARM experience, however. 

The 10w Tablet and keyboard bundle starts at $239 and it's expected to ship in the US in April.

For (perhaps older) students who need extra power, Lenovo is also planning to ship the 13w Yoga convertible laptop in April. The system is powered by an AMD Ryzen 5000 U-series processor with on-chip graphics.

The laptop has a 13.3-inch, Full HD display with 300 nits of brightness. The front-facing 1080p camera has a privacy shutter and you'll find a 5MP camera on the rear. There's an optional fingerprint reader on the power button too.

Lenovo

The 13w Yoga includes up to 16GB of 3200Mhz DDR4 RAM (which users can upgrade) and up to a 512GB SSD. Lenovo says it has Dolby Audio and a 51Whr battery.

The connectivity options are far more generous than on the 10w Tablet. Along with an audio jack, there are two USB-C 3.2 ports, one USB-A 3.2 port, a full SD card reader and HDMI 2.0. There's WiFi 6 and optional 4G LTE support as well. The 13w Yoga will start at $749.

In addition, Lenovo announced a partnership with VictoryXR to offer educational experiences in virtual reality. Students will be able to access more than 60 VR titles from VictoryXR, centered around science, history and career and technical education. They'll be able to virtually visit the likes of The Great Wall of China and see California Redwoods.

Microsoft's bid for Activision Blizzard may be the highlight of the day, but the company also revealed a major milestone for its Game Pass service in the process. The all-you-can-play offering now has over 25 million subscribers, a nearly 39 percent jump over the 18 million it had a year earlier. The company didn't say how many of those customers were using the service on Xbox consoles, Windows PCs or both.

It's a significant figure for the service, if not as big as the company would have liked. As Axiosnoted, Microsoft missed its Game Pass growth target for the fiscal year that ended in June 2021 — it hoped for a 48 percent year-over-year jump in members, but 'only' managed 37 percent. While this was still strong and preceded the release of Halo Infinite, the company is clearly eager to improve Game Pass' performance.

That, in turn, explains one of the reasons for the Activision Blizzard deal. Microsoft has made clear that it intends to offer Activision Blizzard games through Game Pass. The $10 or more you're asked to pay each month might become far more compelling if you know you'll always have the latest Call of Duty or World of Warcraft release on top of Game Pass' other titles. Although the merger might not complete until 2023, it could preserve Game Pass' momentum and help fend off looming competition from Sony.

Microsoft just made one of the largest-ever bids for a game studio. The company has announced plans to acquire Activision Blizzard for $95 per share, valuing the all-cash deal at an enormous $68.7 billion. The deal would make the combined entity the "third-largest" game company by revenue, according to Microsoft, and would put titles like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft under the company's wing. Microsoft plans to add Activision Blizzard games to Game Pass as part of the deal.

Developing...

Logitech has launched a new stylus called the Logitech Pen designed specifically with K-12 students in mind. It will work with touchscreen Chromebooks that support the Universal Stylus Initiative (USI) standard and is Works with Chromebooks certified. Google backed the initiative in 2018 and joined other supporters like Intel and Lenovo in their quest to create an open active stylus standard, and a bunch of manufacturers has released USI-compatible Chromebooks over the years since then. 

The Logitech Pen works with various models across brands, namely Lenovo, Acer, HP, Asus and Samsung. Michele Hermann, Vice President of Mobility and Head of Education Solutions at Logitech, said in a statement: "Given that students and educators are increasingly using Chromebooks as an everyday tool in schools and at home, we created the Logitech Pen to unlock the full potential of Chromebooks in the classroom."

The Logitech Pen has a silicone grip, non-slip design and comes in a size that even children can hold comfortably. Its active tip features 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity — that's the same pressure levels as the Surface Slim Pen 2 — and can simulate writing on paper more closely than a stylus with a rubber tip or a finger can. As per the standard, the Logitech Pen doesn't need to be paired beforehand, so students can just pick it up and use it. 

The Pen's battery can last for up to 15 days with regular school use and can be charged using a standard USB-C Charger. And, since it's designed for students, it's also spill-proof and has military-grade drop protection of up to four feet. It will be available this month from resellers in the United States and select markets for $65.

Since July, 37 Activision Blizzard employees have been fired or forced out and another 44 have been disciplined as the company attempts to address accusations of harassment and misconduct, a spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal. In October, the company said more than 20 people had departed and at least another 20 had been disciplined.

The game publisher was supposed to share a summary of that information publicly before the holidays, according to the report. However, embattled CEO Bobby Kotick is said to have pulled the plug on that over concerns it would make Activision's woes seem even worse.

The spokesperson denied "the assertion regarding Mr. Kotick," as well as claims that employees had filed around 700 reports of misconduct and other issues since July, when Activision was sued by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH). The agency alleged the company fostered a "frat boy" culture where discrimination and sexual harassment were rife.

Former Blizzard president J. Allen Brack, who was accused in the DFEH suit of taking "no effective remedial measures" to mitigate sexual harassment, left the company soon after the filing. Activision Blizzard's top HR executive Jesse Meschuk has departed, as have Diablo 4 game director Luis Barriga, lead designer Jesse McCree (after whom an Overwatch character was previously named) and World of Warcraft designer Jonathan LeCraft.

In November, the WSJreported that Kotick had known about many of the worst instances of abuse for years and that he may have protected some employees who were accused of harassment. Many Activision Blizzard employees staged a walkout in the wake of the report and around 2,000 signed a petition calling for him to step down. The Activision board has issued a statement of support for Kotick.

Along with employees, state treasurers and investors (the share price has dropped by almost 30% since July) have expressed concern about the issues at hand. Several Activision Blizzard partners have condemned the company or reassessed their relationships with it too.

PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo chiefs criticized the company in notes to their employees. Xbox head Phil Spencer said last week that Microsoft has "changed how we do certain things with" Activision, but didn't share details. Also this month, Lego postponed an Overwatch 2 set that was supposed to arrive in February while it evaluates its partnership with Activision Blizzard.

If you've been waiting for a decent deal on an Apple Watch Series 7, now might be the time to take the leap. You can get up to $60 (as much as 15 percent) off the smartwatch at Amazon at the minute. The biggest discounts are on the green versions of both the GPS and cellular models. The 41mm GPS Apple Watch Series 7 has dropped from $399 to $339, while the cellular variant is down from $499 to $439 — an all-time low price for that model.

We've seen the GPS version of the Apple Watch Series 7 drop to this price before. It dipped to $339 in late December, the lowest price we'd seen to date. Still, it's a good deal on a smartwatch to which we gave a score of 90 in our review. While sleep tracking might not be as robust as in say, a Fitibit, it's still arguably the best all-around smartwatch on the market, thanks to features like workout tracking, fast charging and deep integration with iOS.

Some variants of the GPS Apple Watch Series 7 are on sale, though with a slightly smaller reduction. The (Product) RED, black and blue versions are down to $349. Other cellular models are $50 off too. You can snag it in blue, white or black for $449.

Meanwhile, as was the case in a one-day sale on Woot last week and on Amazon earlier this month, you can snag a four-pack of AirTags for $94, which is five percent off the regular price. As with Tile trackers, the idea is to help you keep track of your things. Although Android users can see if an AirTag is nearby through a dedicated app, you'll need an iPhone to get the most out of the trackers.

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Google has begun rolling out the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro’s latest update following a delay in December. As may you recall, the company “paused” the release of the OTA after there were reports of the software causing calls to drop and disconnect. The issue was such that Google took the nearly unprecedented move of removing the associated factory images for that update from its developer website.

In December, the company said the software would arrive sometime in “late January.” Last week, it pushed up that timeline to today, January 14th. “The update will be available for all devices over the following week, but exact timing may vary depending on your carrier and country,” the company said. To that point, some carriers have said they’ll begin pushing out the software starting early next week. For instance, Canadian carrier Fido notes on its website it’s targeting January 17th for the start of its rollout.

Now that the update is available, it includes all the fixes Google had planned to release in December in addition to more than a dozen new ones. Among other tweaks, you’ll find a fix for an issue that had caused the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro to drop a connection to a WiFi network in certain situations. Additionally, the update addresses a bug that had caused the phones to drain their batteries faster than expected.

Google Meet has started rolling out live translated captions widely after testing the feature last year. It works on web or mobile but is still fairly limited, translating only English meetings to four languages: French, German, Portuguese and Spanish.

"Translated captions help make Google Meet video calls more inclusive and collaborative by removing language proficiency barriers," Google wrote in a Workspace blog. "When meeting participants consume content in their preferred language, this helps equalize information sharing, learning, and collaboration and ensures your meetings are as effective as possible for everyone." 

Google

The feature is designed to be helpful for all-hands or training meetings with teams located around the world. It can also be helpful in education settings, according to Google, "allowing educators to connect and interact with students, parents and community stakeholders with diverse backgrounds." 

To use the feature, users need to switch on captions in settings and set it to English before toggling on translated captions underneath. They can then choose one of the translated language options. For more detailed information, check Google Meet's translated captions help page. 

Google first announced the feature at its I/O developer's conference last year, and Otter offers a similar service for Google Meet and Zoom. Live translated captions are available for Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade and Google Workspace for Education Plus customers. It's rolling out gradually as of yesterday, so it could take up to 15 days before you see it. 

Apple has released iOS 15.2.1, its latest software update for recent iPhone and iPad devices. The patch addresses a vulnerability found within the company’s HomeKit protocol for connecting disparate smart home devices. The bug allowed malicious individuals to force an iPhone or iPad to repeatedly crash and freeze by changing the name of a HomeKit-compatible device to include more than 500,000 characters. Since iOS backs up HomeKit device names to iCloud, it was possible for iOS users to get stuck in an endless loop of crashes.

Security researcher Trevor Spiniolas discovered the vulnerability and publicly disclosed it on January 1st. According to Spiniolas, he informed Apple of the bug back in August. The company had reportedly planned to address the vulnerability before the end of 2022 but later delayed a fix to early 2022. “I believe this bug is being handled inappropriately as it poses a serious risk to users and many months have passed without a comprehensive fix,” Spiniolas said at the time.

Spiniolas found that the vulnerability is present within Apple’s mobile operating system as far back as iOS 14.7, but said he believes it exists in all versions of iOS 14. In other words, if you’ve been holding off on installing iOS 15, now is the time to update your Apple devices.