New HDMI Spec May Cause More Confusion

The great thing about standards is that they provide a standard.  A common framework that the manufacturers in any given industry can design around.  That’s amazing when everything works the way it’s supposed to but sometimes the system goes haywire.

Sometimes things just don’t work out as planned.

Take the world of HDMI.  The HDMI standards are a mess.  That’s particularly true of the HDMI 2.1 standard. That is only haphazardly supported by the major television manufacturers, cable makers and the manufacturers of the devices required to set up gaming systems on modern televisions.

Essentially the problem is that bad standard means spotty support for it.  Spotty support means an increase in consumer frustration. Unfortunately, the new 2.1a standard probably isn’t going to help and may actually make things worse.

The hallmark of this new standard is the addition of something called Source-Based Tone Mapping or SBTM for short.  It’s a new HDR feature that offloads a portion of the HDR tone mapping to whatever the source of the actual content is (your computer, your Xbox, or whatever).

This tone mapping is done in tandem with whatever your TV itself is doing which should be a good thing.  Since the workload is being divided it should get done more quickly.  It could also help existing HDR setups work better and more effectively by removing the need to have the user manually calibrate their screens. Doing that can be a lesson in frustration.

Unfortunately, in practice most users won’t get access to the new feature unless they update their equipment. This is because support for HDMI2.1a will only be available on existing devices via firmware updates that most manufacturers are slow to provide if they provide them at all. Even worse is that SBTM is listed as an optional feature. This means that relatively few manufacturers will prioritize support for it.

Again, standards are wonderful things when they are well designed and broadly embraced.  That’s definitely not the case here and that’s a real pity.

LastPass Says There Is No Evidence Of Data Breach

There are strange events swirling around LastPass. LastPass is a popular password safe and identity protection service.

Recently Twitter exploded with reports from around the world of people who received a notification from LastPass regarding a string of suspicious login attempts. Most of them came from countries other than the ones the impacted users lived in.

Naturally this led to speculation that LastPass had been hacked and some portion of the passwords stored by their massive user base were stolen. This created something of a panic because LastPass and similar sites are considered one of the last safe refuges where passwords are concerned.

The company responded that there was no evidence that LastPass servers had been breached but questions persisted.  If that was the case, then why did the company send out notifications to users regarding suspicious login attempts? The company’s investigation into the matter continued.

Recently LastPass issued another update which reads as follows:

“As previously stated, LastPass is aware of and has been investigating recent reports of users receiving e-mails alerting them to blocked login attempts.

We quickly worked to investigate this activity and at this time we have no indication that any LastPass accounts were compromised by an unauthorized third-party as a result of this credential stuffing, nor have we found any indication that user’s LastPass credentials were harvested by malware, rogue browser extensions or phishing campaigns.

However out of an abundance of caution, we continued to investigate in an effort to determine what was causing the automated security alert e-mails to be triggered from our systems.

Our investigation has since found that some of these security alerts, which were sent to a limited subset of LastPass users, were likely triggered in error. As a result, we have adjusted our security alert systems and this issue has since been resolved.

These alerts were triggered due to LastPass’s ongoing efforts to defend its customers from bad actors and credential stuffing attempts. It is also important to reiterate that LastPass’ zero-knowledge security model means that at no time does LastPass store, have knowledge of, or have access to a users’ Master Password(s).

We will continue to regularly monitor for unusual or malicious activity and will, as necessary, continue to take steps designed to ensure that LastPass, its users and their data remain protected and secure.”

It seems that it was a false alarm.  Even though it was a false alarm, if you are LastPass user you should enable two-factor authentication as soon as possible to minimize your risk.

New Windows 11 Bug Found With Displaying HDR Content

If you’re one of the early adopters of Windows 11 then you may have already experienced the latest bug that crept into the mix as of build 21H2.

Apps that utilize Win32 APIs to render colors on some HDR (High-Definition Range) displays may not work as expected.

HDR displays are noted for their rich incredibly broad color range which usually results in more vivid colors displayed than standard dynamic range (SDR) displays. In this instance though things aren’t going according to plan.

Microsoft recently published information about the bug on the Windows Health Dashboard:

“This is frequently observed with white colors, which could display in bright yellow or other colors. This issue occurs when certain color-rendering Win32 APIs return unexpected information or errors under specific conditions.”

This latest bug joins several other high-profile issues that the company is in the process of working their way through. These include an Intel audio driver issue that is causing Blue Screens of Death, assorted printer issues and system freezes, at least one issue impacting the Windows Remote Desktop, and a wide range of others.

On the other hand, the company is making progress.  Recently they isolated the root cause of an issue that prevented certain apps from opening after being repaired or updated using the Windows Installer System Tool (previously known simply as “Windows Installer.”)

Making something new is an iterative and risk-laden process.  It is one that Microsoft is well-acquainted with having traveled down this road many times before.  There are going to be problems along the way and that’s inevitable.  It simply can’t be avoided when dealing with a project as large and complex as this one.

We have complete confidence that Microsoft will get it done.  The result may not be perfect, and it will surely not please everyone. The company will certainly move their globally dominant OS a few more steps in the right direction, though

FCC Approves Plans For WiFi 6 To Open Wireless Spectrum

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) gets a lot of bad press.  Sometimes there are good reasons for that but much of the time there are not really any good reasons.  As the nation’s lead spectrum regulator their primary job is to balance all needs and factors. They are supposed to arrive at decisions that do the best for the greatest number of people.

Recently mobile carriers led by AT&T have been lobbying hard against a plan by the FCC to allow the 6GHz band to be used without a license. This means that consumers will be able to use wireless routers designed to take advantage of that band in their homes without headache or hassle.

AT&Ts position has been that their company and the other carrier companies would prefer to have exclusive access to a portion of the 6GHz band in order to minimize the interference of their existing network of cell towers. The towers rely on the 6GHz band to help smartphones maintain their connection to the internet.

Based on the FCC’s research such risks are minimal. The agency did not feel a great need to cater to big business for what amounts to a few highly improbable edge cases.

Recently the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in support of the FCC’s position.  AT&T and the other carriers had no immediate comment on the ruling, but this must be seen as a big win for US consumers.  Ultimately it will mean faster wireless connection speeds which will translate to greater convenience for end users.

Kudos to the FCC for fighting the good fight and for the Court of Appeals for not trying to second guess the FCC and their expertise.  Although there may be a few isolated cases where existing cellphone operations are nominally impacted, the weight of the evidence suggests that the Court made the right call here.

Skype Adds Zoom Feature And Additional Modern Updates

Are you a Skype user?  If so be aware that Microsoft (the company that owns Skype) just added a handy new feature you may want to start taking advantage of right away. The next time you update your software you’ll be able to zoom in on a screen shared by the user you’re communicating with.

To do so just hold down the Control key and press “+” or alternately hold down the Control key and use the mouse scroll. If you’re using a Mac, the combination is the Command key and “+” or the Command key and mouse scroll.

Microsoft hasn’t paid much attention to Skype in recent months. They were much more interested in extending and expanding the capabilities of their “Teams” product. This addition is an indication that Microsoft hasn’t forgotten about or abandoned Skype.  If the company meant to scrap it, they certainly wouldn’t be expending resources to add new features including a recently redesigned interface.

According to the company Skype is “here to stay” because the company sees it as a good alternative for all those users who find Teams to be overkill for their needs.

It’s a wise decision because the world of messaging apps mirrors the broader world. There just aren’t any good one size fits all solutions.

Kudos to Microsoft for finally spending some time and effort on extending and enhancing Skype and for making the decision to offer a lighter weight alternative to Teams. As good as Teams is it really does wind up being too much for some users so there’s certainly space in the messaging ecosystem for both company’s offerings.

If you’re a Skype user rejoice!  The company’s recent actions should provide you with all the reassurance you need that Skype isn’t going anywhere.