|
Google I/O 2026 gave us plenty to talk about, but what about the things Google didn't say? Join CNET Editor at Large Andrew Lanxon and a panel of top tech experts as they dig into the biggest missing pieces, delayed features and skipped announcements from this year's keynote.
|
|
 In preparation for the 2026 Worldwide Developers Conference that is set to begin on June 8, Apple today announced its finalists for the 2026 Apple Design Awards. Apple picks top apps and games annually, and announces winners at WWDC.
|
|
 OpenAI today launched Daybreak, an answer to Anthropic's Project Glasswing initiative and Mythos AI model. Like Glasswing, Daybreak is a cyber defense effort that will help tech companies find security vulnerabilities in their platforms.
|
|
Also known as NextGen TV, the new broadcast standard promised to revolutionize free over-the-air TV with features like 4K HDR video, time-shifting, on-demand viewing, and interactive programming. For cord-cutters who get free local channels with an antenna, this was a genuinely exciting technology when it began rolling out way back in 2019.
Six years later, that excitement has evaporated thanks to restrictive digital rights management (DRM) and high adoption costs. While the broadcast TV industry has failed to make ATSC 3.0 stick, they've succeeded in getting tech enthusiasts, consumer advocates, and even some individual broadcasters to fear and despise it.
Now, broadcasters are hoping for a bailout from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which announced this week that it will consider their wishes to wind down the existing ATSC 1.0 standard and mandate ATSC 3.0 adoption. If that happens, most antenna users will need a new TV or tuner box by 2030 at the latest. Having failed in the marketplace, broadcasters now want the government to help foist ATSC 3.0 upon people instead.
Sadly, it didn't have to be this way.
What's happening with ATSC 3.0?
NextGen TV broadcasts are available in more than 90 U.S. markets, covering 70 percent of the population, but accessing these broadcasts requires an ATSC 3.0 tuner, and most TVs don't have one.
|
|
