WideOpenWest's 1.2 Gbps broadband data tier is now available across its footprint, the cable ISP said Tuesday. The speed tier also offers 50 Mbps upload speeds, it said.

CTIA launched the Secure Messaging Initiative (SMI) Wednesday, targeting wanted and illegal text messaging spam. The SMI “includes a central clearinghouse that providers and government agencies will use to share suspected spam messages and techniques, in order to more rapidly and effectively shut down spam activity and target the senders of unwanted or fraudulent messages,” CTIA said: “Participants of the SMI will also share best practices and other information that can be used to further refine spam mitigation efforts.” CTIA also released a best practices document. Consumers can help by forwarding spam text messages to 7726 or reporting them to security apps or government agencies like the FTC, FCC and the state attorneys general, the group said.

Wi-Fi fraud is among the most common summer scams consumers need to look out for, warned U.S. Attorney Dena King of the Western District of North Carolina in tips Wednesday. During the summer, many people are on the go, and with more and more businesses, restaurants and venues offering free Wi-Fi access, “it is easy to become a victim” of Wi-Fi fraud, she said. Fraudsters typically use what appears to be legitimate free Wi-Fi “to dupe users into connecting to networks that can steal their information,” said King. Free Wi-Fi networks "are generally unsecured," she said. "To the extent possible, avoid using them altogether, but definitely avoid using them to transmit sensitive information or conduct financial transactions.” Summer is a popular time “for scammers to maximize their profits by preying on consumers trying to save money on a good summer deal,” she said.

Blanket internet shutdowns by governments "inherently impose unacceptable consequences for human rights and should never be imposed," the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said Thursday. Any state-implemented shutdowns, if they do happen, should be "clearly grounded in unambiguous, publicly available law," necessary for some legitimate aim as defined in human rights law and as narrow as possible in terms of duration and the networks and services affected, it said. ISPs and communications companies should take "all possible lawful measures to prevent a shutdown that they have been asked to implement" and do what they can to prevent or mitigate the worst human rights impacts. The report said they should challenge shutdown requests and implement such requests narrowly. It said the #KeepItOn coalition of detection networks, advocacy groups and media outlets reported 931 shutdowns in 74 countries between 2016 and 2021. It said a dozen countries implemented more than 10 shutdowns during that five-year span.

Renesas Electronics announced a Bluetooth low energy (LE) SoC Tuesday, integrating a power management unit, hardware voice activity detector, graphics processor and Bluetooth LE. The ultra-low-power DA1470x family has always-on audio processing and is targeted for wearables, including smartwatches, fitness trackers, health monitoring devices, home appliances and Bluetooth consoles for gaming equipment and e-bikes. The DA14706 is in the recently launched Xiaomi Mi band 7, with a 192x490 AMOLED display, 120 sports modes and 15-day battery life, Resesas said.

A new Bluetooth Location Services platform from Silicon Labs uses low-power Bluetooth devices to simplify Angle of Arrival and Angle of Departure location services for inventory tracking, said the company Tuesday. The hardware and software platform uses the company’s BG22 system-in-package modules and SoCs that are rated to run for up to 10 years on a coin battery. Software is designed to track assets, improve indoor navigation and improve tag location with sub-meter accuracy, the company said.

The White House launched a task force Thursday for addressing online harassment and abuse in response to mass shootings, misogyny and other online-related harms. President Joe Biden signed a presidential memorandum to address harms that “disproportionately affect women, girls, people of color, and LGBTQI+ individuals,” the White House said. Vice President Kamala Harris launched the task force with a survivor and expert roundtable Thursday. “The tragic events in Buffalo and Uvalde have underscored a fact known all too well by many Americans: the internet can fuel hate, misogyny, and abuse with spillover effects that threaten our communities and safety offline,” the White House said. The task force will be co-chaired by the Gender Policy Council and the National Security Council and will include the attorney general, the secretary of Health and Human Services and other agency heads.

Square is working with Apple to enable Tap to Pay for iPhone functionality within the payment company’s point of sale app, it said Thursday. An early access program began Thursday for select sellers to begin testing the new technology before a broader rollout later this year. Apple launched Tap to Pay on iPhone in February (see 2202080076), announcing Stripe as the first payment platform to use the technology. The in-person payments market continues to evolve, driven by buyer preferences for contactless payments and an “industry-wide migration” toward more secure payments enabled by near-field communication technology, it said.

Linksys highlighted affordability in announcing two new WiFi 6 mesh systems Tuesday. The Hydra 6 ($179) and Atlas 6 ($149) routers deliver the performance needed for “the influx of devices on home networks,” said Alan Cohen, vice president-marketing, head of product. The Atlas 6 works best with internet service plans up to a gigabit and handles 25 devices in a home up to 2,000 square feet, it said; the Hydra 6 covers 25 devices in a space over 2,000 square feet. Combining more routers expands the number of devices that be Wi-Fi-connected, plus the operating range.

Global shipments of Wi-Fi 7 chipsets are expected to exceed 16 million units this year, rising to nearly 500 million in 2026, reported ABI Research Tuesday. It’s also projecting profound growth in mesh Wi-Fi networking, with revenue for mesh infrastructure expected to rise by a 15% compound annual growth rate through 2026 when it will reach $4.6 billion, up from $2.9 billion in 2021. “From the release of new Wi-Fi protocols and clean spectrum, to the coming of age of mesh networking and value-added services, it is clear that the residential Wi-Fi market is currently undergoing a period of rapid structural transformation,” said ABI analyst Andrew Spivey.