Verizon, which lowered smartwatch plan pricing earlier this week to coincide with Friday's release of Apple Watch Series 6 (see 2009150060), expanded connected device options in its Unlimited Plus wireless plan to support the growing number of connected devices, it said Thursday. Customers can add Unlimited Plus to their existing wireless plan for $30 monthly, and existing customers can upgrade their current unlimited connected device plan for $10 more monthly. In addition to unlimited 5G, the new plan includes 30 GB of premium 4G LTE data, up from 15 GB in standard Unlimited Plus, said Verizon, pitching the plan toward households’ increased Wi-Fi needs for remote learning or work. Unlimited data plans for tablets and hotspots are $20 monthly. Hotspot, laptop and tablet users get 50GB of mobile hotspot data on the 5G network monthly, then 3 Mbps for the rest of the month after exceeding allowance. Earlier this week, Verizon lowered existing smartwatch plan pricing to $10 monthly, including 15 GB premium data, for stand-alone or NumberShare plans.

Nvidia’s $40 billion agreement to buy Arm from Softbank (see 2009140053) “positions us in the right way for the next wave of computing” in the age of artificial intelligence, Nvidia Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress told a Deutsche Bank virtual conference Monday. Nvidia hopes to expand Arm’s patent portfolio into large “end markets,” including mobile and PCs, and to “turbocharge” the pace of Arm’s server CPU road map, she said. “This gives us the ability to reach even a larger overall developer community.” Nvidia estimates 20 billion devices with Arm-licensed technology are used globally, said Kress. Nvidia hopes it can win regulatory approval in “under 18 months,” she said. “I think the overall regulatory process will move through quite well. We believe the deal, in total, is pretty much pro-competitive.”

Amazon wants to fill 100,000 new jobs in its operations network, it blogged Monday. It's opening 100 operations buildings this month, including fulfillment centers, delivery stations and sorting facilities. Salaries start at $15 hourly.

Nvidia agreed to buy Arm from SoftBank for $40 billion in cash and stock. SoftBank would retain ties to Arm through a less-than-10% stake in Nvidia. Nvidia is positioning the acquisition as an artificial intelligence play: “AI is the most powerful technology force of our time and has launched a new wave of computing,” said CEO Jensen Huang Sunday. Combining Nvidia’s AI computing capabilities with the “vast ecosystem” of Arm processors can advance computing across the cloud, smartphones, PCs, self-driving cars, robotics and edge IoT devices, he said. U.K.-based Arm will remain headquartered in Cambridge, said Nvidia, which plans to expand the site with an AI research facility supporting developments in healthcare, life sciences, robotics and self-driving cars. Arm and Nvidia see “ubiquitous, energy-efficient computing” addressing world issues such as climate change, healthcare, agriculture and education, requiring new approaches to hardware and software, said Arm CEO Simon Segars, who will join Nvidia. The deal needs approvals by the U.K., China, EU and U.S. Nvidia expects the transaction to close in about 18 months. Nvidia shares closed 5.8% higher Monday at $514.89.

Making internet services ubiquitous in households, a Silicon Labs’ virtual conference theme last week (see 2009110043), necessitates addressing security and other concerns, speakers said. “Our services should melt into the background, becoming as reliable and essential as running water or electricity,” said Grant Erickson, Google principal software engineer. Manufacturers incur high development costs to support multiple, “lightly differentiated and fundamentally non-interoperable stock keeping units,” he said. Consumers don’t know what works together and how their privacy and security are protected, he said. Such challenges must be met to reach the $150 billion 2023 valuation Google expects for the IoT, Erickson said. Google put its weight behind Project Connected Home Over IP. Erickson called CHIP a “critical movement to break through the fragmentation that’s holding the market back.” Comcast invested heavily there, said Jim Kitchen, vice president-product in its connected home devices and platforms unit. That the CHIP code will be available to developers as a starting point will drive ubiquity and interoperability that hasn’t existed before, Kitchen said. Though the IoT has gotten better with advances in technology, it’s confusing for end users, he said. He cited a “boundary” for shopping in store or online to "confidently purchase a device that they know is going to work with the rest of the things that are in their home or with whatever platform they’ve decided to invest in.” He doesn't “know if getting to the next level of interoperability is going to be the thing that finally lets these products get into 300 million homes in North America, but I know that has to happen before we get into 300 million homes.”

T-Mobile and Ericsson jointly demoed 16-layer multi-user multi-input multi-output (MU-MIMO) technology, with throughput of more than 5.6 Gbps. The test used 2.5 GHz spectrum. “At scale, this technology means T-Mobile could connect massively more devices to the same cell infrastructure and still deliver blazing fast speeds to all of them without compromising performance,” T-Mobile said Thursday.

Vizio customers can access the Apple TV app on their SmartCast TVs to watch Apple TV+ and other content, said the vendor Tuesday. An Apple TV+ subscription costs $4.99 monthly, but eligible U.S. SmartCast customers can sign up through Oct. 16 to get it free for three months, Vizio said. The offer is valid for new Apple TV+ subscribers who own 2016 or later SmartCast TVs enabled with SmartCast Home.

CTA and member company representatives spoke with an aide to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai urging action on a June petition to allow presale of new RF devices before authorization (see 2006030044). CTA got general support when the FCC took comments in July (see 2007100042). “The unequivocal national priority of 5G deployment warrants an expeditious launch of the requested rulemaking proceeding,” said a filing posted Friday in RM-11857: “As the winter holiday season approaches, the requested interim waivers will benefit both companies and consumers.” This would bring policies “more closely in line with today’s marketplace realities.” Amazon, Samsung and Google were among attendees.

Samsung announced the Premiere 4K ultra-short-throw laser projector in 120- and 130-inch models. It's the first projector with Filmmaker Mode, said Samsung, the feature introduced at the urging of Hollywood directors last year (see 1908270001). The projectors have HDR10+, Samsung’s Smart TV platform, built-in woofers and Acoustic Beam surround sound. Peak brightness is 2,800 ANSI lumens.

Panasonic teamed with Square Enix on the SoundSlayer gaming speaker, set for September availability. B&H Photo showed the 2.1-channel system Tuesday as “coming soon” for $299. The 17 x 2-1/16 x 5-1/4 inch sound bar has three sound modes: role-playing game, first-person shooter and voice; it supports Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and DTS Virtual:X immersive audio formats. Panasonic is pitching the Bluetooth-equipped sound bar as an alternative to headphones, which it said can become uncomfortable after prolonged use.