Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Most computer, TV, and home theater setups are going to involve HDMI somewhere along the line: The High-Definition Multimedia Interface format is now fairly ubiquitous on everything from laptops to cable boxes, and so when a new version of the standard turns up, it's worth paying attention to. Almost eight years after the release of HDMI 2.1, and nearly 12 years after HDMI 2.0 was pushed out into the world, HDMI 2.2 is finalized and ready to go. You'll now start seeing mentions of it in product listings and tech guides, and we'll explain here what's different and what isn't about the new standard. The headline upgrade here is the jump from 48 gigabits per second to 96 gigabits per second for the maximum possible transmission bit rate.

When I was a kid there were two devices attached to the television in my family's living room: a VCR and a cable box. And we had a universal remote to tie it all together. These days, the amount of gear in my home theater is far greater and it's all more complicated, including a Roku, Chromecast, Nintendo Switch and a PlayStation 4 Pro, plus a Motorola-made cable box. And that's before you even get into my LG TV's apps, or the smart speakers. And yet, universal remotes haven't really kept up with the pace. Search any retailer and you're bound to be deluged with generic or no-name options, most of which can only handle three devices at best.

A Honeywell smart thermostat is seen above. If you compare the inside of a modern home to one from about 25 years ago, you're going to notice some stark differences -- not just the phone book on the kitchen counter. Rapid advancements in tech over the past two decades have had an impact on everything from the way we communicate to the conveniences of home life. While you expect some household staples to change from generation to generation, things that were part of an average home for decades are now unnecessary. That's because just about any common household gadget can be replaced with a smarter device.

In the beginning, there was a dial. Then man invented the television remote so he wouldn't have to get off the sofa. Then remote controls multiplied . . . A big step toward the hands-free couch potato arrives Thursday. The $120 Fire TV Cube is the first device to give Amazon.com's

Not content to let Sonos own the living room, Amazon, on Thursday, introduced a new Alexa-touting set-top box. The Fire TV Cube features about everything you've come to expect from a television companion. It has access to thousands of apps and channels, including Netflix, Hulu, Playstation Vue, and Amazon Prime Video. It can control other AV devices such as your TV, cable box, and surround-sound speaker setup. And of course, it can be used hands-free via voice control, with a full Alexa assistant baked in that can pull up visuals on your TV when appropriate.

It's been almost four years since Amazon first introduced the Echo smart speaker and its virtual assistant Alexa. It's also been just over four years since the the company first released its Fire TV set-top video box. Now, the two products are converging in a way they haven't before, in the form of the Amazon Fire TV Cube. As you might expect, it's a cube-shaped box you plug in to your TV; it runs the expected suite of apps like Netflix, Hulu, PlayStation Vue, HBO Go, Sling and Amazon's Prime Video service. And like the current Fire TV Stick and Fire TV box, you can talk to Alexa to search for movies and shows as well as access thousands of third-party "skills."

Nearly a decade ago, Comcast promised liberation from the tyranny of the cable box. But today its control seems here to stay--as does big cable's control over how you consume the programming you pay for. This week, the Federal Communications Commission met for the first time under its new chairman, Ajit Pai, a Republican. The original agenda for the meeting included consideration of the agency's latest proposal--advanced under former Democratic chairman Tom Wheeler--to force cable companies to make their services a bit more open. That item disappeared from the agenda--and with it the likelihood that much of anything will change in the world of cable, at least as far as government regulation is concerned.

On the surface, Apple TV seems increasingly focused on cable subscribers instead of cord cutters. Since its launch last fall, the fourth-generation Apple TV has added several features that provide more convenient access to "TV Everywhere" apps (such as WatchESPN, FX Now, and HBO Go) that require a cable or satellite login to access. Siri is becoming more effective at finding what you want from these channels; the download process is becoming more streamlined; and with the next version of Apple's tvOS software, logging into these apps will become much less of a hassle. While these are useful improvements, it's hard to believe cable subservience is Apple's true goal. For a device that's supposedly the "future of television," its best features are becoming awfully dependent on a cable subscription, which in turn requires a cable box.