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The complicated history of simple scientific facts
Every now and then, the public gets a glimpse at what goes into the making of scientific consensus on an important question. No, we're not talking about the infamous climate change emails—we're talking about how science really comes to its conclusions, a process that involves a few hundred years of work.
Ten years of entertainment: what has changed?
Remember back when 3D games were blocky and crude, when your only option for watching clips from last night's TV was the VCR, and when buying games always meant a trip to a retail outlet? In other words, remember 10 years ago? We're looking back at biggest changes in entertainment of the past decade, and we need your help.
Using faulty data to demand settlements from innocent surfers
A Princeton researcher finds himself bombarded with demands to pay up after swapping adult movies online—but he didn't do it. It appears to be another case of extremely-lazy IP "enforcement" using bad BitTorrent data collection.
TV remotes may be the gateway to a pervasive wireless mesh
WiFi and cellular devices may be pushing for ever higher bandwidth, but the next big thing in wireless might be low-cost, low-power devices that form a mesh that includes everything from TV remotes to light switches.
Current ACTA drafts ban DRM interoperability laws
1,700 European ISPs and the Swedish Communications Minister both worry about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, but only one gets to tell the US government all about it this week in Washington. Leaked EU documents this week also reveal that the current ACTA draft could ban DRM interoperability laws.
Seriously dumb: a port of Serious Sam remains a must-buy
Serious Sam HD will be old hat to fans of the series, but for younger games who don't know how to get Serious and budget gamers looking for a quick adrenaline fix, this is just about as good as it gets. Graphically updated but refreshingly classic, this could be the next LAN party hit... again.
LHC sets new energy record, full power still year away
Last night, the CERN tweeted that the LHC had reached an energy of 1.18TeV, a record for Earth-bound particle accelerators—and we are all still here. So, when are we going to see some physics?
Mininova buries pirate booty in its index, aims to go legit
BitTorrent giant Mininova has purged its collection of user-contributed torrents in an effort to comply with a court ruling which determined that the site's lack of proactive filtering constitutes contributory copyright infringement.
Reader favorites: fitness tech for the geeks in us
Overindulge on Thanksgiving and dreading working off the flab you'll put on during the holiday season? Ars lists some of our readers' favorite exercise-related gadgets to get you back on the right track.
The ABCs of securing your Windows netbook
More people are likely to run out and buy netbooks this holiday season, either for work or personal use. And many of those users won't have the first idea about how to lock down their data in case the netbook is lost or stolen. We're here to help.
Five things you should know about climate change
Confused by the sound and fury that accompany any studies of the climate? Learn five things you should know about the science of climate change.
ICANN to prohibit nonexistent-domain redirect for new TLDs
ICANN considers saying "No yuo!" to "ALL YOUR DNS ERRORS ARE BELONG TO US." For the managers of new top-level domains, at least.
The weird science of rats and the smell of road rage
Feet of death, home sweet cave, the gentle touch of a p, and the wisdom of drug users all figure prominently in this week's Weird Science.
Week in Tech: Large Hadron Collider working, Ubuntu matures
Ars recaps the biggest news of the week from the world of science, policy, and open source, including a big review of Parallels 5, the Large Hadron Collider doing its first particle collisions, and Ubuntu dropping the GIMP.
Let's talk about sex... in video games
No one seems capable of remaining neutral about the topic of sex in video games, but it's not exactly clear why that is. Ars investigates.
FCC posts "Help Wanted" for white spaces database managers
Slowly but surely the FCC is moving white space devices from the planning stage to market. Now the agency is asking for proposals to manage the database system that will prevent WSDs from interfering with TV stations and wireless systems.
Military wins small battle in war against counterfeit chips
The DOJ has announced a small victory in the government's long-running war to keep the country safe from... overclockers? Unfortunately, the practice of selling remarked or fake computer chips to the military will go on, because there's no good way to stop it.
How PC gamers can be heard (hint: not by threats of piracy)
PC gamers are outspoken... to a fault. Every bit of news about the industry is followed by shrill threats of piracy and ineffective boycotts. Ars Technica speaks to those in the industry whose job it is to deal with complaints, and explains how to get your voice heard in a way that actually leads to action.
Sony still subsidizing US military supercomputer efforts
The PlayStation 3's price drop was a boon for more than just consumers. The US military is now snapping up a few thousand more of the consoles to add to its (Sony-subsidized) supercomputer.
Giving thanks: tech trends (and other things) Ars is thankful for
Ars pauses to give thanks for technology trends that make our lives easier and more interesting.
Mobile Web traffic increasing rapidly for non-smartphones
Data from Opera's mobile Web proxy servers suggest mobile Web browsing is exploding among users of standard cell phones, thanks in part to demand driven by consumers that expect smartphone-like browsing as well the more advanced capabilities of mobile browsers like Opera Mini.
MPAA to FCC: critics of video blocking proposals are lying
Hollywood is now resorting to calling critics of its analog stream-blocking proposal liars, while talking out of both sides of its mouth about DVD encryption and piracy. But the brunt of this accusation, Public Knowledge, still insists that shutting down the output to millions of HDTVs won't benefit consumers.
Kindle 2 finally gets native PDF support, screen rotation
Newly sold Kindles will come with an expanded battery, and those with the Kindle 2 will get a holiday gift as well: native PDF support and screen rotation.
Client-side JavaScript file processing may come via File API
W3C has published a new working draft of a proposed standard that will enable limited filesystem access from JavaScript. This will make it possible to do efficient client-side file processing in Web applications.
Valve: listening to PC gamers, frequent updates equal success
Ars sits down with Valve's director of business development Jason Holtman to discuss the future of the Steam platform and PC gaming. His theory? Listening to customers and keeping them connected are the keys to success. The evidence? Sales boosts that coincide with updates, and frequent, effective price cuts.