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Ars
Technica
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Telcos leading the way for à la carte TV FCC
chairman Kevin Martin voiced some support for à la carte cable TV
programming, and now AT&T and Verizon are joining the chorus.
The cable giants better brace themselves, 'cause the new kids on the
block don't necessarily play by the old rules. |
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Ars Emporium update, including new pre-orders for red
and orange hoodies Ars Technica merchandise for the smooth, the
svelte, and the stressed. Every Ars Emporium purchase supports Ars
Technica, and the goods are top notch quality, as usual. Now with
more sweatshirts!.gif) |
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Diebold loses legal case, certified anyway
Diebold's attempt to keep some of its e-voting code from North
Carolina officials fails in court, but the company finds itself
certified to sell in the state anyway. Was the decision political or
practical?
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Star Wars: Battlefront II
Ars Technica returns to the Star Wars universe for a review of
LucasArts' latest effort, Star Wars: Battlefront II.
The sequel has a lot to live up to though. What the first
Battlefront DIDN'T do is pretty obvious. The game had very little
going for it as a single player experience, the bots were dumb,
and the missions were boring. Without the online play the game
would have been a complete wash. With online play on a good server
the fights between snow speeders and AT-ATs were a good way to
raise the ol' heartbeat and it made up for a lot of what the
single player game was lacking.
Is it an improvement over the first title, or just the same old,
same old? Read on and find out! .gif) |
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.xxx left undone Plans for the controversial
domain are pulled just before being completed. Who finished off the
porn domain?.gif) |
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Legislation could threaten network neutrality If
BellSouth has its way, all web sites will be equal, but some will be
more equal than others.
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The search for signs of Intelligent Design in the
Universe Those who wish to give Intelligent Design a scientific
foundation have suggested that the obviously scientific SETI program
may be a model. Unfortunately, they forgot to ask how the SETI
researchers felt about this..gif) |
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Skype adds free video phone service The Internet
telephone service company Skype has launched version 2.0 of its
software, which includes video chat. Has the future finally
arrived?.gif)
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Why not watermark everything? TiVo wants you to
watch anything you like, anywhere you want to (as long as you pay
for their service). Will digital watermarking usher in a new era in
digital rights management?
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ESRB, game retailers decry "bad report card" The
National Institute on Media and the Family has issued a"report card"
on the gaming industry, and the usual suspects cry foul. In terms of
grandstanding, this one goes to 11..gif) |
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Microsoft announces changes to Vista's release
schedule Microsoft has changed the Community Technology Preview
schedule for Vista. Rather than monthly builds, Vista CTPs will only
be released on an as-needed basis. Will more testing and less builds
result in a sharper system?.gif) |
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TiVo launches new online services TiVo has
launched its new online services earlier than expected, but the
question still remains: what is any of this worth?
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Performance preview of Yonah Anandtech takes a
look at the first Intel processor likely to make it into an Apple
machine..gif) |
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EFF not asking for any DMCA exemptions The DMCA is
so broken that the Electronic Frontier Foundation will not even work
to revise it any longer. Instead, they turn their attention to new
legislation..gif) |
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Microsoft OneCares about you Microsoft is testing
the waters of personal security with a public beta release of
OneCare Live. Should you take the plunge, and should Symantec and
McAfee be scared?
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Utah non-profit group wants porn off of port 80 A
former Canopy Group executive has started a non-profit organization
to lobby for increased government regulation of pornography. He
wants to purge port 80 of questionable content. Is his modest
proposal reasonable?.gif) |
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LifeDrive Mobile Manager
When the LifeDrive was announced, we were intrigued. In addition
to built-in WiFi and 802.11b, it sports a 4GB hard drive. In fact,
Palm doesn't call it a PDA. Instead, it's a "mobile manager."
The way the LifeDrive's marketing materials are put together,
you're led to believe that this handheld transcends the
functionality of standard PDAs. My own experience made me feel
that it was a normal PDA, but with a lot of tricks up its sleeves.
Ars reviews Palm's flagship product, the LifeDrive Mobile
Manager. Read on! .gif) |
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Ask Ars: a personal Wiki? We all know that wikis
can be used to create massive online stores of information, but
today we ask about wikis that are suitable for private use, and easy
to install and maintain.
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Roger Ebert says games will never be as worthy as
movies Movie critic Roger Ebert has stirred a controversy by
stating that games, by their very nature, will never be as
artistically worthy as movies. Does he have a point?.gif) |
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Internet phone providers unable to meet FCC
deadline Vonage and AT&T are unable to meet Vonages deadline
for 911 service availability. Vonage claims that incumbent providers
refuse to open the emergency services in order to decrease the
market potential of competing technologies..gif) |
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Intel to drop the Pentium brand? First Netburst
goes out the window, and now it may be that the venerable Pentium
brand name is headed for retirement, as well.
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Getting teens to buzz off, literally Oh the hammer
and the anvil, the poor embattled youth. New technology finds a way
to beat on the eardrums of loitering teenagers. But does it go too
far?.gif)
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BBC reports on UK gamers A tantalizing and
frustrating "at-a-glance" slideshow on the BBC website says more
about their reporting than gamers, but what it does say is
nonetheless fascinating. In short, most UK citizens are gamers..gif) |
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BlackBerry maker out of options in legal fight
Don't count on your BlackBerry in the next couple of months if you
live in the US. Research In Motion continued its long losing streak
in the courtroom.
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Clinton, Lieberman push for Federal game ratings
oversight Senators Hillary Clinton and Joe Lieberman today
announced that they are planning to introduce new legislation that
would establish federally coordinated oversight of the gaming
industry's ratings system..gif) |
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First RIAA lawsuit heads to trial The RIAA's
torrent of litigation against music swappers has never faced a
full-blown trial, but that's about to change as a single mother vows
to fight for her day in court..gif) |
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Is Google's rocket ride running out of fuel?
Everyone's Internet darling Google has seen its share price more
than double over the last year, and quintuple since its
parade-down-Wall-Street IPO. Yesterday, big G lowered its altitude
by a few hundred feet for the first time, well, ever.
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Xbox 360
The first of the next-generation consoles have arrived, although
they're hard to find on store shelves. One found its way to the
Orbiting HQ and after some intensive gaming, we're ready to give you
the scoop on the Xbox 360. Does it live up to expectations?
Microsoft hopes so—they have a lot riding on this launch.
Microsoft is making some pretty major bets here. The system is
powerful, and the inclusion of HD gaming as a standard for all
titles is something that needed to happen for console gaming to
move forward. The Marketplace and improved Xbox Live are both
proof that Microsoft has designs for every part of your living
room. For a Trojan horse to work though, you're going to have to
want to drag the damn thing into your city walls, and it's games
that are going to make or break this unit.
Is the Xbox 360 worth the wait? Read our review and find out.
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Cybercrime more profitable than illicit drug
sales? U.S. Treasury cybercrime advisor Valerie McNiven says
that cybercrimes are more profitable than illegal drugs, but UN
statistics show otherwise..gif) |
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The Ars Technica 2005 holiday shopping guide
It's that time of the year again: that annual, holiday-inspired
consumer purchasing frenzy wherein we all go frantically searching
for that perfect gift for friends and loved ones. While it can be
gratifying to find that perfect something for that perfect someone,
it can also be an exercise in frustration, to say the least.
That's where the Ars Gift Guide comes in. Whether you're shopping
for another technologically inclined person, the n00b, or just
contemplating how best to treat yourself, we've got you covered. As
we did last year, we have pulled together the best hardware,
software, games, gadgets, books, and DVDs into a the ultimate
one-stop shopping experience created by our cadre of Ars Technica
writers. With few exceptions, we've actually used the products that
we're recommending, and we've used them for more than the five hours
it takes a reviewer to churn out 1,800 words. There'll be no airing
of grievances at this year's Festivus if you buy from our guide.
It's that good. .gif) |
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Ars System Guide: November 2005 edition
For the true PC enthusiast, nothing beats building your own
system. Enter the Ars Technica System Guide. It covers every
component you'll need to build (or upgrade) your system, from the
RAM to the power supply.
The November 2005 guide has its fair share of tweaks from the
last regular system guide, including two new CPUs and a graphics
card. Budget Box? Hot Rod? God Box? Tune in and find out where the
big performance is. .gif) |
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DesktopX 3.1
When we reviewed Konfabulator a few months ago, we received
e-mail from a number of fans of DesktopX. So we decided to
investigate.
DesktopX in its present state is more than a mere widget
manager. While it does include a widget manager, it does a couple
other things: what it calls objects and desktops. I had a little
trouble distinguishing at first between widgets and objects.
Objects live solely on the desktop. So far as I can tell, that's
the only difference.
Read on for a short review of DesktopX. .gif) |
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Manipulating XML at the command line with
xmlstarlet
Linux.Ars returns with a tutorial on how to mess around with XML
using xmlstarlet, a robust command-line tool.
In the world of open-source software, where open data formats
are a necessity, XML is poised to become the de facto standard. A
number of popular open-source applications already use XML as
their primary data format, and many developers utilize it
extensively in specialized, personal-use applications. There is a
clear need for powerful and effective tools that facilitate
dynamic and interactive manipulation of XML content stored in
files on the local drive or acquired from remote
locations.
Developers Corner covers how to create custom nmap-based tests
for the network-monitoring package Big Brother. Dive on in for
another exercise in Linux lovin'! .gif) |
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Silicon carne: IDF Tel Aviv
The Intel Developer Forum continued its world tour with a stop in
Tel Aviv, Israel. Ars Technica was there to see what Intel had in
store for the land of the Pentium M's birth. Intel talked up its
technology and discussed its plans for the future, including some
very small PCs.
Intel is also pushing very hard a new form factor, called UMPC
(Ultra Mobile PC), which is a miniature device weighting around
one pound and looking much like a handheld, but featuring full PC
capabilities. According to CEO Paul Otellini, by 2010, such boxes
will be able to bring Windows Vista to the inside of a purse, with
a power consumption of around 0.5W.
I don't carry a purse myself, but I like the idea. Read on to see
what else went down at IDF Tel Aviv. .gif) |
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Cross-platform game development and the next
generation of consoles
By the end of 2006, all three of the next-generation game
consoles should be on the market. But with Microsoft, Nintendo, and
Sony all going with more complex hardware for their upcoming
consoles, how easy will it be to develop for three very particular
platforms? More complex hardware means longer development times and
more time-consuming ports.
The next generation of consoles presents developers with
entirely new programming challenges, the most significant of which
is the move from single-core to multicore CPU design.
A single task with two threads that each demand 100% of a CPU's
time should also be able to run them both, one on each core, in
half the time as a single CPU at the same speed.
In practice, however, things are invariably much less
straightforward. Most games today are still written to use a
single thread, because it is the simplest programming model and
because most hardware (both PCs and consoles) contain only a
single CPU core. All programmers are very familiar with writing
single-threaded code, but few are experts at
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