More in-game Battlefield 3 footage released: now with snipers!
The press was able to see the entire "Faultline" Battlefield 3 video at the Game Developers Conference, but it looks like EA and DICE are going to release the video across a number of episodes. All the better to keep us talking about the game before any more real news is announced, of course!But we'll play the hype game, because Battlefield 3 is a beautiful title and the video below really shows off what the Frostbite 2 engine can produce in terms of graphics and gameplay. This is in-game footage, based on pre-alpha code, and I want to play it right now.
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Did Ubisoft pirate its own soundtrack for Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood PC?
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is finally coming to the PC later this month, after hitting consoles last November. To make amends, the publisher is releasing a digital deluxe version of the game, complete with a wide range of extras, including a copy of the game's soundtrack. The problem? It looks like that soundtrack may actually be a torrented version.As one Reddit user discovered after preordering the game, all but one of the soundtrack's 23 songs lists the phrase "encoded by Arsa13" in its ID3 tag. A quick search reveals several uploaded versions of the AC:B soundtrack that came packed with the collector's edition of the game on various torrents, attributed to one Arsa13.
But this wouldn't be the first time that something like this happened. Back in 2008, Rainbow Six Vegas 2 users who had digital versions of the game were having issues, as the game required a disc to be playable. Ubisoft updated the game with a patch that allowed the game to be played without a disc. Problem was, that patch was actually created by pirate group Reloaded and used without attribution.
Ars has contacted Ubisoft for comment but has yet to hear back.
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Netflix going up against cable with original series deal
Netflix may be known for offering some of our favorite TV and movie streams, but the company is about to step up its game and begin offering original content. Netflix has allegedly outbid a number of major cable networks for a new drama series produced by and starring Kevin Spacey called House of Cards, and may be about to close a deal at more than $100 million, according to a report on Deadline.com.The deal has yet to be finalized, but Deadline's unnamed source claims that Netflix has made a commitment to two seasons of House of Cards, which the media site described as "staggering" and "pretty unheard of these days." A source for the New York Times later confirmed that Netflix was indeed involved in the bidding, but said there was "considerable uncertainty" about the terms of the deal. Yet another source for the Wall Street Journal said that Netflix was likely to pay much less than Deadline's speculated $100 million.
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ISPs don't want to be Big Content's "judges, juries, and executioners"
Australia's second largest DSL service has clearly had it with the burden of copyright enforcement being placed on Internet Service Providers. iiNet recently won a case in which a court confirmed that ISPs are not copyright cops; a judge ruled that they don't have an automatic duty to sanction subscribers upon receipt of piracy allegations against them. But iiNet doesn't just want to prevail in Australia's legal system. It wants to promote an alternative to the ISP-as-enforcer model, outlined in a new paper titled "Encouraging Legitimate Use of Online Content."
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Confirmed: some Web apps not seeing iOS 4.3 JavaScript speedup
The JavaScript performance improvements that accompany iOS 4.3—boosting raw performance as much as 2.5x—don't appear to carry over to in-app browsers or Web apps saved to the home screen. Another bug appears to prevent Web apps saved to the home screen from properly using HTML5 caching for offline use or using asynchronous loading. While these issues may be bugs and have been reported to Apple, some developers believe it is a conspiracy to make Web apps perform worse than native apps, pushing developers towards the App Store. However, the issues could just as likely be technical problems as any concerted effort from Apple to put the squeeze on Web developers.To understand the JavaScript performance problem, it's helpful to understand the major performance improvement Apple brought to MobileSafari's Nitro JavaScript engine. Using a technique called just-in-time compilation, the engine converts JavaScript code into native ARM machine code. The engine then changes the area in memory where the native code is stored from writeable (for data storage) to executable (for code) to run the code directly.
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The oceans of 2050: will there be any fish left?
It's no secret that I've been pessimistic about the state of our oceans. So when I saw there was a session entitled "2050: Will There Be Fish in the Ocean?" at this year's meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), I knew it would be one I'd attend. And while the message wasn't particularly encouraging, it's not all doom and gloom on the seas.Read the comments on this post
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"There's a Mercedes divide": former FCC chief now top cable lobbyist
The revolving door that is Washington, DC swiveled rather loudly yesterday with the announcement that former Federal Communications Commission Chair Michael K. Powell will soon head the National Cable and Telecommunications Association. Powell ran the FCC from 2001 through 2005. "Michael's exemplary record of leadership, deep commitment to public service, and vast insight into public policy make him an ideal fit to lead our industry in Washington, DC," declared NCTA Board Chair Patrick J. Esser, "as we address the regulatory challenges that lie ahead and continue to help policy makers understand cable's commitment to jobs, investment, and innovation."
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TSA admits bungling of airport body scanner radiation tests
The Transportation Security Administration is reanalyzing the radiation levels of X-ray body scanners installed in airports nationwide, after testing produced dramatically higher-than-expected results.The TSA, which has deployed at least 500 body scanners to at least 78 airports, said Tuesday the machines meet all safety standards and would remain in operation despite a “calculation error” in safety studies. The flawed results showed radiation levels 10 times higher than expected.
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Feature: Small and mighty: a review of Apple's new 13" MacBook Pro
Ever since Apple's move from PowerPC chips to Intel's offerings, MacBook Pro upgrades have happened with better frequency and pretty good foreshadowing. And last month, Apple upgraded its main portable line right on schedule. Gone are the Core 2 Duos and Nehalem processors, their place taken by Intel's Sandy Bridge Core i5 and Core i7 processors across the entire line. In the 15" and 17" MacBook Pros, these chips have four cores, the 13" has either a dual-core i5 or a dual-core i7. I had no plans to upgrade, but then fate did its thing and I ended up walking out of a well known big box retailer with a shiny new 13" i7 MacBook Pro.
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How TV's "vast wasteland" became a vast garden
Fifty years ago, then Chair of the Federal Communications Commission Newton Minow, appeared before the National Association of Broadcasters and gave what remains the most significant speech about electronic media in American history. In it, Minow excoriated the broadcasting industry."When television is good, nothing—not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers—nothing is better," he began. "But when television is bad," he warned, "nothing is worse."
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EVE Online begins "PLEX for Good" campaign to aid Japan
There are many communities coming together to help support those impacted by the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The players of EVE Online are joining in: in a move sanctioned and partially organized by CCP, the game's publisher, players can convert PLEX, an item that represents 30 days of game time, into cash to donate to Japan."PLEX can be purchased for real world currency at any time through our website. They are also sold in-game on the markets by other players so you can even play EVE without paying a cent, as long as you have enough in-game currency to buy a PLEX," Christian "CCP Wrangler" Danhill, senior community manager for EVE Online, told Ars. "Selling any in-game item for real world currency is forbidden, however, so this is a special exception to 'cashing out.'"
To donate PLEX, you simply "contract your PLEX to the 'CCP PLEX for Good' character," the official website explains, and then PLEX will be converted to its real-world cash value and donated to the Red Cross. This can be a PLEX you purchased using either real-world money or in-game currency, so you can actually turn the game's currency into a cash donation to a good cause.
This promotion will begin on March 14 and go until March 31, and is a neat way to harness the game's economy for a real-world cause. It's not the first time. "PLEX for Good is an on-going charitable program initiated by the players of EVE Online. Past drives have assisted the victims of the Haiti earthquake and excessive flooding in Pakistan," CCP explains. "To date, EVE Online players have donated over $63,000 (over 3,600 PLEX) to those in need via this program, with almost $100,000 being donated by EVE Online players to charity since 2004."
EVE Online is known for the... well, creative ways players use the game's rules to profit, and this many PLEX moving around must be tempting. CCP assures us the players seem to have gotten the message about the charitable programs. "We have very strict policies regarding scamming of PLEX during this kind of charity drive. We simply do not allow it, and our game masters will permanently ban any individual who uses this as an opportunity to scam other players," Misty Matonis, associate community manager for EVE Online, told Ars. "I am proud to say that our community of players hasn’t had a single incidence of scamming during these efforts, rallying around such causes honorably."
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Etsy reacts to user outrage, makes changes to feedback system
Etsy has decided to stop linking to purchased items in a user's feedback in response to the chorus of privacy concerns coming from its user base. In a blog post published Tuesday, Etsy CEO Rob Kalin and COO Adam Freed said that the company's recent rollout of the People Search tool, combined with public feedback, highlighted the need for a reworked feedback system, and that more changes may be on the way.Etsy had flipped the switch on its new People Search tool last week as part of its effort to make the site into more of a social media platform. When users run a search for a person's full name, that user's account will show up in the search results, even if that person is only a buyer. The goal is to allow users to connect to each other and create "Circles," which then allow users to see which products their friends have marked as favorites or purchased on Etsy.
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Congress told that Internet data caps will discourage piracy
Internet data caps aren't just good at stopping congestion; they can also be useful tools for curtailing piracy.That was one of the points made by Daniel Castro, an analyst at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) think tank in Washington DC. Castro testified (PDF) yesterday before the House Judiciary Committee about the problem of “parasite” websites, saying that usage-based billing and monthly data caps were both good ways to discourage piracy, and that the government shouldn't do anything to stand in their way.
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Leaked retailer info: HP Touchpad arriving in June for $499
HP revealed its upcoming Touchpad tablet during a press event last month. The 10-inch touch-enabled device has a dual-core Snapdragon processor, 1024x768 screen resolution, and 1GB of RAM. It will be the first tablet to ship with webOS, the Linux-based mobile operating system that HP obtained in its acquisition of Palm. One of the big questions that HP left unanswered during the press event last month was the product's price.The early rumors after the Touchpad's official unveiling suggested that the WiFi-only version would debut for roughly $600. A product release schedule leaked this week by a major US retailer, however, indicates that pricing will range from $499-599, with different tiers based on storage capacity. A $499 price point at launch will help make the Touchpad more competitive in a marketplace where Apple's comparably-priced iPad 2 is soaking up sales.
The product launch sheet, which was obtained and published by the PreCentral blog, shows that the 10-inch Touchpad will have a June launch. This is consistent with HP's previous statements that the Touchpad was planned for Summer. The launch sheet also indicates that a 7-inch HP tablet with webOS is planned for September, with pricing still to be determined.
Other products on the list include a 7-inch Acer tablet with Android 2.3 that is planned for April and 10-inch Honeycomb tablets from HTC, Dell, Acer, and Toshiba planned for June. Most of the upcoming Honeycomb tablets are also listed at $499.
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Apple Stores accepting old iPad donations for Teach for America
Do you own an original iPad that you no longer need (pfft, original iPads are so 2010), but have no plans to resell? Apple may have a solution for you: the company has begun promoting a new donation program that will put old iPads to good use through the Teach for America program. Teach for America takes well-trained teachers—referred to as "corps members"—and places them in one of 39 urban and rural regions across the country that are identified as low-income. The volunteers agree to teach in those areas for two years with the goal of providing a higher-quality education to low-income students. And, according to Teach for America's website, recent research shows that its corps members are "more effective than other teachers, including certified and veteran teachers."
Under Apple's program, iPad owners can take their unwanted devices to an Apple retail store for donation. Retail employees will give the iPads to Teach for America, which subsequently will distribute them to the appropriate corps members for use in the classroom. As noted by MacNN, Teach for America is a 501(c)(3) corporation, so if you need an extra incentive to donate your iPad, the donation may even be tax deductible.
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Amazon looks on longingly as Netflix delivers 61% of digital video
The digital video market continues to grow as DVD sales tank, and Netflix is currently king. According to the latest data from the NPD Group, there's a 61 percent chance that any given (legal) movie stream or download is coming from Netflix. Netflix's aggressive strategy of being on every device and set-top box is apparently working, and Amazon clearly has a long way to go if it wants to really compete on the instant streaming front.After Netflix, NPD says Comcast made up another eight percent of "digital movie units," while DirecTV, Time Warner, and Apple all shared the third-place spot with four percent each. NPD's data was collected from 10,618 US-based Internet users over the age of 13 between January and February of 2011.
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Getting the rift: following Africa's slow break-up
At one point in its past, all the Earth's continents were merged into a giant supercontinent called Pangea. Since then, rifting activity has broken continents apart, leaving deep ocean ridges of spreading crust behind. These remains, buried deep under the ocean and newly-formed oceanic crust, make it difficult to figure out how the process started. Researchers have now gone to a site where the African continent is being torn apart in order to get a clearer picture of just how hard it is for continents to go their separate ways.The area the research focuses on is in current-day Ethiopia. Here, three separate rifts meet. One is under the Red Sea, where Africa and the Middle East are moving away from each other. South of the Arabian Peninsula, another rift lies beneath the Gulf of Aden; combined, these two are allowing the Peninsula to move northeast relative to Africa at the rate of 16mm a year.
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