Enlarge / Black Friday once again brings tons of new low prices on good gadgets and tech gear. (credit: Ars Technica) The abnormalities of 2020 have stretched this holiday shopping season out farther than usual, but now Black Friday proper has finally arrived. That means the Dealmaster has been hard at work scouring retailer ads, researching …
All the best Black Friday 2020 deals we can find Read More »
Enlarge / Record collector Mike Porwoll’s selection of vinyl records, fueled largely by YouTubecore discoveries. (credit: Mike Porwoll) One way to track the evolution of popular music is to examine its subgenres. Think of how “rock” begat “punk rock,” which begat “post-punk,” as a simple example. Electronic and ambient music include an even bigger universe …
How old, ambient Japanese music became a smash hit on YouTube Read More »
Enlarge / A collage of our favorite binge-worthy series and streams in this weird locked-down year. (credit: Aurich Lawson / Getty Images / Respective Shows) As 2020 has dragged on, it has become harder to look at our living rooms as an escape. Ars Technica has long been a work-from-home enterprise, but even we no …
What we’re binging: TV, films, and streams that bring comfort in a weird year Read More »
Enlarge / Vials in front of the AstraZeneca British biopharmaceutical company logo are seen in this creative photo taken on 18 November 2020. (credit: Getty| NurPhoto) Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford made an exciting announcement Monday: the COVID-19 vaccine they developed together appeared up to 90 percent effective at preventing disease. But …
AstraZeneca’s best COVID vaccine result was a fluke. Experts have questions Read More »
Enlarge / Students have their temperature measured at Daowu middle school in China’s Hunan Province, part of the measures adopted to limit the spread of the coronavirus. (credit: Xinhua News Agency) Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, there were a lot of big questions about the basic properties of SARS-CoV-2: how quickly did it spread, …
What we can learn from contact tracing an entire province Read More »
Enlarge / The ID electric vehicles are the future for Volkswagen. (credit: Volkswagen) On Wednesday, Volkswagen announced that its forthcoming electric vehicle now has an official range. The US Environmental Protection Agency has confirmed that the ID.4 crossover will travel 250 miles (402km) on a single charge. At launch, the ID.4 will only be available …
The Volkswagen ID.4 electric crossover gets its EPA range certification Read More »
How the RetroArch menu looks on the Xbox Series X. Modern gaming consoles have exploded with indie games and apps, but one category has always proven an exception: emulators. This week, however, Ars has learned of an apparent loophole in Microsoft’s Xbox Store system being used to distribute high-performing emulators on the platform. Microsoft usually …
How one developer is sneaking emulators through a hole in the Xbox Store Read More »
Enlarge / A sign on the entrance to a pharmacy reads “Covid-19 Vaccine Not Yet Available,” November 23, 2020 in Burbank, California. (credit: Getty | Robyn Beck) Individual states will ultimately decide who will get the first 6.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, which will be distributed based on each state’s population rather than the …
We don’t have a COVID vaccine yet, but distribution is already messy Read More »
Enlarge / Comcast Xfinity cable television installation truck parked on a street in front of a suburban home, San Ramon, California, May 17, 2018. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images) (credit: Getty Images | Smith Collection | Gado) Comcast is raising prices for cable TV and Internet service on January 1, 2021, with price hikes coming …
Comcast raising TV and Internet prices, including a big hike to hidden fees Read More »
In case you haven’t already purchased enough copies of these trilogies, Warner Bros. has you covered. [credit:Warner Bros. / Aurich Lawson ] Ever since its early ’00s conclusion, The Lord of the Rings film trilogy has remained the ultimate collision of nerd scrutiny and filmmaking excellence. It’s the exact kind of series that fans have …
Lord of the Rings, Hobbit 4K Blu-ray sets: Must-own home-theater stunners Read More »