Full-magazine reloads throw out muscle memory in favor of “higher stakes” decisions. For decades now, Counter-Strike players have gotten used to tapping the reload button whenever they have a spare, safe moment. Yesterday evening, though, Valve announced that it had decided this system needed “higher stakes,” overhauling Counter-Strike 2‘s reload…
Radiocarbon results suggest a single origin and rapid diffusion through cultural transition networks. People in North America adopted the bow and arrow as replacement weapons for the dart and atlatl about 1,400 years ago, according to a new paper published in the journal PNAS Nexus. But the adoption was…
“This is a serious warning shot.” Germany recently banned TCL from marketing some of its TVs as QLED (quantum dot light-emitting diode), with a Munich court ruling that the TVs lack the quantum dot (QD) structure and performance associated with QLED TVs. The decision increases pressure on TV companies…
Department of Energy’s attempts to prop up coal can look pretty pointless. In the US, the economics of coal power generation are marginal at best, and a large number of coal plants have shut down as cheaper renewables and natural gas have surged. The Trump administration has used a…
Our view of Neanderthal life keeps getting more complex and vibrant. Neanderthals may have used birch tar as more than just glue; it could have helped them ward off infection and even insect bites. People from several modern Indigenous cultures, including the Mi’kmaq of eastern Canada, use tar from…
One Microsoft product was approved despite years of concerns about its security. In late 2024, the federal government’s cybersecurity evaluators rendered a troubling verdict on one of Microsoft’s biggest cloud computing offerings. The tech giant’s “lack of proper detailed security documentation” left reviewers with a “lack of confidence in…
Station wagons used to be family cars, but now they’re for going fast, too. It is a strange quirk of fate that the station wagon has morphed from mass-market family transport into something far more esoteric (at least here in the US, a market that once embraced the form…
The iX3 SUV was very good; we think the i3 sedan will be even better. BMW provided flights from Washington, DC, to Malaga, Spain, and accommodation so Ars could drive the iX3 and be briefed on the i3. Ars does not accept paid editorial content. MALAGA, Spain—Late last year,…
Judge tosses Musi case against Apple, sanctions lawyers for “mak up facts.” Musi, a free music-streaming app that had tens of millions of iPhone downloads and garnered plenty of controversy over its method of acquiring music, has lost an attempt to get back on Apple’s App Store. A federal…
Suit: The National Center for Atmospheric Research is to be terminated for no rational reason. On Monday, a consortium that oversees the US’s premier atmospheric research center announced it was suing the Trump administration over plans to shut it down. The National Center for Atmospheric Research, or NCAR, provides…
