Month: November 2016

A handful of protesters rally in Sydney, Australia, in 2014 as government officials and private industry negotiated the Trans-Pacific Partnership accord. (credit: SumOfUs)

The Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed and controversial 12-nation trade pact dealing with everything from intellectual property to human rights, effectively died Friday. Congressional leaders from both parties told the White House they would no longer consider it with a lame duck president, even one who staunchly backed the plan.

Among the reasons the deal was relevant to Ars readers is because of how it treated intellectual property. The TPP exported US copyright law regarding how long a copyright lasts. For signing nations, the plan would have made copyrights last for the life of the creator plus 70 years after his or her death. That's basically the same as in the US.

When the 2,000-page text of the deal was released in November last year—after negotiations were done in secret—the Motion Picture Association of America hailed it. "The TPP reaffirms what we have long understood—that strengthening copyright is integral to America’s creative community and to facilitating legitimate international commerce," Chris Dodd, the MPAA chairman, said.

Enlarge / Louise (Amy Adams) gives the first alien high-five in human history.

Arrival is the riveting, slow-burn story of an alien encounter that's satisfyingly complex. Instead of showing how we blow up the buggers, this movie poses a difficult question: how would we communicate with seemingly peaceful aliens whose language is as impenetrable as whalesong? The welcome surprise is that Arrival explores the answers without shying away from the reality of how linguistics work, as well as the geopolitical consequences of first contact.

Louise (Amy Adams) is a gifted linguistics professor who has done some spot work for the government translating videos made by foreign insurgents. As the film opens, her quiet classroom life is disrupted permanently when a dozen enormous spaceships materialize over seemingly random regions across the world. Made of no materials we recognize, and emitting no chemical signatures whatsoever, the ships hover like perfectly curved stones just above the ground. Twice per day, an opening appears in the bottom of each ship, admitting humans into the gravitationally bizarre interior to meet with squidlike aliens who hover in what seems to be an atmosphere chamber behind a transparent barrier.

Dubbed heptapods for their five legs, the aliens make noises that are completely incomprehensible. When military officer Weber (Forest Whitaker) plays a recording of one to Louise, demanding a translation, she can’t even figure out what kind of organ could produce the noises. “Do they have… mouths?” she asks, bewildered. Despite her initial confusion, Louise manages to crack the alien code by using writing to communicate with them rather than speech.

Enlarge / President-elect Donald Trump meets with House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) at the US Capitol. (credit: Getty | Zach Gibson)

In the whirlwind few days since Donald Trump’s election, his healthcare plans have gone through some serious editing—with a very red pen.

Trump’s central agenda item to repeal Obamacare and replace it—something the Republican establishment has long and desperately wanted—still stands firm. But other items have conspicuously disappeared and been replaced by core Republican agenda items.

Gone from the seven-point list (PDF) Trump put forth during his election campaign is a plan to allow the import of prescription medications. Also gone is a plan to require price transparency in healthcare, something the vast majority of Americans would likely support. There’s also no further mention of reforming mental health programs in the country or making individuals' healthcare premiums tax-deductible.

Enlarge / AT&T's pitch for Stream Saver. (credit: AT&T)

AT&T today said it will begin limiting the quality of mobile video for cellular data customers in early 2017. A new feature called "Stream Saver" will throttle video to DVD resolution of about 480p. Customers will be able to opt out of Stream Saver, but it will be enabled by default—even for customers with unlimited data, AT&T told Ars.

AT&T will notify customers once Stream Saver has been activated and provide instructions for turning it off and back on, the company's announcement said. Customers on limited data plans may appreciate the feature, as it could help them stay under their data caps. But AT&T's decision to enable video throttling by default on unlimited plans that were sold without any mention of such limits has little benefit for customers. It could have some benefit only because AT&T reserves the right to throttle unlimited data plans when customers exceed 22GB a month and connect to a congested cell tower. Using less data for video will help keep "unlimited" customers under 22GB.

"It’s your choice. You can still stream video in higher resolution, when available, whenever you choose," AT&T said. "You control Stream Saver and can turn it off or back on for any qualified line at any time at myAT&T or Premier for business customers. There is no charge to disable or enable Stream Saver."