Month: June 2017

Aston Martin

Picture the scene: it's a few years in the future. James Bond is on a mission in Amsterdam, or Paris, or some other forward-thinking European city that has just banned internal combustion vehicles from the city center. But Spectre is up to something, and our intrepid hero—who doesn't like taxis or public transport—needs to find out what's happening while arriving in style. Commander Bond is in luck, for he is behind the wheel of an electric Aston Martin, the RapidE.

The venerable British carmaker announced on Tuesday that its first electric vehicle will go on sale in 2019. "RapidE represents a sustainable future in which Aston Martin’s values of seductive style and supreme performance don’t merely co-exist alongside a new zero-emission powertrain, but are enhanced by it," said Dr. Andy Palmer, Aston Martin's president and CEO, in a statement.

Amazon's "Prime Exclusive Phones" program takes mid to low-end Android phones loads them with ads and Amazon apps, and cuts around $50 off the price for Prime subscribers. If you can deal with the ads, it's usually a good deal for a budget phone. Today, Amazon is adding five new phones to the Prime Exclusive Phone program, from Nokia, Motorola, and Alcatel.

First up is the freshly announced-for-the-US Nokia 6, which is HMD's first swing at Android-powered Nokia phones. The Prime program gives you $50 off in exchange for ads, bringing the $229.99 price down to $179.99. Besides the fantastic metal body and build quality, the Nokia 6, gives you a 5.5-inch 1080p screen, Android 7.1, a Snapdragon 430, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a 16MP rear camera, an 8MP front camera, and a 3000mAh battery. There's also an SD card slot and dual speakers.

Enlarge / This is the note that's left on computers infected by PetyaWrap. (credit: Eset)

A new ransomware attack similar to last month's self-replicating WCry outbreak is sweeping the world with at least 80 large companies infected, reportedly including drug maker Merck, international shipping company Maersk, law firm DLA Piper, UK advertising firm WPP, and, snack food maker Mondelez International.

PetyaWrap, as the ransomware is called, uses the same potent National Security Agency exploit that allowed WCry to paralyze hospitals, shipping companies, and train stations in a matter of hours on May 12. EternalBlue, as the exploit was code-named by its NSA developers, was published in April by a still-unknown group calling itself the Shadow Brokers. The leak gave people with only moderate technical skills a powerful vehicle for delivering virtually any kind of digital warhead. Microsoft patched the underlying vulnerability in Windows 7 and 8.1 in March, and in a rare move the company issued fixes for unsupported Windows versions 24 hours after the WCry outbreak. That meant infections were only possible on machines that were running outdated versions of the OS.

PetyaWrap, according to researchers at antivirus provider F-Secure, uses a modified version of EternalBlue. There are also reports that it makes use of booby-trapped Microsoft Excel documents attached to phishing e-mails. The precise relationship between the malicious attachments and the EternalBlue exploit isn't yet clear. One possibility is that the e-mails are used to infect one or more computers in an organization and the ransomware than uses the NSA exploit to spread to other machines on the same network.

The SNES Classic Edition may officially sell for $80, but that's much less than some are willing to pay to secure a pre-order. (credit: eBay)

It has been less than 24 hours since the Super NES Classic Edition was announced, and we're still more than three months away from the plug-and-play system shipping to retailers. But that hasn't stopped resellers from profiting off "guaranteed" pre-orders for the system at significant markups over retail price.

A quick search on eBay already shows 23 "sold" listings for the Super NES Classic Edition (including its international counterparts) at a median price of $199, or a 150-percent markup from the $80 MSRP Nintendo is asking for. On Ebay UK, you can find 22 more units than have sold for a median of £180 (about $230), up significantly above the £70 to £80 retail price. One seller managed to get $389.99 for his pre-order, earning more than $300 in profit for being able to click quickly on the "buy" button.

Major US retailers seemingly haven't opened up official pre-orders for the Super NES Classic Edition yet, though some have set up landing pages to sign up for future stock alerts). Online pre-orders at British retailers including Amazon, Game, Smyths, and ShopTo sold out incredibly quickly after going up yesterday. Nintendo's official UK store also sold out within minutes after offering the system online today.

Enlarge / Anyone else spend an inordinate amount of time on this? (credit: Aurora Feint)

This week, we're looking back at the original iPhone and examining its impact on the 10-year anniversary of the device's release. Earlier today, we explored how the iPhone impacting gaming during its first decade, and as such we thought this round-up of our favorite titles from the first batch of iPhone games deserved another look. This resurfaced piece first ran on August 5, 2008.

The App Store has introduced a bevy of third-party apps in every category imaginable. Admittedly, some are of questionable quality, but others, we have discovered, are made of pure win with a sprinkle of crack cocaine. At the Ars Orbiting HQ, we find ourselves frequently chatting about which apps we can't live without, and games are naturally at the top of everyone's lists. Because we love our readers, we thought we might share with you a list of our favorite iPhone games that you should check out. Here we go, in no particular order.

Dizzy Bee

Price: $2.99, free version available (Free in 2017)
Developer: Igloo Games

Enlarge (credit: Mike Mozart)

Comcast and Charter have reportedly started negotiating with Sprint, as the two biggest cable companies in the US explore the possibility of buying the wireless carrier or investing in its network.

Comcast and Charter last month announced an agreement to cooperate in their plans to sell mobile phone service, an agreement that also forbids each company from making wireless acquisitions and investments without the other's consent for one year. Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal reported that "Sprint has entered into exclusive talks with Charter and as the cable companies explore a deal that could bolster their plans to offer wireless service, according to people familiar with the matter."

There are a couple different arrangements being considered. In one, the cable companies would invest in "improving Sprint’s network in exchange for favorable terms to offer wireless service using the carrier’s network," possibly by taking an equity stake.