Month: October 2017

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Today, Apple released iOS 11.1 and macOS High Sierra 10.13.1, which bring a notable security update, bug fixes, and a handful of other changes to modern iPhones, iPads, iPods, and Macs.

Critically, both software updates address the KRACK Wi-Fi vulnerability for some devices. It is a serious vulnerability in the WPA2 Wi-Fi security standard that allowed hostile actors to perform a key reinstallation and listen to Wi-Fi traffic for passwords and other personal data, among other things.

Update: As Ars readers have pointed out, Apple's support documentation states that the iOS KRACK fix is available for iPhone 7 and later, and for the early 2016, 9.7-inch iPad Pro and later. That could leave many iOS devices still exposed.

Enlarge (credit: PUBG Corp./Microsoft)

The landing date for Playerunknown's Battlegrounds on Xbox One is now official: December 12. The white-hot PC shooter game will land on all Xbox One consoles that day in the paid "Xbox Game Preview" program—which is Xbox's "Early Access" equivalent and therefore indicative of an unfinished product.

That should sound familiar to players of PUBG's current PC version, which has leaned on its Early Access status there while suffering from its share of bugs. Yet today's news has a silver lining for that platform as well: a simultaneous announcement of the PC edition's "1.0" version coming "in late December," according to the CEO of PUBG Corp., Chang Han Kim.

The announcement, made at this week's Paris Games Show during an Xbox event, is sadly scant on some key details for both platforms. In the Xbox One's case, Kim was not forthcoming about the console version's price [Update: because Microsoft already announced it at $29.99], nor whether the Xbox Game Preview price would be different from the console version's final cost (whenever it's "completed," that is). Kim also didn't go into detail about what enhancements owners of the upcoming Xbox One X should expect for PUBG. (And there certainly wasn't any mention of the game coming to other consoles any time soon.)

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The latest software update for the Apple Watch, watchOS 4.1, is now available for all users to download. The update brings a slew of promised features to the new Series 3 Watch, including Apple Music and Radio streaming support, GymKit compatibility, and a Wi-Fi toggle option in the Control Center.

The Apple Watch Series 3 has been available since mid-September, but a couple of major features did not accompany the device at launch. Series 3 devices with LTE service will be able to stream content from Apple Music and Radio with this update, as well as content from the user's iCloud Music Library. Previously, Apple Watch models could only sync selected playlists from iTunes for playback through connected wireless earbuds. Now, those with an LTE-supported device can use that data service or Wi-Fi to stream content no matter where they are (as long as the wireless connection is decent) and without the paired iPhone present. The update also brings a new Radio app that lets users stream radio stations like Beats1 and stations accessible via Apple Music subscriptions.

WatchOS 4.1 brings GymKit to the Series 3, allowing the device to connect to compatible exercise equipment to share data. This means users will be able to pair the Series 3 with a capable treadmill, elliptical, or other gym machine to display data like heart rate directly on the machine. Compatible gym equipment will also share data like distance with the Series 3 so it can capture more accurate in-gym workout data.

Enlarge / Zika virus. (credit: Getty | BSIP)

A gene is a DNA sequence that encodes the instructions for when and where to make a particular protein. But most of the DNA in our genome—well over ninety percent—is not composed of genes.

The argument over the role of this seemingly extraneous DNA has swung back and forth. In the 1970s, it was thought to be generally useless junk. But in 2012, the ENCODE consortium (the ENCyclopedia Of DNA Elements—cute, right?) posited that most of the DNA had some sort of activity. Earlier this year, a new analysis insisted again that it's just junk.

Even as that debate was raging among researchers, viruses have used some of the noncoding DNA for their own purposes: to hijack our cellular metabolism and promote their own replication. Results are reported in Science.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Scott Olson)

Verizon has asked the Federal Communications Commission to preempt any state laws that regulate network neutrality and broadband privacy.

The FCC's Republican majority is on course to overturn two-year-old net neutrality rules, perhaps by the end of the year. Broadband privacy rules passed by the FCC during the Obama administration were already undone by Congress and President Donald Trump early this year.

With the two sets of rules either gone or on their way out, it's possible that state governments might impose similar rules to protect consumers in their states. Verizon told the FCC in a filing last week that the commission should preempt laws in any state that does so.