Month: November 2017

Enlarge / Aww. Well, if the 13-lined ground squirrel doesn’t save your brain, maybe it’ll warm your heart. (credit: Phil Myers, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan)

Stroke treatments have been a tough nut to crack. So, naturally, scientists have turned to squirrels for inspiration.

In the latest cache of data, researchers dug up a drug that can essentially flip a hibernation switch in brain cells, mimicking conditions in the noggins of dormant squirrels and potentially cushioning the blow from strokes and other cardiovascular incidents. In early tests, the drug protected cells in lab from oxygen and glucose depletion—cell-killing conditions during strokes and hibernation. The drug could also activate those protective hibernation conditions in the brains of live, non-hibernating mice.

The drug development is in its earliest phases—many, many years will have to pass before it finds its way into a clinic, if it even makes it that far (most early drug candidates don’t). But, this latest research follows years of fundamental work on making our brains act more like that of a hibernating squirrel in dire situations. And researchers are still bright-eyed and bushy-tailed about the approach.

Enlarge / Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai arrives for his confirmation hearing with the Senate Commerce Committee on July 19, 2017 in Washington, DC. (credit: Getty Images | Chip Somodevilla )

In addition to ditching its own net neutrality rules, the Federal Communications Commission also plans to tell state and local governments that they cannot impose local laws regulating broadband service.

This detail was revealed by senior FCC officials in a phone briefing with reporters today, and is a victory for broadband providers that asked for widespread preemption of state laws. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's proposed order finds that state and local laws must be preempted if they conflict with the US government's policy of deregulating broadband Internet service, FCC officials said. The FCC will vote on the order at its December 14 meeting.

It isn't clear yet exactly how extensive the preemption will be. Preemption would clearly prevent states from imposing net neutrality laws similar to the ones being repealed by the FCC, but also could prevent state laws related to the privacy of Internet users or other consumer protections. Pai's staff said that states and other localities do not have jurisdiction over broadband because it is an interstate service, and that it would subvert federal policy for states and localities to impose their own rules.

Enlarge (credit: Ken Marshall)

A report in the Financial Times claims Apple has employed teenaged students to manufacture iPhone X components and that those students worked illegal overtime. Additionally, according to one of the students cited in the report, a school had students working at the factory as part of their educational programs.

The report cited only six workers out of the thousands working at the facility. But Apple and Foxconn have acknowledged that cases of illegal overtime did occur and that they are taking action to address the situation.

Apple provided the following statement to Ars:

Greetings, Arsians! Courtesy of our friends at TechBargains, we have another round of deals to share. Though the Black Friday madness is still a couple days away, various retailers have already kicked off deals that will remain live through this week's shopping event. Those include Sony's PlayStation 4 marked down to $200; while the likes of Kohl's and GameStop will include gift cards with this deal on Black Friday itself, that's still about as low as it's been on Amazon.

Among the other early highlights: Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite and Fire HD 10 have been slashed by $30 and $50, respectively, while a number of high-end Lenovo and Dell laptops have been cut as well. You can check out the full list below.

(credit: TechBargains)

Note: Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.

Enlarge / Here’s the 5T (left) compared to the OnePlus 5 (right). It’s a big improvement, packing more screen into the same size body. (credit: Ron Amadeo)

Today is OnePlus 5T launch day. The $500 phone with high-end specs and a slim bezel design is up for sale on the OnePlus website, where the current ship time is seven days.

The release also makes it the end of the line for the OnePlus 5T's predecessor, the OnePlus 5. Just like with the OnePlus 3 to 3T transition, the release of a new OnePlus phone means the death of the old one. The OnePlus 5 and 5T are pretty similar, as the name would suggest, but the OnePlus 5T has a new front with a taller screen and on-screen buttons, a new rear fingerprint reader, and a new camera setup. It gets a $20 price bump.

If you're in the market for an Android phone and don't want to pay top dollar for a Pixel 2 XL, the OnePlus 5T is a solid choice. It's not just OnePlus' usual high-end specs for a low price; this year, it also has a modern, high-end design that can hold its own with the $800 flagships out there. The 5T is also made of metal, which, along with the Pixel 2, makes it one of the rare flagships that isn't totally made of glass. You do make some tradeoffs: there's no waterproofing, OnePlus' support isn't great, and there's no wireless charging.

Enlarge (credit: Bloomberg / Getty Images News)

Colorado authorities have issued an $8.9 million fine against Uber for authorizing drivers who had prior disqualifying criminal or vehicle-related offenses.

According to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, Uber allowed 57 drivers over the last 18 months who should not have been permitted to drive for the company.

The agency wrote in a Monday statement that its staff "launched an investigation earlier this year after a referral from the Vail Police Department about an Uber driver accused of assaulting a passenger."

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Press clover-space on a Mac (aka apple-space or command-space to Apple users) and you get a search box slap bang in the middle of the screen; type things into it and it'll show you all the things it can find that match. On Windows, you can do the same kind of thing—hit the Windows key and then start typing—but the results are shown in the bottom left of your screen, in the Start menu or Cortana pane.

The latest insider build of Windows, build 17040 from last week, has a secret new search interface that looks a lot more Mac-like. Discovered by Italian blog Aggiornamenti Lumia, set a particular registry key and the search box appears in the middle of the screen. The registry key calls it "ImmersiveSearch"—hit the dedicated key, and it shows a simple Fluent-designed search box and results. This solution looks and feels a lot like Spotlight on macOS.

The basic Windows type-to-search interface and experience hasn't changed much since its introduction in Windows Vista. For me, at least, it transformed how I used Windows, and type-to-search is how I've launched most programs, most of the time, for the last decade. The new interface offers much more room for results, and those results can be far more detailed. So while the new interface has some rough edges, it looks like a solid improvement.