Month: December 2017

Enlarge / A Soyuz rocket launches from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. (credit: NASA)

Bitcoin's price set a new record on Saturday as the virtual currency rose above $19,000 for the first time on the Bitstamp exchange. The gains came just hours after the currency crossed the $18,000 mark. Bitcoin's value has doubled over the last three weeks, and it's up more than 20-fold over the last year.

Bitcoin's value keeps rising despite a growing chorus of experts who say the currency value is an unsustainable bubble. One CNBC survey this week found that 80 percent of Wall Street economists and market strategists saw bitcoin's rise as a bubble, compared to just two percent who said the currency's value was justified. Another survey reported by the Wall Street Journal this week found that 51 out of 53 economists surveyed thought bitcoin's price was an unsustainable bubble.

We recently asked two experts on the history of bubbles about bitcoin, and both saw echoes of earlier bubbles in the current bitcoin boom.

Enlarge / The interior of a TerraFarm. (credit: Local Roots)

Eric and Matt could not be more earnest in their quest to feed the world.

These two fresh-faced LA boys founded Local Roots four years ago. Their first purchases were broken-down, 40-foot shipping containers—this is apparently easy to do, since it is cheaper for shipping companies to just churn out new ones rather than fix broken ones. Local Roots then upcycles them into modular, shippable, customizable farms, each of which can grow as much produce as five acres of farmland. The idea is to supplement, not supplant, outdoor agriculture. And Ars got a look at one of these "farms" when it was set up in New York City recently.

Every aspect of the TerraFarm, as the repurposed shipping containers have been dubbed, has been designed and optimized. The gently pulsing LED lights are purplish—apparently, that’s what lettuce likes—and the solution in which the plants are grown is clean and clear. The "farm" is bright and vibrant, and it smells great in there.

Enlarge / A man is seen calling on an iPhone on October 30, 2017. (credit: Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The California Department of Public Health officially issued a guidance Friday on how to reduce exposure to radio-frequency energy released by cell phones—despite a lack of solid scientific data suggesting that such exposure poses any harm.

The guidance follows the Department’s legal defeat earlier this year surrounding the release of such a guidance.

In 2014, public health researcher Joel Moskowitz of the University of California, Berkeley, sued the department after it refused to release the guidance to him. The Department said at the time that its guidance was merely an unapproved, incomplete draft that was not ready for public release and could needlessly raise alarm. In a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle at the time, the Department further explained that it had shelved the guidance years ago in accordance with the latest stance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At the time—and to this day—the CDC says that there is no definitive data on the subject and that “more research is needed before we know if using cell phones causes health effects.”

Enlarge / What's in the box? (credit: Getty / Aurich Lawson)

It’s been a rough holiday season for video game loot boxes. The increasingly common in-game microtransactions (usually just a few dollars each) offer a small chance at ultra-rare upgrades, cosmetic tweaks, and a much larger chance at being packed with common junk. Games like Forza Motorsport 7, Need for Speed Payback, and, of course, Star Wars Battlefront 2 are receiving a slew of critical and user ire for the way they push randomized sets of in-game items on players.

While plenty of gamers are fed up with the practice, one gamer who happens to be a Hawaiian state legislator is trying to do something about it.

Last month, state representative Chris Lee publicly launched his effort to pass legislation regulating the sales of video games with loot boxes in Hawaii. In a press conference flanked by religious and business leaders, parents, and affected gamers, he called out “predatory practices in online gaming and the significant financial consequences they can have on families.” Battlefront 2 got specific condemnation as a “Star Wars-themed online casino” in Lee’s telling.

Enlarge (credit: Marlowe Bangeman)

In 1995, after years of declining sales, Alfa Romeo stopped selling its 164 sedan and said goodbye to the US market. Fans of the Italian automaker—and I count myself among them—were crushed. I’ve owned a pair of Spiders—a 1973 and a 1982—and was once a card-carrying member of the Alfa Romeo Owners Club. American Alfa fans watched from afar as the company continued launching new vehicles in Europe, hoping that the iconic badge would cross the Atlantic once more.

Those hopes came to fruition a few years ago when Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, which owns Alfa Romeo, began selling the 8C Competizione and a new 4C Spider. But if you want to crack the American market, you’re going to need more than a pair of pricey roadsters.

Earlier this year, we reviewed the Giulia Quadrifoglio, Alfa’s performance sedan, which my colleague Jonathan Gitlin reckons is one of the best cars he has driven this year. Convincing the folks who usually shop at Audi, BMW, and Lexus dealerships to take Alfa Romeo seriously requires more than a sporty sedan, however. That’s where the Stelvio comes in.