Month: November 2018

Enlarge (credit: Valentina Palladino)

Kobo has its work cut out for it. The digital bookshop company reentered the US market this year, teaming up with Walmart to sell Kobo e-readers, the millions of books in its e-book library, and a new audiobook subscription service. The Rakuten-owned company faces stiff competition not just from Amazon, the reigning e-reader and e-book king, but also the looming reality that e-reader technology hasn't changed drastically enough to propel consistent sales growth in recent years.

But Kobo is convinced that it can thrive in the US by offering competitive e-readers that feature no ads and by using Walmart's physical and online reach to introduce e-books and audiobooks to new customers. To do this successfully, Kobo needs a few things: solid e-readers at various price points, a vast e-book and audiobook library with deals and incentives that create loyal customers, and, hopefully, unique features that Amazon doesn't have.

We tested out the $279 Kobo Forma, one of the company's newest e-readers and its competitor for Amazon's $249 Kindle Oasis. It's decked out with all of Kobo's advanced e-reader features—an 8-inch 300ppi E Ink display, a waterproof design, and zero advertisements, to name a few—and as a whole, the Forma dutifully showcases what Kobo can add to the US e-book market.

Homebrewing hard cider: The basics (video link)

Update: It's Thanksgiving in the US, and Ars staffers are off experimenting in the kitchen rather than on the page. Actually, sometimes we experiment in the kitchen in order to put it on the page, too—like this 2013 series on home brewing some delightfully autumnal hard cider. While it's too late to get the job done for today's big meal, allow this guide to inspire you for your large winter gatherings. This piece originally ran on October 19, 2013, and it appears unchanged below.

My relationship with beer has grown too comfortable. We share an easy routine: I buy it at the store—a different kind almost every time—take it home, and drink it. I'm not sure how the beer feels about this, but it seems happy. Still, things have gotten boring. So I'm taking the next step: making my own hard cider.

I chose cider for my first foray into home brewing for a couple of reasons. First, much as I would like to make beer, it involves a more extended process and more specialized ingredients. Wine is closer to cider in simplicity, but I envision cheaply made homebrewed wine tasting much worse than cheaply made cider. Furthermore, autumn comes but once a year; I can buy a wine or beer kit any time, but there’s only a couple of months during which I can get good soft cider.

Enlarge / The kiss, which takes place during one of the episode's final scenes. (credit: CBS)

50 years ago—November 22, 1968—CBS aired an otherwise-forgettable Star Trek episode with an unforgettable moment.

Captain James Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura, under mind-control by aliens in a totally ridiculous plot involving adherents to Plato, kiss for a few fleeting moments.

The smooching scene has been commonly referred to as television’s first interracial kiss—but there’s compelling evidence that it actually wasn’t.