Month: September 2019

Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica)

Greetings, Arsians! The Dealmaster is back with another round of deals to share. Today's list is headlined by a $25 discount on Amazon's Fire TV Stick 4K that brings the device down to $24.99 with the code "4KFIRETV" at checkout. That's tied for an all-time low and matches the media streamer's Prime Day pricing. The catch? The deal only appears to be available to select customers and will only be up "while supplies last." We got the code to work on both Prime and non-Prime accounts, though, so it's worth taking a stab at it if you're on the hunt for a cheap 4K- and HDR-ready media streamer. We recently recommended the Fire TV Stick 4K in our back-to-school buying guide, if you want some more details on the device's place in the streamer market.

If you're all set on the app watching front, though, the 72W Nekteck USB-C PD wall charger that we highlighted earlier this week is still on sale, as is a competing wall charger from Anker that includes four USB-A ports and a 30W USB-C PD port (which isn't enough to charge most laptops but is still plenty for phones and tablets). The 1TB variant of HP's EX920 is good value for those who want a well-performing internal NVMe solid-state drive at $96, meanwhile, and Celeste, our 2018 game of the year, is half off at Nintendo's eShop. As always, there are more deals beyond that, so have a look at the full list below to see if anything suits your fancy.

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

Enlarge / UK Parliament sends a clear signal: loot boxes in series like FIFA are on notice. (credit: EA / Machkovech)

UK Parliament published a wide-ranging inquiry on Thursday looking into the rise of "immersive and addictive technologies" and what the British government should do to recognize manipulative, unsafe, and otherwise uncouth business practices in a rapidly changing industry. The report covers a lot: user tracking, cyberbullying, esports, social media, and on and on.

Tucked into this sweeping report is at least one wholly firm rebuke of a notorious games industry practice: the loot box. And as far as Parliament is concerned, loot boxes should be banned outright in any games targeted to minors.

"We recommend that loot boxes that contain the element of chance should not be sold to children playing games, and instead in-game credits should be earned through rewards won through playing the games," the Parliament report reads. "In the absence of research which proves that no harm is being done by exposing children to gambling through the purchasing of loot boxes, then, we believe the precautionary principle should apply and they are not permitted in games played by children until the evidence proves otherwise."

Enlarge / Mitchell rides an oversized Donkey Kong machine in the Citrus Bowl parade. (credit: Billy Mitchell / Twitter)

Billy Mitchell is threatening "legal recourse" against Guinness World Records and the Twin Galaxies scoreboard if they don't retract "defamatory statements" against him and reinstate his expunged video game high score world records within the next two weeks.

Last April, in response to a dispute raised by Donkey Kong Forum's Jeremy Young, Twin Galaxies determined that a number of Donkey Kong score tapes submitted by Mitchell were not achieved on an "unmodified original DK arcade PCB [printed circuit board] as per the competitive rules." The scoreboard management thus decided to remove all of Mitchell's scores from its listings, including Mitchell's heavily publicized record for the first perfect Pac-Man score. Guinness, which partners with Twin Galaxies to adjudicate video game-based records, followed suit.

At the time, Mitchell said he planned to provide witnesses and documents that would "show that everything was done professionally, according to the rules." Mitchell has now attempted to do just that, sending Twin Galaxies a 156-page document dump outlining his disputes through a collection of screenshots, witness statements, and "technical evidence."

Enlarge / California Governor Gavin Newsom. (credit: Ray Chavez/The Mercury News via Getty Images)

Both houses of California's legislature have passed sweeping legislation requiring businesses to treat more of their workers as employees rather than independent contractors. As a result, more workers will enjoy protections like the minimum wage and benefits such as unemployment insurance. The bill is now on its way to Governor Gavin Newsom, who is expected to sign it.

The law will apply across the California economy, but it could have particularly stark consequences for Uber and Lyft—both of which are based in the Golden State. The companies currently treat their drivers as independent contractors, and their entire business model is built around that assumption.

In the hours after the legislation cleared the California legislature, Uber and Lyft both blasted the law and vowed to seek changes.

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  Cody Wilson sits in the gallery ahead of his sentencing. [credit: Nathan Mattise ]

AUSTIN, Texas—"All right, Cody Wilson," Judge Brad Urrutia began as he called Wilson and his attorneys, F. Andino Reynal and Joseph Turner, to the front of Travis County's 450th Criminal District Court.

"I see no reason to not go [with the plea deal] though there is sufficient evidence to find you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt for more than 'injury to a child.'"

And with that brief act, Wilson's literal globe-spanning legal drama was over. The founder and former CEO of 3D-printed firearms tech company Defense Distributed had been formally sentenced.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Olena_T)

SpaceX says it plans to change its satellite launch strategy in a way that will speed up deployment of its Starlink broadband service, and has set a new goal of providing broadband in the southern United States late next year.

In a filing on August 30, SpaceX asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to "adjust the orbital spacing of its satellites." With this change, each SpaceX launch would deploy satellites in "three different orbital planes" instead of just one, "accelerating the process of deploying satellites covering a wider service area."

"This adjustment will accelerate coverage to southern states and US territories, potentially expediting coverage to the southern continental United States by the end of the next hurricane season and reaching other US territories by the following hurricane season," SpaceX told the FCC. The Atlantic and Pacific hurricane seasons each begin in the spring and run to November 30 each year.