Month: September 2019

(credit: Getty Images | DonNichols)

Comcast and several TV network owners have sued the state of Maine to stop a law that requires cable companies to offer à la carte access to TV channels. The complaint in US District Court in Maine was filed Friday by Comcast, Comcast subsidiary NBCUniversal, A&E Television Networks, C-Span, CBS Corp., Discovery, Disney, Fox Cable Network Services, New England Sports Network, and Viacom.

The companies claim the Maine law—titled "An Act To Expand Options for Consumers of Cable Television in Purchasing Individual Channels and Programs"—is preempted by the First Amendment and federal law. The Maine law is scheduled to take effect on September 19 and says that "a cable system operator shall offer subscribers the option of purchasing access to cable channels, or programs on cable channels, individually." The lawsuit seeks an injunction to prevent the law from being enforced.

Many cable TV customers want the ability to pay for channels individually instead of in large bundles, in hopes of getting only the channels they want and saving money in the process. But cable TV operators and the programmers that license their content to cable TV operators have resisted changes to the bundle system.

Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica)

Greetings, Arsians! The Dealmaster is back with another round of deals to share. Today's list is headlined by a new low on Nekteck's 72W USB-C PD wall charger, which is down to $25.49 on Amazon. The four-port charger has gone on sale for $30 a few times in the past but normally goes for $36.

Nekteck isn't exactly a household name, but over the past couple of years it has put out a number of chargers and cables that we can vouch for after testing. We recommended this particular charger in our recent Back to School gift guide. It plugs into a wall through an AC power cord, so it's not as portable as chargers that go directly into an outlet, but for those who often need to charge multiple devices at their desk, it's safe and effective. The charging unit itself isn't overly large, and it comes with four ports: three USB-A outlets that split 12W of power between them and one 60W USB-C PD port. The latter provides enough power to charge most modern laptops with USB-C PD ports at close to full speed and is more than enough to charge any new phone or tablet at their maximum. Notably, the device is also USB-IF certified, so it has been approved by the body that maintains the USB spec. There's a 3-foot USB-C cable in the box as well as a 12-month warranty on the off chance something goes wrong.

If you don't need a new fast charger, we also have deals on Instant Pots, Lenovo's last-gen (but still great) ThinkPad X1 Carbon ultrabook, Philips Hue bulbs, a great ultrawide gaming monitor from LG, and much more. Have a look for yourself below.

Enlarge / President Donald Trump has continued to insist Alabama was threatened by Hurricane Dorian. (credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

A soft-spoken, contrite, and at times emotional Neil Jacobs, acting head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, addressed the annual meeting of the National Weather Association on Tuesday morning in Huntsville, Alabama. Intertwining anecdotes on his own career path with comments about Hurricane Dorian, Jacobs expressed his support for the National Weather Service in the wake of the storm. "Weather should not be a partisan issue," Jacobs emphasized toward the end of his speech.

The weather community has been buffeted by a storm of its own following President Donald Trump's insistence that his comments about Dorian threatening Alabama were valid (although they were not, and in fact were a distraction to forecasters), his doctoring of a forecast map, the issuance of a questionable, unsigned statement from NOAA on Friday, and reports that Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross threatened to fire top employees at NOAA after the agency’s Birmingham office contradicted President Trump’s claim.

"(Friday's) statement did not say that we understand and fully support the good intent of the Birmingham office to calm fears and support public safety," Jacobs said, adding he was proud of the work of all National Weather Service forecast offices. He also acted to reassure Weather Service employees that their jobs, and how they perform them, are not in jeopardy. "There is no pressure to change the way you communicate forecast risk into the future," Jacobs noted.

Enlarge / The Tick brings Mighty Blue Justice with the help of his sidekick, Arthur. (credit: Fox Broadcasting)

Ars readers of a certain age may well remember spending Saturday mornings watching talking giant blue arachnids bringing mighty blue justice to evildoers in the animated series, The Tick. The series turns 25 today and remains a cult favorite two decades after its tragic cancellation after just three seasons.

The Tick is the creation of Ben Edlund, who started writing a comic book series while he was still in college. He and co-writer Richard Liebmann-Smith came up with a pilot that was ultimately approved by Fox, and the animated series debuted on September 10, 1994. The darker aspects of the comic were abandoned for the more kid-friendly animated series, although Edlund kept the satire, absurdist/surreal scenarios, and cheeky irreverence. Sure, it was aimed at kids, but the series gained a cult adult following over the years, drawn by all the weird, whip-smart in-jokes about history, pop culture, science, and so forth. The Tick ranked sixth on IGN's 2009 list of the Top 100 Animated Series. IGN compared the show's tone to Monty Python and Mel Brooks, and declared it "the first great lampooning of the superhero genre."

(Spoilers from all three seasons below.)

Enlarge / Artist's rendering of the reaction at the sites affected by the UK high court's recent ruling.

Nintendo has obtained a court order from the England and Wales High Court requiring five major ISPs in the country to block access to four sites that it says promote Nintendo Switch software piracy.

The sites in question center around the sale and promotion of SX OS, a popular commercial Switch hacking product developed by Team Xecutor. That OS allows users to easily play illicit copies of copyrighted Switch software as well as fan-made homebrew software. Sites discussing a rival open source Switch hacking effort developed by Team Atmosphere are unaffected by this week's ruling.

The court order notes that Switch systems sold since June 2018 are unable to take advantage of SX OS. "But there remains a very substantial number of the earlier, vulnerable Nintendo Switch consoles in circulation and there is evidence of active attempts being made to circumvent the [technological protection measures] even on the post-June 2018 Nintendo Switches," the order continues.