Month: May 2020

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  The 2020 Nissan Versa is the third generation of the nameplate. It's longer and wider than before, but not as tall. [credit: Nissan ]

Late last year, we reviewed Nissan's new Sentra. As small sedans go, it was attractive and affordable, if a bit uninspiring to drive. As it turns out, if you're looking for an inexpensive new car, Nissan actually has a better option for you—one that's even cheaper. It's the third-generation Versa, and this subcompact starts at a mere $14,730. Even a fully loaded Versa SR like the one we drove for a week will struggle to squeeze under the $20,000 barrier, which makes it remarkably good value in 2020.

I must confess that, at first, I struggled to understand why Nissan would spend the money to develop both the Versa and the Sentra. At first glance, the two sedans look very similar and share a lot of design details, like the V-motion grille and a floating C-pillar. But this is Nissan's entry-level car, which means it's also the smallest one in its range. The vehicle has grown compared to the previous Versa; at 177 inches (4,496mm) long and 68.5 inches (1,740mm) wide, it's slightly longer and wider, and it has a three-inch shorter wheelbase (103.1 inches/2,619mm).

But it is less tall than the last Versa. The exact height depends on the trim level—at 57.7 inches (1,466mm) the SR stands slightly taller than the 57.3 inches (1,455mm) of the S and SV trims, which is a little more than two inches (51mm) less than the previous model, which gives it much better proportions. As always, styling is a subjective thing, but to this observer, it's not a bad-looking car, with some sharp-looking creases on the body panels. Certainly, Nissan has managed to make its sedan lineup look like a cohesive family, which is something not every OEM can say.

Enlarge / A Frontier plane landing back in 2016, when sitting crammed next to other passengers was still deeply unpleasant but didn't feel as potentially life-threatening. (credit: Fabrizio Gandolfo | SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images)

With schools and businesses closed, conferences and conventions canceled, and travel restrictions in effect, very few of us are flying anywhere at the moment. States and countries are already slowly starting to bring themselves back online, though, and eventually, travel with pick up again—at least, to some degree.

But commercial airplanes tend to be essentially airborne sardine cans, in which germ-filled passengers are packed horrifyingly close together, all breathing the same recirculated air. For those who do have to travel, or who are planning to in the rest of 2020, prudence seems advisable. Passengers should wear masks, and airlines can help keep spacing between them by reducing capacity and leaving narrow, overcrowded seats empty for the time being.

No two airlines are handling the uncertain future in quite the same way. Frontier Airlines, though, is going all in on the industry's worst nickel-and-diming impulses and is happy to let you gain a few precious inches of space from your neighbor and their bodily fluids—for an additional fee.

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  Google Meet in the Gmail sidebar. [credit: Google ]

Amid the coronavirus pandemic and stay-at-home orders greatly increasing the demand for video calls, Google is slowly trying to whip together a viable video call platform after ignoring the market for years. Last week, it took its latest video chat service, Google Meet, and added a free tier to the service, which was previously G Suite exclusive. The free tier opened up Google Meet to anyone with a Google account, and now you'll be constantly reminded of the service thanks to a new Gmail integration.

Users are reporting that a Google Meet section has popped up in the sidebar of Gmail, below the mailbox sections and labels. This is a feature that previously only existed in G Suite, but with Google Meet's jump to consumers, the sidebar feature is making the jump, too. There are only two options: "Start a meeting" and "Join a meeting," which just pops up a box that requires a meeting code. The Google Meet section lives in the same panel as Google Hangouts—Google's longest-running instant messaging service—which is pinned to the bottom of the sidebar. While you can hide the Hangouts panel in the Gmail options, it doesn't look like you can turn off the Meet section. At least, that's how my account works right now. This is all on a rollout, so some people will get it earlier than others, and a full release could take weeks.

Google's history with video chat goes hand-in-hand with its incredibly messy and unfocused history with instant messaging apps. Google neglected both markets for years by thinly spreading its development efforts across several competing Google products, and when the pandemic hit, Google didn't have a viable competitor to Zoom, which rode a surging wave of demand to the top of the market. Google Meet existed, but it was exclusively a G Suite product, available only to paying enterprise customers of Google. Zoom was free, simple, and "just worked," so it gained a ton of market share. Google eventually opened up Meet to the general public, but it only started to do so last week, and by then everyone that needed a video service had already picked Zoom. "Chasing Zoom" is now something Google, Skype, and Facebook all find themselves doing.

Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica)

Today's Dealmaster is headed by a new round of Amazon device deals, with a number of Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets, and Echo speakers and smart displays all discounted. The sale is ostensibly available for Mother's Day, though Amazon's ongoing coronavirus-induced shipping delays have made it so most of these items won't make it out in time by this weekend. Still, there are a few worthwhile offers here.

One highlight is the latest Kindle Paperwhite down to $95 from a typical price of $130. We've seen it drop $5-10 cheaper on a handful of occasions, but if you're looking for a new e-reader, this is still a good price for our top pick on the market. Amazon's Fire tablets are also on sale, with the Fire HD 8 down to $60 and the Fire HD 10 down to $110. Again, we've seen all of these slates go for $10 or so cheaper in rarer sales, but each is still 20 to 25 percent off their normal going rates. While none of them can really touch Apple's iPad—which is also on sale today—the Fire HD 8 and 10 are decent values for those who only need a tablet for casual videos and Web browsing. (The entry-level Fire 7 is also on sale for $40, though that's only advisable for people who strictly want to spend as little as possible on a tablet.)

Beyond that, the company's Echo Show 5 and Echo Show 8 are back at their lowest prices to date—$50 and $80, respectively—for those who want an Echo speaker with a display for video calls and more involved smart home controls (and can live with Amazon's data collection policies). There are deals on the more traditional Echo and Echo Dot speakers, too, though the discounts aren't as steep, relatively speaking, as with the other gadgets here.

A newly minted four-star general is assigned the thankless task of establishing the sixth branch of the United States Armed Forces in Netflix's highly anticipated new satirical comedy series, Space Force, starring Steve Carell. Netflix just dropped the official trailer, showcasing an all-star cast and all the sharp, witty writing one would expect from the creators of the US version of The Office.

Created by Carell and Greg Daniels (who also created Parks and Recreation and the new comedy series Upload), Space Force was inspired in part by the Trump administration's announcement that it would establish a national Space Force. (The real-life new branch successfully launched an Atlas V rocket in late March.) The cast also includes John Malkovich (The New Pope), Ben Schwartz (Jean-Ralphio from Parks and Recreation), Jimmy O. Yang (Silicon Valley, Crazy Rich Asians), Noah Emmerich (The Americans), Lisa Kudrow (Friends), and Jane Lynch (Glee, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), among others.

Per the official premise:

Enlarge / A CenturyLink service van parked in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on May 2, 2019. (credit: Getty Images | Robert Alexander )

CenturyLink's slow broadband deployment, already a problem before the pandemic, has gotten even slower as the public health crisis causes cities and towns to halt construction.

Since 2015, CenturyLink has received $505.7 million each year from the US government's Connect America Fund to deploy Internet service to nearly 1.2 million homes and businesses in 33 states. CenturyLink was required to complete 80 percent of that deployment by the end of 2019 but recently told the Federal Communications Commission that it did not meet the end-of-2019 deadline in 23 of the 33 states.

CenturyLink still has not met the end-of-2019 deadline in those 23 states, the company told Ars today. CenturyLink was thus already likely to have trouble meeting the end-of-2020 deadline for completing 100 percent of the government-subsidized construction. Pandemic-related restrictions on construction have slowed CenturyLink down further, the company told FCC officials in a meeting described in an ex parte filing last week: