Month: July 2022

Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica)

It's the weekend, which means it's time for another Dealmaster. Our latest roundup of the best tech deals from around the web is headlined by a number of discounts we saw during Amazon's Prime Day sale that are still available.

Google's Pixel 6 Pro phone, for one, is still down to $699. That's $200 off Google's MSRP and matches the lowest price we've tracked for what we consider the best Android phone you can buy right now. More budget-conscious buyers should note the Pixel 6a is just around the corner and will deliver the same clean software and fast Google Tensor SoC as its siblings for $449. For those who want more power, though, the 6 Pro will still offer a larger display (6.7 inches, instead of 6a's 6.1-inch screen), a higher refresh rate (120 Hz instead of 60 Hz), more RAM (12GB instead of 6GB), and a bigger battery (5,000 mAh instead of 4,410 mAh), among other upgrades. Unfortunately, the deal that brought the standard Pixel 6 down to $499 earlier this week is no longer available.

Beyond that, other highlights include the Beats Fit Pro discounted to $160; that remains the lowest price to date for a set of true wireless earphones we recommend to those who want a more gym-friendly take on Apple's AirPods Pro. Anker's Soundcore Motion+, a powerful and waterproof Bluetooth speaker we like, represents a good value at its current price of $80. And Jaipur, a quick and accessible card game we highlight in our list of the best two-player board games, is still at the lowest price we've seen this year.

Enlarge / This is the last time that the Manhattan skyline will play backdrop to Formula E's Gen2 car, shown here. Next year the sport gets an all-new machine with a lot more power and a lot less mass.

Formula E makes its annual return to Red Hook this weekend for the New York City ePrix. Ars sadly won't be on hand for the races, which is a shame as it will be my last chance to see the Gen2 electric race car in action. I will have to make every effort to be there in 2023, however.

Next year will see significant changes for the all-electric racing series, including a much more powerful, much faster racing car and changes to some rules to make the races interesting. I can't guarantee it, but I think there's a good chance we won't see the return of Fan Boost, which will make some corners of the internet happy.

What's clear is that the series remains unafraid of thinking differently, and it's helpful to remember that we're talking about a sport that's still only in its eighth season. Jamie Reigle took over as Formula E's CEO in 2019, and last week I spoke to him about how the series has progressed and what we should look forward to in the next few years.

Enlarge (credit: Maskot/Getty)

To graduate with a science major, college students must complete between 40 and 60 credit hours of science coursework. That means spending around 2,500 hours in the classroom throughout their undergraduate career.

However, research has shown that despite all that effort, most college science courses give students only a fragmented understanding of fundamental scientific concepts. The teaching method reinforces memorization of isolated facts, proceeding from one textbook chapter to the next without necessarily making connections between them, instead of learning how to use the information and connect those facts meaningfully.

The ability to make these connections is important beyond the classroom as well, because it’s the basis of science literacy: the ability to use scientific knowledge to accurately evaluate information and make decisions based on evidence.