Month: November 2023

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Bloomberg)

Google yesterday sued a group of people accused of weaponizing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to get competitors' websites removed from search results. Over the past few years, the foreign defendants "created at least 65 Google accounts so they could submit thousands of fraudulent notices of copyright infringement against more than 117,000 third-party website URLs," said Google's lawsuit filed in US District Court for the Northern District of California.

Another 500,000 URLs were also targeted, according to Google. "To date, Defendants' scheme has forced Google to investigate and respond to fraudulent takedown requests targeting more than 117,000 third-party website URLs, as well as takedown requests targeting more than half a million additional third-party URLs that are likely fraudulent based on preliminary investigation," the lawsuit said.

Google filed the lawsuit against Nguyen Van Duc and Pham Van Thien, who are both said to live in Vietnam, and 20 defendants whose identities are unknown. Google alleged that the defendants "appear to be connected with websites selling printed t-shirts, and their unlawful conduct aims to remove competing third-party sellers from Google Search results."

Enlarge / The Steam Deck OLED (bottom) sunbathing with its older brother.

When the Steam Deck first launched, our extensive review specifically called out the "ho-hum" LCD screen as “the system's biggest heartbreak.” The “washed-out” color reproduction and “obvious light bleed” were among the more obvious effects of Valve “cut[ting] corners to save cash” on the Deck’s 7-inch LCD panel.

In the many months since that launch, Valve has offered frequent software updates to fix other early issues in areas like game compatibility, stability, and system-level features. But that lackluster LCD screen has remained the Steam Deck’s biggest flaw, a headache that users need to tolerate to enjoy a portable PC gaming experience that's otherwise quite low on compromises.

With the Steam Deck OLED, Valve is ready to eliminate that issue. The new unit, which goes on sale later this week, sports a brilliant screen that’s finally on par with the one Nintendo provided to eager Switch owners over two years ago. Paired with a handful of other small quality-of-life hardware upgrades, the new version of Valve’s handheld should arouse plenty of jealousy in those who are stuck with a now-outdated LCD unit.

Enlarge / The Steam Deck OLED (bottom) sunbathing with its older brother.

When the Steam Deck first launched, our extensive review specifically called out the "ho-hum" LCD screen as “the system's biggest heartbreak.” The “washed-out” color reproduction and “obvious light bleed” were among the more obvious effects of Valve “cut[ting] corners to save cash” on the Deck’s 7-inch LCD panel.

In the many months since that launch, Valve has offered frequent software updates to fix other early issues in areas like game compatibility, stability, and system-level features. But that lackluster LCD screen has remained the Steam Deck’s biggest flaw, a headache that users need to tolerate to enjoy a portable PC gaming experience that's otherwise quite low on compromises.

With the Steam Deck OLED, Valve is ready to eliminate that issue. The new unit, which goes on sale later this week, sports a brilliant screen that’s finally on par with the one Nintendo provided to eager Switch owners over two years ago. Paired with a handful of other small quality-of-life hardware upgrades, the new version of Valve’s handheld should arouse plenty of jealousy in those who are stuck with a now-outdated LCD unit.

Enlarge / ULA's Vulcan rocket rolls to the launch pad for testing. (credit: United Launch Alliance)

Lockheed Martin and Boeing are close to selecting a buyer for United Launch Alliance, two sources told Ars. The jointly owned rocket company, which was founded in 2006 and for a time had a monopoly on US government launch contracts, has been up for sale most of this year.

The sources say three buyers have emerged for the Colorado-based launch company. These include a private equity fund, the Jeff Bezos-owned space company Blue Origin, and a well-capitalized aerospace firm that is interested in increasing its space portfolio.

There is precedent for a private equity firm—typically a group of investors that purchases a company, overhauls it, and then resells the business—buying a launch company. In early 2022, AE Industrial Partners acquired the launch and space services company Firefly.

Enlarge / ULA's Vulcan rocket rolls to the launch pad for testing. (credit: United Launch Alliance)

Lockheed Martin and Boeing are close to selecting a buyer for United Launch Alliance, two sources told Ars. The jointly owned rocket company, which was founded in 2006 and for a time had a monopoly on US government launch contracts, has been up for sale most of this year.

The sources say three buyers have emerged for the Colorado-based launch company. These include a private equity fund, the Jeff Bezos-owned space company Blue Origin, and a well-capitalized aerospace firm that is interested in increasing its space portfolio.

There is precedent for a private equity firm—typically a group of investors that purchases a company, overhauls it, and then resells the business—buying a launch company. In early 2022, AE Industrial Partners acquired the launch and space services company Firefly.

Enlarge (credit: USGS)

With Europa and Enceladus getting most of the attention for their subsurface oceans and potential to host life, other frozen worlds have been left in the shadows—but the mysterious Jovian moon Ganymede is now making headlines.

While Ganymede hasn’t yet been observed spewing plumes of water vapor like Saturn’s moon Enceladus, Jupiter’s largest moon is most likely hiding an enormous saltwater ocean. Hubble observations suggest that the ocean—thought to sit under 150 km (95 miles) of ice—could be up to 100 km (60 miles) deep. That’s 10 times deeper than the ocean on Earth.

Ganymede is having a moment because NASA’s Juno mission observed salts and organic compounds on its surface, possibly from an ocean that lies beneath its crust of ice. While Juno’s observations can't provide decisive evidence that this moon has an ocean that makes Earth look like a kiddie pool, the Juno findings are the strongest evidence yet of salts and other chemicals making it to the exterior of Ganymede.