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UL, the 122-year-old safety standards organisation whose various marks (UL, ENEC, etc.) certify minimum safety standards in fields as diverse as electrical wiring, cleaning products, and even dietary supplements, is now tackling the cybersecurity of Internet of Things (IoT) devices with its new UL 2900 certification. But there's a problem: UL's refusal to share the text of the new standard leaves some experts wondering if UL knows what they're doing.

When Ars requested a copy of the UL 2900 docs to take a closer look at the standard, UL (formerly known as Underwriters Laboratories) declined, indicating that if we wished to purchase a copy—retail price, around £600/$800 for the full set—we were welcome to do so. Independent security researchers are also, we must assume, welcome to become UL retail customers.

"It's very concerning," Brian Knopf of I Am The Cavalry, a group of security researchers focused on public safety issues, told Ars. "Without transparency, the research community cannot help improve or audit the standards." As Ars has previously reported, Knopf is leading an effort to develop a five-star cybersecurity rating system for IoT devices.

I don't have access to Ubisoft's many bank accounts, but Tom Clancy's The Division looks like the most expensive game the publisher has made by some distance. The Clancy brand alone represents decades' worth of investment, the production values are phenomenal, and a long marketing campaign was rewarded with the best first-week sales of any new franchise ever. These financial reference points are important because they tell us something about The Division: it is a blockbuster designed for the mass-market or, to use industry terminology, an exemplary "triple-A" title.

Working on a game like this is a dream opportunity for many developers, and like any project it comes with restrictions. When you're designing for a mainstream audience, rather than designing a game you hope will find an audience, aspects like how challenging it is are the subject of obsessive tweaking. A mainstream game wants a smooth learning curve with just enough friction, avoiding extremes that could either frustrate or bore the player.

One could argue that The Division is aiming at a player who doesn't exist—the "average" player—and so there is no perfect balance, just the best possible compromise. The developers nevertheless control the numbers at the heart of The Division's gunplay, and post-launch have and will continue to tweak aspects of the game that the player base has trouble with.

Lee Hutchinson

The Ubiquiti Unifi US-8-150W.

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It’s been a bit over six months since I made the switch from consumer-grade Wi-Fi at home to a more sophisticated set-up, tossing out my old Apple Airport Extreme base station in favor of three linked Ubiquiti Unifi UAP-AC-PRO access points. The change from consumer to enterprise gear (or "enterprise lite," as a lot of folks have e-mailed in to tell me) has been very positive and aside from a bit of management overhead and the pain of actually crawling around in my attic to run cables for the things, I don’t believe I have encountered any real downsides.

One major difference with the Ubiquiti Unifi APs is that they run on Power Over Ethernet (POE) rather than directly off of an electrical outlet. You don’t have to have a POE-compatible switch to use them, since the APs come with small POE injectors which can tap power from regular outlets, but having a POE switch simplifies set-up and also (assuming you connect the switch to a UPS) gives you an easy way to keep your Wi-Fi powered in the event of a power outage. After getting my Unifi gear installed, the first thing I looked for was a POE switch so I could ditch the little POE injectors.

(credit: Cyrus Farivar)

VACAVILLE, Calif.—Matthew Keys just can’t stop working, even when he’s about to face a federal judge who could put him away in prison for years.

On a recent afternoon, the 29-year-old journalist sat outside at a Boudin restaurant in his hometown, reading various news stories on his laptop. Keys, who is currently unemployed, most recently held a job at Grasswire before the company terminated all of its paid employees in January 2016 after failing to secure new investment. Keys has continued to interview for other journalism jobs.

"I’m trying to do as much work as I can now," he said.