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Trek at 50: The quest for a unifying theory of time travel in Star Trek

It’s 2016, meaning we now have many examples of Trek’s time paradoxes to explore.

To continue our celebration of Star Trek's 50th anniversary, we've decided to resurface a few of our favorite Trek stories from the Ars archives. Contributor Xaq Rzetelny explored how time travel works across the various series in February 2016, so today his piece travels forward through the space-time continuum.

We're at the start of what should be a big year for Star Trek. The franchise will celebrate its 50^th anniversary this fall, but 2016 also brings a new movie (Star Trek Beyond), the recovery of long-lost documents belonging to Gene Roddenberry, and the development of (finally!) a new series set to launch in January 2017.

It’s no secret that we here at Ars love (and sometimes hate) our Star Trek. With so much time having elapsed since the original series first aired—and with so much time spent watching/reading/thinking through it all—we felt it was about, well, time to thoroughly explore one of our favorite Trek staples: time travel.

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Streaming: Beide aktuellen Chromecasts im Paket für 55 Euro

In einer Sonderaktion verkauft Saturn für ein paar Tage beide Chromecasts für zusammen 55 Euro. Pro Gerät ergibt sich damit eine rechnerische Ersparnis von 12,50 Euro. (Chromecast, Google)

Time to try the Vorkosigan Saga—you’ve never read science fiction like this

Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen explores a futuristic marriage in a new space colony.

Detail from a front plate in the hardback of Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, by Lois McMaster Bujold. (credit: Dave Seeley)

If you're already a fan of Lois McMaster Bujold's award-winning Vorkosigan Saga novels, then this month's release of Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen will bring much rejoicing. If you're new to the series, this novel is an excellent excuse to start reading. It's one of the most realistic and funny novels you'll ever read about space colonization. Somehow it manages to be gripping, despite its focus on balancing military budgets, dealing with defense contractors, and the weirdness of long-term marriage.

Mild spoilers for the Vorkosigan Saga follow.

Meet the Vorkosigans

Bujold began her galaxy-spanning series in the 1980s with a pair of novels, Shards of Honor and Barrayar, about a young starship captain named Cordelia Naismith from the planet Beta. A peaceful, politically progressive planet—basically, Copenhagen in space—Beta sends out scientist-explorers like Cordelia to gather data for its exoplanetary "geological survey." While studying a supposedly uninhabited planet, Cordelia meets the military officer Aral Vorkosigan, from the patriarchal, conservative planet Barrayar, where women tend to be housewives and men destroy themselves on the battlefield. Against all odds, and in the midst of a deadly war, the two fall in love.

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Rosetta: Tschüss, Philae!

Es war eine der spektakulärsten Raumfahrtmissionen: die Landung von Philae auf dem Kometen 67P/Tschurjumow-Gerassimenko. Jetzt haben die Forscher des DLR die Mission für beendet erklärt: Sie glauben nicht, dass sie noch einmal etwas von Philae hören. (Rosetta, Technologie)

BSD: Lumina Desktop rüstet sich für FreeBSD 11.0

Der soeben erschienene Lumina Desktop 0.8.8 soll der letzte Schritt vor der stabilen Version 1.0 sein. Die wird, wenn alles gut geht, im Juli zusammen mit FreeBSD 11.0 veröffentlicht. (BSD, FreeBSD)

Deep Sea Mining: Die Tiefsee ist die Zukunft der Technik

Im Wasser schwimmen Fische – und darunter liegen edle Metalle: Kupfer, Kobalt, Elemente der Seltenen Erden. Stoffe, die für die moderne Technik wichtig sind. Der Run darauf hat schon begonnen. (Wissenschaft, Technologie)

Im Wasser schwimmen Fische - und darunter liegen edle Metalle: Kupfer, Kobalt, Elemente der Seltenen Erden. Stoffe, die für die moderne Technik wichtig sind. Der Run darauf hat schon begonnen. (Wissenschaft, Technologie)

Ubisoft: Assassin’s Creed setzt aus

Ubisoft hat bestätigt, dass Ende 2016 kein Assassin’s Creed erscheint. Stattdessen ist ziemlich sicher mit Watch Dogs 2 zu rechnen – und, unter anderem, mit einem bislang nicht angekündigten Blockbuster-Titel mit Onlinekomponenten. (Assassin’s Creed, Ubisoft)

Ubisoft hat bestätigt, dass Ende 2016 kein Assassin's Creed erscheint. Stattdessen ist ziemlich sicher mit Watch Dogs 2 zu rechnen - und, unter anderem, mit einem bislang nicht angekündigten Blockbuster-Titel mit Onlinekomponenten. (Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft)

MPAA Strikes Industry Defining Copyright Deal with Domain Name Registry

The MPAA and domain registry provider Donuts have signed a new voluntary agreement that may redefine how domain registrars will work with industry groups on copyright matters.

Donuts is the operator behind numerous new domain name extensions, including .EMAIL, .DATING and even .MOVIE.

The new deal gives the MPAA special rights to identify and notify Donuts of any domains that may be engaged in serious copyright breaches, and once all the conditions are met, Donuts will be obligated to suspend that domain.

The conditions, however, seem to place the burden of proof with the MPAA and its members. In addition to providing evidence of "clear and pervasive copyright infringement", the MPAA and its members must also ensure that all other options have been exhausted, including contacting the website's registrar and host.

In addition, only human reviewed complaints can be submitted by the MPAA, thus preventing the automated bot based approach that has been widely used with other copyright notices, such as DMCA take-down requests.

In return, Donuts promises to process complaints expeditiously, but Donuts retains the right to point out concerns and queries regarding the complaint, which must be then addressed by the MPAA via amendments to the original complaint.

Despite these conditions, the MPAA was extremely pleased with the new deal, with MPAA chairman Chris Dodd lauding the ability for a tech company to work together with Hollywood to address the copyright problem.

"This agreement demonstrates that the tech community and content creators can work together on voluntary initiatives to help ensure vibrant, legal digital marketplaces that benefit all members of the online ecosystem," said Dodd.

Uber settles “industry-leading background check” class-action for $28.5M

Plaintiffs: Uber didn’t require fingerprints from drivers, so it wasn’t top-notch.

(credit: Uber)

Uber has agreed to pay $28.5 million to settle a federal class-action lawsuit originally filed in late December 2014 by six men who argued that the startup’s claim of running "industry-leading background checks" was false and misleading. Passengers paid a "safe ride fee," usually $1 to $2 on top of each fare, as a way to offset those costs.

Under the terms of the deal, which was filed on Thursday, Uber will now rename this charge as a “booking fee,” and will alter its language accordingly. The settlement also states that Uber and its subsidiary “expressly deny the allegations” and admit no wrongdoing.

Specifically, the consolidated complaint, which combined other similar lawsuits, alleged:

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Activision Blizzard: Destiny 2 erscheint erst 2017

Keine echte Fortsetzung im aktuellen Jahr, aber eine Erweiterung: Activion hat seine Pläne für Destiny revidiert. Bei der Community dürfte das die Unzufriedenheit über den Onlinemodus noch steigern. (Destiny, Call of Duty)