Author: Ars Staff

Hello Arsians! Courtesy of our partners at TechBargains, we have a ton of great deals today—and one in particular that could sell out quickly. For today only, you can get a Jackery Giant+ 12,000mAh portable battery pack for only $22 and change. The extra battery lets you charge up multiple devices at once via USB, and it's compatible with Android and iOS devices. Considering the pack's list price of $129, you won't be able to find it for a better price after today. Grab it before it's gone!

As usual, we have a big list of other electronics deals below, too.

Featured deals

Greeting Arsians! Courtesy of our partners at TechBargains, the Dealmaster is back! If you missed out on Cyber Monday, it's apparently "Cyber Week" and the deals just keep on coming. The top item this week is a 5K Dell monitor for $1499.99, which is $700 off the MSRP.

Featured deals

• World's First! Dell UltraSharp U2715k 27" 5K 5120x2880 IPS Monitor for $1499.99 (use code ?TNT8QZ3MHG664 - list price $2199).
• Dell P2416d 2560x1440 24" IPS LED Monitor for $249.99 (use code 2NT0GV0HP0BL5G - list price $369).
• AmazonBasics 6-Foot Apple Certified Lightning Cable for $7.99 (list price $14.99).
• Black Friday Price - Nintendo Wii U Deluxe w/ Mario Kart 8 for $249.99 (list price $299.99).
• Cyber Monday Price - Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain for $34.99 (list price $59.99).
• LG 43" 1080p LED HDTV (43LF5400) + $100 Dell Gift Card for $349.99 (list price $499.99).
• Gift Idea - $50 Value at Brookstone for $25 (list price $50)
• Cyber Monday Deal - DropBox Pro Single User Annual Subscription + $25 Dell eGift Card for $79.99 (list price $99.99).

Computers

It stands among the most famous theories ever created, but the general theory of relativity did not spring into being with a single, astonishing paper like the special theory of relativity in 1905. Instead, general relativity's birth was more chaotic, involving a handful of lectures, manuscripts, and more than one parent.

One hundred years ago this fall, that harrowing labor occupied almost an entire month in November 1915. When finished, Einstein finally delivered a theory perfectly formed, if not already mature, and trembling with potential. Today, the general theory retains its status as our modern theory of gravity, and its fundamental equations remain unchanged.

However, we've learned a great deal more about the back story and consequences of general relativity in the past century. In fact over time, this model of gravity, space, and time has come to be regarded by many who know it as perhaps the “most beautiful of all existing physical theories.” But to fully appreciate all the complexity of general relativity—in substance and creation—you need to start before the very beginning.

Two releases ago, Fedora 21 introduced its namesake project's "Fedora Next" plan. The goal was simple—bring the massive, sprawling entity that is Fedora into some neatly organized categories that would clearly define the project's aims. And since Next launched, Fedora has been busy doing just that. The results are impressive, and it feels like the distro has found a renewed sense of purpose.

Fedora Next's structure is like a series of concentric rings where each ring is supported by the one inside it. At the center are the core components of the system, APIs that applications hook into, and so on. On the outside are the visible layers that users interact with, what Fedora calls "Environments."

For the recently unveiled Fedora 23, these Environments consist of Workstation (Desktop), Server, and Cloud. It's the same Environment trio that Fedora offered in its two prior releases. While Cloud still has the feel of an also-ran, the Workstation and Server releases see quite a few new packages. That's especially true for the GNOME-based Workstation, and luckily the changes are largely welcome.

After about 25 to 30 hours of solid work, Xenoblade Chronicles X finally becomes a video game. Before that point, the game exists not to be enjoyed but to rhythmically clobber you into a biomass able to be sculpted into someone capable of playing the remainder of Xenoblade Chronicles X.

X, like its predecessor, is a sort of single-player-only take on the massively multiplayer experience, enabling players to traipse among colossal, uninhibited plains full of creatures that someone, somewhere, probably wants you to kill. But while most modern MMOs will guide you through some semblance of order or direction, X's world is an undirected mishmash.

More than you can possibly comprehend

Xenoblade Chronicles X starts with your protagonist and a whole mess of other poor unfortunates having crash-landed on the planet Mira. Earth is gone thanks to a passing intergalactic war that destroyed your home world as mere collateral damage. Thankfully, a few human cities managed to depart the atmosphere in search of new, habitable worlds.

Battles in Xenoblade Chronicles X play out in real time, in the sense that you can move your character around at will. While you can use any ability you have selected for whatever class you have selected, it's often a better idea to just let the game choose for you.

Every time I boot up Just Cause 3, there are a few minutes of absolute brilliance. An average in-game journey might begin by catapulting via grappling hook into a perfect backflip before soaring into the atmosphere on an indestructible parachute. Properly alternating between grappling hook, parachute, and wingsuit keeps my momentum going. Before I realize it, I've reached my target: a red and silver depot filled with papier-mâché gas tanks and fascists.

Just as I un-sling the ironically indiscriminate grenade launcher at my side, the game stalls. I groan because this has happened before, and it will happen over and over before I’m done with the game.

Weapons of interactive destruction

Just Cause 3 on the PC is a fireball, digitally and metaphorically. In the third entry in the series, pseudo-protagonist Rico Rodriguez has returned to the land where he was raised. His mission: to indiscriminately lay waste to its state-run infrastructure by means that, while maybe not strictly necessary, are certainly many and varied.

Greetings, Arsians! Thanks to our partners at TechBargains, we have a ton of Cyber Monday deals to share. Many retailers have upped the ante from Black Friday, including Amazon which now offers 50 percent off a one-year subscription to Playstation Plus when you purchase the Playstation 4 Uncharted: Nathan Drake bundle. That gaming bundle has also received a $50 price cut, bringing it down to $299. Anyone with a Dell credit should take a look at the company's website, as they are offering the same Playstation bundle for $299 as well.

As usual, we have a bunch of other deals on laptops, TVs, accessories, and more below.

Featured Deals