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Comodo, the world's biggest issuer of browser-trusted digital certificates for websites, has come under fire for registering trademarks containing the words "let's encrypt," a phrase that just happens to be the name of a nonprofit project that provides certificates for free.

In a blog post, a Let's Encrypt senior official said Comodo has filed applications with the US Patent and Trademark Office for at least three such trademarks, including "Let's Encrypt," "Let's Encrypt with Comodo," and "Comodo Let's Encrypt." Over the past few months, the nonprofit has repeatedly asked Comodo to abandon the applications, and Comodo has declined. Let's Encrypt, which is the public face of the Internet Security Research Group, said it has been using the name since November 2014.

"We’ve forged relationships with millions of websites and users under the name Let’s Encrypt, furthering our mission to make encryption free, easy, and accessible to everyone," Josh Aas, ISRG executive director, wrote. "We’ve also worked hard to build our unique identity within the community and to make that identity a reliable indicator of quality. We take it very seriously when we see the potential for our users to be confused, or worse, the potential for a third party to damage the trust our users have placed in us by intentionally creating such confusion."

United Launch Alliance

An Atlas V rocket launched Friday morning from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

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The Atlas V rocket is not the world's most powerful rocket, but it can credibly claim to be the most reliable. Before Friday morning, it had flown 62 times into space, completing its primary mission each time. That 100 percent mission success rate is unparalleled in the history of orbital rockets over so many flights. Accordingly, it's a source of pride for its manufacturer, United Launch Alliance.

The 63rd flight on Friday was also a success, delivering the MUOS-5 satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit 31,000km above Earth for the US Navy. This is the final satellite in the five-satellite constellation, which provides war fighters with significantly improved communications.

The launch was also notable because it flew the 551 variant of the rocket. This combines the core stage along with five solid rocket boosters, which burn for 88.3 seconds at the beginning of the flight to give the rocket an initial kick off the launch pad. This most powerful variant of the Atlas V rocket can deliver up to 19 tons of payload to low-Earth orbit and 8.9 tons to geostationary transfer orbit. The 551 configuration first flew back in 2006, when it launched the New Horizons mission to Pluto.

The Surface 3's non-LTE version.

Microsoft's Surface 3 impressed us when it launched last spring. It's a smaller, cheaper iteration of its Surface Pro concept, and this setup struck us as a pretty compelling mix. But there are signs that the device is not long for this world. Brad Sams at Thurrott.com writes that many versions are listed as out of stock in Microsoft's online store, with no expected availability. Online, only the 2GB RAM/64GB storage/LTE version is in stock.

In-store stock levels show a bit more availability, but the Surface 3 remains limited, with only some configurations on offer.

This kind of shortage at this stage in a device's life is generally an indication that manufacturing is slowing down or stopping entirely, and evidence points to this possibly being the case. In a statement, Microsoft said:

The smartphone app Miitomo is but one aspect of the rapidly changing face of Nintendo. (credit: Nintendo)

As Nintendo gears up for its next console generation, the hardware and software guessers have focused on patent leaks and rumor mills, looking for any juicy hints and scraps as to the company's future. Maybe we'll get a crazy controller, a hybrid home/portable device, or a few retro-throwback features.

But if you want to understand the Nintendo of the future, the writing is already on the wall, and that wall is a very public one, revolving around social media and player interconnectivity. Nintendo is rapidly redefining its take on being a "family friendly" entertainment company, setting the table for a very weird Nintendo NX generation.

Forget the Wii's "blue ocean" strategy of winning over new players with gimmicks. Nintendo may very well be eyeing an even more intense way to capture new fans' minds and hearts with fully interconnected, online-focused products that will need constant tending by, and public responses from, a company that came to prominence in a much more conservative era.

You can check out any time you'd like, but you can never... well, you know the song. (credit: Aurich Lawson)

Comcast and Charter yesterday told US senators how they're trying to fix their poorly rated customer service. Executives from the nation's two largest cable companies testified in a hearing in response to a Senate investigation detailing the industry's shortcomings.

Comcast Cable Senior VP of Customer Service Tom Karinshak detailed some customer service initiatives, mostly ones that are already in progress. Transcripts of the companies' testimony along with Senate investigative reports are available here. AT&T (owner of DirecTV) and Dish also testified.

"At Comcast, we understand why we are here," Karinshak said. "We and the industry as a whole have not always made customer service the high priority it should have been. We regret that history and have committed to our customers that we will lead the way with initiatives to change it; we are committed to making every part of our customers’ experience better, and we have already begun to do so."

See 3DNES' conversions in action in our video review. (video link)

A few months ago, we took note of 3DNES, a surprising new emulator that automatically adds depth to the flat, blocky pixels of classic Nintendo Entertainment System games. The Web-based beta version of the emulator from March is getting a full release as a $30, downloadable Windows executable later today via itch.io.

Ars Technica got exclusive access to the near final version of that standalone emulator earlier this month. Our time testing 3DNES reveals a promising new direction for classic game emulation, but there are still many rough edges.

(credit: Marco Arment)

With the rise of standing desks, office workers hope to brush off the health risks linked to prolonged sitting, including obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and early death. But they might do well to walk them off instead, a new study suggests.

In one of the few studies to carefully count the calories people burn while sitting at a desk, standing, or taking a leisurely stroll, researchers found little difference between being plopped down or upright. Standing for an hour might burn off an extra nine calories or so, about the amount in a single gummy bear. Slow walking, on the other hand, incinerated 2.4 to 2.7-fold more calories than standing or sitting, respectively. If office workers fit in an hour of strolling throughout each day—tallying trips to the bathroom, walks to the printer, or strides on a treadmill desk—they could easily burn through an extra 130 calories. That’s a little more than what previous research suggests could help people keep pounds off, the authors report in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health.

“If you’re looking for weight control or just solely at the energy expenditure, standing isn’t that much more beneficial than sitting,” Seth Creasy, an exercise physiologist at the University of Pittsburgh and lead author of the study, told Ars. Of course, calorie burning isn’t the only reason people might choose a standing desk. Being upright could be beneficial for productivity or posture, Creasy said. However, more research is needed to know if those benefits are real because the studies that have been done so far have come up with mixed or inconclusive results.