Oregon Trail Card Game: Simple, repetitive, and you’ll die of dysentery. A lot.

You may never make it to Willamette, but you’ll die trying.

Welcome to Ars Cardboard, our weekend look at tabletop games! Check out our complete board gaming coverage at cardboard.arstechnica.com—and let us know what you think.

Everyone of a certain age has their own experience playing The Oregon Trail on a computer as a kid.

Some of us started with the Apple II Oregon Trail, while some of us played later Oregon Trail versions. But we all learned what it meant to “ford a river” and “caulk a wagon.” Some of us played the Oregon Trail Deluxe version on Windows and acted out the scenes of our wagon train passing through what is now Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, and, if you were lucky, more western states. Some of us started as bankers and went crazy buying laudanum in the General Store. Some wanted the challenge and started as teachers. Some of us eschewed gameplay when things got dire and spent our time throwing out supplies to make room for everything we brought back from hunting.

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AMD’s Bristol Ridge chips for desktops now shipping

AMD’s Bristol Ridge chips for desktops now shipping

After launching its 7th-gen A-series notebook chips based on “Bristol Ridge” architecture in May, AMD says more powerful Bristol Ridge chips are now available for desktops.

The new chips are said to offer a 17 percent CPU performance boost over 6th-gen AMD chips, and 27 percent better graphics performance.

AMD also likes to compare its processors to rival Intel’s… and while Intel generally has had the lead in CPU power in recent years, AMD’s processors tend to have higher-performance integrated graphics (and lower price tags).

Continue reading AMD’s Bristol Ridge chips for desktops now shipping at Liliputing.

AMD’s Bristol Ridge chips for desktops now shipping

After launching its 7th-gen A-series notebook chips based on “Bristol Ridge” architecture in May, AMD says more powerful Bristol Ridge chips are now available for desktops.

The new chips are said to offer a 17 percent CPU performance boost over 6th-gen AMD chips, and 27 percent better graphics performance.

AMD also likes to compare its processors to rival Intel’s… and while Intel generally has had the lead in CPU power in recent years, AMD’s processors tend to have higher-performance integrated graphics (and lower price tags).

Continue reading AMD’s Bristol Ridge chips for desktops now shipping at Liliputing.

Long-lost comet lander Philae finally found by scientists

To be honest, it looks a bit like the Loch Ness Monster to us.

The European Space Agency has found its long-lost Philae lander. After making a rough, bouncing landing on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November, 2014, the spacecraft was unable to deploy its solar panels in a proper configuration to capture enough energy. Its batteries ran out within a few days of landing.

Although scientists have made a few more fleeting contacts with the dying spacecraft since then, Philae's fate—was it stuck in a ditch, or nudged up against a cliff wall?—has remained largely a mystery.

Until now. The high resolution camera aboard the orbiting Rosetta spacecraft—which has remained near the comet since deploying Philae two years ago—flew within 2.7km of the comet's surface on September 2, and spied the missing lander. At such a distance from the comet, the resolution of the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera is about 5 cm/pixel, high enough to reveal Philae’s distinctive 1 m-sized body, and two of its three legs.

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Amazing Flat Shelves For Minimalist Home

Shelf design is not always have to be so space-eating. There are a lot of amazing shelves design right now for the contemporary and minimalist house design. The latest one that I fall in love with is this Shelves called Klaffi. If you are living in a tiny room like myself, you’ll really love this […]

Shelf design is not always have to be so space-eating. There are a lot of amazing shelves design right now for the contemporary and minimalist house design. The latest one that I fall in love with is this Shelves called Klaffi. If you are living in a tiny room like myself, you’ll really love this […]

Bristol Ridge: AMD veröffentlicht erste APUs und Chipsätze für Sockel AM4

AMD bringt Bristol Ridge für Desktop-PCs. Sie unterscheiden sich kaum von den Notebook-Modellen, umso spannender sind die neuen Chipsätze für den Sockel AM4. Bastler müssen jedoch warten. (Bristol Ridge, Prozessor)

AMD bringt Bristol Ridge für Desktop-PCs. Sie unterscheiden sich kaum von den Notebook-Modellen, umso spannender sind die neuen Chipsätze für den Sockel AM4. Bastler müssen jedoch warten. (Bristol Ridge, Prozessor)

Meizu launches 6 inch M3 Max smartphone (in China)

Meizu launches 6 inch M3 Max smartphone (in China)

Chinese phone maker Meizu’s latest phone features a big screen, a big battery, and… reasonably big specs, I suppose.

The Meizu M3 Max has the kind of hardware we’ve come to expect from upper mid-range smartphones from Chinese companies this summer, including a MediaTek Helio P10 octa-core processor, 3GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. It also has a fingerprint sensor.

But the $254 smartphone is still a step down from flagship-class phones like the Meizu MX6, which has a more powerful processor and more memory, among other things.

Continue reading Meizu launches 6 inch M3 Max smartphone (in China) at Liliputing.

Meizu launches 6 inch M3 Max smartphone (in China)

Chinese phone maker Meizu’s latest phone features a big screen, a big battery, and… reasonably big specs, I suppose.

The Meizu M3 Max has the kind of hardware we’ve come to expect from upper mid-range smartphones from Chinese companies this summer, including a MediaTek Helio P10 octa-core processor, 3GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. It also has a fingerprint sensor.

But the $254 smartphone is still a step down from flagship-class phones like the Meizu MX6, which has a more powerful processor and more memory, among other things.

Continue reading Meizu launches 6 inch M3 Max smartphone (in China) at Liliputing.

Perfect Privacy: Polizei beschlagnahmt Server von VPN-Provider

Der VPN-Dienst Perfect Privacy wirbt mit absoluter Privatsphäre und verspricht, keine Kundeninformationen aufzuzeichnen. Die holländische Polizei war offenbar trotzdem am Inhalt der Server interessiert. (Security, Server)

Der VPN-Dienst Perfect Privacy wirbt mit absoluter Privatsphäre und verspricht, keine Kundeninformationen aufzuzeichnen. Die holländische Polizei war offenbar trotzdem am Inhalt der Server interessiert. (Security, Server)

Japan goes public with Brexit demands, says data flow deals must be protected

Meanwhile at the G20 summit, president Obama puts UK at back of queue for trade deals.

Enlarge / Japanese PM Shinzo Abe arrives in China for the G20 summit... just as his country's awkward Brexit memo lands. (credit: Etienne Oliveau/Getty Images)

Prime minister Theresa May said at the weekend that she wanted to take her time to secure the best trade deals for a post-Brexit Britain, and reiterated—in her trademark vague terms—that the so-called Article 50 won't be triggered this year. But political pressure from governments as far away as Japan continues to mount.

On Sunday, in a bold move, the Japanese government published a 15-page memo (PDF) setting out a number of demands it wants the UK to adhere to, once it leaves the European Union.

It underscored that Britain faces a torrid time of negotiations—not just with member states in the EU, but further afield, too.

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Gearbox Software: Duke Nukem 3D wird mit weiterer Episode fortgesetzt

Holy Shit! Der Actionklassiker Duke Nukem 3D bekommt zum runden Geburtstag eine fünfte Episode – die von den Machern des Originals entwickelt wird. Außerdem wird der Ego-Shooter mit leicht verbesserter Grafik neu für die Xbox One und Playstation 4 veröffentlicht. (Duke Nukem 3D, Steam)

Holy Shit! Der Actionklassiker Duke Nukem 3D bekommt zum runden Geburtstag eine fünfte Episode - die von den Machern des Originals entwickelt wird. Außerdem wird der Ego-Shooter mit leicht verbesserter Grafik neu für die Xbox One und Playstation 4 veröffentlicht. (Duke Nukem 3D, Steam)