Sun's chaotic peak triggers record-breaking 'global auroras' on Mars Mars has had frequent planet-wide auroras in recent months, including an unprecedented trio of events in February. Experts say the sudden increase is the result of the ongoing solar maximum. 05/1/2024 - 9:29 am | View Link
SpaceX’s Starship Could Save NASA’s Beleaguered Mars Sample Return Mission Its flagship multibillion-dollar mission to return invaluable and potentially life-harboring samples of rock and dust from Mars is in trouble. The mission is facing an “unacceptable” rising ... 04/17/2024 - 1:00 pm | View Link
NASA's downed Ingenuity helicopter has a 'last gift' for humanity — but we'll have to go to Mars to get it NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter has beamed back its final message to Earth, which included a heart-warming goodbye to mission scientists. The record-breaking robot will now spend the rest of its ... 04/16/2024 - 1:01 pm | View Link
NASA's Mars sample return plan is getting a major overhaul: 'The bottom line is $11 billion is too expensive' NASA is looking for a new way to get its precious Mars samples back to Earth. Those samples are being collected by the Perseverance rover in Mars' Jezero Crater, which hosted a lake and a river ... 04/14/2024 - 1:00 pm | View Link
Here's What NASA's Rovers See During an Eclipse on Mars Earth isn't the only place in our solar system where humans have observed a solar eclipse. "While Martian moons aren’t the right size or distance to fully cover the Sun, @NASAPersevere recently ... 04/10/2024 - 1:57 pm | View Link
Enlarge / Streaming Fallout 4 from GeForce Now might seem unnecessary, unless you know how running it natively has been going. (credit: Kevin Purdy)
The Steam Deck is a Linux computer. There is, technically, very little you cannot get running on it, given enough knowledge, time, and patience. That said, it's never a bad thing when someone has done all the work for you, leaving you to focus on what matters: sneaking game time on the couch.
GeForce Now, Nvidia's game-streaming service that uses your own PC gaming libraries, has made it easier for Steam Deck owners to get its service set up on their Deck.
Enlarge / The Samsung Watch 6 classic. (credit: Samsung)
Wear OS was nearly dead a few years ago but is now on a remarkable comeback trajectory, thanks to renewed commitment from Google and a hardware team-up with Samsung. Wear OS is still in a distant second place compared to the Apple Watch, but a new Counterpoint Research report has the wearable OS at 21 percent market share, with the OS expected to hit 27 percent in 2024.
Counterpoint's market segmentation for this report is basically "smartwatches with an app store," so it excludes cheaper fitness bands and other, more simple electronic watches.
Enlarge / New gods, same old drama. (credit: Supergiant)
Here at Ars, we were obviously excited by the late 2022 announcement of Hades II as a follow-up to our favorite game of 2020. But when early coverage of that sequel suggested major changes to the game's core combat, we were a bit worried that the developers at Supergiant risked messing up the core gameplay loop that made the original game so satisfying.
So far, it seems like those worries were unfounded.
Enlarge / A decorative ring made from carved stone is embedded in the wall of a ballcourt in the ancient Maya city of Chichen Itza. (credit: Kåre Thor Olsen/CC BY-SA 3.0)
It's well-known that the ancient Maya had their own version of ball games, which were played with a rubber ball on stone courts.
Enlarge / Sony Honda Mobility will start taking orders for its AFEELA EV next year. (credit: Peter Nelson)
We're living through a period of radically shifting automotive technology. Companies are working on increasing electric vehicle range and redefining our concept of reenergizing. They're also gradually refining driver assistance technology and figuring out how to make vehicles an extension of their drivers.
Sony Honda Mobility's (SHM) main aim with its AFEELA luxury-tier sedan concept is to put the emphasis on the latter.
Enlarge (credit: Microsoft)
Microsoft is currently investigating a bug in its most recent batch of Windows 10 and Windows 11 updates that is preventing some VPN software from working properly. The company updated its list of known Windows issues to say that it has recreated the issue on its end and that it's currently working on a fix.
The VPN issue affects all currently supported versions of Windows: Windows 10 21H2 and 22H2; Windows 11 versions 21H2, 22H2, and 23H2; and Windows Server 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, 2012 R2, 2016, 2019, and 2022.
Microsoft says the problem was caused by update KB5036893, which was initially released on April 9, 2024.