Want a great PC mouse? Understand these terms

Enlarge (credit: Scharon Harding) You may think of the mouse as one of the most basic PC peripherals. And some mice may be. Point, click, and you're done. But modern mice, especially those in the high-end, gaming, and wireless realms, have come a long way. And if you're looking for a more advanced mouse, you may be surprised by some...

2h

Rocket Report: SpaceX lands rocket cargo funding, Virgin Galactic’s stock crash

Enlarge / SpaceX launched its third mission of 2022 on January 18. The rocket carried 49 Starlink satellites. (credit: SpaceX) Welcome to Edition 4.29 of the Rocket Report! There is plenty to discuss this week, including an accident in the Mojave (oh no!) and flights by two different rocket-carrying aircraft within days of each other...

2h

Physicists have created “everlasting bubbles”

The shell of a water/glycerol gas marble (bubble) remains liquid and spherical even after 101 days, and it reacts as a liquid film when punctured. These human-made bubbles could be used to create stable foams. (credit: A. Roux et al., 2022) Blowing soap bubbles never fails to delight one's inner child, perhaps because bubbles are intrinsically...

12h

Review: Fraggle Rock on Apple TV+ is the Muppet series Disney+ wishes it had

Enlarge / The Fraggles are back, clap, clap. And they're a blast to watch again, clap, clap. (credit: Jim Henson Company / Apple TV+) The video-streaming world has long suffered from content fragmentation, and modern-day Muppet access is no exception. If you want to revel in all things Jim Henson, you'll need subscriptions to no less...

13h

First details leak on Project Iris, Google’s next AR headset

Enlarge / Product photography of the Google Glass wearable. Project Iris won't look like this; it is said to more closely resemble ski goggles than casual glasses. (credit: Google) Google engineers are developing a new augmented reality (AR) headset, according to a report by The Verge citing two people familiar with the project. Google...

15h

Antitrust bill that bars Big Tech self-preferencing advances in Senate

Enlarge / The dome of the United States Capitol Building in Washington, DC. (credit: Getty Images | Phil Roeder) The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 16-6 today to advance an antitrust bill that would prevent Big Tech firms from giving their own services preferential treatment. The bill attempts to limit the ability of dominant firms...

16h

The genetic engineering behind pig-to-human transplants

Enlarge / Cloned piglets that are engineered to be useful for organ transplants to humans. (credit: Getty Images / Staff) Last week, when we reported on the first pig-to-human heart transplant, we complained that the commercial company behind the operation wasn't more forthcoming about the genetic engineering that converted the pig...

16h

Google Pay resets strategy again with new leader, might get into crypto

Enlarge / Google Pay continues to circle the drain. (credit: Aurich Lawson / Ars Technica) Google is bringing on a new executive who it hopes will turn the beleaguered Google Pay division around. Bloomberg reports that Arnold Goldberg, PayPal's chief product architect, will now run Google Pay after the former payments chief, Caesar...

17h

IIHS will rate driver assists like Autopilot and Super Cruise for safety

Enlarge / GM's Super Cruise system is tightly geofenced to divided-lane highways and only operates if the system can determine that the human in the driver's seat is paying attention to the road ahead, ready to respond if there's a problem. (credit: General Motors) On Thursday, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announced that...

18h

Biden revives climate portion of failed Build Back Better bill

Enlarge / President Joe Biden talks to reporters during a news conference in the East Room of the White House on January 19, 2022, in Washington, DC. (credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) President Joe Biden yesterday expressed support for breaking up the Build Back Better Act, saying that the parts intended to combat climate change...

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