thierry ehrmann

It would be too much to say that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange feels optimistic. He's been holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London for more than two years now, with cameras and police—"a £3 million surveillance operation," he calls it—just meters away.

"There's a sense of inevitability now," Assange said when we asked if his situation might change.

Assange: "The situation is clarifying politically and legally."

Ars: "I just want to be clear on this point—are you saying you're hopeful you'll be free soon?"

Assange: "I wouldn't say hopeful. I would say it's inevitable. It's inevitable that we will win the diplomatic standoff we're in now."

It's getting late in London, where Assange is doing a barrage of press interviews on the eve of his new book, When Google Met Wikileaks (it goes on sale in the US later this week). We called at the agreed upon time, and a man who didn't identify himself answered the number, which was for a London cell phone. He said call back in five minutes, and only then was the phone finally handed to Assange.

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The popular show NCIS is one of several shows that CBS was sued over. CBS

A jury in Marshall, Texas, found the infamous "podcasting patent" was infringed by CBS's website today and said that the TV network should pay $1.3 million to patent holder Personal Audio LLC.

The verdict form shows the jury found all four claims of the patent infringed, rejecting CBS' defense that the patent was invalid. The document was submitted today at 1:45pm Central Time.

That's substantially less than Personal Audio was asking for, which was reportedly $7.8 million. That figure was given to Ars by a source that observed the relevant parts of the court proceedings.

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On Monday, trade group Authors United opened a new salvo against Amazon, hoping that the giant book retailer will drop its months-long fight with publisher Hachette over e-book prices. In a letter posted to its website, Authors United asked its 1,100 members to send a letter beseeching intervention from Amazon's 10 board members. The letter demanded that the board stop Amazon from “sanctioning” books from Hachette, and it asked “Do you as an Amazon director approve of this policy of sanctioning books?”

The fight started in May 2014, when Amazon first began refusing orders and delaying delivery times of books published by Hachette as a way of putting pressure on the publisher after failed contract negotiations. According to The New York Times, Amazon was asking for a higher margin on e-books as it faced pressure from Wall Street to turn more of a profit.

"We have been unable to reach mutually acceptable agreement on terms," the Amazon Books Team wrote of its negotiations with Hachette back in May. "We are not optimistic that this will be resolved soon."

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Europe's Rosetta mission, which aims to land on a 4km-wide comet later this year, identifies what it thinks is the safest place to touch down.

American Commitment

A Republican advocacy group called "American Commitment" said today that 772,000 Americans have signed its petition asking the Federal Communications Commission to avoid "regulating the Internet"—a reference to the agency's current net neutrality proceeding.

"Regulating the Internet has always been a solution in search of a problem," says the petition, which is addressed to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. "By trying for a third time to regulate the Internet, the FCC is demonstrating that it is no longer acting in the interests of the American people. Instead of doing its real job—providing more spectrum for wireless users or deregulating wireline telephone service—it is trying to move backward in time to 1930s-era phone regulation. If the FCC drags 2014 technology back into 1930s regulations, the Internet will suffer, and so will the American people. Do not regulate the Internet."

The petition's website rotates through several pitches to make its case. One accuses the FCC of "usurping the legislative powers of the Congress by attempting to rewrite the laws passed by Congress." Signing the petition submits it as a comment to the FCC's net neutrality proceeding.

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Flickr user: Wesley Fryer

The Texas School Board has managed to receive lots of attention here because of its regular attempts to undermine science education, either through approving standards that promote phony controversies in science or by attempting to get publishers to modify the contents of reasonable science textbooks. Once again, science content is the source of Texas controversy—but this time it's in the social studies books. And for once, the school board isn't at fault.

The social studies books were submitted to the Texas School Board in April, and they will be the subject of public hearings tomorrow. In advance of those hearings, the National Center for Science Education arranged for an analysis of their content, finding that the content covering climate science is severely lacking.

In three cases, the textbooks seem to confuse climate change and ozone depletion. One implies that it's the loss of the ozone layer that's leading to the planet's warming by letting more sunlight in. Two others confuse carbon dioxide emissions with those of ozone destroying chemicals. One states that “Fossil fuel emissions have also caused a hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica,” while another argues "Scientists believe the Earth is absorbing more of the sun's harmful rays" as part of its coverage of science issues.

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A model of the Solara 50, Titan Aerospace's commercial "atmospheric satellite," hangs above the company's booth at the AUVSI Unmanned Systems conference in 2013. Sean Gallagher

Google has asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to conduct tests on drones that could eventually be used to deliver Internet access to remote areas.

"Google recently acquired Titan Aerospace, a firm that specializes in developing solar and electric unmanned aerial systems ('UAS') for high altitude, long endurance flights," Google wrote Friday in a request that the FCC keep most testing details confidential. "These systems may eventually be used to provide Internet connections in remote areas or help monitor environmental damage, such as oil spills or deforestation. The STA [Special Temporary Authority] is needed for demonstration and testing of [REDACTED] in a carefully controlled environment."

Google bought Titan in April, with plans to integrate the company into Project Loon, Google's initiative to deliver Internet access from balloons to parts of the world with limited connectivity. Google is also reportedly planning to deploy low-orbit satellites to provide Internet access. Titan's drones are powered by solar energy and can stay aloft for up to five years, as we reported in a profile on the company last year.

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MIT researchers have released a video of a robot they're calling "cheetah" making its way across campus. An earlier robot that was also called cheetah was part of a DARPA/Boston Dynamics (now owned by Google) collaboration that was notable for its speed. The MIT version is notable for ditching the tethers that supplied power to it—it goes for runs using on-board battery power and control logic.

Cheetah is only able to move at up to 10 mph, but its developers expect that they'll be able to get it to eventually travel at up to 30 miles an hour. For now, cheetah's biggest accomplishment is being able to move without any wires, which are normally used to supply power, and in some cases command-and-control, to more sophisticated robots.

The MIT group has also been working on the mechanics of the robot's stride, trying to have it exert more force each time it strikes the ground. The result is that it's been able to move across less rigid surfaces, like grass, which is why it's able to be taken out onto the MIT campus. Additionally, they've developed a routine that allows the robot to take a hop, which will let it bound over obstacles.

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We last looked at Icelandic startup Mailpile about a year ago, when Paypal suddenly and infamously froze the company's crowdfunding dollars and demanded that it supply Paypal with its business plan and detailed budgets to prove that it wasn’t some sort of money laundering scheme. Fortunately, Paypal relented and unfroze Mailpile’s money, and the development team got back to work. And they’ve been busy—just a few days ago, Mailpile went beta.

At first blush, Mailpile looks like a local mail application with a webmail interface, intended to put a Gmail-like face on your mail without you having to actually go to gmail.com. However, Mailpile’s goal is much deeper than that—the company is building in seamless support for PGP encryption and key management, and Mailpile wants to enable its users to have fast and easy access to encrypted, secure communication.

Mailpile isn’t a Mail Transfer Agent—an "e-mail server," like Postfix. Rather, it's an MUA, or Mail User Agent. It’s intended to be an application that you install on your local computer. Once installed, it runs its own lightweight Web server that you connect to via your Web browser. You feed the application IMAP credentials for the account or accounts you want to use (like a Gmail account, for example), and Mailpile then downloads all of your account’s messages into a local store, just as any other mail application does. Once downloaded, Mailpile also indexes the messages so that you can do fast local searches—something that’s hit or miss with other MUAs.

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When we reviewed the HTC One (M8) for Windows, one of the things that struck us about that phone's rather awkward name was the "for Windows" part. Notably, it wasn't "for Windows Phone," even though the operating system that the phone is running has that name.

Since then, there has been speculation, rumor, and leaks that suggest a rebranding effort is imminent. One part we knew about already: Microsoft is removing the Nokia name from the Lumia smartphones. Back when Microsoft's decision to buy Nokia's handset division was announced, the companies said that although Microsoft had a 10-year license for the Nokia name on dumb/featurephones, the Redmond firm's ability to use the Nokia name on smartphones was much more limited. Every model that was released (or, it seems, close to release, such as the Lumia 630/635), has retained the Nokia name, but future models will only be Lumia.

The second part of the rebranding is a little more surprising: it seems that "Windows Phone" is going to become merely "Windows." This was pointed at in some leaked documents and now appears to have been confirmed by a second leak. As reported by Neowin, a new Windows phone from UK brand My Go has been spotted, and on the back is a plain Windows badge—no Windows Phone in sight.

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New month, new beta. Andrew Cunningham

Good news for the brave OS X Yosemite beta testers out there: Apple has just released Public Beta 3, a new build that makes various tweaks and additions while fixing bugs and improving stability. Apple has declined to provide specific release notes for the update, but at first blush it doesn't seem to change as much as Public Beta 2 did last month.

Apple continues to push new Yosemite betas to its public testers at the rate of about one per month—that's one public beta build for every two developer beta builds. Today's public beta was released alongside Developer Preview 8, and both should include most of the same fixes and improvements (plus the new stuff that came with Developer Preview 7).

In addition to the new design and features in Yosemite, users of the public beta will be able to take advantage of iOS 8's new Continuity features when the operating system is released to the public this Wednesday. The biggest one of those features is Handoff, which can pass data between the mobile and desktop versions of the same application. You can also use your iPhone to make and receive calls from your Mac.

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Doom on a printer's menu screen! Personally, we can't wait until someone makes Descent playable on a toaster. Context Internet Security

On Friday, a hacker presenting at the 44CON Information Security Conference in London picked at the vulnerability of Web-accessible devices and demonstrated how to run unsigned code on a Canon printer via its default Web interface. After describing the device's encryption as "doomed," Context Information Security consultant Michael Jordon made his point by installing and running the first-person shooting classic Doom on a stock Canon Pixma MG6450.

Sure enough, the printer's tiny menu screen can render a choppy and discolored but playable version of id Software's 1993 hit, the result of Jordon discovering that Pixma printers' Web interfaces didn't require any authentication to access. "You could print out hundreds of test pages and use up all the ink and paper, so what?" Jordon wrote at Context's blog report about the discovery, but after a little more sniffing, he found that the devices could also easily be redirected to accept any code as legitimate firmware.

A vulnerable Pixma printer's Web interface allows users to change the Web proxy settings and the DNS server. From there, an enterprising hacker can crack the device's encryption in eight steps, the final of which includes unsigned, plain-text firmware files. The hacking possibilities go far beyond enabling choppy, early '90s gaming: "We can therefore create our own custom firmware and update anyone’s printer with a Trojan image which spies on the documents being printed or is used as a gateway into their network," Jordon wrote.

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The intended landing site for Philae, part of the Rosetta mission. ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

Today, the operators of the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission announced that they have chosen a site on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko for the first attempt to land human hardware on a comet. If the two-lobed shape of Churyumov–Gerasimenko is viewed as a rubber duckie (and many have made that comparison), the landing site is on the top of its head. If technical issues pop up as preparations for landing continue, an alternate site called C on the comet's body will be used.

The scientists making the decision had to balance a number of factors when picking a site. The lander, called Philae, will make an unpowered descent to the comet's surface, meaning it can't be maneuvered around any obstacles like boulders and ridges as it's approaching. The landing site also has to allow Philae's solar panels to regularly refill its batteries and for its communications gear to have ready contact with Rosetta.

Then there are the scientific issues. You want the probe to land somewhere where it will have access to pristine cometary materials and be close to sites that are likely to start venting the comet's tail as it approaches the sun. Rosetta will use radio transmissions sent through the comet by Philae to probe its interior.

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Whatever the first-gen Apple Watches do, they won't do it as well as subsequent versions. Andrew Cunningham

We've all had about a week to think about the Apple Watch, which is all we can really do with it between now and when it launches in early 2015. There have been plenty of strident pieces written about it since the announcement, and as usual it's pretty easy to find one that reinforces whatever opinion it is that you already have. It's terrible! It's perfect! It's totally irrelevant!

We're not going to be so quick to judge the Apple Watch as a product category, at least not based on our blink-and-you'll-miss-it hands-on session. That said, you probably shouldn't buy the first one. The Apple Watch has promise, and it will have even more once actual people (and developers) can sink their teeth into it. But remember, this is a 1.0 product, and nearly all tech companies have a less than perfect track record when it comes to brand new releases. A quick look into Apple's past is no different, revealing that you rarely want to own the very first generation, version 1.0 iterations of the company's products. Apple's first tries are rarely bad, but they're almost never the company's best work.

The iPad

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GIGABYTE's BRIX Pro (using an Intel Iris Pro part) has made a big splash in the market, particularly as a Steam machine. Enthused by its success, GIGABYTE has introduced the BRIX Gaming lineup. The lineup consists of mini-PCs in a form factor similar to the BRIX Pro (which itself had the footprint of an Intel NUC kit). The current flagship in the BRIX Gaming line is the BXi5G-760, a machine featuring a Core i5-4200H Haswell CPU and a NVIDIA GTX 760 discrete GPU. Given the paper specifications of the GTX 760, the machine promises to be a gaming powerhouse in its size class. Does it live up to its potential? Read on to find out.

Android is the world's most popular mobile operating system, with over 1 billion monthly active users as of July. But according to Google that's only the beginning. Android One is Google's initiative to target the other 5 billion people on the planet; people who may live in areas where purchasing the latest $700 flagship device simply isn't an option. In some of the countries Google is targeting, the average monthly income may be as little as the equivalent of $250. This is an enormous barrier for smartphone adoption. At Google I/O the stated goal of Android One was to bring a high quality smartphone experience to the masses in a $100 package. Today the first step is being made, with the launch of three new smartphones in India from manufacturers Micromax, Karbonn, and Spice.

Starting at 6399 Rs (~$105) the devices are slightly higher than Google's initial price projection but still within a price range that should be affordable by many people in countries like India, Indonesia, and the Philippines. They feature SoCs from Mediatek, and include features like dual SIM cards and FM radio support which are more popular in those countries than in others like the United States for example.

To avoid the issues that have traditionally plagued performance and software on low-end devices, Google has been working with various hardware suppliers and manufacturers to create a reference platform for Android One devices. This specification consists of a 4.5" 854x480 IPS display, a 1.3GHz quad core CPU from MediaTek, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of NAND, MicroSD support, a 5MP rear camera, 2MP front camera, and a 1700mAh battery. At $105 that's a very good value proposition.

Google will also be supplying all software support which means that updates will come directly from Google and Android L support is a guarantee. Google has partnered with Indian cell carrier Airtel to allow users to download 200MB per month from Google Play without counting against the user's data allowance. For the first 6 months, software updates will also be free to download over the air using cellular data.

The Karbonn Sparkle V, Micromax Canvas A1, and the Spice Dream Uno can be seen at their respective manufacturer's websites. The devices are currently for sale at major Indian retailers including Flipkart, Amazon India, and Snapdeal.

Many iTunes users would prefer U2 to back up out of their phones.

After angering some customers by sticking a free U2 album in their iTunes accounts, Apple has put up a support page with instructions on how to get the album out of their libraries. Removing the album requires navigating to a special itunes.com URL and confirming the removal with an Apple ID and password.

Apple gave away the new U2 album, Songs of Innocence, as a kicker to its most recent announcement event for the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and Apple Watch. But Apple didn't just make the album available; it literally placed Songs of Innocence in the iTunes library of each of its 500 million users.

The album isn't downloaded automatically unless users have automatic purchase downloads turned on, and is little more than an indicator that it's available to the user, but for many customers, any U2 is way, way too much U2. NYMag highlighted some of the negative reactions, including "My disdain for the band U2 is making me contemplate switching to a Samsung Galaxy phone #overratedband #Bonoisaturd" and "What is U2 and why is it a gift? You can keep that."

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Currently not a Microsoft-exclusive... Flickr user: Bago Games

In an alternate universe, Microsoft's $2.5 billion acquisition of Minecraft maker Mojang today looks very different. In that universe, Microsoft follows historical form and announces that, henceforth, all Mojang projects and future versions of Minecraft will be exclusive to Microsoft platforms: Xbox consoles and Windows PCs, tablets, and phones.

In that alternate universe, a lot of new people would be taking a good hard look at those Microsoft platforms today, especially the millions of parents with Minecraft-obsessed kids. It's been noted for years now, but it's worth pointing out again that for an entire generation of kids Minecraft is the new Lego; less a mere video game and more a wide-ranging platform for connected creativity and self-expression. If Microsoft controlled the only ways to access that Minecraft platform, millions of people would come along for the ride, even if they grumbled loudly about having to switch devices to do it.

That's not what happened, though. Instead, for the first time in its long history of game publishing, Microsoft is going to begin making games directly for competing hardware platforms. As the company said in its press release today: "Microsoft plans to continue to make Minecraft available across all the platforms on which it is available today: PC, iOS, Android, Xbox, and PlayStation."

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Davide Restivo

A federal appeals court said the US Navy's scanning of the public's computers for images of child pornography constituted "a profound lack of regard for the important limitations on the role of the military in our civilian society."

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) practice led the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals to suppress evidence in the form of images of child pornography that an NCIS agent in Georgia found on a Washington state civilian's computer. The agent was using a law-enforcement computer program called RoundUp to search for hashed images of child pornography on computers running the file-sharing network Gnutella.

"...RoundUp surveillance of all computers in Washington amounted to impermissible direct active involvement in civilian enforcement of the child pornography laws, not permissible indirect assistance," Judge Marsha Berzon wrote for the San Francisco-based appeals court.

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Megan Geuss

On Monday, Apple confirmed that its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus pre-order numbers broke records for the smartphone line, as they combined to rack up over four million purchases in the first 24 hours they were on sale. As we reported—and Apple's announcement confirmed—many of those pre-orders won't ship to customers until October.

The pre-orders, which started early Friday morning in nine nations, handily surpassed the first-day numbers of the iPhone 5; that model received over two million pre-orders in 2012, though its actual first-weekend sales upon retail launch reached five million.

That doesn't mean Apple's first-week in-store supply will be able to feed the sort of demand that the iPhone 6 is generating. Anybody curled up in a sleeping bag in front of an Apple Store right now, however, can take comfort in the fact that Apple will make "additional supply" of both models available to purchase at 8am local time this coming Friday. All four major American carriers' stores will also have phones available on Friday, as well as "additional carriers and select Apple Authorized Resellers."

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