Talynebear

"It's Tesla Motors. They've gone to plaid."

MGM

In a press call on Friday, Tesla Motors founder and CEO Elon Musk announced some upgrades to the performance version of the Model S, specifically “ludicrous mode,” which, for an extra $10,000, will take the car from 0 to 60mph in 2.8 seconds.

That's already half-a-second faster than the “McLaren F1-fast” Model S P85D that Ars reviewed in May, which offered an "insane mode." When press asked Musk if he hoped this would generate additional sales for Tesla, Musk responded, “I have no idea. We are just trying to make awesome cars,” according to MarketWatch. (A reporter apparently asked Musk what comes after "ludicrous mode," and he said Tesla watchers won't see that level until the company's next-generation roadster in four years—which will come with "maximum plaid.")

In addition, new purchasers of Tesla Model S cars will have the option to upgrade their car with a 90kWh battery pack (up from 85kWh standard) for an extra $3,000. Musk said that this will give the car an additional 15 miles of range at 65mph. MarketWatch said that Musk called the 90kWh battery “important for the Model X SUV,” which is anticipated in the coming year.

We're pretty cynical about "major league" sports video games at Ars Technica. Mostly, their annual team roster updates rub us the wrong way, and that tradition makes even less sense in an always-online, easily patchable gaming world. But that doesn't mean we hate sports games. Here's the thing: virtual versions of baseball, basketball, or hockey don't always need to be bleedin' authentic.

We'd go so far as to say the most lasting sports video games of our time have reduced their major-league counterparts to simpler abstractions. One of the earliest examples, 1983's One On One, won out by stripping basketball down to its barest bits (perhaps because the Apple II couldn't handle more than two richly animated characters at once). 1988's Tecmo Bowl was a rock-paper-scissors classic, yet it contained so little of American football's defining characteristics that it might have been laughed out of the NES generation had it not contained "real-life" players like Bo Jackson.

Earlier this year, Telsa Motors made headlines when it announced that the company would start selling Tesla-branded stationary storage batteries. The move was expected, but a bit odd—battery storage for homes has been around for years, but it has never really been cost-effective enough in most households to merit the kind of treatment that Tesla gave it. While Tesla successfully nurtured a luxury electric vehicle market, it still seemed out of place to see a luxury brand going out of its way to put car batteries on homes.

Ars argued that the real news behind Tesla's stationary storage announcement was not that of the consumer-focused Powerwall, but that of the power pack, Tesla's stationary battery system for industrial use cases.

The truly surprising part of Tesla's Powerwall announcement, however, was its price point. In 2014, the average cost of installing a stationary Li-ion battery in a California home was $23,429, according to The Wall Street Journal. In May, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that these batteries would start at $3,500, plus a $500 installation cost.

Comcast has revealed pricing for its 2Gbps fiber-to-the-home Internet service and, yes, it's quite expensive.

The residential service costs $299.95 per month, and "fees of up to $500 for installation and up to $500 for activation apply," Comcast said on its website. "Equipment, taxes and fees, and other applicable charges" will also boost the overall cost.

While $299.95 is the official monthly price, Multichannel News reported that 2Gbps service "will carry a promotional price of $159 per month in the early going, about half its general price." Internet usage on "Gigabit Pro," the official name, will not count against data caps, Multichannel News also wrote.

Peripheral manufacturer Logitech isn’t going to be called "Logitech" anymore. As of now, the company is embracing a brand change to "Logi"—or "logi," in all lowercase, according to the logo images it has published.

The announcement was made today, though Logitech invited a number of tech publications to the company’s design studio in Ireland for an advance briefing (in keeping with our policy to not accept compensation for coverage—including travel and accommodations—Ars turned down the junket invite).

However, the messaging around the change is coming across as somewhat muddled. Some outlets are reporting that the company is actually changing its name, whereas the official press release continues to refer to the company as "Logitech" and merely states that "Logi" is "a new label for [its] latest product categories."

Following an ontime liftoff at 10:21am on Sunday morning, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying an unmanned Dragon cargo vehicle broke apart over the Atlantic Ocean. Falcon’s first two minutes of its flight to the International Space Station were flawless; however, approximately 139 seconds into the mission and just prior to the first stage separation, the vehicle disintegrated.

This is the first failure of the Falcon 9 for the California-based SpaceX. Since its maiden liftoff in 2010, the company has celebrated a total of 18 successful launches. The Falcon 9 rocket is composed of two stages, with the first stage shut down—also known as main engine cutoff (MECO)—occurring approximately 159 seconds into the flight. However, approximately 20 seconds before that, the vehicle experienced an anomaly.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk posted an update soon after saying, “Falcon 9 experienced a problem shortly before the first stage shutdown. There was an overpressure event in the upper stage liquid oxygen tank.”

In November, BMG Music and Round Hill Music did what some copyright holders have long threatened: they sued a large ISP, Cox Communications, seeking to hold it responsible for the piracy taking place on its network.

Cox wasn't forwarding infringement notices sent out by Rightscorp, the digital copyright enforcer BMG and Round Hill had hired to send out millions of notices. (That company famously offers to settle copyright claims for $20 per song.) By effectively protecting determined pirates on its system, Cox was violating copyright law, BMG lawyers argue.

It's a case that has potentially big ramifications, and it's a gamble for the music publisher plaintiffs. If a judge finds Cox liable for the actions of users on its network, it will have implications for the whole cable industry. If a ruling goes the other way, the little leverage that an anti-piracy outfit like Rightscorp has could evaporate.