Talynebear

A little over five years ago, Google unveiled SPDY, a new protocol that it positioned as a more secure, better-performing replacement for hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), the communication protocol on which the Web is built.

Today the company announced that it would soon be removing SPDY support from Chrome. That's because the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has been working to update HTTP to produce HTTP/2, an updated revision of a protocol that has not seen any major changes since its introduction in the early 1990s.

SPDY's major goals were to reduce latency and improve security. To reduce latency, it included support for multiplexing—making multiple requests and responses over a single connection, with prioritization for different requests—and for security, it makes the use of TLS compulsory.

Shadow Realms, we hardly knew ye. Really, we didn't. It has been less than six months since the four-on-one, tabletop RPG-inspired dungeon crawler was announced at Europe's Gamescom. But last night, Bioware Austin General Manager Jeff Hickman shared the news that the studio has "made the decision to not move forward with development of Shadow Realms."

While praising the studio's work on the concept and player reaction to early demos during events and internal testing, Hickman said development was being stopped because "right now there are other projects for the team to work on within the BioWare studios for the coming year and beyond." That includes continued enhancements to Star Wars: The Old Republic and Dragon Age: Inquisition, as well as new Mass Effect games and "other new IP."

Shadow Realms represented a change of style from BioWare's usual solitary, story-driven RPG epics. The project focused on online, multiplayer battles between a dungeon master setting traps and a team of up to four adventurers working through them, in the style of tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons. Oh well... we'll always have the announcement trailer to remind us what could have been.

When Verizon Wireless spent more than $4 billion on a chunk of prime 700MHz spectrum in 2008, it came at the additional price of facing rules that its rivals wouldn't have to follow. Google entered the auction to make sure that it would hit the $4.6 billion reserve price that triggered rules preventing Verizon from blocking applications or devices.

But now, all carriers may soon face rules that are similar to what Verizon has followed. That's because Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler is proposing to apply net neutrality rules equally to fixed and mobile broadband networks, in contrast to previous net neutrality rules that exempted wireless networks from key provisions. The proposal's bans on blocking and throttling extend to legal content, applications, services, and non-harmful devices. An FCC spokesperson confirmed to Ars that the proposed net neutrality rules will have essentially the same effect as the requirements applied to Verizon's 700MHz spectrum despite being worded differently.

The rules on Verizon's 700MHz C Block spectrum, in the 746-757 and 776-787MHz bands, say that "Licensees offering service on spectrum subject to this section shall not deny, limit, or restrict the ability of their customers to use the devices and applications of their choice." There are exceptions for complying with technical standards necessary to manage or protect the licensee's network and for complying with other government rules.

Modern TV crime shows haven't been shy about mixing real-life tech news stories into their plots, from The Good Wife's take on Chinese Internet censorship to CSI: Miami going the macabre route in tackling Internet chat-room predators. Video games have seen their fair share of awkward crime-TV dramatizations as well, but rarely in as much of a ripped-from-the-headlines way as Law & Order: SVU did on Wednesday night.

True to form, SVU didn't raise the gaming-culture-on-TV bar in the slightest with its take on Chan culture, video games, and the most abusive users of the GamerGate hashtag. The results were laughable, but not just because of stilted acting and awkward attempts at being "down" with gaming culture. The episode also ended with an abrupt, exploitative scene that openly mocked women in the gaming world who still receive online abuse.

And to think, up to that point we had been having a pretty good time laughing at how ridiculous the episode turned out to be. Had we made up a "SVU does GamerGate" bingo card, we might have made out like bandits. The following bullet points all made appearances: swatting, doxing, a woman's public gaming appearance marred by death threats, wacky gaming phrases like "no reset button in the real world," the use of the phrase "social justice warrior" as a slur, and a fake website named, we kid you not, RedChanIt.

Comic by: noitego (via Noitego)

The estimated 110 million people who watched the Super Bowl last night, including the 78 percent who watch more for the ads than the game, got to see more advertisements for video games than have ever been featured during football's biggest night. Amid the standard rotation of ads for cars, beer, soda, and films, viewers got to see a nearly naked Kate Upton advertising Game of War, a revenge-driven Liam Neeson expressing his passion for Clash of Clans, and a short animated cut scene promoting Heroes Charge.

What those viewers didn't see were any ads for big-budget, AAA console and PC games. As far as the Super Bowl ad market is concerned, video games and free-to-play mobile games might as well be synonymous, reflecting some unavoidable trends in the industry as a whole.

Many "hardcore gamers" might look down on the simplistic, microtransaction-driven nature of most free-to-play mobile titles, but the numbers behind these games show why their ads showed up during the Super Bowl. Game of War maker Machine Zone is valued at over $3 billion. Clash of Clans generated $2.4 million in revenue a day as of 2013, enough to pay for a minute-long Super Bowl spot in less than a week. Even relative upstart uCool has seen 10 million downloads for Heroes Charge, the smallest title from this year's super Bowl gaming ad crop.

Dish took advantage of discounts intended for small businesses to save $3.3 billion in an auction of public airwaves, making a "mockery" of the small business program, according to a member of the Federal Communications Commission.

Dish used companies it owns in order to place $13.3 billion worth of winning bids in an auction of wireless airwaves that can be used for cellular networks. Results of the auction were announced last week. But Dish only has to pay $10 billion because it didn't place the bids directly. FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai called upon FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler "to immediately launch an investigation into these multi-billion dollar subsidies."

"[T]wo companies in which Dish Network has an 85 percent ownership stake claimed over $3 billion in taxpayer-funded discounts when purchasing spectrum in the AWS-3 auction," Pai said in his call for an investigation today. "Those discounts came through the FCC’s designed entity (DE) program, which is intended to make it easier for small businesses to purchase spectrum and compete with large corporations. Dish, however, has annual revenues of almost $14 billion, a market capitalization of over $32 billion, and over 14 million customers. Its participation makes a mockery of the DE program."

Comcast has been going across the country seeking city-by-city support of its Time Warner Cable acquisition, giving local governments a chance to ask for favors in exchange for approving a franchise transfer.

In Minneapolis, Minnesota, the process turned up an unpaid bill of $40,000, so Comcast will have to pay the city money it already owed in order to get the franchise transfer. Comcast will also throw in $50,000 worth of free service and equipment.

"Thirty Minneapolis city buildings will get free basic cable for the next seven years as part of a package of concessions the city wrung out of Comcast in exchange for blessing its proposed merger with fellow cable giant Time Warner," Minnesota Public Radio reported. "Comcast has also agreed to pay Minneapolis $40,000 in overdue franchise fees after an audit found it underpaid the city for its use of the public right of way over the last three years."

Just when you thought the tales of Comcast's customer service couldn't get any worse... well, let's just show you this picture:

BoardingArea

This is what appears to be an actual bill sent to a Comcast customer in Spokane, Washington. The customer's first name is "Ricardo," but it was misspelled as "Asshole."

A travel blog called BoardingArea has the story, and it appears to be genuine. Comcast confirmed to Ars that it has apologized to the customer and that the company is looking into technology solutions to prevent future problems of this nature. Comcast is also revisiting the training it provides to its representatives to make sure that customers are treated with respect, a company spokesperson told us.

Elite: Dangerous and Star Citizen have a lot to answer for. Besides the money I’ve paid for the games themselves, I’ve sunk what can only be considered a truly embarrassing amount of cash into peripherals—things like the $450 Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog and the $350 Oculus Rift DK2. Still, something was missing from my space flight setup.

While both eyes and both hands had something to do, my feet remained unoccupied. I had two whole unused appendages that could be employed to make my spaceships do more things at once. Clearly this had to change, and there was only one solution—rudder pedals were my next step.

But which pedals? There’s a smorgasbord of joystick choices that run the price gamut from cheap to ludicrous, but rudder pedals didn’t appear to cover the same range. The "high end" options all look like variations on the same sad plastic theme. I didn’t want to pair my high-end joystick with a bendy, flexy plastic contraption with open bearings that would gradually get crusty with dust and gunk, ultimately falling apart under my feet in the midst of a hectic space furball. I wanted something awesome.