The Ars Technicast

What if we treated online harassment the same way we treat spam? 

Ars Technica's podcast continues with a series of live discussions about today's science, tech and culture recorded at Longitude, Oakland's premier tiki bar. In this episode, Ars Technica's Annalee Newitz and Cyrus Farivar talk to journalist Sarah Jeong about spam, online harassment, examples and proposed solutions.

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Ars Technica's podcast continues with a series of live discussions about today's science, tech and culture recorded at Longitude, Oakland's premier tiki bar. In this episode, Ars Technica's Annalee Newitz and Cyrus Farivar had a tremendously interesting conversation with UC Davis law professor Elizabeth Joh, who researches surveillance technology and policing.

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Ars Technica's podcast continues with a series of live discussions about today's science, tech and culture recorded at Longitude, Oakland's premier tiki bar. In this episode, Annalee Newitz and Cyrus Farivar hosted a live chat with Dr. Krish Seetah, a Zooarchaeologist / Stanford professor, about the history of meat production.

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Mr. Robot, USA's cybersecurity and hacking drama, is a favorite within the Ars Technica Slack/IRC channels. So for the summer, we'll be following along with the series on our new podcast—Decrypted.

Each week, we'll dive into the show in the way only Ars can.... which is to say it'll be thorough, we'll talk with experts, and no detail is too minute or nerdy. The show returns on July 13, so check out our preview episode before S2 gets started.

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This year saw an event that only happens every six or seven years, on average: two major gaming consoles released at just about the same time. The PS4 has just released, and the Xbox One launches on Friday. Gaming Editor Kyle Orland has been losing many sleep cycles as he writes reviews of the hardware and system software for both consoles, but he made some time to join Social Editor Cesar Torres and Senior Reviews Editor Lee Hutchinson as we talk about their highs and the lows.

If we were to call Kyle's coverage of these two launches extensive, we would be making a total understatement. He's written thousands of words about the Xbox One and PS4's new games, he's talked to developers about their opinions about both systems. And as if that weren't enough, he's written news, opinion, and historical analysis of the Sony and Microsoft's systems. As you read Kyle's reviews of the PS4 and the Xbox One, gaming fans will wonder, which machine is best? Which should I get? Kyle wrote exactly about this as he compared both consoles in a head-to-head match.

But as we find out in the podcast, there’s a few factors to think about if you’re considering dropping a few hundred dollars on these machines at launch. Game developers are barely getting their hands on a new platform right now, and Kyle talks about the impact on graphics and games going forward. Through it all, we talk about what we can expect in terms of true novelty in game play and experience. We also discuss what the future release of a Steam OS console will mean in the future when it comes to game selection, industrial design and ergonomics, and price.

As you’ll hear on this episode, we are also putting this format of the Ars Technicast on pause for now. The show will return in a new iteration sometime in the future, but you can enjoy the archive of past episodes on iTunes, Stitchr or on this page. Cesar is also moving on from Ars Technica (though he remains in the tech world), and so we want to say thanks to all of you for listening during the Technicast’s run.

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Now that we’re closing in on the last few months of the year, movie season ramps up again as Hollywood releases some of its biggest films to close out the year. Just before Halloween, Cesar caught a screening of the Carrie re-boot by director Kimberly Peirce. That got us talking about Stephen King’s novel, and the ways it has been adapted over time. Later this month, Catching Fire also comes out. It marks the second installment of the Hunger Games series, which is based on the novels by Suzanne Collins. Some of these novels have won’t the hearts of readers, but are their adaptations noteworthy? Are filmmakers able to tackle the heart of the book but still please audiences? Join us in this episode of the Technicast as we talk about book-to-film adaptations. We cover films like The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and we also talk about the serialization of novel series like Game of Thrones into a successful television series. Join Social Editor Cesar Torres, Ars Writer Casey Johnston and Senior Products Specialist Andrew Cunningham in this episode as we discuss some of the latest film releases tied to books. 

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In this week’s episode, we take a couple of steps back from the announcement by Apple to look at current pricing strategies and models for some of the giants in computing. Co-hosts Social Editor Cesar Torres and Ars Associate Writer Casey Johnston welcome Reviews Editor Ron Amadeo and Senior Products Specialist Andrew Cunningham on the program. We discuss Microsoft’s own release of Windows 8.1 (also free), as well as the ways in which Apple’s desktop line may be following suit to iOS’ free upgrades. We also tackle office productivity applications, as Appleannounced all of iWork will now be free. We look at Microsoft Office and the way its group licenses are in contrast against offerings by Google’s own Google Docs or Apple’s suite. Also, stay tuned for some discussions about how app store revenue streams differ between iOS and Android, and why Android OS culture may keep paid apps from getting a foothold.

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Spoiler Alert: In this episode, we go into detail about some key plot points from the film Gravity. If you haven’t seen it yet, you’ve been forewarned.

Senior Reviews Editor Lee Hutchinson still hasn’t seen the full film Gravity. Social Editor Cesar Torres already saw the film, and between both of them, they dissect the film. Is it scientifically accurate? Is it good movie-making? Or both? Well, Lee’s at least seen the trailer already. In fact, he saw it with Zeb Scoville, the EVA task group lead at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston, Texas. The NBL is an astronaut training facility that prepares astronauts for work in outer space.

At Ars Technica we’ve done plenty of coverage when it comes to some of the issues revolving around the science of gravity and space. You can check out our original Zeb Scoville interview, or take a look at our hands-on piece inside the NBL by former worker Terry Dunn. And if you want to geek out over what happens when debris floats in space, you can revisit our article about it we published in July. 

Have you seen the film yet? We want to hear your perspectives about what it accomplished. Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

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In this episode, Gaming Editor Kyle visited the show to talk about the SteamOS announcement this week. It’s big news, because a SteamOS could mean that gamers could have more choices when it comes to playing Steam beyond their gaming rigs. It looks like Steam wants to place itself squarely in the living room, though we don’t know hardware details quite yet. We also talked about Kyle’s coverage at the Tokyo Game Show and Akihabara in Japan. You also will want to hear how arcade gaming is going strong in Japan, and we lament that we can’t get arcades as good as these. Also, stick around for a bit of analysis on what’s to come this Fall as PS4 and Xbox One roll out. Join co-hosts Social Editor Cesar Torres and Ars Writer Casey Johnston in this gaming-focused episode. Let’s do this.

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On Tuesday Apple announced two new versions of its iPhone line: the colorful 5c (a sleeker revamp of features in the current iPhone 5) and the higher-end iPhone 5s, which includes a finger print scanner. Apple also announced September 18th as the release date for iOS 7. In this episode, Senior Products Specialist Andrew Cunningham visits the virtual studio to tell us what he thinks of the new iPhones, which he personally played with on Tuesday. But wait. There’s more. Editor at Large Jacqui Cheng comes back to this episode of the podcast to provide some analysis on Apple’s iPhone strategy, and we find out what she thinks of the 5s’ new fingerprint scanner. And then we hit the big question: what kind of impact will the gold iPhone 5s have? Will users want it? Some of our preferences and predictions will surprise you. Join hosts Social Editor Cesar Torres and Ars Writer Casey Johnston in this episode of the Technicast.

What did you think about the new iPhones and their specs? Will you be upgrading? Share your thoughts and ideas with us below. 

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