Month: February 2022

HP’s Pro c640 G2 enterprise Chromebook is expected to get Steam support. (credit: HP)

HP, Lenovo, Acer, and Asus are expected to be among the first companies to release gaming Chromebooks. A code change in the Chromium Gerrit suggests the vendors are working on Chrome OS devices that will support Steam.

In January 2020, Google said it would bring Steam to Chromebooks, and the plan may be starting to take shape. 9to5Google spotted a code change on Saturday showing a list of what appears to be Chromebook models that will support Steam:

• Acer Chromebook 514 (CB514-1H)
• Acer Chromebook 515
• Acer Chromebook Spin 713 (CP713-3W)
• Asus Chromebook Flip CX5 (CX5500)
• Asus Chromebook CX9 (CX9400)
• HP Pro c640 G2 Chromebook
• Unknown Chromebook from Lenovo

When asked about the report, Acer told Ars Technica that it’d “need to defer to Google on the minimum requirements/plans for Steam on Chrome.” No other laptop maker contacted got back to us in time for publication. Google has told Ars Technica in the past that a lot of experimentation happens in the Chromium Gerrit, so things can look different by the time changes hit consumers.

Enlarge (credit: Meta)

In December, 43-year-old doctoral researcher Nina Jane Patel put on a headset and entered Meta’s virtual world to see what was happening that day. “Within seconds of being there, there were three avatars near me,” she says. “Suddenly they were taking selfies… I couldn’t see at first that they were groping the avatar’s upper body… They were yelling at me, ‘Don’t pretend you don’t like it, this is what you came for.’”

The incident took place in the metaverse, an immersive virtual world accessed via wearable technology in which tech groups expect us to spend a far greater proportion of time in the future, both playing and, crucially, working.

When it comes to employment laws, however, it is unclear what rules of engagement apply in a universal digital realm. What counts as harassment in the metaverse? Can an avatar be discriminated against, or worse? Will national legislation protect employees or does working in the metaverse require a new rule book altogether?

Enlarge / Russia President Vladimir Putin and Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin shake hands during a meeting at the Konstantin Palace. (credit: Mikhail MetzelTASS via Getty Images)

Last week, European astronauts issued a call for the continent to develop its own independent means of launching humans into space. As part of their reasoning, the astronauts said that Europe should not depend on other countries or private companies for human access to space because there are “no guarantees that our needs and values will be a priority” for the transportation provider.

Essentially, the astronauts feel that Europe’s human spaceflight program should not be subject to the whims of others. “Power is the capability and the capacity to act: only then, as fully fledged global partners, we will have a seat at the decision-making table,” they wrote.

The leader of Russia’s space program, Dmitry Rogozin, decided to offer a solution. In a series of three tweets, Rogozin suggested that Europe should use the venerable Soyuz rocket and spacecraft to get its astronauts into space. The vehicle, he said, might launch from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, much as another variant of the Soyuz rocket already does for cargo missions.

Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica)

Update (2/21/22 9:40 am EST): We’ve updated our deals roundup to ensure all prices and links are up to date for Presidents Day itself. We’ve also added a few new offers, including an Apple Gift Card promotion at Target and a good price on a Eufy indoor security camera we like. Our original post is below.

Original post (2/19/2022 11:56 am EST): While Presidents Day weekend isn’t known as an especially bountiful time for tech deals, the Dealmaster has dug up a few actually good discounts on worthwhile gadgets, gear, and games all the same.

Our latest roundup of the best tech deals from around the web includes the best price we’ve tracked on Bose’s QuietComfort 45. The noise-canceling headphones are down to $279, which matches the price we saw on Black Friday and marks a $50 drop from Bose’s MSRP. While not our top pick among wireless noise cancelers (that honor goes to Sony’s WH-1000XM4), the QuietComfort 45 are an alternative pair we recommend to those who are willing to trade some battery life and extra features for a lighter and more comfortable design. Bose also addressed one of the headphones’ shortcomings this past week by adding a customizable EQ feature, which lets users adjust the QuietComfort 45’s sound profile more to their liking.

Enlarge / Eliminating extreme poverty won’t necessarily boost emissions as much as people fear. (credit: Soltan Frédéric)

The United Nations’ first Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) aims to eradicate poverty around the world. If implemented, however, it might see people consume more—drive more often, buy more products—and, thus, produce more carbon emissions, fueling climate change. “With more money to spend, and therefore more consumption, there is usually a higher carbon footprint,” Benedikt Bruckner, a master’s student of energy and environmental sciences at the University of Groningen, told Ars.

But it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way, according to a new study put out by Bruckner, other researchers out of Groningen, and colleagues in the United States and China.

Published in Nature, the research makes use of high-level data about consumption patterns to show that reaching SDG 1—which shoots to move every person out of extreme poverty (under $1.90 per day) and half of everyone above the poverty lines of their respective countries—won’t excessively fuel climate change.