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Thursday, October 12

Oops—It looks like the Ariane 6 rocket may not offer Europe any launch savings

Nearly a decade ago the European Space Agency announced plans to develop the next generation of its Ariane rocket, the Ariane 6 booster. The goal was to bring a less costly workhorse rocket to market that could compete with the likes of SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster and begin flying by 2020.

It has been well documented that development of the Ariane 6 is running years behind—the vehicle is now unlikely to fly before the middle of 2024 and subject to further delays. For example, a critical long-duration hot fire of the vehicle's Vulcain 2.1 main engine had been scheduled for "early October," but there have been no recent updates on when this key test will take place.

However, there are also increasing concerns that the Ariane 6 rocket will not meet its ambitious price targets. For years, European officials have said they would like to cut the price of launches by half with a rocket that is easier to manufacture and by flying an increased cadence of missions.

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Kia EV5 revealed, but US future is uncertain for this electric crossover

Following the launch of the new EV9, the next product in Kia's EV onslaught is the smaller EV5. And while the first round of EV5s will go on sale in China and South Korea in the coming months, it will still be some time before the compact SUV is offered globally.

Even worse, we aren't totally sure if the EV5 will come to America; sources within Kia have both confirmed and denied plans to bring this SUV to the US. The company's president and CEO said it would be headed stateside, but then Kia's public relations team denied this statement, with other internal sources saying the EV5 would not be offered in the US. Kia confirms that the EV5 will come to North America, but we're told this just means Canada and possibly Mexico.

Why? It's complicated. The likely culprit is that the EV5 isn't planned to be built in North America, making it ineligible for the new Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) tax credit. That $7,500 credit could drastically reduce the price of a new EV, and Kia not being able to make use of this would reduce the EV5's competitiveness in the US. Just a thought.

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Kia EV3, EV4 concepts look like the future, will soon be a reality

A top-down look at the front half of the Kia EV3 concept

Kia is staring down an ambitious goal. The company wants to increase its global electric vehicle sales to 1 million units annually by 2026, further ramping up to 1.6 million by 2030. New products like the EV5 crossover and EV9 SUV will certainly help with this push, but smaller, more affordable EVs will be crucial to Kia's success, as well. That's why, despite being called concept cars, the new EV3 and EV4 are thinly veiled glimpses into Kia's next round of production EVs.

Unveiled at Kia's EV Day event in South Korea this week, the EV3 and EV4 will arrive in the next few years. The company also spoke about an even smaller EV2 that will be designed for Europe and emerging markets, with the goal for that car being a super-low starting price—something around the equivalent of $30,000.

There's a strong family resemblance between the EV3, EV5, and EV9. (credit: Kia)

The EV3 and EV4 ride on the same E-GMP electric vehicle architecture that underpins the Kia EV6 and EV9, as well as sister vehicles like the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Ioniq 6, and Genesis GV60. However, while the current crop of E-GMP vehicles are built with 800 V electrical architecture giving them fast charging speeds, the EV3 and EV4 will use a slightly more cost-effective version of this platform with a 400 V system. That's a bummer; one of the big highlights of cars like the Kia EV6 is its ability to charge at a max rate of 233 kW. With the EV3 and EV4, we could be looking at a maximum rate of 150 kW—or less.

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25 of the most popular Amazon Prime Day deals with Ars Technica readers

Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days are coming to a close, but there's still time to grab something before the oddly named sale ends. As we look toward wrapping things up, we're sharing some of the products that have been most popular with Ars Technica readers these past couple of days, both on Amazon and elsewhere. From obvious picks like the AirPods Pro to unexpected ones like a hydroponic garden kit and a DeWalt circular saw, here are some of the cool, weird, and wonderful things Ars readers bought during Amazon's big October sales event.

Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Gen/USB-C) Wireless Earbuds with Active Noise Cancelling for $189 (was $249) at Amazon
Apple iPad (9th Generation) for $249 (was $329) at Amazon
Bose QuietComfort 45 Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones for $229 (was $329) at Amazon
Anker USB C Docking Station, PowerExpand 9-in-1 PD Dock for $80 (was $150) at Amazon
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge - Nintendo Switch for $23 (was $35) at Amazon
AeroGarden Harvest with Gourmet Herb Seed Pod Kit - Hydroponic Indoor Garden for $50 (was $165) at Amazon
PNY 512GB Turbo Attaché 3 USB 3.2 Flash Drive for $26 (was $38) at Amazon
Catan (Base Game) Adventure Board Game for Adults and Family for $27 (was $49) at Amazon
Vitamix 5200 Blender, Professional-Grade for $300 (was $550) at Amazon
Govee RGBIC Floor Lamp, LED Corner Lamp for $60 (was $100) at Amazon
Cuphead - Nintendo Switch for $25 (was $40) at Amazon
DeWalt 20 V MAX* Circular Saw, 6-1/2-Inch, Cordless, Tool Only for $137 (was $219) at Amazon
Logitech MX Keys Advanced Wireless Illuminated Keyboard for $89 (was $120) at Amazon
Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless Premium Noise Canceling Overhead Headphones for $248 (was $348) at Amazon
Wireless Switch Controller for Nintendo Switch/Lite/OLED Controller for $24 (was $27) at Amazon
Office Chair, Ergonomic Desk Chair with Adjustable Lumbar Support for $100 (was $190) at Amazon
Dyson V12 Detect Slim Absolute vacuum for $440 (was $640) at Dyson
iRobot Roomba j6+ (6550) Self-Emptying Robot Vacuum for $605 (was $800) at Amazon
DeWalt Powerstack 20 V MAX Battery, Rechargeable, 5Ah, Lithium Ion, 2-Pack for $250 (was $349) at Amazon
LG UltraWide QHD 34-inch Curved Computer Monitor 34WQ73A-B for $330 (was $470) at Amazon
Crest 3D White Glamorous White Whitestrips - 28 Strips for $39 (was $44) at Amazon
Beats Solo 3 Wireless On-Ear Headphones for $100 (was $200) at Amazon
Apple AirTag 4 Pack for $89 (was $99) at Amazon
Apple MacBook Air 13.3-inch Laptop M1 for $750 (was $999) at Amazon
Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus for $800 (was $1,000) at Amazon

For more shopping ideas, deals, and savings, be sure to check out our buying guides for last-minute inspiration if you're looking to load up your Amazon shopping cart in the final hours of the Prime Big Deal Days sale:

Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.

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Wednesday, October 11

Not burn-in: Scary OLED TV image retention may stem from “buggy” feature

Image retention is scary to see on your OLED TV but often easy to eliminate. Many modern OLED TVs subtly work their own magic when you're not watching in order to remove the problem, as RTINGS demonstrated in a video released Friday. However, TV vendors aren't all doing perfect jobs at implementing OLED screens' compensation cycles.

Temporary image retention differs from permanent image retention, aka burn-in, in that it points to a change in the panel's thin-film transistor (TFT) layer, rather than degradation of the OLED layer. Untreated permanent image retention doesn't lead to burn-in, a Sony spokesperson confirmed to me, but anyone looking at a screen suffering from image persistence will want to eradicate the sticky images, fast.

These temporary artifacts can be the result of heat affecting the amount of light emitted by the OLED pixels and can happen within minutes of usage. But letting the TV cool down by turning it off usually fixes this.

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Pixel 8 Pro review—The best Android phone

Behold, the glorious, flat display. Normal, common-sense phone design is back, finally!

Google is listening. Reviewing phones means that we usually complain—a lot—about phone designs, about things that could be better, and about decisions that don't make a ton of sense. Usually it feels like talking to a wall; manufacturers ignore us and keep doing whatever they want.

The Pixel 8 is different, though. This phone feels like it's taking some of our long-standing pet peeves into account and is finally doing something about them. Tired of pointless curved screens that distort your image? Fixed. Want an update support timeline that finally rivals iOS? Check. Fixing flaws with the previous model, like face unlock? Double check. Compared to where the Pixel line was just a few years ago, Google Hardware is turning in phones that are polished, practiced, and full of great decisions.

The Pixel design just keeps improving

The Pixel 8 Pro display looks great. [credit: Ron Amadeo ]

SPECS AT A GLANCE
	Pixel 8	Pixel 8 Pro
SCREEN	6.2-inch, 120 Hz, 2400×1080 OLED	6.7-inch, 120 Hz, 2992×1344 OLED
OS	Android 14
CPU	Google Tensor G3 One 3.0 GHz Cortex-X3 core Four 2.45 GHz Cortex-A715 cores Four 2.15 GHz Cortex-A510 Cores
GPU	ARM Immortalis-G715s MC10
RAM	8GB	12GB
STORAGE	128GB/256GB UFS 3.1	128GB/256GB/512GB/1TB UFS 3.1
BATTERY	4575 mAh	5050 mAh
NETWORKING	Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3, GPS, NFC, 5G mmWave & Sub-6 GHz	Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3, GPS, NFC, 5G mmWave & Sub-6 GHz, UWB
PORTS	USB Type-C 3.1 Gen 1 with 30 W USB-PD 3.0 charging
REAR CAMERA	50 MP Main 12 MP Wide Angle	50 MP Main 48 MP Wide Angle 48 MP 4x Telephoto
FRONT CAMERA	10.8 MP	10.8 MP
SIZE	150.5 x 70.8 x 8.9 mm	162.6 x 76.5 x 8.8 mm
WEIGHT	187 g	213 g
STARTING PRICE	$699	$999
OTHER PERKS	IP68 dust and water resistance, eSIM, wireless charging, in-screen fingerprint reader

Google is still making steady improvements to the design that started with the Pixel 6, and the Pixel 8 Pro feels like one of the best hardware designs out there. First up, Google is finally dumping the years-long failed experiment of curved displays. Samsung started the curved display trend back in 2014 when it figured out how to bend OLED displays. Thanks to the huge influence of Samsung's display division, from then on most flagship Android phones had the long edges of their displays curve into the bodies.

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Users mistake video game clips for real Israeli war footage on social media

A misleadingly captioned <em>Arma 3</em> video shared on X now sports a "context" note on its real origins.

Footage from the 2013 game Arma 3 is spreading virally across multiple social media sites, presented as real spectator video of ongoing military actions between Israelis and Palestinians. The misleading videos are part of a wave of war disinformation that has run rampant across social media and highlights just how realistic the heavily modded game can appear at a glance.

Examples of this trend are not hard to come by. A 22-second clip on X garnered over 10.4 million views as footage of "Israeli helicopters getting smashed." But the clip was originally posted as a YouTube short on October 3, where it was correctly labeled as Arma footage. That didn't stop that same clip from spreading widely among Indian and Turkish Facebook users.

Another X video with millions of views shows Arma 3 footage of a shoulder-mounted rocket launched at a helicopter, labeled as "Hamas fighters shooting down Israel war helicopter in Gaza." X-user Shayan Sardarizadeh has debunked that footage as well as other examples of game footage that have been taken down as of press time.

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