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Earth's ozone is on the path to recovery
Good news from the stratosphere: the Earth's ozone layer is healing, the New York Times reports. While researchers have been watching the ozone's comeback for years now, a new study in the journal Science claims the 1987 worldwide ban on chlorofluorocarbons is actually working.
EVE Evolved: The Bloodbath of B-R5RB
To the vast majority of gamers, EVE Online is an unforgiving sci-fi dystopia that's one part epic sandbox stories and nine parts spreadsheet. Once or twice per year, the gaming masses get a glimpse of the game's true depth when stories of incredible wars, political corruption, and record-breaking heists spread across the internet like wildfire. From the 2005 Guiding Hand Social Club heist that was plastered over the pages of gaming magazines to last year's infamous Battle of Asakai, tales of big events from EVE have always managed to grab the gaming media's attention. This week saw the largest record-breaking battle to date as a total of 7,548 players belonging to EVE's two largest megacoalitions fought for control of an innocuous dead-end solar system in the Immensea region. A total of 11 trillion ISK in damage worth over $310,000 USD was inflicted during what has now become known as The Bloodbath of B-R5RB and is allegedly the largest PvP battle in gaming history. The odd story of how the fight started and its record-breaking destructive scale are both big news, but the unsung heroes of B-R5RB are the people who work behind the scenes to ensure that the server can remain online during major battles. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at how one player forgetting to check a box on a form sparked this immense battle and how technologies like Time Dilation help to keep the server online when the ship hits the fan.
EVE Online's 4000-person battle is its largest yet
Last night, EVE Online players did what they do best: organize record-breaking battles with internet spaceships. The 4000-player battle between TEST Alliance and the Goonswarm-led CFC lasted more than five hours at the cost of almost 3,000 ships, according to reports from Eurogamer. CFC emerged victorious after a two-month invasion of TEST's homeland, Fountain. This battle is said to be the largest of its kind, dwarfing January's 3000-person battle in the lowsec system of Asakai.
CFC backtracks on Slim's near-billion dollar fine in Mexico, lays out other terms and conditions
The ongoing kerfuffle between Mexico's Federal Competition Commission and Carlos Slim's America Movil (Telcel's parent company) took a drastic turn earlier today. According to the CFC, a deal has been reached with Slim's telecom outfit that, among other things, will revoke the 11,989,000,000 pesos fine (about $1 billion dollars) imposed back in 2011. That being said, the wealthiest man on the globe isn't completely off the hook, as America Movil's been given five new demands that must be adhered to. Among these are reducing the current per-minute interconnection rates from .95 to .36 pesos, sharing the Telcel waves with other companies in the country and routinely providing the CFC with extensive details to prove the aforementioned requirements are being followed. Should America Movil not live up to its end of the deal, the Mexican regulator could hit Carlos Slim & Co. with a fine of up to eight percent of Telcel's annual revenue -- which, needless to say, is a heck of a lot of cash.
Mexico's CFC deems Telcel 'too dominant' in mobile call termination, more regulations coming
Things could be getting a tad bit messy for the world's richest man, Carlos Slim, as Mexico's CFC (or Federal Competition Commission) has ruled one of his companies holds too much power in a key wireless sector. The CFC's beef with Telcel isn't exactly novel; earlier this year the antitrust agency served the phone outfit with an 11,989,000,000 pesos fine (around a $1 billion) for "monopoly practices." Telcel's latest troubles date back to 2011, when the CFC deemed the company "too dominant" in the mobile call termination game, and now it's taken a unanimous vote that'll allow it to implement "asymmetric" regulations on Telcel's service quality, charges and information. Not all is lost for Slim's carrier, however, since it could still appeal the CFC's decision.
IKEA becomes the first major retailer to stop selling incandescent light bulbs
Remember The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 which mandated that all US retailers must stop selling incandescent bulbs by 2012? If you don't, you're apparently not alone, since according to a lighting survey conducted for IKEA back in 2010, 61% of Americans weren't aware of the legislation either. Luckily for those not in the know, IKEA was kind enough to remind the world of the upcoming change by proudly announcing that they've stopped selling the power-sucking bulbs a whole year early -- making them the first retailer in the US to comply with the bill. To help customers deal with the switch the furniture giant will sell visitors compact fluorescent and halogen bulbs -- in addition to LED lamps. That's seems like smart business considering the same lighting survey says 67% of Americans care about using energy saving lights, while 81% say using more efficient lights is a good environmental practice. So much for incandescent bulbs making a comeback eh?
