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Ars readers react to our reviews editor pulling major Gs

Ars also talked about the Xbox One and a Newegg lawsuit this week.

Ars did some cool things this week. First off, we got Senior Reviews Editor Lee Hutchinson to take a GoPro Hero 3 Black and a Lumia 1520 into a Folland Gnat supersonic trainer to get some footage with the two cameras. The plane was piloted by Houston aviator Rick Sharpe of the Vietnam War Flight Museum. We posted the video taken by the GoPro in the article Watch Senior Editor Lee Hutchinson pull 5Gs upside down and not wet himself. Credit goes to Aurich Lawson for taking a screenshot of the expression on Lee's face that you see above. 

"I thought I recognized you up there..." wrote stevestrike, who is obviously some sort of superhero with extreme vision living a quiet life as an Ars reader because the burden of power is too great.

JousterL wrote, "I misread the title and thought you were benchmarking wireless connectivity speeds while flying around at Mach speeds." (The results are in: eschew terra firma if you really want to make your data connection work for you.)

And Evil_Merlin was a little jealous: "I hate you Lee. Then again, I'm probably one of the few Ars'ers that can say I've flown over Mach 2." No word on if Mach 2 was reached in a plane or if it was achieved through some sort of wizard magic. We are forced to draw our own conclusions. andrewd18 asked, "The real question is... could he keep his breakfast down if it was Soylent?" We have no idea but we feel like the answer is "yes."

It's all about the batteries baby

As it hit the shelves this week, Kyle Orland wrapped up his full review of the Xbox One hardware. Ultimately, the console was good, but not great, although it has the potential for greatness down the line. You can read some of Kyle's words on the subject at Xbox One review: More than a game console, less than a living room revolution. Surprisingly, one of the most contentious issues of Kyle's review was his dislike of the AA batteries that the controller requires. Turns out many Ars readers prefer snapping in a couple of batteries, and find it more convenient than constantly recharging one big (albeit longer-lasting) battery.

KevinN206 wrote:

I just don't see how having two AA batteries is considered bad when, compared to the DS4:

1. It can be used for 30+ hours compared to 7 hours.
2. It can be swapped on the dime; no worry about degrading capacity over time.
3. It can be used with rechargeable batteries.
4. For about $25 more, you can get a rechargeable pack, essentially the same as the DS4.
5. When all else fails, you can still use a real wire to connect the controller.

Seriously, how is it "bad" when the DS4 lasts only 7 hours on a single charge? What would the author consider to be "good"?

RaptorApocalypse agreed: "I like the fact that the Xbox uses AA batteries. I keep some of those precharged batteries ready to go at all times so when the Xbox batteries die, I can just swap them out with my charged ones." And Houkoholic gave it a third: "Add another to the 'prefer taking standard AA size one-use/rechargable batteries' camp. I'm stocked up with a dozen or so Eneloop rechargeables which I use across a number of devices such as cameras, keyboards, mouse, TV remotes, etc and not having to buy another proprietary battery pack is a huge benefit and I can't see any negative for this."

But wicker_man stood up for the other camp:

I was so glad when I found out that the PS3 used built-in batteries and I am glad that PS4 is continuing this tradition.

Even with PS3 not being able to charge the controller when on standby never bothered me because I could never physically play for more than 7 hours (even when Uncharted 2 came out). With PS4 being able to charge the controller anytime, this becomes even easier.

Besides, the cost of the rechargeable battery pack for Xbox 360 was more than a third of the Dualshock's value. Microsoft is making money on accessories with all this battery business, and those of you who "think" they like the AAs have probably swallowed this PR nonsense.

AA batteries suck in 2013, period (yes, I have a stack of Eneloops myself, too) and they need to die. They're heavy and add bulk and the hassle of having shit scattered around (batteries plus chargers). Got batteries dying in the controller but need to sit 3m away from TV? Buy a longer USB cable in a dollar store.

Can I get a witness?

Joe Mullin went down to Marshall, Texas this week to chronicle the TQP Development vs. Newegg trial. TQP is a classic "non-practicing entity" with a patent that it claims is essential to the way Newegg does its business. Newegg, for its part, disagrees completely and is fighting that claim rather than settling. You can read the latest chapter in the story at Newegg on trial: Mystery company TQP rewrites the history of encryption.

"Thanks so much for this coverage - it's a really dramatic writeup," wrote Evan E. "And, like others, I know I'll be shopping more often at Newegg from now on." el_segfaulto agreed, "When I buy from Newegg, I make sure to explicitly state in the notes why they are continuing to get my business. Recently it's been their smackdowns of these unfapable trolls."

Resolute chided: "Another one of those 'fight back and we will demand you pay more' cases, eh? 'Patent troll' is often far too mild a term for some of these extortionists."

And willdude isn't quite convinced of Newegg's strategy in court yet:

I have to say I'm kind of worried on Newegg's behalf, because I don't really see how attacking the trolling strategy is really going to help their case. Licensing patents is a pretty well-established practice, even if it is pretty scummy, and the jury has no power to make that practice illegal. The only thing they should be focusing on here is whether the patent is valid and whether they're infringing. Attacking TQP itself is muddying the waters and confusing the matter, making the jury think their infringement defense can't stand on its own merits.

"You have to love the guy who is quite open that all he does is sue people with vague patents for money," wrote pappypappy. "How proud his law professors must be..."

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