Ars Technica's most popular stories of 2009
Another year has come and gone. 2009 saw a couple of major operating system releases, but the releases of Windows 7 and Mac OS X 10.6 were just a couple of the stories that piqued our readers' interest over the past 12 months. Here are the ten news posts with the highest number of pageviews over the past year, followed by the five most popular features.
Top 10 news stories
Bricks in iPod boxes: the retail employee perspective: The tech world is full of mysteries. We try to answer one of the least pressing: why do rocks, bricks, and even meat end up in product boxes on a semiregular basis?
PC Modern Warfare 2: it's much worse than you thought: Modern Warfare 2 has long earned the ire of PC gamers for its lack of dedicated servers, but Infinity Ward has now announced that it's taking away much more than control over hosting with the game in one long face-palm of a question and answer session. No servers, no console, no mods, no problem!
Upgrading to Windows 7: what XP and Vista users need to know: Planning to upgrade to Windows 7? Here is everything you need to know, including moving from Windows XP to Windows 7, moving from Windows Vista to Windows 7, and upgrading editions of Windows 7 once you already have the new operating system.
Windows 7 pricing announced: cheaper than Vista: Microsoft has revealed almost all the remaining information about Windows 7. The biggest announcement is pricing: Home Premium and Ultimate editions have slightly dropped in cost.
Windows 7 Ultimate activation cracked with OEM master key: Windows 7 Ultimate has been cracked and activated via OEM instant offline activation. Other editions of the operating system have yet to get the same treatment.
4chan, eBaum's World carpet bombing YouTube with porn videos: YouTube is spending its day removing pornographic video clips uploaded as part of an "Porn Day" prank. Some search results at YouTube will continue to show porn images for a few days, despite being removed.
Why we've reached the end of the camera megapixel race: Olympus Imaging's Akira Watanabe says 12 megapixels is enough for most users. Ars thinks he's on to something.
Want 50Mbps Internet in your town? Threaten to roll out your own: ISPs may not act for years on local complaints about slow Internet—but when a town rolls out its own solution, it's amazing how fast the incumbents can deploy fiber, cut prices, and run to the legislature.
Chrome only browser left standing after day one of Pwn2Own: During a contest at the CanSecWest event, security researchers competed to exploit vulnerabilities in Web browsers. Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer were all successfully compromised, but Chrome was able to withstand the first day of the competition.
Yes, Virginia, there is a magenta: A meme circulating on Twitter recently suggests magenta is not color. We beg to differ.
Top 5 features
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard: the Ars Technica review: Mac OS X 10.6, aka Snow Leopard, has landed. This time around, Apple goes light on the glitz in favor of some heavy work under the hood. John Siracusa dives deep into Apple's new OS offering to see what's new, what's still the same, and whether it's worth upgrading.
Hasta la Vista, baby: Ars reviews Windows 7: With much fanfare and even a few parties, Windows 7 has arrived. In this extensive review, Peter Bright dives deep into Microsoft's new OS offering to see what's new, what's still the same, and whether it's worth upgrading.
Ars Technica Holiday Gift Guide 2009: It's almost that time of year again—snow is falling, turkey day is fast approaching, and "50% OFF!" signs are being printed (because that seems to be happening before Christmas now). If you dread gift hunting for the early-adopter who has it all, the Ars Technica Holiday Gift Guide is here to help with almost 70 geektastic gifts that you gotta have.
Good karma: an in-depth review of Ubuntu 9.10: Ubuntu 9.10, codenamed Karmic Koala, was officially released last month. In this comprehensive review, Ars takes you under the surface for an in-depth look at the new features and major architectural changes.
Hands on review: iPhone OS 3.0 chock full of changes: iPhone OS 3.0 is out, and it runs on all generations of iPhone and iPod touch. Ars reviews the OS and takes a look at what's in store. If you're not planning to buy a shiny new iPhone 3GS, you may find yourself quite satisfied with your 3G iPhone running the new OS. (Our iPhone 3GS review was the number six feature.)
Total story breakdown
One of the more common bits of feedback we hear from our readers is that we weigh our reporting a little too heavily towards particular topics (most frequently Apple). As you can see from the graph below, we're actually pretty even-handed.
Gaming, Apple, Microsoft, and tech policy are our most frequently covered topics, but the spread from Opposable Thumbs to Law & Disorder is just over four percentage points.
Happy New Year to all of our readers!
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