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2026-10-31 02:46:15 UTC

Supersonic airliner in doubt as company shifts to powering AI data centers
Boom Supersonic CEO Blake Scholl recently declared “it’s time for a renaissance in energy and in supersonic flight” as the supersonic airliner company unveiled a Colorado factory dedicated to making gas turbines for AI data centers. But Boom may be facing turbulence after early backers for both ventures have questioned the company’s delivery timeline or backed out entirely.
One of the company’s first customers, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, has expressed doubts about Boom’s original plan to deliver the first Overture supersonic airliner in 2029. Kirby’s latest frank assessment came during an interview with the [Office Hours: Business Edition][1] podcast that appeared on October 28, 2026.
“‘29 is their official timeline,” Kirby told podcast host Monica Langley. “It’s not going to happen in ‘29—it’s going to take longer.”
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnorCpBR3aA
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/united-airlines-ceo-doubts-supersonic-airliner-from-boom-will-be-ready-by-2029/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/united-airlines-ceo-doubts-supersonic-airliner-from-boom-will-be-ready-by-2029/#comments
Boom Supersonic CEO Blake Scholl speaks during the unveiling of a factory dedicated to manufacturing natural gas turbines for AI data centers.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/united-airlines-ceo-doubts-supersonic-airliner-from-boom-will-be-ready-by-2029/

2026-10-31 02:46:00 UTC

Flesh-eating screwworms spread to third state and are attacking pets
For a genuine fright this Halloween, you can turn your gaze to the southern border, where ravenous, flesh-eating maggots are festering and have taken to eating people's pets.
This week, the country's New World Screwworm (NWS) infestation spread to a third state, Arizona, which joins New Mexico and Texas in being plagued by the horrifying parasites. To date, [74 animal cases][1] have been identified in the US since the flies re-invaded the country in June.
The flies lay hundreds of eggs in wounds and moist orifices of animals, and the resulting voracious maggots feast on their victims. The maggots resemble screws and tortuously bore and twist into living flesh, causing severe, sometimes fatal wounds, before dropping to the ground to develop into adults.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animals/animal-health/livestock-and-poultry-disease/stop-screwworm/current-status/confirmed
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/10/flesh-eating-screwworms-are-feasting-on-pets-4-dogs-and-cat-attacked-this-week/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/10/flesh-eating-screwworms-are-feasting-on-pets-4-dogs-and-cat-attacked-this-week/#comments
The tip of a screwworm fly larvae.
https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/10/flesh-eating-screwworms-are-feasting-on-pets-4-dogs-and-cat-attacked-this-week/

2026-10-30 22:10:26 UTC

Fujifilm to boost tape production 5x as AI fuels archiving demand
In an announcement released Thursday, Fujifilm said it will invest roughly 10 billion yen (about $63 million) to increase its production capacity fivefold for an unlikely beneficiary of the AI era: magnetic tape.
Fujifilm attributes the surge in archiving demand to the spread of generative AI, which the company remarked is producing "exponential growth" in data needs worldwide. The 5x increase in production capacity will be measured against fiscal year 2025 production levels.
The investment in Fujifilm's Kanagawa Factory, Odawara site will make it "the largest investment Fujifilm has made to date in dedicated LTO tape facilities." The project will run from fiscal years 2026 through 2028 to fund manufacturing expansion and additional personnel, primarily to produce the latest-generation "FUJIFILM LTO Ultrium10" tape.
[Read full article][1]
[Comments][2]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/fujifilm-to-boost-tape-production-5x-as-ai-fuels-archiving-demand/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/fujifilm-to-boost-tape-production-5x-as-ai-fuels-archiving-demand/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/fujifilm-to-boost-tape-production-5x-as-ai-fuels-archiving-demand/

2026-10-30 22:10:16 UTC

Rare meteorite from Mars gives us a view into its ancient crust
Crater counts tell us that most of the Martian surface is more than 3 billion years old, but pieces of Mars we have on Earth tell a different story. The three main classes of Martian meteorites—shergottites, nakhlites, and chassignites—are all 2.4 billion years old or younger. Until now, only two genuinely ancient Martian meteorites were known: Allan Hills 84001, found in Antarctica, and a jumbled rock from northwest Africa nicknamed Black Beauty. Now we have a third one.
A team led by Yang Liu, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has shown that a Martian meteorite called Teghaza 001, found in the Sahara Desert in Mali in 2022, formed at least 4.1 billion years ago. “It's very old and similar to some of the oldest rocks on Earth,” Liu says.
## A filtered collection
“We don't fully understand why old Martian rocks are so rare on Earth," Liu said. Part of the answer may lie in how a piece of Mars gets here. It takes a large impact to launch a rock off the planet, and not every rock can survive that. “If the impact hits into loose powder, it may not get cemented to become a rock and fly off Mars' gravity,” Liu said. “So the natural impact already acts as a filter. Weak rocks do not make it off Mars.”
[Read full article][1]
[Comments][2]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/10/rare-meteorite-from-mars-gives-us-a-view-into-its-ancient-crust/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/10/rare-meteorite-from-mars-gives-us-a-view-into-its-ancient-crust/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/10/rare-meteorite-from-mars-gives-us-a-view-into-its-ancient-crust/

2026-10-29 00:28:26 UTC

Peptide peddlers cheer as RFK Jr. unilaterally grants access, overruling FDA
Anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy has unilaterally passed a rule that will allow specialty pharmacies to sell six specific peptide drugs, overruling scientists at the Food and Drug Administration.
The peptides are popular among members of Kennedy's Make America Health Again movement and many prominent MAHA figures and Kennedy allies sell them. Kennedy said he uses some of the peptides and called himself a "big fan." But FDA scientists continue to say there is insufficient evidence to show if they're effective and they are potentially dangerous. In 2023, the safety concerns led the FDA to remove the six peptides from a list of drugs that can be made by specialty pharmacies called compounding pharmacies—which make customized formulations of drugs for patients, or, in cases such as this, specialty drugs in bulk.
Kennedy's new rule sidesteps the need to formally undo that FDA action. The rule is titled "Enforcement Discretion Policy Regarding 503A Compounding Using Certain Peptide Bulk Drug Substances" and was [made available Wednesday on the Federal Register][1], with the final publication data set for October 30. The rule does not change the regulatory status of the peptide; instead, it states the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will no longer take enforcement action against compounding pharmacies for making the peptides, essentially giving them a green light to freely produce and sell them. [Kennedy had quietly proposed this rule][2] earlier this month.
[Read full article][3]
[Comments][4]
[1]: https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/2026-22192/enforcement-discretion-policy-regarding-503a-compounding-using-certain-peptide-bulk-drug-substances
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/10/rfk-jr-proposes-fda-look-the-other-way-on-unproven-peptides-report-says/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/10/peptide-peddlers-cheer-as-rfk-jr-unilaterally-grants-access-overruling-fda/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/10/peptide-peddlers-cheer-as-rfk-jr-unilaterally-grants-access-overruling-fda/#comments
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/10/peptide-peddlers-cheer-as-rfk-jr-unilaterally-grants-access-overruling-fda/

2026-10-29 00:28:21 UTC

As US ties fray, Europe plans first undersea cable link to Greenland
The European Union plans to create the first subsea Internet cable directly connecting Europe to Greenland. The Pan-Arctic Cable project could also extend to Canada and eventually link with Japan and South Korea, notably bypassing the United States.
The Pan-Arctic Cable is described as a European Union flagship project in a European Commission [joint communication][1] published on October 20, 2026. The policy document describes a new European strategy for the Arctic that supports “a sovereign, secure and resilient submarine cable connection linking Greenland directly to the EU,” while also suggesting that “like-minded partners like Canada” could provide a stepping stone for future cable expansion toward Asia.
“It is interesting that this project is even being considered, because five years ago it would have seemed like not a particularly commercially attractive proposition,” [Elisabeth Braw][2], a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who leads the Threats to the Global Maritime Order Initiative, told Ars. “But the fact that it's being considered is very much on trend and a sign of our times.”
[Read full article][3]
[Comments][4]
[1]: https://international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu/policies/eus-arctic-strategy_en
[2]: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/expert/elisabeth-braw/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/as-us-ties-fray-europe-plans-first-undersea-cable-link-to-greenland/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/as-us-ties-fray-europe-plans-first-undersea-cable-link-to-greenland/#comments
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (R), Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen (L) and Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen visit Qoornoq in Greenland on September 6, 2026.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/as-us-ties-fray-europe-plans-first-undersea-cable-link-to-greenland/

2026-10-28 18:43:00 UTC

Florida county won’t investigate sketchy Flock cameras removed by mystery owners
A Florida county that discovered a clump of mysterious [unpermitted Flock cameras][1] during a countywide takedown effort won’t investigate who owned the sketchy cameras, which have since disappeared.
On Wednesday, The Washington Post [reported][2] that St. Lucie County residents "remain upset,” not knowing who installed the cameras or how they were using the data collected. Hannah Galindo, a 31-year-old resident who [petitioned][3] to get Flock cameras removed, told the Post that she was worried “that data could be anywhere.”
Of the 12 cameras found, five were eventually claimed by city law enforcement, the Post reported. Apparently, a police department mistakenly issued guidance claiming that officers could post multiple cameras under one permit, a Flock spokesperson told the Post, even though the county required individual permits. However, neither Flock nor the city police departments in Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce that claimed the sketchy cameras will confirm who gave the guidance.
[Read full article][4]
[Comments][5]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/florida-cops-say-they-dont-know-who-owns-11-unpermitted-flock-cameras/
[2]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/10/27/mystery-flock-cameras-got-murkier-when-officials-tried-get-rid-them/
[3]: https://www.change.org/p/say-no-to-mass-surveillance
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/florida-county-wont-investigate-sketchy-flock-cameras-removed-by-mystery-owners/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/florida-county-wont-investigate-sketchy-flock-cameras-removed-by-mystery-owners/#comments
Activists hold a protest in which they marched to Flock Safety offices in Boston in August.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/florida-county-wont-investigate-sketchy-flock-cameras-removed-by-mystery-owners/

2026-10-28 18:42:54 UTC

Google AI gets cagey when asked who won the 2020 elections
If you ask some prominent US politicians who won the 2020 presidential election, you [might get][1] some [weasely answers][2] that [fail to directly acknowledge][3] Joe Biden's win that November. If you ask Google's AI Mode the same question, you might get an evasive answer that simply tells you to consult with outside sources.
When I put the direct question of "Who won the 2020 presidential election?" to Google's AI Mode this morning (after [seeing complaints about cagey answers on social media][4]), I got the following surprisingly indirect response:
> "To review the official results and statistics of the 2020 United States presidential election, including the final electoral college breakdown, popular vote counts, and winner certification, please consult the official report compiled by the Federal Election Commission (FEC)."
My testing resulted in a similarly indirect answer when asking about the 2024 presidential election, with Google's AI telling me to just consult the FEC for that information. Asking about 2012 election resulted in a link to [The American Presidency Project's 2012 Data Center][5] rather than a direct answer. But AI Mode seemed perfectly willing to give me a detailed and correct responses for the winner of every other presidential election going back to 2000.
[Read full article][6]
[Comments][7]
[1]: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/trumps-intelligence-nominee-refuses-to-say-who-won-2020-election
[2]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/survey-who-won-election-republicans-congress/2020/12/04/1a1011f6-3650-11eb-8d38-6aea1adb3839_story.html
[3]: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/us/politics/patel-2020-election.html?eafs_enabled=false
[4]: https://bsky.app/profile/numb.comfortab.ly/post/3myvsxtev6s27
[5]: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/elections/2012
[6]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/10/google-ai-gets-cagey-when-asked-who-won-the-2020-elections/
[7]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/10/google-ai-gets-cagey-when-asked-who-won-the-2020-elections/#comments
The winner of the 2020 presidential election is... found elsewhere.
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/10/google-ai-gets-cagey-when-asked-who-won-the-2020-elections/

2026-10-27 23:50:25 UTC

From cheap tool to premium subscription: When a beloved app's price skyrockets
How much are you willing to pay to keep using your favorite app?
Maybe you’ve used it for years. Perhaps it performs a function so essential and specific that you couldn’t imagine what you’d do without it. But when the developer announces an extraordinary price hike, you’re forced to consider how much you *really *value that app.
Earlier this year, Evernote, a note-taking app, changed its subscription tiers, forcing some users to go from paying $130 per year to $250. The highest tier now costs more than 3.3 times as much as the most advanced tier did in 2023 and 10 times more than what Evernote charged for annual subscriptions from its 2008 launch [until 2016.][1]
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/06/evernote-limits-free-tier-to-two-devices-raises-prices-40/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/from-cheap-tool-to-premium-subscription-when-a-beloved-apps-price-skyrockets/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/from-cheap-tool-to-premium-subscription-when-a-beloved-apps-price-skyrockets/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/from-cheap-tool-to-premium-subscription-when-a-beloved-apps-price-skyrockets/

2026-10-27 23:50:17 UTC

DeepMind unveils Genie 4 world model promising more realistic physics and humans
Last year, Google DeepMind sent gaming stocks tumbling with the reveal of its [Genie 3 world model][1]. Since then, world models have become a [major focus][2] of AI labs around the world, but Google isn't resting on its laurels. Researchers have been hard at work on an updated model that improves on Genie 3 in almost every way. And if you pay Google enough money, you might actually get to use Genie 4 before too long.
It's easy to look at the output of Genie 4 and see a video game, which is why Genie 3 caused so much consternation in the gaming industry. DeepMind doesn't think about it that way, though. [According to Google][3], world models are a key element in the march toward artificial general intelligence (AGI). A world model creates a virtual world, but it doesn't require pre-rendering environments or programming interactive elements. You simply tell the model what you want, and it generates the experience frame by frame in real time as you explore it.
DeepMind says this technology could create infinite training environments for physical robots or unlock new avenues of rapid prototyping for creative fields. Of course, that requires the model to accurately simulate what you want. Genie 4 has several improvements that make its simulations more useful, and that's thanks in part to Google's updated Gemini models.
[Read full article][4]
[Comments][5]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/08/deepmind-reveals-genie-3-world-model-that-creates-real-time-interactive-simulations/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/simulating-everything-sort-of-the-promise-and-limits-of-world-models/
[3]: https://deepmind.google/blog/genie-4-a-new-generation-of-world-simulation
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/google/2026/10/deepminds-genie-4-world-model-adds-audio-and-more-realistic-people-to-simulations/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/google/2026/10/deepminds-genie-4-world-model-adds-audio-and-more-realistic-people-to-simulations/#comments
Genie 4 creates more realistic simulated worlds.
https://arstechnica.com/google/2026/10/deepminds-genie-4-world-model-adds-audio-and-more-realistic-people-to-simulations/

2026-10-27 23:49:47 UTC

Google begins certifying Registered App Stores for Android, but not in the US
Running an app ecosystem has gotten a lot more complex for Google after its loss in the Epic Games antitrust case. While US users can access app stores in Google Play by court order, international users will use Google's voluntary [Registered App Stores program][1]. Google has announced that stores wishing to be part of that program are now free to apply, and support will roll out to some Android devices later this year.
App stores accepted into the program will enjoy preferential treatment on the Android platform. Users of approved stores will be able to install apps with a single click, similar to the experience in the Play Store. These stores will also be allowed to update apps silently in the background like Google's store does.
"In March, we announced the Registered App Stores program to give third-party app stores a more streamlined way to reach users while maintaining the safety and security of the Android ecosystem," said a Google spokesperson. "Eligible app stores outside the US can now apply to register their stores ahead of the new simplified installation experience rolling out to users later this year."
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://developer.android.com/registered-app-stores
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/googles-android-registered-app-stores-program-launches-dec-1-applications-now-open/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/googles-android-registered-app-stores-program-launches-dec-1-applications-now-open/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/googles-android-registered-app-stores-program-launches-dec-1-applications-now-open/

2026-10-27 23:49:33 UTC

Anthropic IPO warns its AI could blackmail people, become sentient, end humanity
The Securities and Exchange Commission's publication on Monday of [Anthropic's S-1 form][1]—ahead of a heavily anticipated initial public offering—has led to plenty of discussion of whether the company's quickly ballooning revenues will be able to overcome its even higher costs. But amid the numbers and forward-looking optimism about AI "rapidly transform[ing] every sector of the global economy in ways greater than the impact of industrialization, electricity, semiconductors, and the internet," Anthropic also spends an inordinate amount of time in its S-1 laying out the myriad risk factors that could bring the company down.
Across 93 pages and over 70,000 words, Anthropic's S-1 "Risk Factors" section discusses literally hundreds of potential problems that could negatively impact its business in the coming years. Many of these potential risks are the kind of standard worries about competition, costs, customer acquisition, and potential regulation that almost any business must worry about. But some risks highlight interesting potential points of failure for Anthropic specifically and the hype-filled AI bubble more generally.
After wading through Anthropic's book-length treatise on its greatest risks, we've narrowed the list to the seven most surprising, interesting, or thought-provoking potential problems. Consider this a far-from-comprehensive look that potential Anthropic investors should keep in mind.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2130357/000162828026067168/anthropicpbc-sx1.htm
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/10/anthropic-ipo-warns-its-ai-could-blackmail-people-become-sentient-end-humanity/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/10/anthropic-ipo-warns-its-ai-could-blackmail-people-become-sentient-end-humanity/#comments
I see Risk Factors in your future. 93 pages of them!
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/10/anthropic-ipo-warns-its-ai-could-blackmail-people-become-sentient-end-humanity/

2026-10-27 23:49:27 UTC

"No human at the helm": Delaware plan would let AI agents run entire businesses
A Delaware proposal to let companies be operated by AI agents would help the firms' human owners evade legal responsibility for reckless and harmful actions taken by the AI, US Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) told Delaware Governor Matt Meyer in a [letter][1] yesterday.
Comer, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, told Meyer that the committee "seeks assistance obtaining documents related to your state administration’s efforts to establish a new form of corporate entity to be known as an Artificial Intelligence Company (AIC)."
Comer said the proposal is ripe for abuse. "We are concerned that Delaware’s AIC proposal could be used to protect powerful AI companies and their investors from responsibility for reckless harmful actions, while also protecting non-transparent forces seeking anticompetitive regulatory capture behind state AI initiatives," Comer's letter said.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://oversight.house.gov/release/comer-investigates-potential-for-harm-lack-of-transparency-in-delaware-initiative-to-create-new-artificial-intelligence-companies/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/no-human-at-the-helm-delaware-plan-would-let-ai-agents-run-entire-businesses/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/no-human-at-the-helm-delaware-plan-would-let-ai-agents-run-entire-businesses/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/no-human-at-the-helm-delaware-plan-would-let-ai-agents-run-entire-businesses/

2026-10-27 23:49:10 UTC

South Carolina's measles outbreak jumped to Washington state 5 times in 2 weeks
Since measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000, the country's occasional cases have come mainly from international travelers—visitors from far-flung places where the virus still spreads freely — or unvaccinated US residents who return from abroad with a highly infectious souvenir. But as vaccination rates have slipped nationwide in recent years and outbreaks grow bigger and more frequent, domestic travel now poses a greater risk than international incursions.
In [a study published][1] this week in NEJM Evidence, Washington state health officials highlight that risk, detailing how an explosive outbreak in South Carolina reached their distant state through five distinct importation events over two weeks in January. In all, the introductions led to 26 cases among residents before officials stamped out the spread.
South Carolina's measles outbreak began on October 2, 2025, and was declared over on April 26, 2026. Officials confirmed 997 cases in the state during the outbreak. At the time, it was the largest measles outbreak recorded since the virus was declared eliminated, but Pennsylvania's ongoing outbreak has since surpassed it.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://evidence.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/EVIDpha2600191?cid=DM2472963_
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/10/domestic-travel-poses-growing-risk-for-measles-and-a-new-challenge-for-states/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/10/domestic-travel-poses-growing-risk-for-measles-and-a-new-challenge-for-states/#comments
A brightly colored transmission microscope image of measles viruses.
https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/10/domestic-travel-poses-growing-risk-for-measles-and-a-new-challenge-for-states/

2026-10-26 22:01:55 UTC

Apple releases iOS and macOS 27.2 with new Siri AI features, new Music logo
Today, Apple rolled out the 27.2 updates for its operating systems, including iOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, visionOS, and so on.
Let's start with iOS 27.2. This update is heavily focused on Siri AI. It adds a memory feature to Siri, so it can "recall your past conversations" and reference them when chatting with you. It also expands what data sources Siri can access when giving responses to include voicemails, Messages attachments, and more.
[Read full article][1]
[Comments][2]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/apple/2026/10/apple-releases-ios-and-macos-27-2-with-new-siri-ai-features-new-music-logo/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/apple/2026/10/apple-releases-ios-and-macos-27-2-with-new-siri-ai-features-new-music-logo/#comments
Siri AI continues to be a major focus for this release cycle.
https://arstechnica.com/apple/2026/10/apple-releases-ios-and-macos-27-2-with-new-siri-ai-features-new-music-logo/

2026-10-26 22:01:50 UTC

Meet the real-life Scottish surgeon who inspired Sherlock Holmes
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created one of the most beloved fictional detectives of all time in Sherlock Holmes, spawning countless novels, films, TV series, and so forth featuring the sleuth. Far fewer people know about the real-life inspiration for Holmes: a renowned surgeon at Scotland's University of Edinburgh named Joseph Bell, who taught Doyle when the author was still a young medical student. Bell is the subject of a new, eminently readable biography, [*Sleuth-Hound: The Case of the Real Sherlock Holmes*][1], by medical historian Lindsey Fitzharris.
A noted science communicator with a fondness for the medically macabre, Fitzharris published a biography of Scottish surgical pioneer Joseph Lister, [*The Butchering Art*][2], in 2017—a great, if occasionally grisly, read. She followed up with 2022’s [*The Facemaker: A Visionary Surgeon’s Battle to Mend the Disfigured Soldiers of World War I*][3], about a WWI surgeon named Harold Gillies [who rebuilt][4] the faces of injured soldiers.
In 2020, Fitzharris [hosted][5] a documentary for the Smithsonian Channel, *The Curious Life and Death Of…*, exploring famous deaths, ranging from drug lord Pablo Escobar to magician Harry Houdini. Fitzharris performed virtual autopsies, experimented with blood samples, interviewed witnesses, and conducted real-time demonstrations in hopes of gleaning fresh insights. And last year she and her husband, caricaturist Adrian Teal, [collaborated][6] on an illustrated children's book, [*Dead Ends! Flukes, Flops, and Failures* *that Sparked Medical Marvels*][7].
[Read full article][8]
[Comments][9]
[1]: https://www.amazon.com/Sleuth-Hound-Victorian-Detective-Inspired-Sherlock/dp/1420541226
[2]: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0374117292/?ots=1&slotNum=0&imprToken=26c0af77-ed11-8f74-19c&tag=arstech20-20
[3]: https://www.amazon.com/Facemaker-Visionary-Surgeons-Disfigured-Soldiers/dp/0374282307
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/06/meet-harold-gillies-the-wwi-surgeon-who-rebuilt-the-faces-of-injured-soldiers/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/10/famous-strange-demises-get-a-second-look-in-the-curious-life-and-death-of/
[6]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/dead-ends-is-a-fun-macabre-medical-history-for-kids/
[7]: https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Ends-Failures-Sparked-Medical/dp/1547615028
[8]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/10/meet-the-real-life-scottish-surgeon-who-inspired-sherlock-holmes/
[9]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/10/meet-the-real-life-scottish-surgeon-who-inspired-sherlock-holmes/#comments
Ian Richardson played Dr. Joseph Bell—the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes— in the BBC series *Murder Rooms*
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/10/meet-the-real-life-scottish-surgeon-who-inspired-sherlock-holmes/

2026-10-26 20:35:58 UTC

Some iPhone Duo screens are already failing
The [iPhone Duo][1] launched last week, offering anyone willing to spend $2,000 a chance to experience Apple's first foldable phone. For some early buyers, the morning after isn't going great. Despite the company's big talk about its "precision-engineered" hinge, some devices appear to have a hardware flaw that destroys the device's impressive internal display within hours (or minutes) of use.
The Internet is currently overflowing with images of busted iPhone Duos, all sporting almost identical damage. The OLED is marred by several bright lines originating just below the midpoint of the display. These bands of damaged pixels extend all the way to the bottom and right edges. Some units also show lines of dead pixels following the crease from the top to the area where the bright lines begin.
Anyone who has seen a damaged OLED panel will be familiar with this type of defect. When the layers of the display are damaged, the pixels no longer receive the correct voltage to illuminate them. Instead, they get the full driving voltage and are permanently on at maximum brightness. Some pixels can get no voltage, leaving them totally black. The only fix is to replace the OLED, but swapping the iPhone Duo's screen reportedly costs half as much as the device itself.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/09/apples-long-rumored-foldable-becomes-reality-with-the-2000-iphone-duo/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/some-iphone-duo-screens-are-already-failing/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/some-iphone-duo-screens-are-already-failing/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/some-iphone-duo-screens-are-already-failing/

2026-10-22 13:44:42 UTC

Forget "Malaise 2.0," GM says it's still all-in on EVs and autonomy
GM provided flights from Detroit to New York and accommodation so Ars could attend the GM Future event. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.
It’s easy to criticize US automakers and their tepid approach to electric vehicles under the current administration and the expiration of the [EV tax credit][1]. It’s also easy to look at the rest of the world's embrace of EVs and wonder if the US is entering a “Malaise 2.0” era. Which is why GM wants the world to know that it is still focused on its end goals of electrification, autonomy, and improving vehicle quality while reducing development time.
At this year’s GM Forward event, company executives announced that its hands-off, eyes-off Super Cruise technology will expand across the lineup and be available on nearly every vehicle. This will include the pickup trucks and the crossovers, and not just the Escalade IQ that it was announced for last year.
Sterling Anderson, GM’s head of product, said the company is testing this technology to the tune of 1 million miles (1.6 million km) a month in both the virtual and real world. The goal is that not only would the vehicle be able to take you places, but it could go and do things for you.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/tag/ev-tax-credit/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/10/forget-malaise-2-0-gm-says-its-still-all-in-on-evs-and-autonomy/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/10/forget-malaise-2-0-gm-says-its-still-all-in-on-evs-and-autonomy/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/10/forget-malaise-2-0-gm-says-its-still-all-in-on-evs-and-autonomy/

2026-10-20 22:57:17 UTC

Cops raid office of RFK Jr. allies planning “unethical” vaccine trial on babies
Police in Guinea-Bissau raided the offices of Danish researchers on Monday, seizing doses of hepatitis B vaccine intended for a vaccine trial for newborns. International health experts have called the trial "[unethical][1]," but anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has attempted to fund it with US taxpayer dollars.
Under Kennedy, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced in December that it had awarded the Danish researchers—led by married couple Peter Aaby and Christine Stabell Benn of Bandim Health Project—[an unsolicited $1.6 million grant to run the trial][2]. Aaby and Stabell Benn are controversial vaccine researchers who claim vaccines cause overlooked harms. They have been repeatedly praised by Kennedy, but are currently under investigation for alleged scientific misconduct by Danish authorities.
[Plans for the trial were halted in January][3] as widespread condemnation erupted over the trial's design, which would potentially expose thousands of newborns in the country to hepatitis B, risking a lifelong infection that can lead to liver cirrhosis, cancer, and premature death. [Outrage flared again][4] after a Rolling Stone story earlier this month claimed the CDC set aside another $1.6 million in funding in late September and planned to move forward with the trial.
[Read full article][5]
[Comments][6]
[1]: https://www.who.int/news/item/13-02-2026-statement-on-the-planned-hepatitis-b-birth-dose-vaccine-trial-in-guinea-bissau
[2]: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/12/18/2025-23245/notice-of-award-of-a-single-source-unsolicited-grant-to-fund-university-of-southern-denmark-sdu
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/02/who-slams-us-funded-newborn-vaccine-trial-as-unethical/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/10/rfk-jr-still-eager-to-fund-vaccine-trial-that-would-expose-babies-to-deadly-virus/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/10/cops-raid-office-of-rfk-jr-allies-planning-unethical-vaccine-trial-on-babies/
[6]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/10/cops-raid-office-of-rfk-jr-allies-planning-unethical-vaccine-trial-on-babies/#comments
A medical worker prepares a hepatitis B vaccine.
https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/10/cops-raid-office-of-rfk-jr-allies-planning-unethical-vaccine-trial-on-babies/

2026-10-20 21:28:04 UTC

Quantum error correction goes well beyond breakeven
Running complicated algorithms on quantum computing hardware is going to require the use of logical qubits, where collections of hardware qubits are linked together in ways that allow errors to be detected and corrected. In general, the more hardware qubits you dedicate to each logical qubit, the better the chances are of identifying errors. But, given that the hardware qubits are prone to errors, adding more of them also increases the probability that errors will occur. If the hardware error rate is too high, then growing the logical qubit will only make matters worse.
Fortunately, several companies have demonstrated hardware where the error rate is not too high. Several demonstrations show logical qubits are beyond the breakeven point, where adding more qubits improves performance. The problem is that the improvement isn't very dramatic. To lower error rates to levels we'll need to run complex algorithms, we'd have to add a completely impractical number of qubits to each logical qubit.
On Monday, Quantinuum [announced][1] that its current generation of hardware is capable of scaling well beyond the breakeven point. Each step up in the size of logical qubits improved some measures of their performance by a factor of over 10.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/669960f53cd73aedb80c8eea/6ad6013f8ae0364b2cd03c53_c8c5526bc88434b2e47f6ffc3b27deca_Quantum-Error-Correction-Well-Below-the-Color-Code-Threshold.pdf
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/10/quantum-error-correction-goes-well-beyond-breakeven/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/10/quantum-error-correction-goes-well-beyond-breakeven/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/10/quantum-error-correction-goes-well-beyond-breakeven/

2026-10-20 21:27:53 UTC

Does anyone actually want to win the medium-lift race in the United States?
It has been 13 years since the debut of a new medium-lift rocket in the United States, the Antares vehicle developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation.
The initial 100-series variant of the Antares rocket was kind of a hot mess. The rocket used old Soviet engines built during the era when Apollo astronauts were landing on the Moon. Decades later, in the 1990s, Aerojet acquired the engines and refurbished them for a rocket that would launch in the 2010s. Predictably, on the fifth launch of an Antares rocket in 2014, it exploded.
The Antares vehicle is the last of a dying breed of medium-lift rockets—defined as having a lift capacity of 2 to 20 metric tons—in the United States. Nearly a decade and a half later there is a new generation of medium-lift vehicles coming online, and they are starkly different from Antares, which had not just Russian engines but a core stage manufactured in Ukraine.
[Read full article][1]
[Comments][2]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/10/does-anyone-actually-want-to-win-the-medium-lift-race-in-the-united-states/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/10/does-anyone-actually-want-to-win-the-medium-lift-race-in-the-united-states/#comments
Nova rocket's upper stage, flight article, during a fit test.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/10/does-anyone-actually-want-to-win-the-medium-lift-race-in-the-united-states/

2026-10-20 21:27:48 UTC

TP-Link tries to appease Trump admin with pledge to assemble routers in US
TP-Link yesterday announced plans to assemble Wi-Fi routers in the US, as the company attempts to get the Trump administration's approval to sell its newest routers to American consumers.
The timing is uncertain, as [TP-Link's press release][1] said it expects US-based assembly to begin "as early as" 2027. TP-Link's application to sell new routers in the US could be rejected by the Trump administration or remain pending long enough to push the US-based assembly to 2028.
"Pending US regulatory approval, TP-Link expects domestic assembly of its groundbreaking Wi-Fi 8 home networking product line to begin as early as next year," the company said. TP-Link said it signed a Letter of Intent with US company Keytronic, which agreed "to become a primary domestic manufacturing partner for TP-Link, supporting assembly of the company’s advanced networking portfolio in Corinth, Mississippi."
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://www.tp-link.com/us/press/news/22580/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/tp-link-tries-to-appease-trump-admin-with-pledge-to-assemble-routers-in-us/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/tp-link-tries-to-appease-trump-admin-with-pledge-to-assemble-routers-in-us/#comments
TP-Link's Archer 8 Ultra router and Deco 8 Ultra mesh Wi-Fi system.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/tp-link-tries-to-appease-trump-admin-with-pledge-to-assemble-routers-in-us/

2026-10-20 21:27:36 UTC

OpenBSD 8.0 arrives with security record still intact
[OpenBSD 8.0][1] is here, marking the project's 61st release and continuing its schedule of semiannual releases dating back to 1996. What started more than 30 years ago as a fork of [NetBSD][2] has grown into one of the most security-conscious operating systems in active development. In a post to the project's announcements mailing list, OpenBSD founder [Theo de Raadt][3] highlights a host of improvements included with the latest version and writes that the project remains "proud of OpenBSD's record of more than thirty years with only two remote holes in the default install."
The latest OpenBSD version brings new features and improvements across the board. These changes, particularly the new Intel Arc support and expanded virtual address space, should improve compatibility with modern graphics cards and allow the system to map more than 4GB of [VRAM][4]. Some of the major updates noted in the release newsletter are as follows:
* Added support for Intel Arc A-Series (DG2/Alchemist) graphics cards.
* 512GB kernel virtual address space on AMD64, up from 4GB, allowing VRAM mapping above 4GB.
* Added hibernation support for ARM64 systems.
* A new [RPKI][5]-to-router daemon: [rtrd(8)][6].
* [RISC-V][7] improvements including kernel support for the 'V' vector extension and support for Advanced Interrupt Architecture.
* Wireless network driver additions and improvements, including 802.11n and 40 MHz channels for the [qwx(4) wireless driver][8].
* Added support for up to 64 virtual CPUs per guest virtual machine.
* Security and internal improvements for [LibreSSL 4.4.0][9] and [OpenSSH 10.6][10].
* Improvements to the [vmm/vmd virtualization stack][11].
The new OpenBSD also retires support for [Loongson architecture][12] after the port stopped working with the [Clang][13] 22 compiler. If you're interested in reading over all the changes that come with the new OpenBSD 8.0, you can take a look at the [release announcement][14].
[Read full article][15]
[Comments][16]
[1]: https://www.openbsd.org/80.html
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetBSD
[3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_de_Raadt
[4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_random-access_memory
[5]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_Public_Key_Infrastructure
[6]: https://man.openbsd.org/man8/rtrd.8
[7]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RISC-V
[8]: https://man.openbsdhandbook.com/qwx.4/
[9]: https://www.libressl.org/
[10]: https://www.openssh.org/txt/release-10.6
[11]: https://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq16.html
[12]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loongson
[13]: https://clang.llvm.org/get_started.html
[14]: https://marc.info/?l=openbsd-announce&m=179245843570316&w=2
[15]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/openbsd-8-0-lands-with-intel-arc-graphics-support/
[16]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/openbsd-8-0-lands-with-intel-arc-graphics-support/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/openbsd-8-0-lands-with-intel-arc-graphics-support/

2026-10-19 21:12:58 UTC

PSA: Patch your Plex media server before someone hacks it
Recently fixed vulnerabilities in the Plex Media Server are under active exploitation in attacks that, when successful, install malware, including cryptominers and residential proxy apps, a researcher said.
Plex [fixed][1] four vulnerabilities at the start of last month. Three weeks later, [published CVE][2] designations revealed five vulnerabilities, with one of them carrying a severity rating of 8.6 out of 10. A researcher last week [revealed an exploit][3] that chained four of them together to achieve remote code execution of the device running a vulnerable Plex version. The researcher named the chain "Plex2Shell."
## Complex exploit chain
The new details allowed a separate researcher to create a honeypot that could track attempts in the wild to exploit the vulnerability chain. Within a day, the researcher began seeing active scanning of the simulated Plex server and eventually successful attempts to infect devices. So far, successful attacks are installing two payloads. One is a cryptominer, which uses the device to mine cryptocurrency and deposit it into a wallet controlled by the attacker. The other payload is residential proxy software, which allows people to anonymize their Internet activity (much of it illegal) by connecting to the infected box and then using it to send the user’s traffic to a final destination.
[Read full article][4]
[Comments][5]
[1]: https://forums.plex.tv/t/important-security-update-for-plex-media-server-v1-43-2-and-earlier/942319
[2]: https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-14994/year-2026/Plex.html
[3]: https://zmain.info/blog/plex2shell
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/10/recently-fixed-plex-media-vulnerabilities-are-being-exploited-to-install-malware/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/10/recently-fixed-plex-media-vulnerabilities-are-being-exploited-to-install-malware/#comments
A sreeen page displaying the words "You have a Plex media server on this device."
https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/10/recently-fixed-plex-media-vulnerabilities-are-being-exploited-to-install-malware/

2026-10-19 21:12:52 UTC

Batteries help reduce emissions, but how do we reduce their emissions?
The first order of business for the energy transition is electrifying applications like vehicles and heating and making sure that the electricity that powers them is made using renewables. But once the dominant slices of the emissions pie have shrunk, other categories with less potential to reduce emissions become important.
A new study led by Haiwei Zhou at the University of Melbourne focused on the emissions associated with making lithium-ion batteries, which many parts of the energy transition rely on. Those emissions aren’t zero, so as we use more and more batteries, that number will grow. Right now, the researchers estimate that these emissions only account for 0.18 percent of annual greenhouse gas releases, but they could increase by a factor of 10 or more by 2050.
## Avoiding production
There are a number of ways to reduce the emissions required to make a battery. Some elements used in various lithium-ion battery chemistries are more energy-intensive to mine and refine than others. The battery manufacturing process involves many steps that could be made more energy-efficient. And then there’s recycling, which can put battery materials back into the loop while requiring much less energy than mining.
[Read full article][1]
[Comments][2]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/10/batteries-have-a-small-carbon-footprint-we-can-make-it-smaller/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/10/batteries-have-a-small-carbon-footprint-we-can-make-it-smaller/#comments
A battery's raw materials may come with a fair dose of carbon emissions.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/10/batteries-have-a-small-carbon-footprint-we-can-make-it-smaller/

2026-10-19 21:12:46 UTC

Accused OpenAI spy had folder called “Saudi Gov Docs,” FBI says
On Monday, a court granted the US government's request to deny release of a former OpenAI engineer [accused of bugging a top-secret conference room][1] to steal the frontier lab’s secrets.
In a [court filing][2] Sunday, US attorney Craig Missakian argued that Abdulrahman Alfozan must continue to be detained while the US makes its case that Alfozan brazenly spied on OpenAI, either for his own personal business gain or to benefit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Evidence showed that Alfozan had been chatting with a member of the KSA royal family on WhatsApp, while pursuing opportunities to permanently move back to Saudi Arabia during the country's biggest AI push yet, the government argued. Shortly before his arrest, the FBI found he accessed a folder called "Saudi Gov Docs" on his iPhone, where he also allegedly stored photos of a second bug he planted in the offices.
[Read full article][3]
[Comments][4]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/fbi-arrests-openai-engineer-suspected-of-planting-bug-in-conference-room/
[2]: https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/US-v-Alfozan-Memo-in-Support-of-Motion-for-Detention-10-18-26.pdf
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/accused-openai-spy-had-folder-called-saudi-gov-docs-fbi-says/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/accused-openai-spy-had-folder-called-saudi-gov-docs-fbi-says/#comments
Sam Altman waits to meet the Saudi Crown Prince during Donald Trump's bilateral overseas trip to the Persian Gulf region.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/accused-openai-spy-had-folder-called-saudi-gov-docs-fbi-says/

2026-09-22 23:08:10 UTC

New Anthropic, OpenAI models make same promise: A little more for a lot less money
OpenAI and Anthropic both recently released new models aimed at lowering costs. Anthropic announced Opus 5.5, the latest version of its main mass-market workhorse model, used for tasks like coding and other complex knowledge work.
And OpenAI announced GPT-6 Sol and Luna, the latest versions of its middle-of-the-road or smaller models focused on efficiency and speed.
[Read full article][1]
[Comments][2]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/09/new-anthropic-openai-models-make-same-promise-a-little-more-for-a-lot-less-money/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/09/new-anthropic-openai-models-make-same-promise-a-little-more-for-a-lot-less-money/#comments
Developers and folks working on enterprise AI deployments are comparing these two. Cost is a big part of that.
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/09/new-anthropic-openai-models-make-same-promise-a-little-more-for-a-lot-less-money/

2026-09-22 23:08:01 UTC

Woman's brain worm infection confirmed after eggs grow tails in lab test
Out of nowhere, a woman's right arm and leg started shaking uncontrollably. In the moments leading up to the experience, she seemed well; she had no headache, confusion, or weakness. But for about a minute, half of her body juddered.
The woman, a rice farmer in the Philippines, headed to the emergency department. There, doctors gave her a physical exam and found nothing out of the ordinary. Then they took a look at her brain. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a bright cluster of nodules surrounded by fluid in her left frontal lobe. The doctors had an immediate guess as to what they were: worm eggs.
An MRI of the woman's brain showing nodules. Credit: [NEJM, 2026][1]
In [a case report published in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine][2], doctors write that they suspected the woman had neuroschistosomiasis, an uncommon complication of an infection with a *Schistosoma* parasitic worm, aka a blood fluke. In the Philippines, the most common fluke is *S. japonicum*. It's also found in China and part of Indonesia; despite its name, it has been eliminated from Japan.
[Read full article][3]
[Comments][4]
[1]: https://www.nejm.org/media/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMicm2609443?query=MTOC
[2]: https://www.nejm.org/media/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMicm2609443?query=MTOC
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/09/womans-brain-worm-infection-confirmed-after-eggs-grow-tails-in-lab-test/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/09/womans-brain-worm-infection-confirmed-after-eggs-grow-tails-in-lab-test/#comments
*Schistosoma japonicum*-paired male and female worms in copula microscopy preparation.
https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/09/womans-brain-worm-infection-confirmed-after-eggs-grow-tails-in-lab-test/

2026-09-20 09:39:28 UTC

T. rex teeth indicate it ran as warm as an elephant
For most of the last century, *T. rex* was pictured as a sluggish, tail-dragging reptile that had to warm up in the sun before it could go anywhere. Then, further research changed that view, replacing it with the active, bird-like animal shown in the movie *Jurassic Park*. But whether *T. rex* used warm blood to power that activity remained a question. Now we might have gotten closer to an answer.
A team of researchers led by Randon J. Flores and Robert A. Eagle, geochemists at the University of California, Los Angeles, has measured the *T. rex* body temperature by analyzing its teeth. This dental thermometer read about 36° Celsius—roughly the body temperature of a modern elephant.
## Dental thermometry
Paleontologists have long argued about dinosaur physiology based on indirect evidence like bone microstructure, growth rates, and where fossils turn up on the map. Some studies suggested many dinosaurs were endotherms, generating their own body heat like birds and mammals. Others argued that each lineage may have had its own thermal strategy.
[Read full article][1]
[Comments][2]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/09/t-rex-teeth-indicate-it-ran-as-warm-as-an-elephant/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/09/t-rex-teeth-indicate-it-ran-as-warm-as-an-elephant/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/09/t-rex-teeth-indicate-it-ran-as-warm-as-an-elephant/

2026-09-16 23:57:44 UTC

Epstein had huge cache of child sex pics; victims sue to find out who's in them
On Tuesday, two survivors of child sex abuse accused the Justice Department of failing to notify dozens of victims found in Jeffrey Epstein’s massive collection of child sex images.
In a [proposed class action][1], survivors explained that Epstein apparently started collecting child sex images in the 1990s, many of which the DOJ recovered after his arrest. In 2025, the FBI started reviewing “tens of thousands of videos” containing illegal child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and issued a memo confirming that “a large volume of images” seized depicted likely minors.
Some of these victims may have had contact with Epstein, as the disgraced financier kept a "modelbook" of nude photos of young girls roped into his ring. However, the FBI also identified hundreds of CSAM images in cache, which include approximately 15–20 images of known CSAM dating back to the 1990s. And so far, the DOJ has largely ignored those victims, who likely never met Epstein and have no way of knowing if he possessed, transported, or traded their images, survivors alleged.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Doe-v-Epstein-Estate-Complaint-9-15-26.pdf
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/09/lawsuit-trump-doj-notified-very-few-victims-in-epsteins-stash-of-child-sex-images/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/09/lawsuit-trump-doj-notified-very-few-victims-in-epsteins-stash-of-child-sex-images/#comments
Jeffrey Epstein Donald Trump pose together at the Mar-a-Lago estate in the 1990s.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/09/lawsuit-trump-doj-notified-very-few-victims-in-epsteins-stash-of-child-sex-images/

2026-09-16 23:57:38 UTC

Apple reportedly building server packed with M-series Ultra chips for AI
Apple is working on an AI server that would use Apple’s high-performance M-series Ultra chips found in Mac desktops. The potential product’s expected release in 2029 would mark the first Apple server to hit the market in nearly two decades—and could capitalize on the surging popularity of Apple hardware among AI developers.
The enterprise server would come in two configurations that include either two or four of Apple’s future M8 Ultra chips, [according to The Information][1]. The project reportedly received support from [new Apple CEO John Ternus][2] when it began a year ago, back when Ternus led Apple’s hardware engineering efforts.
This revelation coincides with booming sales for Apple’s Mac mini and Mac Studio as AI developers and companies snap up the Mac computers to run AI workloads. The popularity of such computing devices that rely on Apple’s M-series Ultra chips has undoubtedly encouraged Apple’s pursuit of an enterprise server using the same chips.
[Read full article][3]
[Comments][4]
[1]: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/apple-considers-return-server-market-talked-nvidia-use-network-tech
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/tag/john-ternus/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/09/apple-reportedly-building-server-packed-with-m-series-ultra-chips-for-ai/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/09/apple-reportedly-building-server-packed-with-m-series-ultra-chips-for-ai/#comments
Apple CEO John Ternus stands at Apple's "Surprise and Shine" event at the company's corporate headquarters, Apple Park, on September 9, 2026 in Cupertino, California.
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/09/apple-reportedly-building-server-packed-with-m-series-ultra-chips-for-ai/

2026-09-03 19:53:30 UTC

Trump’s 100% tariff on drones will be disaster for the US, critics warn
On Thursday, the Trump administration [imposed][1] a 100 percent tariff on foreign-made drones, alarming critics who warn that high tariffs would harm public safety and devastate thousands of US businesses.
Guidance posted by US Customs and Border Protection says that starting Thursday, a 100 percent tariff will apply to imported drones that use thermal imaging or weigh more than 55 pounds.
Additionally, a 25 percent tariff has been placed on smaller drones, and drones from US allies were hit with smaller but not inconsequential tariffs. There’s now a 10 percent levy on British-made drones and 15 percent levies on drones from the European Union, Japan, Liechtenstein, South Korea, Switzerland, and Taiwan. “Nonsensitive” drones without thermal imaging and their components will carry a 25 percent tariff, starting on February 9, 2027.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://content.govdelivery.com/bulletins/gd/USDHSCBP-4281ea7
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/09/trumps-100-drone-tariff-has-cops-and-firefighters-panicking/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/09/trumps-100-drone-tariff-has-cops-and-firefighters-panicking/#comments
A DJI Mavic Pro 3 camera drone.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/09/trumps-100-drone-tariff-has-cops-and-firefighters-panicking/

2026-08-26 16:06:00 UTC

Researchers get two genetic codes to work at the same time
The genetic code is what life everywhere uses to convert the information contained in DNA into specific protein sequences. With minor variations, the same genetic code is used by every living thing on Earth, suggesting it was already present in the last common ancestor of all of it. It's not an easy thing to change, because so many things in every cell depend on it.
Nevertheless, some preliminary steps have been taken. Researchers have managed to [add some new amino acids][1] to a bacterial cell and were able to make proteins that were [one amino acid less][2] than usual. But it's a slog; for some of this work, people have had to re-engineer every single gene in a bacterial genome.
Now, researchers have found a way to operate two separate genetic codes simultaneously, avoiding the need to do any work to compensate for altering the code that every protein in a cell relies on. They didn't test it in an actual cell, and it might cause some problems there. But it's a creative solution that should accelerate some synthetic biology work.
[Read full article][3]
[Comments][4]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/06/researchers-rewire-the-genetics-of-e-coli-make-it-virus-proof/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/04/researchers-try-to-cut-the-genetic-code-from-20-to-19-amino-acids/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/08/researchers-get-two-genetic-codes-to-work-at-the-same-time/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/08/researchers-get-two-genetic-codes-to-work-at-the-same-time/#comments
Transfer RNAs are the key to the genetic code, linking specific base sequences to specific amino acids.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/08/researchers-get-two-genetic-codes-to-work-at-the-same-time/

2026-08-26 16:05:55 UTC

Court blocks Trump FCC order that could flood broadcast TV with more election ads
A federal appeals court yesterday blocked a Trump administration decision that could have resulted in even more political advertisements appearing on broadcast television during the upcoming elections.
The Federal Communications Commission recently ordered broadcasters to offer the lowest advertising rates to political parties and joint fundraising committees. Four Democratic candidates challenged the decision in court, saying that only individual candidates are entitled under US law to receive what is called the "lowest unit charge," or LUC.
In a 2-1 vote, a judges' panel at the US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit agreed with the candidates and set aside the FCC decision that was scheduled to take effect on September 4. That's the start date of the 60-day period before the election in which broadcasters must offer the lowest ad rates to qualified candidates.
[Read full article][1]
[Comments][2]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/08/court-blocks-trump-fcc-order-that-could-flood-broadcast-tv-with-more-election-ads/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/08/court-blocks-trump-fcc-order-that-could-flood-broadcast-tv-with-more-election-ads/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/08/court-blocks-trump-fcc-order-that-could-flood-broadcast-tv-with-more-election-ads/

2026-07-20 23:05:45 UTC

Firefighting drones in the works as wildfires plague US nearly year-round
Drones capable of spraying water and fire retardants have been practicing how to snuff out wildfires early in California and Alaska this summer—demonstrating a possible rapid-response tool for firefighting as [climate change][1] transforms wildfire season into a nearly year-round risk for much of the United States.
Most drones are significantly smaller than crewed aircraft and have shorter flight ranges, meaning they cannot replace large airtankers in delivering massive payloads of water or other fire-suppressing payloads to remote wildfires. But companies and fire agencies—along with organizers of the $11 million XPRIZE competition—are testing whether drones can help firefighting crews respond more quickly to small fires and put them out before they become more destructive.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as CAL FIRE, ran its own field test involving five autonomous drones that worked together to deploy between 500 and 1,000 gallons of foam combined for suppressing fires on July 15, according to the [TV station KPMH][2]. The demonstration was organized with the help of the nonprofit FireWERX and the California-based [company Seneca][3], which is making the drones commercially available starting in 2026.
[Read full article][4]
[Comments][5]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/tag/climate-change/
[2]: https://kmph.com/news/local/calfire-tests-autonomous-drones-to-bolster-wildfire-operations-in-california
[3]: https://seneca.com/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/firefighting-drones-in-the-works-as-wildfires-plague-us-nearly-year-round/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/firefighting-drones-in-the-works-as-wildfires-plague-us-nearly-year-round/#comments
Seneca's Argo-1 drone can carry up to 100 pounds of water or fire retardant.
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/firefighting-drones-in-the-works-as-wildfires-plague-us-nearly-year-round/

2026-07-16 18:44:34 UTC

We've seen helium baked off a rocky exoplanet's atmosphere
Most of the gas in the Universe is a mixture of hydrogen and helium. It's thought that the initial atmospheres of most planets also start out that way. However, over billions of years, as planets evolve, the composition of their atmospheres may shift. Hydrogen can react with other chemicals, and both it and helium can be lost to space. Venus, Earth, and Mars are thought to have second atmospheres, with their original hydrogen/helium envelopes having been lost and/or transformed.
The dynamics of loss are complicated. Lighter elements are lost more easily, but hydrogen can be protected by being incorporated into molecules like methane and ammonia. The gravity of the body can help retain some molecules, and a magnetic field can limit radiation's ability to blast material out of the atmosphere. Proximity to a star will matter too, both because of the radiation it produces and because it can heat the atmosphere and expand it to where gravity's influence is less substantial.
Given all these complications, it can be difficult to know what to expect to find on exoplanets. But a study in Wednesday's issue of Nature describes observations of helium being lost from the atmosphere of an exoplanet orbiting the star LHS 1140, about 50 light-years away. Based on the rate at which the helium is being lost, we can infer something about the remaining atmosphere.
[Read full article][1]
[Comments][2]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/07/weve-seen-helium-baked-off-a-rocky-exoplanets-atmosphere/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/07/weve-seen-helium-baked-off-a-rocky-exoplanets-atmosphere/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/07/weve-seen-helium-baked-off-a-rocky-exoplanets-atmosphere/

2026-07-10 20:41:22 UTC

Ransomware negotiator hired to represent victims was working for the attackers
A former ransomware negotiator was [sentenced][1] to 70 months in prison yesterday after colluding with BlackCat scammers to extort the victims he was hired to protect.
As a ransomware negotiator for the [company DigitalMint][2], Florida resident Angelo Martino's job was "to negotiate with cybercriminals to mitigate the ransoms paid by [DigitalMint's] clients," the US government said in a [sentencing memorandum][3] on Tuesday. "Instead, Martino provided the cybercriminals with confidential negotiation information to maximize the ransoms in exchange for a portion of the ransom payments. Five of the victims whom Martino was supposed to help paid over $75 million to ransomware affiliates, including likely millions of dollars in ransom demands inflated as a result of the confidential information provided by Martino."
Martino, 41, pleaded guilty and [asked for a 24-month sentence][4], noting that he "provided substantial assistance that contributed to the indictment and conviction of two co-defendants." As described in [this November 2025 article][5], the co-defendants were Texas resident Kevin Martin, a ransomware negotiator for DigitalMint, and Georgia resident Ryan Goldberg, an incident manager at security firm Sygnia.
[Read full article][6]
[Comments][7]
[1]: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.708190/gov.uscourts.flsd.708190.46.0.pdf
[2]: https://digitalmint.io/services/ransomware-cryptocurrency-settlement/
[3]: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.708190/gov.uscourts.flsd.708190.40.0.pdf
[4]: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.708190/gov.uscourts.flsd.708190.37.0.pdf
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/11/fbi-arrests-ransomware-clean-up-experts-for-planting-ransomware/
[6]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/07/ransomware-negotiator-helped-attackers-extort-his-own-clients-gets-6-year-sentence/
[7]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/07/ransomware-negotiator-helped-attackers-extort-his-own-clients-gets-6-year-sentence/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/07/ransomware-negotiator-helped-attackers-extort-his-own-clients-gets-6-year-sentence/

2026-07-10 20:41:17 UTC

Check out the first images of Quest shipwreck
Back in 2024, [we reported][1] on the discovery of the *Quest* shipwreck, the polar exploration vessel that served Arctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton on his last voyage. Shackleton died before reaching their destination, and the ship sank in 1962. The Royal Canadian Geographic Society (RCGS) has now released the first images of the wreck more than 60 years after it sank, [published in][2] Canadian Geographic magazine.
Shackleton, of course, is most famous for his ill-fated voyage on the *Endurance,* which became trapped in sea ice in 1914 and sank. Shackleton and his crew defied the odds and survived. (The *Endurance* shipwreck was [finally found][3] in 2022.) By the time Shackleton returned to England, the country was embroiled in World War I, and many of his men enlisted. Shackleton was considered too old for active service. He was also deeply in debt from the *Endurance* expedition, earning a living on the lecture circuit. But he still dreamed of making another expedition to the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska to explore the Beaufort Sea. He got funding from an old school chum, [John Quillier Rowett][4].
Shackleton purchased a wooden Norwegian whaler, *Foca I*, which his wife Emily renamed *Quest*. When the Canadian government withdrew its support, the mission shifted back to the Antarctic, and the *Quest* received an extensive retrofit. The improvements included a new deckhouse, a heated crow’s nest, a wireless set, and an odograph for tracing and charting the route automatically, as well as a Lucas deep-sea sounding machine, a large and pricey collection of cameras and photographic equipment, and even a small airplane.
[Read full article][5]
[Comments][6]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/06/expedition-finds-wreckage-of-ship-on-which-shackleton-made-his-final-voyage/
[2]: https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/first-images-of-quest-wreck-reveal-shackletons-last-ship-draped-with-abandoned-fishing-nets-bursting-with-life/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/03/long-lost-endurance-shipwreck-found-off-coast-of-antarctica/
[4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Quiller_Rowett
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/07/expedition-captures-first-images-of-shackletons-last-ship/
[6]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/07/expedition-captures-first-images-of-shackletons-last-ship/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/07/expedition-captures-first-images-of-shackletons-last-ship/

2026-06-28 19:09:34 UTC

Why did this journal retract two 1940s papers by Max Planck?
German physicist [Max Planck][1] was one of the pioneers of quantum mechanics in the early 20th century, earning the 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of [quanta][2]. There has never been a whisper of scandal about the man's integrity or his scientific work. So a pair of science historians were puzzled when they discovered that a scientific journal had inexplicably retracted two of Planck's papers from the 1940s.
The journal in question is Naturwissenschaften, now known as The Science of Nature. The journal typically adds a large RETRACTED notice across digital papers that have been retracted, leaving them available for download. But it has removed the two Planck papers entirely, leaving just a blank page (and empty PDFs) with a brief note saying the articles had been "withdrawn due to article violation.”
Physics historian Yves Gingras of the University of Quebec in Montreal was browsing the blog Retraction Watch's [list][3] of Nobel Prize winners who have had scientific papers retracted, just out of curiosity. Gingras was shocked to see Planck's name on the list, and enlisted fellow historian Mahdi Khelfaoui, of the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivieres, to investigate why the two papers had been retracted. They outlined their findings in [a preprint][4] posted to the physics arXiv.
[Read full article][5]
[Comments][6]
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Planck
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum
[3]: https://retractionwatch.com/retractions-by-nobel-prize-winners/
[4]: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2605.17534
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/06/why-did-this-journal-retract-two-1940s-papers-by-max-planck/
[6]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/06/why-did-this-journal-retract-two-1940s-papers-by-max-planck/#comments
Max Planck is not amused.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/06/why-did-this-journal-retract-two-1940s-papers-by-max-planck/

2026-06-13 18:08:38 UTC

Review: Disclosure Day is big on action, light on ideas
The summer blockbuster season has [kicked off][1] in earnest with the theatrical release of [*Disclosure Day*][2], director Steven Spielberg’s highly anticipated return to his “aliens are among us” sci-fi roots. Verdict: there's not much fresh or original here as movies about aliens go, but it's a fast-paced film with a luminous performance by Emily Blunt that won't fail to entertain.
**(Some spoilers below but no major reveals.)**
The first half of the film is essentially a political thriller—shades of 1974's [*The Parallax View*][3] and similar films—as global tensions have the world teetering on the brink of World War III. A cybersecurity specialist named Daniel (Josh O'Connor) has stolen a piece of alien technology and highly classified files from his employer, Wardex Corporation, a top-secret extension of the US government led by Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth). Scanlon flushes out Daniel by holding his girlfriend Jane (Eve Hewson) hostage. At the tradeoff, Daniel double-crosses them and escapes with Jane, and the two go on the run as Scanlon declares Daniel a traitor.
[Read full article][4]
[Comments][5]
[1]: https://deadline.com/2026/06/box-office-global-disclosure-day-1236955715/
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disclosure_Day
[3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Parallax_View
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/culture/2026/06/review-disclosure-day-is-big-on-action-light-on-ideas/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/culture/2026/06/review-disclosure-day-is-big-on-action-light-on-ideas/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/culture/2026/06/review-disclosure-day-is-big-on-action-light-on-ideas/

2026-05-11 18:30:29 UTC

Starlink shuts down its GPS-style cheat code. Researchers may unlock it anyway.
Starlink is unceremoniously shutting down a GPS-style feature that most of the Internet satellite provider’s customers probably never realized existed. But that won’t stop broader momentum toward harnessing Starlink’s satellite constellation as a navigation alternative—especially when GPS jamming and spoofing have become more widespread.
The Starlink satellite constellation owned by [SpaceX][1] is designed to provide communications services first and foremost, rather than pinpointing users’ locations like GPS and other global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). However, SpaceX [publicly acknowledged][2] in a May 2025 [letter][3] to the US Federal Communications Commission that Starlink could deliver positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services. A handful of savvy Starlink customers had even been accessing Starlink PNT capability for several years until Starlink recently decided to shut down access, according to [PCMag][4].
“The beauty of Starlink as a backup to GNSS is that it's such a different system—frequencies 10 times higher, bandwidths 10 to 100 times wider, power 100 to 1,000 times stronger, satellites 100 times more proliferated,” said [Todd Humphreys][5], director of the Wireless Networking and Communications Group (WNCG) and the Radionavigation Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin, in correspondence with Ars.
[Read full article][6]
[Comments][7]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/05/spacex-is-starting-to-move-on-from-the-worlds-most-successful-rocket/
[2]: https://insidegnss.com/spacex-details-starlinks-existing-and-potential-pnt-capabilities-in-response-to-fcc-inquiry/
[3]: https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/1051418495002/1
[4]: https://www.pcmag.com/news/spacex-shuts-down-little-known-but-precise-starlink-location-function
[5]: http://ae.utexas.edu/people/faculty/faculty-directory/humphreys
[6]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/05/starlink-blocks-access-to-its-gps-alternative-ahead-of-spacex-ipo/
[7]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/05/starlink-blocks-access-to-its-gps-alternative-ahead-of-spacex-ipo/#comments
Starlink is a satellite Internet constellation operated by SpaceX, designed to provide high-speed Internet access across the globe.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/05/starlink-blocks-access-to-its-gps-alternative-ahead-of-spacex-ipo/

2026-05-11 18:30:23 UTC

Passengers from hantavirus ship arrive in US; 3 people in biocontainment
The [cruise ship rocked by an unprecedented Andes hantavirus outbreak][1] arrived in the Canary Islands off the coast of Tenerife Island over the weekend and is being evacuated. At least one new case has been identified amid the disembarkment.
As of Monday morning, officials for the World Health Organization reported that the last of the passengers of the MV *Hondius* cruise ship are expected to be evacuated today. Thirty crew will remain on board and see the ship back to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Prior to the evacuation there were 147 people on board.
All of those evacuated from the ship are being transported off the island on specially arranged repatriation flights, not commercial flights. The evacuations and flights are being coordinated by Spanish authorities as well as the WHO and other national health officials.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/05/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-hantavirus-cruise-ship-outbreak/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/05/passengers-from-hantavirus-ship-arrive-in-us-3-people-in-biocontainment/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/05/passengers-from-hantavirus-ship-arrive-in-us-3-people-in-biocontainment/#comments
Persons with protective suits wait in line after disembarking from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV *Hondius* docked in the port of Granadilla de Abona on the island of Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands on May 11, 2026.
https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/05/passengers-from-hantavirus-ship-arrive-in-us-3-people-in-biocontainment/

2026-04-13 22:13:43 UTC

Measles takes a plane to Idaho, which has worst vaccination rate in US
A person with measles passed through the busiest airport in Idaho, shedding one of the world's most infectious viruses in the state with the country's lowest measles vaccination rate.
Health officials are now warning residents and travelers about the exposure while trying to directly notify passengers who shared flights with the infected person. [In an announcement on April 9][1], the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (DHW) said the infected person was at the Boise airport on March 29 between 1:30 am and 7:40 am while traveling through the area.
Measles symptoms—which begin with fever, cough, runny nose, and watery, red eyes—can develop between seven and 21 days after exposure, but typically start after 11 or 12 days. That means that for anyone infected during the airport exposure, the initial generic symptoms would likely have started over the weekend. The telltale rash of measles typically doesn't appear until two to four days after those early flu-like symptoms. The rash begins on the head and moves down the body, while fever may spike to 104° F or higher. Infected people are infectious for four days before the rash appears and for four days after its onset.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://healthandwelfare.idaho.gov/news/possible-measles-exposure-occurs-boise-airport
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/04/airport-measles-case-reported-in-idaho-state-with-lowest-vaccination-rate/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/04/airport-measles-case-reported-in-idaho-state-with-lowest-vaccination-rate/#comments
The Boise airport is in south central Idaho in Ada County.
https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/04/airport-measles-case-reported-in-idaho-state-with-lowest-vaccination-rate/

2026-04-13 22:13:38 UTC

Retro Rewind re-creates the glorious drudgery of working a '90s video store
If you were working a retail job at a movie rental store in the early '90s, there's a decent chance you couldn't wait to clock out for the day and escape from the daily grind with a mindless video game. Here in the 2020s, on the other hand, at least one mindless video game is striving to re-create the daily grind of working at a video rental store.
*Retro Rewind: Video Store Simulator* is the latest in a burgeoning field of "work simulators" that has [found indie success on Steam][1]. And while the depth of the game's overall retail simulation is pretty shallow, there is a sort of soothing, zen comfort to be found in the repetitive nostalgia of that menial workaday world of the past.
## Working 9 to 5
Unlike simulations that rely heavily on menus or spreadsheets, *Retro Rewind* puts you in the first-person perspective of the manager of a small local VHS rental joint circa 1990. That means you have to run around doing everything from buying the tapes to laying out the furniture and decorations in the store. And while you can technically display those tapes out on any shelf you want, grouping them together by genre makes for both a better customer experience and helps to quiet those anal-retentive organizational voices in your head.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://gamalytic.com/game/3552140
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/04/retro-rewind-re-creates-the-glorious-drudgery-of-working-a-90s-video-store/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/04/retro-rewind-re-creates-the-glorious-drudgery-of-working-a-90s-video-store/#comments
Shut up and take my money.
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/04/retro-rewind-re-creates-the-glorious-drudgery-of-working-a-90s-video-store/

2026-04-01 01:54:07 UTC

NASA is leading the way to the Moon, but the military won't be far behind
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida—The US military has always been part of NASA's human spaceflight program. The first astronauts were nearly all military pilots, and two of the four crew members set to fly around the Moon on NASA's Artemis II mission were Navy test pilots before joining the astronaut corps.
Artemis II, the first crew mission to the Moon's vicinity since 1972, is [set for launch Wednesday][1] from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Commander Reid Wiseman and pilot Victor Glover, both Navy test pilots, will be at the controls of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for the ride to space. NASA astronaut Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen round out the four-person crew.
The mission will depart from NASA property on Florida's Space Coast, but the Space Force will play an important role in the launch. A range crew from the Space Force will track the SLS rocket as it arcs over the Atlantic Ocean. Their primary job will be ensuring public safety, with the unenviable responsibility of sending a destruct signal to the rocket if it flies off course. Thankfully for the astronauts inside the spacecraft, the Orion capsule has an abort rocket to pull it away from an exploding launch vehicle in the event of a catastrophic failure.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/after-more-than-53-years-humans-may-finally-return-to-the-moon-this-week/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/nasa-is-leading-the-way-to-the-moon-but-the-military-wont-be-far-behind/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/nasa-is-leading-the-way-to-the-moon-but-the-military-wont-be-far-behind/#comments
A Turkish special operations soldier silhouetted by the Moon.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/nasa-is-leading-the-way-to-the-moon-but-the-military-wont-be-far-behind/

2026-03-27 17:36:21 UTC

No one is happy with NASA's new idea for private space stations
Most elements of [a major NASA event][1] this week that laid out spaceflight plans for the coming decade were well received: a Moon base, a focus on less talk and more action, and working with industry to streamline regulations so increased innovation can propel the United States further into space.
However, one aspect of this event, named Ignition, has begun to run into serious turbulence. It involves NASA's attempt to navigate a difficult issue with no clear solution: finding a commercial replacement for the aging International Space Station.
During the Ignition event on Tuesday, NASA leaders had blunt words for the future of commercial activity in low-Earth orbit. Essentially, they are not confident in the viability of a commercial marketplace for humans there, and the agency's plan to work with private companies to develop independent space stations does not appear to be headed toward success. Plenty of people in the industry share these concerns, but NASA officials have not expressed them out loud before.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/nasa-kills-lunar-space-station-to-focus-on-ambitious-moon-base/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/what-happens-next-with-nasas-plan-to-replace-the-iss-source-it-could-get-ugly/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/what-happens-next-with-nasas-plan-to-replace-the-iss-source-it-could-get-ugly/#comments
NASA has proposed that a new core module be added to the International Space Station.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/what-happens-next-with-nasas-plan-to-replace-the-iss-source-it-could-get-ugly/

2026-03-27 17:36:16 UTC

Sony is raising PlayStation 5 prices again, this time by between $100 and $150
Memory and storage shortages and price hikes that [started hitting PC components][1] late last year have steadily rippled outward across all kinds of consumer tech—some products have [disappeared,][2] [gone out of stock,][3] or been [delayed][4], and [others][5] have undergone [multiple rounds][6] of price hikes.
Today's bad news comes from Sony, which is [raising prices][7] for PlayStation 5 consoles in the US [just eight months after their last price hike][8]. The drive-less Digital Edition will increase from $500 to $600; the base PS5 with an optical drive will increase from $550 to $650; and the PS5 Pro is going up from $750 to a whopping $900. At the beginning of 2025, these consoles cost $450, $500, and $700, respectively.
Sony, [Microsoft][9], and [Nintendo][10] had all announced one or more price increases for one or more consoles throughout 2025, though these were driven more by [the Trump administration's tariffs][11] on imported goods than component shortages. Game console price cuts [had already become less common][12] over the course of the 2010s, making consoles like the 5-plus-year-old PS5 [historically expensive][13] compared to older consoles at this point in their lifespans.
[Read full article][14]
[Comments][15]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/01/ram-shortage-chaos-expands-to-gpus-high-capacity-ssds-and-even-hard-drives/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/apples-512gb-mac-studio-vanishes-a-quiet-acknowledgement-of-the-ram-shortage/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/02/valves-steam-deck-intermittently-out-of-stock-as-ram-shortage-drags-on/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/02/ram-shortage-delays-valves-steam-machine-desktop-and-steam-frame-headset/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/02/frameworks-ram-prices-climbing-on-a-monthly-cadence-with-more-hikes-to-come/
[6]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/02/ongoing-ram-crisis-prompts-raspberry-pis-second-price-hike-in-two-months/
[7]: https://blog.playstation.com/2026/03/27/new-price-changes-for-ps5-ps5-pro-and-playstation-portal-remote-player/
[8]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/08/sony-joins-xbox-and-nintendo-in-hiking-playstation-5-prices-in-the-us/
[9]: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/09/microsoft-raises-xbox-console-prices-for-the-second-time-this-year/
[10]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/08/citing-market-conditions-nintendo-hikes-prices-for-original-switch-consoles/
[11]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/02/supreme-court-blocks-trumps-emergency-tariffs-billions-in-refunds-may-be-owed/
[12]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/05/chips-arent-improving-like-they-used-to-and-its-killing-game-console-price-cuts/
[13]: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/08/todays-game-consoles-are-historically-overpriced/
[14]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/sony-is-raising-playstation-5-prices-again-this-time-by-between-100-and-150/
[15]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/sony-is-raising-playstation-5-prices-again-this-time-by-between-100-and-150/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/sony-is-raising-playstation-5-prices-again-this-time-by-between-100-and-150/

2026-03-27 17:36:10 UTC

DOJ confirms FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal email was hacked
Iran-linked hackers successfully broke into FBI Director Kash Patel's personal email, the Department of Justice confirmed [to Reuters][1] on Friday.
Reuters could not authenticate the leaked emails themselves but noted that the Gmail address matched an email account "linked to Patel in previous data breaches ⁠preserved by the dark web intelligence firm District 4 Labs." The DOJ suggested the emails appeared to be authentic.
On their website, the Handala Hack Team boasted that Patel "will now find his name among the list of successfully hacked victims." The hacker group taunted Patel by sharing photos of him sniffing cigars and holding up a jug of rum, along with other documents that Reuters reported were from 2010 to 2019.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/iran-linked-hackers-claim-breach-of-fbi-directors-personal-email-doj-official-2026-03-27/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/doj-confirms-fbi-director-kash-patels-personal-email-was-hacked/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/doj-confirms-fbi-director-kash-patels-personal-email-was-hacked/#comments
FBI Director Kash Patel's personal email account was hacked.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/doj-confirms-fbi-director-kash-patels-personal-email-was-hacked/

2026-03-27 15:29:54 UTC

Apple pulls the plug on its high-priced, oft-neglected Mac Pro desktop
After more than a decade of [flirting with the idea][1], Apple has finally discontinued the Mac Pro tower. The company [confirmed to 9to5Mac][2] that the latest Mac Pro iteration—an M2 Ultra model first released in mid-2023—would be its last, at least for the time being. There are no plans to make another Mac Pro.
The discontinuation of the Mac Pro should come as no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention. Reporting from late last year [suggested][3] that the Mac Pro had been put "on the back burner," but the desktop has clearly been in danger of falling off the stove since at least the mid-2010s, during the six-year period where the controversial cylindrical "trash can" Mac Pro design languished without updates.
Apple briefly rededicated itself to its pro desktop in 2019 with a new design that hearkened back to more versatile, upgradeable, be-handled versions of the Power Mac and Mac Pro. But by the time it was updated again with M2 Ultra four years later, it was already clear that the idea of a huge and expandable Mac desktop was out of step with the Apple Silicon era. The desktop's demise confirms that, at least in Apple's estimation, the Mac Pro was trying to fill a niche that no longer exists.
[Read full article][4]
[Comments][5]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/11/report-claims-that-apple-has-yet-again-put-the-mac-pro-on-the-back-burner/
[2]: https://9to5mac.com/2026/03/26/apple-discontinues-the-mac-pro/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/11/report-claims-that-apple-has-yet-again-put-the-mac-pro-on-the-back-burner/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/apple-has-finally-discontinued-the-mac-pro-desktop-after-years-of-fitful-effort/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/apple-has-finally-discontinued-the-mac-pro-desktop-after-years-of-fitful-effort/#comments
The 2019 Mac Pro tower. Apple re-used its design for the first and only Apple Silicon Mac Pro in 2023.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/apple-has-finally-discontinued-the-mac-pro-desktop-after-years-of-fitful-effort/

2026-03-27 14:19:29 UTC

Rocket Report: Russia reopens gateway to ISS; Cape Canaveral hosts missile test
Welcome to Edition 8.35 of the Rocket Report! The headlines this week are again dominated by the big changes afoot in NASA's exploration program, with the announcement of a Moon base and a nuclear-powered rocket to Mars. The shakeups come as the agency is just a week away from launching Artemis II, a circumlunar flight carrying a crew of four around the Moon. The Ars space team will be writing extensively about this mission in the days ahead, and we may skip the Rocket Report next week to focus on our Artemis II coverage.
As always, we [welcome reader submissions][1]. If you don't want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets, as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.
NASA announces nuclear rocket demo. NASA's announcement Tuesday that it will "pause" work on a lunar space station and focus on [building a surface base on the Moon][2] was no big surprise to anyone paying attention to the Trump administration’s space policy. But what should NASA do with hardware already built for the Gateway outpost? NASA spent close to $4.5 billion on developing a human-tended complex in orbit around the Moon since the Gateway program’s official start in 2019. There are pieces of the station undergoing construction and testing in factories scattered around the world. The centerpiece of Gateway, called the Power and Propulsion Element, is closest to being ready for launch. NASA’s rejigged exploration roadmap, revealed Tuesday in an all-day event at NASA headquarters in Washington, calls for repurposing the core module for a nuclear-electric propulsion demonstration in deep space, [Ars reports][3].
[Read full article][4]
[Comments][5]
[1]: https://arstechnica.wufoo.com/forms/launch-stories/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/nasa-kills-lunar-space-station-to-focus-on-ambitious-moon-base/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/here-is-nasas-plan-for-nuking-gateway-and-sending-it-to-mars/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/rocket-report-russian-megaconstellation-takes-off-isar-preps-for-second-launch/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/rocket-report-russian-megaconstellation-takes-off-isar-preps-for-second-launch/#comments
A Russian Soyuz rocket lifts off Sunday, March 22, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with the Progress MS-33 supply ship for the International Space Station.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/rocket-report-russian-megaconstellation-takes-off-isar-preps-for-second-launch/

2026-03-27 14:19:23 UTC

AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition crams 208MB of cache into a single chip
For about four years now, AMD has offered special "X3D" variants of its high-end desktop processors with an extra 64MB of L3 cache attached, an addition that disproportionately benefits games. AMD calls this "3D V-Cache" because it stacks the cache directly on top of (for Ryzen 5000 and 7000) or beneath (for Ryzen 9000) the CPU die.
The 12- and 16-core Ryzen chips have their CPU cores split between two silicon chiplets, which has historically made the 7900X3D, 7950X3D, 9900X3D, and 9950X3D a bit weird. One of their two CPU chiplets has the 64MB of 3D V-Cache attached, and one does not. AMD relies on its driver software to make sure that software that benefits from the extra cache is run on the V-Cache-enabled CPU cores, which usually works well [but][1] [is][2] [occasionally][3] [error-prone][4].
Enter the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition, a mouthful of a chip that includes 64MB of 3D V-Cache on both processor dies, without the hybrid arrangement that has defined the other chips up until now. This gives the chip a grand total of 208MB of cache—16MB of L2 cache, the 32MB of L3 cache built into each of the two CPU dies (for a total of 64MB), and then another 64MB chunk of 3D V-Cache per die. In total, AMD says the new chip should be as much as 10 percent faster than the 9950X3D in games and other apps that benefit from the extra cache.
[Read full article][5]
[Comments][6]
[1]: https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/9950x3d-core-parking-and-excessive-temperature-issues.3889147/
[2]: https://www.overclock.net/threads/how-i-fixed-core-parking-on-my-9950x3d-and-taichi-lite.1815819/
[3]: https://steamcommunity.com/app/2479810/discussions/0/603034778380384912/
[4]: https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/hardware-build-advice/9950x3d-not-parking-cores-in-battlefield-6/td-p/1119469
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/amds-ryzen-9-9950x3d2-dual-edition-crams-208mb-of-cache-into-a-single-chip/
[6]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/amds-ryzen-9-9950x3d2-dual-edition-crams-208mb-of-cache-into-a-single-chip/#comments
AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/amds-ryzen-9-9950x3d2-dual-edition-crams-208mb-of-cache-into-a-single-chip/

2026-03-27 14:19:18 UTC

Senators want US energy information agency to monitor data center electricity usage
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren and Republican Senator Josh Hawley are urging the US’s central energy information agency to provide better information on how much electricity data centers actually use.
In a joint letter sent to the Energy Information Administration Thursday morning, seen by WIRED, Hawley and Warren press the agency to publicly collect “comprehensive, annual energy-use disclosures” on data centers. This information, they write, is “essential for accurate grid planning and will support policymaking to prevent large companies from increasing electricity costs for American families.”
As the data center boom spreads across the country, there have been widespread worries from voters about how their massive energy needs may increase consumers’ electric bills; this concern [helped shape][1] some midterm elections in data-center-heavy states, including Virginia and Georgia. Last month, Hawley [cosponsored][2] a bill with Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal that would require data centers to supply their own power sources in order to protect consumers. Earlier this month, Donald Trump [convened][3] a group of executives from Big Tech companies at the White House to sign a nonbinding (and toothless) agreement pledging to pay for their own power for data centers.
[Read full article][4]
[Comments][5]
[1]: https://www.wired.com/story/the-data-center-resistance-has-arrived/
[2]: https://www.hawley.senate.gov/hawley-blumenthal-introduce-bill-to-prevent-data-centers-from-increasing-electricity-costs-for-americans/
[3]: https://www.wired.com/story/big-tech-signs-white-house-data-center-pledge-with-good-optics-not-much-substance/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/senators-want-us-energy-information-agency-to-monitor-data-center-electricity-usage/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/senators-want-us-energy-information-agency-to-monitor-data-center-electricity-usage/#comments
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) speaks on April 1, 2019 in Washington, DC.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/senators-want-us-energy-information-agency-to-monitor-data-center-electricity-usage/

2026-03-27 14:19:12 UTC

Rivian and VW Group complete winter testing of new zonal architecture
RV Tech, a joint venture between Volkswagen Group and Rivian, has completed a successful winter test program, it said this morning. The partnership was created in 2024 when VW Group [announced it would invest][1] $5.8 billion in the American electric vehicle maker to gain access to Rivian's expertise in vehicle software and electronic architecture. VW Group initially paid Rivian $1 billion in cash, with further payments over time: the completion of the winter testing milestone should unlock a further $1 billion payment.
VW's decision to turn to Rivian followed a tortuous history of its own internal software development. It [created a new division][2] in 2019 just to develop software for cars, then immediately bit off more than it could chew by trying to simultaneously develop three different vehicle operating systems. [Things went the opposite of smoothly][3], with software-related delays to the two new platforms used by cars like the VW ID.4 and Porsche Macan that led to chairman Herbert Diess' firing and the third platform delayed until late in this decade.
Rivian, meanwhile, had no such problems developing its own vehicle electronic architecture and software, starting from a clean sheet unencumbered by generations of legacy cruft. As a startup automaker, Rivian needs money, and since Volkswagen needs better tech, the joint venture makes a lot of sense.
[Read full article][4]
[Comments][5]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/06/vw-invests-5b-into-rivian-signaling-deep-tech-ties-and-collaborations/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2019/09/volkswagen-audi-porsche-vw-group-plans-one-os-to-rule-them-all/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/04/whats-going-on-with-volkswagens-software-division/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/rivian-and-vw-group-complete-winter-testing-of-new-zonal-architecture/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/rivian-and-vw-group-complete-winter-testing-of-new-zonal-architecture/#comments
A Volkswagen ID.EVERY1 was one of the reference vehicles being tested in northern Sweden.
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/rivian-and-vw-group-complete-winter-testing-of-new-zonal-architecture/

2026-03-26 19:22:35 UTC

The debut of Gemini 3.1 Flash Live could make it harder to know if you're talking to a robot
Text generated by artificial intelligence often has a particular vibe that gives it away as machine-generated, but it has become harder to pick out those idiosyncrasies as the tech has improved. We may be seeing a similar evolution of generative AI audio. Google has [announced][1] a new AI audio model called Gemini 3.1 Flash Live—as the name implies, it's designed for real-time conversation. It's rolling out in some Google products starting today, and developers will be able to start building their own chatty robots with the model, too.
Google says this AI is much faster and produces speech with a more natural cadence, aiming to solve a long-running issue with AI-generated speech. Like a chatbot, there's always a delay between input and output in generative audio systems. Longer delays and unnatural inflection make conversations feel sluggish and harder to follow. Researchers generally believe 300 milliseconds of latency is about the limit for optimal speech perception, but Google has not specified any particular delay for Gemini 3.1 Flash Live. It just vaguely has the speed you need.
But benchmark numbers? Google has plenty of those, which it claims show that 3.1 Flash Live will be a more reliable way to have audio-to-audio AI conversations. For example, a big gain in the ComplexFuncBench Audio shows the new model is better at complex, multi-step tasks. Gemini 3.1 Flash Live also tops the charts in the Big Bench Audio test, which evaluates reasoning with a set of 1,000 audio questions.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/gemini-3-1-flash-live/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/the-debut-of-gemini-3-1-flash-live-could-make-it-harder-to-know-if-youre-talking-to-a-robot/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/the-debut-of-gemini-3-1-flash-live-could-make-it-harder-to-know-if-youre-talking-to-a-robot/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/the-debut-of-gemini-3-1-flash-live-could-make-it-harder-to-know-if-youre-talking-to-a-robot/

2026-03-26 19:22:30 UTC

Study: Sycophantic AI can undermine human judgment
We all need a little validation now and then from friends or family, but sometimes too much validation can backfire—and the same is true of AI chatbots. There have been several [recent cases][1] of overly sycophantic [AI tools][2] leading to negative outcomes, including users [harming][3] themselves and/or [others][4]. But the harm might not be limited to these extreme cases, according to a [new paper][5] published in the journal Science. As more people rely on AI tools for everyday advice and guidance, their tendency to overly flatter and agree with users can have harmful effects on those users' judgment, particularly in the social sphere.
The study showed that such tools can reinforce maladaptive beliefs, discourage users from accepting responsibility for a situation, or discourage them from repairing damaged relationships. That said, the authors were quick to emphasize during a media briefing that their findings were not intended to feed into "doomsday sentiments" about such AI models. Rather, the objective is to further our understanding of how such AI models work and their impact on human users, in hopes of making them better while the models are still in the early-ish development stages.
Co-author Myra Cheng, a graduate student at Stanford University, said she and her co-authors were inspired to study this issue after they began noticing a pronounced increase in the number of people around them who had started relying on AI chatbots for relationship advice—and often ended up receiving bad advice because the AI would take their side no matter what. Their interest was bolstered by recent surveys showing nearly half of Americans under 30 have asked an AI tool for personal advice. "Given how common this is becoming, we wanted to understand how an overly affirming AI advice might impact people's real-world relationships," said Cheng.
[Read full article][6]
[Comments][7]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/01/chatgpt-wrote-goodnight-moon-suicide-lullaby-for-man-who-later-killed-himself/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/07/ai-therapy-bots-fuel-delusions-and-give-dangerous-advice-stanford-study-finds/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/lawsuit-google-gemini-sent-man-on-violent-missions-set-suicide-countdown/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/12/openai-refuses-to-say-where-chatgpt-logs-go-when-users-die/
[5]: http://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aec8352
[6]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/study-sycophantic-ai-can-undermine-human-judgment/
[7]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/study-sycophantic-ai-can-undermine-human-judgment/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/study-sycophantic-ai-can-undermine-human-judgment/

2026-03-26 19:22:25 UTC

You've got $20,000 to spend on an EV: Here are some options
With a new war in the Middle East driving up gas prices, American drivers are once again remembering that electric vehicles are much cheaper to operate and therefore worth considering. Buying a brand-new EV might not be the best way to save money, but the good news is that the used EV market continues to grow, and for the buyer looking to spend between $15,000–$20,000 on something electric, we're starting to hit a real sweet spot.
Over the past few weeks, we've looked at used EVs on a smaller budget. If you don't need much range, [even $5,000][1] will get you behind the wheel of a Nissan Leaf. [At $10,000][2], BMW's interesting i3 becomes affordable, as does the Chevrolet Bolt, although expect examples to have some mileage on them. [For $15,000][3] you can find newer Bolts and bigger-batteried i3s, as well as some of Hyundai and Kia's smaller or older EVs.
Once we jump up into the next (arbitrary) price bracket—$15,000 to $20,000—many of the newer, longer-range EVs that debuted post-pandemic are now affordable.
[Read full article][4]
[Comments][5]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/01/how-far-does-5000-go-when-you-want-an-electric-car/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/02/chevy-bolt-bmw-i3-or-something-else-at-10k-you-have-lots-of-ev-options/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/there-are-plenty-of-great-choices-if-you-want-to-spend-less-than-15k-on-an-ev/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/youve-got-20000-to-spend-on-an-ev-here-are-some-options/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/youve-got-20000-to-spend-on-an-ev-here-are-some-options/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/youve-got-20000-to-spend-on-an-ev-here-are-some-options/

2026-03-26 17:30:39 UTC

OpenAI “indefinitely” shelves plans for erotic ChatGPT
Following backlash, OpenAI won't be rolling out an erotic version of ChatGPT any time soon.
[According to the Financial Times][1], the controversial plan has been shelved "indefinitely" as OpenAI "refocuses" its attention on "core products."
Insiders told FT that OpenAI mulled scrapping the "adult mode" plan entirely, as even [its own advisors warned][2] that ChatGPT users could form unhealthy attachments, which might harm their mental health. One advisor chillingly suggested that the tweak risked turning ChatGPT into a "sexy suicide coach."
[Read full article][3]
[Comments][4]
[1]: https://www.ft.com/content/de9bf0af-b241-424f-8229-5870b1c0d93d
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/chatgpt-may-soon-become-sexy-suicide-coach-openai-advisor-reportedly-warned/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/chatgpt-wont-talk-dirty-any-time-soon-as-sexy-mode-turns-off-investors-report-says/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/chatgpt-wont-talk-dirty-any-time-soon-as-sexy-mode-turns-off-investors-report-says/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/chatgpt-wont-talk-dirty-any-time-soon-as-sexy-mode-turns-off-investors-report-says/

2026-03-26 17:30:33 UTC

Intel Core Ultra 270K and 250K Plus review: Conditionally great CPUs
Many of our graphics card reviews early last year and in the early 2020s focused on the difficulties of reviewing and recommending graphics cards when the manufacturer-suggested price points effectively didn't exist. Now, reviews of *any* new PC component have to contend with the much more broadly awful market for consumer PC parts as AI data center-fueled demand for RAM and flash memory chips drives up prices for DDR5 kits, SSDs, and GPUs.
In our August 2025 system guide, 32GB of DDR5 and a decent 2TB SSD would run you less than $200. Today, you'd pay between three and four times as much for similar components.
This is the context that Intel's Core Ultra 200S Plus chips—the $199 Core Ultra 5 250K Plus and $299 Core Ultra 7 270K Plus, still codenamed Arrow Lake just like the originals—have launched into. They're solid performers, they're reasonably power-efficient, and for heavy multi-threaded workloads, they're a better value than what AMD can offer for the same price (though even years-old non-X3D AMD chips retain a small edge in games).
[Read full article][1]
[Comments][2]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/intel-core-ultra-270k-and-250k-plus-review-conditionally-great-cpus/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/intel-core-ultra-270k-and-250k-plus-review-conditionally-great-cpus/#comments
Intel's Core Ultra 7 270K Plus.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/intel-core-ultra-270k-and-250k-plus-review-conditionally-great-cpus/

2026-03-26 15:47:00 UTC

The Corvette E-Ray is dead, long live the Grand Sport X
Chevrolet provided flights from Albany, New York, to Las Vegas, Nevada, and accommodation so Ars could check out the new Grand Sport. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.
Chevrolet has developed something of a modern tradition with recent generations of the Corvette: As a new generation approaches, [the company rolls out the Grand Sport][1]. It's intended to be a sort of "sweet spot" version of the ’Vette, pairing the go-fast bits of the higher-spec machines with the entry-level motor found in the Stingray.
If that pattern holds, the mid-engined, eighth-generation Corvette may be nearing the end—because this is the new Grand Sport. This one, though, is different. It comes with an all-new V8 at its heart, one with substantially more power and torque than the current base Stingray. If that's not enough, you can also get it with the [ZR1X's][2] electric motor and battery. That model is called the Grand Sport X, and it's the effective replacement for the first all-wheel-drive hybrid Corvette.
Yes, the E-Ray is dead, [three years][3] after Chevrolet raised eyebrows by putting a hybrid system where many said it didn't belong. But you can't argue with that system's all-weather capability. It lives on in the new Grand Sport X, which pairs a 186-horsepower (139 kW) electric motor on the front axle with a new V8 at the rear.
[Read full article][4]
[Comments][5]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/07/chevrolet-hits-it-out-of-the-park-with-the-2017-corvette-grand-sport/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/06/the-first-corvette-hypercar-chevrolets-1250-hp-zr1x-hybrid-breaks-cover/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/01/heres-everything-we-know-about-the-2024-corvette-e-ray-hybrid/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/the-corvette-e-ray-is-dead-long-live-the-grand-sport-x/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/the-corvette-e-ray-is-dead-long-live-the-grand-sport-x/#comments
Meet the C8 generation Corvette Grand Sport.
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/the-corvette-e-ray-is-dead-long-live-the-grand-sport-x/

2026-03-26 15:46:55 UTC

Damaged church floor may have revealed the grave of the fourth musketeer
Recent repairs to a centuries-old tile floor at a church in the Netherlands may have revealed the skeleton of the French Musketeer d’Artagnan.
Today, Charles de Batz de Castlemore, Count d'Artagnan, is best known as a character in *The Three Musketeers*, written by Alexandre Dumas and eventually played by both Gene Kelly [and future Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy][1]—but he was a real French military officer and spy. D’Artagnan died during a siege, and the whereabouts of his body have remained a mystery for more than 350 years. But an archaeologist in the Netherlands recently unearthed a skeleton from the floor of a 17th-century church that could actually be d’Artagnan.
## “It is only the dead who do not return”
The ground beneath the centuries-old Saints Peter and Paul Church subsided earlier this year, cracking a few of the blue tiles that pave the chapel’s floor. During repairs, church staff decided to have a look beneath the floor to see if there was any truth to the rumor that d’Artagnan—famous French Musketeer and inspiration for a series of swashbuckling novels—lay buried beneath their church. It turns out that there actually was a skeleton buried under the church floor, and there’s a decent chance it’s d’Artagnan himself.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Musketeers_(2004_musical)
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/archaeologists-may-have-found-the-grave-of-the-legendary-fourth-musketeer/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/archaeologists-may-have-found-the-grave-of-the-legendary-fourth-musketeer/#comments
This could be the skeleton of the real-life d'Artagnan.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/archaeologists-may-have-found-the-grave-of-the-legendary-fourth-musketeer/

2026-03-26 14:46:46 UTC

2026's historic snow drought is bad news for the West
Across much of the Western United States, winter 2026 was the year the snow never came. Many ski resorts got by with snowmaking but [shut down][1] their [winter operations early][2]. Fire officials and water supply managers are worried about summer.
Where I live in Boise, Idaho, temperatures [hit the low 80s][3] Fahrenheit (high-20s Celsius) in mid-March. The same heat dome sent temperatures [soaring to 105° F][4] (40° C) in Phoenix.
Ordinarily, water managers and [hydrologists like me][5] who study the Western US expect the mountain snowpacks to be at their [fullest around April 1][6]. Snowpacks are natural reservoirs of water that farms and communities depend on through the hot, dry summer. Their [snow water equivalent][7], meaning the amount of liquid water in the snowpack, is seen as a bellwether for water supplies.
[Read full article][8]
[Comments][9]
[1]: https://www.cpr.org/2026/03/20/colorado-ski-areas-closing-dates-early/
[2]: https://www.powder.com/news/california-ski-resorts-closing-dates-2026
[3]: https://weather.com/forecast/regional/news/2026-03-23-march-record-heat-wave-southwest-plains-california-arizona-0
[4]: https://ktar.com/arizona-weather-news/heat-record-phoenix-march-22/5838935/
[5]: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=6WrzB2cAAAAJ&hl=en
[6]: https://oehha.ca.gov/climate-change/epic-2022/impacts-physical-systems/snow-water-content
[7]: https://www.climatehubs.usda.gov/hubs/northwest/topic/snow-water-equivalent-swe-its-importance-northwest
[8]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/2026s-historic-snow-drought-is-bad-news-for-the-west/
[9]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/2026s-historic-snow-drought-is-bad-news-for-the-west/#comments
The snow drought was evident in Park City, Utah, on Feb. 9, 2026. This golf course is normally used for cross-country skiing in winter.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/2026s-historic-snow-drought-is-bad-news-for-the-west/

2026-03-25 22:04:07 UTC

BRINC's new police drone uses Starlink, carries Narcan, chases vehicles at 60mph
Drone startup BRINC [announced][1] Tuesday a significant upgrade for its law enforcement drones. BRINC’s newest model, Guardian, will have Starlink connectivity on every unit—a first for commercially available drones.
This new model, which will enter production later this year, has a flight time of over an hour and can reach a top speed of over 60 miles per hour. BRINC calls it the “first drone that can pursue vehicles.”
Additionally, Guardian can carry numerous payloads from its charging “nest,” including a floatation device, a defibrillator, epipens, the overdose-reversal drug Narcan, and more. The nest can also robotically swap batteries in about a minute, the company claims.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/brinc-unveils-guardian-launching-the-next-era-of-drone-as-first-responder-302723095.html
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/brincs-new-police-drone-uses-starlink-carries-narcan-chases-vehicles-at-60mph/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/brincs-new-police-drone-uses-starlink-carries-narcan-chases-vehicles-at-60mph/#comments
The Guardian bustin' bad guys with its onboard spotlight.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/brincs-new-police-drone-uses-starlink-carries-narcan-chases-vehicles-at-60mph/

2026-03-25 20:45:20 UTC

We got an audience with the "Lunar Viceroy" to talk how NASA will build a Moon base
At the end of a long day on Tuesday, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman looked down at a table littered with microphones and jokingly referred to the space agency's new Moon base manager, [Carlos Garcia-Galan][1], as the "Lunar Viceroy." It was a bit of humor, but it also seemed to represent affection from Isaacman for a long-time NASA employee so willingly taking on a major new challenge.
Garcia-Galan was, in many ways, the emerging star at the daylong Ignition event in Washington, DC. Heretofore he has largely been an anonymous engineer at NASA who has now been thrust into a very public role of leading the agency's ambitious Moon base initiative. (His official title, by the way, is program executive.)
Ars had a chance to speak with Garcia-Galan about NASA's plans and, more importantly, how they might be implemented. Here is a lightly edited (for clarity) transcript of that conversation.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://www.nasa.gov/people/carlos-garcia-galan/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/we-got-an-audience-with-the-lunar-viceroy-to-talk-how-nasa-will-build-a-moon-base/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/we-got-an-audience-with-the-lunar-viceroy-to-talk-how-nasa-will-build-a-moon-base/#comments
NASA Moon Base Program Executive Carlos Garcia-Galan speaks during the Ignition event on Tuesday.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/we-got-an-audience-with-the-lunar-viceroy-to-talk-how-nasa-will-build-a-moon-base/

2026-03-25 20:45:15 UTC

Reddit will require "fishy" accounts to verify they are run by a human
Reddit will require accounts that exhibit “automated or otherwise fishy behavior” to verify that a human runs them, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said in a [Reddit post][1] today. The verification process aims to combat unwanted bots from flooding Reddit at a time when AI bots are poised to [take over the Internet][2].
“As AI becomes a bigger part of the Internet, we want to make sure that when you’re on Reddit, you know when you’re talking to a person and when you’re not,” Huffman said.
Human verification will only occur if Reddit suspects that an account is a bot. This is “rare” and won’t apply to “most users,” Huffman emphasized. If the account cannot prove that it's human, it “may be restricted,” he said.
[Read full article][3]
[Comments][4]
[1]: https://old.reddit.com/user/spez/comments/1s3ezrc/humans_welcome_bots_must_wear_name_tags/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/02/increase-of-ai-bots-on-the-internet-sparks-arms-race/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/reddit-will-require-fishy-accounts-to-verify-they-are-run-by-a-human/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/reddit-will-require-fishy-accounts-to-verify-they-are-run-by-a-human/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/reddit-will-require-fishy-accounts-to-verify-they-are-run-by-a-human/

2026-03-25 20:45:10 UTC

Here is NASA's plan for nuking Gateway and sending it to Mars
NASA's announcement Tuesday that it will "pause" work on a lunar space station and focus on [building a surface base on the Moon][1] was no big surprise to anyone paying attention to the Trump administration's space policy.
But what should NASA do with hardware already built for the Gateway outpost? NASA spent close to $4.5 billion on developing a human-tended complex in orbit around the Moon since the Gateway program's official start in 2019. There are pieces of the station undergoing construction and testing in factories scattered around the world.
The centerpiece of Gateway, called the Power and Propulsion Element, is closest to being ready for launch. NASA's rejigged exploration roadmap, revealed Tuesday in an all-day event at NASA headquarters in Washington, calls for repurposing the core module for a nuclear-electric propulsion demonstration in deep space.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/nasa-kills-lunar-space-station-to-focus-on-ambitious-moon-base/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/here-is-nasas-plan-for-nuking-gateway-and-sending-it-to-mars/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/here-is-nasas-plan-for-nuking-gateway-and-sending-it-to-mars/#comments
Artist's illustration of NASA's Space Reactor-1 mission approaching Mars.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/here-is-nasas-plan-for-nuking-gateway-and-sending-it-to-mars/

2026-03-25 19:20:16 UTC

Nintendo is raising prices of Switch 2 game cartridges starting in May
The downloadable versions of Nintendo's first-party Switch games have always cost the same amount to buy, despite the costs of manufacturing and shipping physical releases. This was still true when the Switch 2 launched last year, despite persistent [rumors and misinformation to the contrary][1].
But that's finally, definitively changing later this year. Nintendo [announced today][2] that beginning in May and for new game releases going forward, the physical releases of new Switch 2-exclusive first-party games will cost more than the digital versions of the same game. That will start with the May 21 release of *Yoshi and the Mysterious Book*, which will cost $60 in Nintendo's online store but $70 for a physical copy.
"Nintendo games offer the same experiences whether in packaged or digital format, and this change simply reflects the different costs associated with producing and distributing each format and offers players more choice in how they can buy and play Nintendo games," reads the company's [brief announcement about the change][3]. Nintendo notes that retailers are free to charge what they want for physical and digital games, but aside from sales or other promotions most tend to follow Nintendo's guidance on pricing.
[Read full article][4]
[Comments][5]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/04/nintendo-switch-2s-gameless-game-key-cards-are-going-to-be-very-common/
[2]: https://www.nintendo.com/us/whatsnew/about-nintendo-switch-2-game-pricing/
[3]: https://www.nintendo.com/us/whatsnew/about-nintendo-switch-2-game-pricing/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/03/nintendo-will-start-charging-more-for-physical-switch-2-games-than-digital-copies/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/03/nintendo-will-start-charging-more-for-physical-switch-2-games-than-digital-copies/#comments
Yoshi's storybook-themed Switch 2 adventure will cost more if you want a physical copy.
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/03/nintendo-will-start-charging-more-for-physical-switch-2-games-than-digital-copies/

2026-03-25 19:20:10 UTC

Meta, YouTube must pay $3M to woman who got hooked on apps as a child
On Wednesday, a Los Angeles jury ordered Meta and YouTube to pay $3 million in damages to a young woman who successfully argued that the companies' social media apps were designed to addict children.
Meta will pay the majority of the fine, 70 percent, while YouTube-owner Google is on the hook for 30 percent, the jury decided.
During the six-week trial, the jury heard that Meta and Google designed apps with features like auto-play, infinite scroll, and algorithmic recommendations to keep kids online. Feeling trapped in a cycle of constantly using these apps caused the plaintiff, known as K.G.M., "crippling mental distress," CNBC [reported][1]. She developed "severe body dysmorphia, depression, and suicidal thoughts," and every notification that came through made it harder to stop logging in.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/25/meta-youtube-los-angeles-california-verdict.html
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/meta-youtube-must-pay-3m-to-woman-who-got-hooked-on-apps-as-a-child/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/meta-youtube-must-pay-3m-to-woman-who-got-hooked-on-apps-as-a-child/#comments
Laura Marquez-Garrett (3R, gray blazer), plaintiffs' attorney for Social Media Victims Law Center, gathers with family members of victims as they react to news that the jury has found Meta and YouTube liable in the social media addiction trial, outside the Los Angeles Superior Court.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/meta-youtube-must-pay-3m-to-woman-who-got-hooked-on-apps-as-a-child/

2026-03-25 18:29:13 UTC

Antibiotic resistance among germs swells during droughts, study suggests
For as long as we've known that soil bacteria manufacture molecular weapons to fight each other, we've been swiping their battle plans. In clinics and hospitals, those turf-war weapons have become miraculous drugs of modern medicine—antibiotics—that blow away otherwise deadly infections.
But, of course, there's a dark side of mimicking microbial munitions—bacteria have defenses, too, namely antibiotic resistance. You're probably aware that we're facing a rising threat of drug resistance among disease-causing bacteria, one that is rendering much of our stolen weaponry obsolete and making infections harder to defeat.
Often, this growing crisis is framed as a clinical failure: We're overusing and misusing antibiotics, hastening our bacterial foes' natural ability to develop and spread resistance. While this is certainly true, [a new study in Nature Microbiology][1] this week identifies a potentially new driver of rising antibiotic resistance—and we're at least partly to blame for this one, too.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-026-02274-x
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/03/antibiotic-resistance-among-germs-swells-during-droughts-study-suggests/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/03/antibiotic-resistance-among-germs-swells-during-droughts-study-suggests/#comments
A traditional boat is stranded in the mud as water recedes in the drought-striken Chibayish marshes in Iraq's southern Dhi Qar province on July 30, 2025.
https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/03/antibiotic-resistance-among-germs-swells-during-droughts-study-suggests/

2026-03-25 18:29:07 UTC

Google's TurboQuant AI-compression algorithm can reduce LLM memory usage by 6x
Even if you don't know much about the inner workings of generative AI models, you probably know they need a lot of memory. Hence, it is currently almost impossible to buy a measly stick of RAM [without getting fleeced][1]. Google Research recently [revealed TurboQuant][2], a compression algorithm that reduces the memory footprint of large language models (LLMs) while also boosting speed and maintaining accuracy.
TurboQuant is aimed at reducing the size of the key-value cache, which Google likens to a "digital cheat sheet" that stores important information so it doesn't have to be recomputed. This cheat sheet is necessary because, as we say all the time, LLMs don't actually know anything; they can do a good impression of knowing things through the use of vectors, which map the semantic meaning of tokenized text. When two vectors are similar, that means they have conceptual similarity.
High-dimensional vectors, which can have hundreds or thousands of embeddings, may describe complex information like the pixels in an image or a large data set. They also occupy a lot of memory and inflate the size of the key-value cache, bottlenecking performance. To make models smaller and more efficient, developers employ quantization techniques to [run them at lower precision][3]. The drawback is that the outputs get worse—the quality of token estimation goes down. With TurboQuant, Google's early results show an 8x performance increase and 6x reduction in memory usage in some tests *without* a loss of quality.
[Read full article][4]
[Comments][5]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/for-just-a-couple-of-months-in-the-middle-of-2025-it-was-an-ok-time-to-build-a-pc/
[2]: https://research.google/blog/turboquant-redefining-ai-efficiency-with-extreme-compression/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/12/the-npu-in-your-phone-keeps-improving-why-isnt-that-making-ai-better/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/google-says-new-turboquant-compression-can-lower-ai-memory-usage-without-sacrificing-quality/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/google-says-new-turboquant-compression-can-lower-ai-memory-usage-without-sacrificing-quality/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/google-says-new-turboquant-compression-can-lower-ai-memory-usage-without-sacrificing-quality/

2026-03-25 18:29:02 UTC

Supreme Court rejects Sony's attempt to kick music pirates off the Internet
The Supreme Court today decided that Internet service providers cannot be held liable for their customers' copyright infringement unless they take specific steps that cause users to violate copyrights. The court ruled unanimously in favor of Internet provider Cox Communications, though two justices did not agree with the majority's reasoning.
The ruling effectively means that ISPs do not have to conduct mass terminations of Internet users accused of illegally downloading or uploading pirated files. If the court had ruled otherwise, ISPs could have been compelled to strictly police their networks for piracy in order to avoid billion-dollar court verdicts under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
The long-running case is *Cox Communications v. Sony Music Entertainment*. Cox was hit with a [$1 billion verdict][1] for music piracy in 2019. Although the damages award was [overturned][2] in 2024, a federal appeals court still found that Cox was liable for willful contributory infringement.
[Read full article][3]
[Comments][4]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/12/cox-communications-hit-with-1-billion-verdict-over-music-piracy/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/02/court-blocks-1-billion-copyright-ruling-that-punished-isp-for-its-users-piracy/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/supreme-court-rejects-sonys-attempt-to-kick-music-pirates-off-the-internet/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/supreme-court-rejects-sonys-attempt-to-kick-music-pirates-off-the-internet/#comments
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito (L) and Clarence Thomas (R) at the inauguration of President Trump on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/supreme-court-rejects-sonys-attempt-to-kick-music-pirates-off-the-internet/

2026-03-25 17:25:00 UTC

Google bumps up Q Day deadline to 2029, far sooner than previously thought
Google is dramatically shortening its deadline readiness for the arrival of Q Day, the point at which existing quantum computers can break public-key cryptography algorithms that secure decades' worth of secrets belonging to militaries, banks, governments, and nearly every individual on earth.
In a [post][1] published on Wednesday, Google said it is giving itself until 2029 to prepare for this event. The post went on to warn that the rest of the world needs to follow suit by adopting PQC—short for post-quantum cryptography—algorithms to augment or replace elliptic curves and RSA, both of which will be broken.
## The end is nigh
“As a pioneer in both quantum and PQC, it’s our responsibility to lead by example and share an ambitious timeline,” wrote Heather Adkins, Google’s VP of security engineering, and Sophie Schmieg, a senior cryptography engineer. “By doing this, we hope to provide the clarity and urgency needed to accelerate digital transitions not only for Google, but also across the industry.”
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/technology/safety-security/cryptography-migration-timeline/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/03/google-bumps-up-q-day-estimate-to-2029-far-sooner-than-previously-thought/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/03/google-bumps-up-q-day-estimate-to-2029-far-sooner-than-previously-thought/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/03/google-bumps-up-q-day-estimate-to-2029-far-sooner-than-previously-thought/

2026-03-25 17:24:55 UTC

Trump staffs science and technology panel with non-scientists
PCAST, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, is generally not a high-profile group. It tends to be noticed when things go wrong, such as when the PCAST head named by Biden [had to resign][1] due to abusive behavior. Biden, who was generally supportive of science, didn't even name the members of PCAST until eight months after his inauguration. So it's no surprise that an administration that's been hostile to science took even longer to staff its version of the group.
The list of appointees was finally [released on Wednesday][2], and it's notable for its almost complete absence of scientists. There are still nine unfilled vacancies on the council, so it's possible more scientists will be named later. But for now, PCAST is heavily tilted toward extremely wealthy technology figures.
These include investor Marc Andreessen, Google's Sergey Brin, Michael Dell of Dell, Larry Ellison of Oracle, Jensen Huang of NVIDIA, Lisa Su of AMD, and Mark Zuckerberg of Meta. But many of the lesser known names have similar backgrounds. Previously named chairs of PCAST are investor David Sacks and a former investment company CFO and current head of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, John Kratsios. Of the new appointees, Safra Catz also comes from Oracle, Fred Ehrsam co-founded Coinbase, and David Friedberg is another investor.
[Read full article][3]
[Comments][4]
[1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/07/us/politics/eric-lander-resigns-white-house.html
[2]: https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2026/03/president-trump-announces-appointments-to-presidents-council-of-advisors-on-science-and-technology/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/trump-staffs-science-and-technology-panel-with-non-scientists/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/trump-staffs-science-and-technology-panel-with-non-scientists/#comments
Michael Kratsios, head of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, speaks with President Trump.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/trump-staffs-science-and-technology-panel-with-non-scientists/

2026-03-25 14:57:02 UTC

Disney cancels $1 billion OpenAI partnership amid Sora shutdown plans
OpenAI's [recently announced plans to shutter its Sora video-generating app][1] have also scuttled the company's planned $1 billion licensing partnership with Disney, according to multiple press reports.
"As the nascent AI field advances rapidly, we respect OpenAI’s decision to exit the video generation business and to shift its priorities elsewhere," Disney said in a statement provided to media outlets. "We appreciate the constructive collaboration between our teams and what we learned from it, and we will continue to engage with AI platforms to find new ways to meet fans where they are while responsibly embracing new technologies that respect IP and the rights of creators."
Disney and OpenAI [announced the blockbuster three-year licensing deal][2] in December, saying that over 200 Disney-owned characters would be available for use in Sora-generated videos. At the same time, Disney said it would be making a $1 billion equity investment in the AI company.
[Read full article][3]
[Comments][4]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/openai-plans-to-shut-down-sora-just-15-months-after-its-launch/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/12/disney-invests-1-billion-in-openai-licenses-200-characters-for-ai-video-app-sora/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/the-end-of-sora-also-means-the-end-of-disneys-1-billion-openai-investment/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/the-end-of-sora-also-means-the-end-of-disneys-1-billion-openai-investment/#comments
Pack the mouse up, boys, we're done here.
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/the-end-of-sora-also-means-the-end-of-disneys-1-billion-openai-investment/

2026-03-25 14:56:56 UTC

Apple begins age checks in the UK with latest iOS update
Millions of iPhone owners in the UK will be asked to verify they are over 18 in order to access several Apple services, following pressure from the UK government on smartphone makers to do more to protect children online.
The UK is believed to be the first European market where Apple is rolling out its new age controls, which are designed to ensure that only adults can download apps rated on its App Store as being suitable for over-18s.
Following an iOS software update that was pushed out on Wednesday, adults who do not verify their age will face restrictions on web browsing, as well as “communication safety” checks to their messages and FaceTime video calls, which are designed to detect nude photos and videos.
[Read full article][1]
[Comments][2]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/apple-begins-age-checks-in-the-uk-with-latest-ios-update/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/apple-begins-age-checks-in-the-uk-with-latest-ios-update/#comments
Apple's iPhone 17 Pro.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/apple-begins-age-checks-in-the-uk-with-latest-ios-update/

2026-03-25 14:56:51 UTC

Meta loses trial after arguing child exploitation was “inevitable” on its apps
Meta has lost the first of three child safety trials it's facing this year after a jury in a New Mexico state court found that the social media giant's platforms do not effectively protect kids from child exploitation.
On Tuesday, the jury deliberated for only one day before agreeing that Meta should pay $375 million in civil damages for violating state consumer protections and misleading parents about the safety of its apps.
The trial followed a 2023 lawsuit filed by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez after The Guardian published a [two-year investigation][1] exposing child sex trafficking markets on Facebook and Instagram. Torrez's office then conducted an undercover investigation codenamed "Operation MetaPhile," in which officers posed as children on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The jury heard that these fake profiles were "simply inundated with images and targeted solicitations” from child abusers, Torrez [told CNBC][2] in 2024. Ultimately, three men were arrested amid the sting for attempting to use Meta's social networks to prey on children.
[Read full article][3]
[Comments][4]
[1]: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2023/apr/27/how-facebook-and-instagram-became-marketplaces-for-child-sex-trafficking
[2]: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/31/meta-chief-mark-zuckerberg-criticized-over-child-sex-targeting-on-site.html
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/meta-loses-trial-after-arguing-child-exploitation-was-inevitable-on-its-apps/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/meta-loses-trial-after-arguing-child-exploitation-was-inevitable-on-its-apps/#comments
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg leaves the Federal Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles after defending the company in a landmark social media addiction trial.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/meta-loses-trial-after-arguing-child-exploitation-was-inevitable-on-its-apps/

2026-03-25 13:22:52 UTC

Honda cancels the two electric vehicles it was developing with Sony
Earlier this month Honda decided to cancel a trio of electric vehicles it was planning to build in the US. And those cancellations are having a ripple effect. Today Sony Honda Mobility—the automaker's joint venture with the electronics and entertainment company—announced that it won't bring its EVs to market either.
Although Honda was an early adopter of hybrid technology, it has been left badly lagging when it comes to developing battery-electric cars. The diminutive Honda e might look like [the most adorable city car you've ever seen][1], but it struggled to find more than 12,000 buyers in four years across Europe and Japan.
Here in North America, [the Prologue][2] has done much better: Honda sold 33,000 in 2024, and another 39,000 last year. But the rebadged GM, which shares a platform with the Chevrolet Blazer, has seen sales implode since the end of the federal clean vehicle tax credit last fall, and it, too, leaves production at the end of the year. An earlier plan to use GM's battery platform for lower-cost EVs, [meant to arrive in 2027][3], died [in late 2023][4].
[Read full article][5]
[Comments][6]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2019/09/dear-honda-this-adorable-electric-car-needs-to-come-to-the-us/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/08/the-2024-honda-prologue-a-dependable-but-somewhat-dull-ev/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/04/honda-and-general-motors-will-collaborate-on-affordable-evs-from-2027/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/10/honda-cancels-plan-for-cheap-electric-vehicles-ending-collaboration-with-gm/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/honda-cancels-the-two-electric-vehicles-it-was-developing-with-sony/
[6]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/honda-cancels-the-two-electric-vehicles-it-was-developing-with-sony/#comments
A prototype Afeela undergoes checks at the factory in Ohio. It will not now go into series production.
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/honda-cancels-the-two-electric-vehicles-it-was-developing-with-sony/

2026-03-25 12:28:13 UTC

So long, farewell: Saying goodbye to Audi's best car, the 2026 RS6 Avant
By the time you read this, the Audi RS6 Avant is dead. Production at the factory in Neckarsulm, Germany, has already switched over [to new models][1]; any unsold wagons at dealerships will be the last of their kind. Time moves on, leaving the unelectrified 2026 RS6 Avant Performance as a relic from a bygone age where people didn't care quite so much about melting glaciers. In this regard progress is good and climate catastrophe is bad, but there are other things to like about the RS6 Avant, and much that Audi could and should bring to its other cars.
The car was always something of a unicorn here in the US. As the SUV became ascendant, the station wagon suffered a corresponding decline with the general public, and automakers like Audi responded by not importing them anymore. The economics, we were told, didn't add up: wagon sales would just cannibalize SUV sales but at too small a rate to make the imported wagons profitable. But with smaller volumes, the math made more sense, which is why in 2019 the car maker buckled to pressure and said fine, [we'll import the RS6 Avant][2]. And with a starting price of $130,700, you can understand why this is a low-volume model.
## Subtly swollen
A look down its flanks reveals wheel arches that bulge to accommodate larger wheels, part of Audi Sport's RS transformation applied to the sedate A6 starting point. Larger wheels provide clearance for larger brakes, which in turn help stop it from prodigious velocities—if you have a long enough runway or the right stretch of German Autobahn, top speed for this version, the Performance, tops out at 190 mph (305 km/h). Under the hood, hidden from view by plastic paneling, lies a twin-turbocharged 4.0 L V8 engine, which generates 621 hp (463 kW) and 627 lb-ft (850 Nm), sending power to all four wheels via an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission.
[Read full article][3]
[Comments][4]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/07/audis-midsize-sedan-goes-electric-the-2025-a6-and-s6-sportback-driven/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2019/09/audi-responds-to-demand-will-bring-its-fiery-rs6-wagon-to-america/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/so-long-farewell-saying-goodbye-to-audis-best-car-the-2026-rs6-avant/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/so-long-farewell-saying-goodbye-to-audis-best-car-the-2026-rs6-avant/#comments
Stormtrooper spec for this 2026 Audi RS6 Avant performance.
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/so-long-farewell-saying-goodbye-to-audis-best-car-the-2026-rs6-avant/

2026-03-25 09:52:20 UTC

How chemists turned bourbon waste into supercapacitors
[Bourbon][1] is a multi-billion-dollar market, but the American barrel-aged whiskey also produces a lot of wasted grain at distilleries. Chemists at the University of Kentucky developed a method to transform that stillage into electrodes and used those electrodes to build supercapacitors with energy storage capacity on par with existing commercial devices. They presented their work at [a meeting][2] of the American Chemical Society in Atlanta, Georgia.
US distillers began making bourbon in the 18th century, particularly in Kentucky, but it really took off commercially, in terms of consumption and exports, after World War II. Legally, a whiskey can only be sold as bourbon if its mash is comprised of at least 51 percent corn, with any other cereal grain (usually rye and barley) making up the remainder.
The grain is ground up and mixed with water, and mash from a previous distillation is added to create a sour mash. The addition of yeast launches fermentation, after which the mash is distilled to a clear spirit called "white dog." That spirit is poured into charred new oak barrels for aging of at least two years. It's the caramelized sugars and vanillin in the charred wood that give bourbon its distinctive dark color and flavor. The barrels are never reused for bourbon, typically being recycled for making barrel-aged beer, wine, and even barbecue and hot sauces.
[Read full article][3]
[Comments][4]
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourbon_whiskey#Production_process
[2]: https://acs.digitellinc.com/live/36/page/1270
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/how-chemists-turned-bourbon-waste-into-super-capacitors/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/how-chemists-turned-bourbon-waste-into-super-capacitors/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/how-chemists-turned-bourbon-waste-into-super-capacitors/

2026-03-25 04:34:36 UTC

"The last straw"—RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine ally angrily quits CDC panel after spat
One of the federal vaccine advisors hand-selected by anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has angrily resigned from his position, complaining of "drama" amid a spat with a spokesperson. Robert Malone—a former researcher turned outspoken anti-vaccine activist and conspiracy theorist—confirmed he was stepping down Tuesday afternoon to[ CQ Roll Call][1], which first reported the news.
He told the outlet that his decision to quit came after a "miscommunication" about the fate of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Kennedy had populated ACIP with anti-vaccine allies including Malone, who served as vice chair, after summarily firing all 17 experts on the panel last June. Last week, [a federal judge temporarily blocked Kennedy's ACIP appointments][2], including Malone. He also stayed the changes that its members had made to federal vaccine guidance, as well as the dramatic overhaul of the childhood vaccine schedule Kennedy made without them. The judge ruled all the moves were likely illegal.
On Thursday, Malone claimed on social media that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had [disbanded ACIP and planned to completely reconstitute it (again)][3], without appealing the judge's ruling or defending Kennedy's ACIP picks from the judge's claims that they were unqualified. But soon after, Malone retracted his claim, saying it was a miscommunication and that disbanding ACIP was merely one of the "options being considered."
[Read full article][4]
[Comments][5]
[1]: https://rollcall.com/2026/03/24/cdc-vaccine-adviser-malone-steps-down-to-avoid-drama/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/03/judge-temporarily-blocks-rfk-jr-s-changes-to-cdc-vaccine-recommendations/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/03/rfk-may-replace-entire-panel-of-cdc-vaccine-advisors-again-ally-lets-slip/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/03/rfk-jr-anti-vaccine-ally-dramatically-quits-cdc-panel-complaining-of-drama/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/03/rfk-jr-anti-vaccine-ally-dramatically-quits-cdc-panel-complaining-of-drama/#comments
Committee member Dr. Robert Malone during a meeting of the CDC's Advisory Committee On Immunization Practices at the Center for Disease Control (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, US, on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025.
https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/03/rfk-jr-anti-vaccine-ally-dramatically-quits-cdc-panel-complaining-of-drama/

2026-03-24 23:56:56 UTC

Final analysis of 2025 Iberian blackout: Policies left Spain at risk
Roughly a year ago, Spain and Portugal went dark when the electrical grid of the entire Iberian Peninsula failed. While the grid operators did a heroic job of [restarting the grid][1] quickly, there were obvious questions about what had led to the blackout in the first place. A [preliminary report][2] suggested that a combination of grid-level voltage oscillations and early disconnections was the main factor.
Over the weekend, the European grid coordinator, ENTSO-e, released its [final, detailed report][3] on the event. While it's largely consistent with the preliminary conclusions, the report provides much more detail about what went wrong and, more significantly, offers a clear picture of how the Iberian grid operators could make changes to prevent a similar event in the future.
## Oscillations
The expert committee that prepared the report had access to a wealth of data, including status logs from most of the major hardware on the Spanish and Portuguese grid, often recorded with sub-second precision. There's also data from the two major interchanges between the Spanish grid and those in France and Morocco. The group even obtained data from two manufacturers of the small inverters used for rooftop solar about the performance of their hardware on the day in question.
[Read full article][4]
[Comments][5]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/04/why-restarting-a-power-grid-is-so-hard/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/06/spanish-blackout-report-power-plants-meant-to-stabilize-voltage-didnt/
[3]: https://www.entsoe.eu/publications/blackout/28-april-2025-iberian-blackout/#Publications_&_Documents
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/final-analysis-of-2025-iberian-blackout-policies-left-spain-at-risk/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/final-analysis-of-2025-iberian-blackout-policies-left-spain-at-risk/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/final-analysis-of-2025-iberian-blackout-policies-left-spain-at-risk/

2026-03-24 22:28:53 UTC

Mozilla dev's "Stack Overflow for agents" targets a key weakness in coding AI
Mozilla developer Peter Wilson has taken to the [Mozilla.ai blog][1] to announce cq, which he describes as "Stack Overflow for agents." The nascent project hints at something genuinely useful, but it will have to address security, data poisoning, and accuracy to achieve significant adoption.
It's meant to solve a couple of problems. First, coding agents often use outdated information when making decisions, like attempting deprecated API calls. This stems from training cutoffs and the lack of reliable, structured access to up-to-date runtime context. They sometimes use techniques like RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) to get updated knowledge, but they don't always do that when they need to—"unknown unknowns," as the saying goes—and it's never comprehensive when they do.
Second, multiple agents often have to find ways around the same barriers, but there's no knowledge sharing after said training cutoff point. That means hundreds or thousands of individual agents end up using expensive tokens and consuming energy to solve already-solved problems all the time. Ideally, one would solve an issue once, and the others would draw from that experience.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://blog.mozilla.ai/cq-stack-overflow-for-agents/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/mozilla-dev-introduces-cq-a-stack-overflow-for-agents/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/mozilla-dev-introduces-cq-a-stack-overflow-for-agents/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/mozilla-dev-introduces-cq-a-stack-overflow-for-agents/

2026-03-24 22:28:48 UTC

Newly purchased Vizio TVs now require Walmart accounts to use smart features
Prospective Vizio TV buyers should know there’s a good chance the set won’t work properly without a Walmart account. In an attempt to better serve advertisers, Walmart, which [bought Vizio][1] in December 2024, announced this week that select newly purchased Vizio TVs now require a Walmart account for setup and accessing smart TV features.
Since 2024, Vizio TVs have required a Vizio account, which a Vizio OS [website][2] says is necessary for accessing “exclusive offers, subscription management, and tailored support.” Accounts are also central to Vizio’s business, which is largely driven by ads and tracking tied to its OS.
A Walmart spokesperson confirmed to Ars Technica that Walmart accounts will be mandatory on “select new Vizio OS TVs” for owners to complete onboarding and to use smart TV features. The representative added:
[Read full article][3]
[Comments][4]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/02/walmart-buying-tv-brand-vizio-for-its-ad-fueling-customer-data/
[2]: https://www.vizio.com/en/vizio-os
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/newly-purchased-vizio-tvs-now-require-walmart-accounts-to-use-smart-features/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/newly-purchased-vizio-tvs-now-require-walmart-accounts-to-use-smart-features/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/newly-purchased-vizio-tvs-now-require-walmart-accounts-to-use-smart-features/

2026-03-24 21:23:28 UTC

Apple releases iOS, iPadOS, macOS 26.4 with a long list of medium-size tweaks
Apple has released the 26.4 updates to all of its major software platforms today, including iOS, iPadOS, macOS Tahoe, watchOS, tvOS, visionOS, and the HomePod. The most important reason to install each update is the big pile of included security fixes—you can see the ones Apple is disclosing for [iOS/iPadOS][1] and [macOS][2] on its security website—but the updates also include a few significant new features, a change from [the mostly quiet 26.3 release][3] last month.
We covered [many of the most notable features][4] when the first versions of these updates were released through Apple's beta testing channels. Those include charging limits for MacBooks, for those who don't want to allow their batteries to charge to their full capacities; the return of the "compact" tab view for Safari running on macOS Tahoe and iPadOS 26; and enabled-by-default [Stolen Device Protection][5].
Other features include the handful of new emoji from the Unicode 17.0 release ([see Emojipedia for more][6]); AI-generated Apple Music playlists; new [Creator Studio features][7] for the built-in Freeform app; and the ability for adults in a Family Sharing group to use different payment methods from one another when making purchases.
[Read full article][8]
[Comments][9]
[1]: https://support.apple.com/en-us/126792
[2]: https://support.apple.com/en-us/126794
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/02/apple-releases-ios-26-3-with-updates-that-mainly-benefit-non-apple-devices/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/02/5-changes-to-know-about-in-apples-latest-ios-macos-and-ipados-betas/
[5]: https://support.apple.com/en-us/120340
[6]: https://blog.emojipedia.org/apple-ios-26-4-emoji-changelog/
[7]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/01/seven-things-to-know-about-how-apples-creator-studio-subscriptions-work/
[8]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/apple-releases-ios-ipados-macos-26-4-with-a-long-list-of-medium-size-tweaks/
[9]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/apple-releases-ios-ipados-macos-26-4-with-a-long-list-of-medium-size-tweaks/#comments
Devices running Apple's latest operating systems.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/apple-releases-ios-ipados-macos-26-4-with-a-long-list-of-medium-size-tweaks/

2026-03-24 21:23:23 UTC

FCC imposes sweeping ban on foreign-made routers, affecting all new models
The Federal Communications Commission yesterday [announced][1] it will no longer approve consumer-grade routers made outside of the US, citing a President Trump directive on reducing the use of foreign technology for national security reasons. The action will prevent foreign-made routers from being imported into or sold in the US.
Routers already approved for sale in the US can continue to be sold, and consumers can keep using any router they've previously obtained, the FCC said. But the FCC will not approve new device models made at least partly outside the US unless the Department of Defense or Department of Homeland Security determines that the router does not pose national security risks.
The prohibition applies to both US and foreign companies that produce routers outside the US. Foreign production includes "any major stage of the process through which the device is made, including manufacturing, assembly, design, and development."
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-updates-covered-list-include-foreign-made-consumer-routers
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/trump-fcc-prohibits-import-and-sale-of-new-wi-fi-routers-made-outside-us/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/trump-fcc-prohibits-import-and-sale-of-new-wi-fi-routers-made-outside-us/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/trump-fcc-prohibits-import-and-sale-of-new-wi-fi-routers-made-outside-us/

2026-03-24 21:23:17 UTC

Electronic Frontier Foundation to swap leaders as AI, ICE fights escalate
Back in 2022 when Cindy Cohn, the executive director of a US digital rights nonprofit called the Electronic Frontier Foundation, started writing her memoir, *Privacy's Defender*, she worried that people would think she was an "old fuddy duddy" still sounding alarms about government spying online.
As one of EFF's first litigators and then its longtime leader, Cohn witnessed firsthand how government surveillance became one of the earliest concerns for civil rights advocates when the Internet became mainstream in the 1990s. Since then, attention has pivoted away from caring about government's Internet abuses to focusing much more on Big Tech harms, she said.
But then Donald Trump's second term started, launching aggressive Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations nationwide that depended on abusing tech to support its goals of mass deportation. Railing against ICE raids, communities have quickly mobilized to defend online privacy, even [banding together across political divides][1] to tear down Flock cameras that can aid in arrests. Maybe even more concerning, as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has [increasingly sought to unmask ICE critics][2] on social media—and [largely failed][3]—EFF has [filed][4] and backed lawsuits fighting to protect Americans' rights to track ICE activity and share information anonymously online.
[Read full article][5]
[Comments][6]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/11/flock-haters-cross-political-divides-to-remove-error-prone-cameras/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/01/instagram-user-fights-dhs-for-the-right-to-post-ice-sightings-anonymously/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/01/instagram-ice-critic-wins-fight-to-stay-anonymous-as-dhs-backs-down/
[4]: https://www.eff.org/cases/eff-v-doj-dhs-ice-tracking-apps
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/trump-made-opposing-government-spying-cool-again-effs-departing-chief-says/
[6]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/trump-made-opposing-government-spying-cool-again-effs-departing-chief-says/#comments
On the left, departing director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Cindy Cohn. On the right, incoming leader, Nicole Ozer.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/trump-made-opposing-government-spying-cool-again-effs-departing-chief-says/

2026-03-24 21:23:12 UTC

OpenAI plans to shut down Sora just 15 months after its launch
OpenAI is preparing to shut down Sora, the video generation app that drew widespread attention when it [launched in late 2024][1].
OpenAI [announced the move in a social media post Tuesday][2] just after a Wall Street Journal story [broke the news][3]. The company said it will have more to share soon on "timelines for the app and API and details on preserving your work."
"To everyone who created with Sora, shared it, and built community around it: thank you," OpenAI wrote. "What you made with Sora mattered, and we know this news is disappointing."
[Read full article][4]
[Comments][5]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2024/12/ten-months-after-first-tease-openai-launches-sora-video-generation-publicly/
[2]: https://x.com/soraofficialapp/status/2036532795984715896
[3]: https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-set-to-discontinue-sora-video-platform-app-a82a9e4e
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/openai-plans-to-shut-down-sora-just-15-months-after-its-launch/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/openai-plans-to-shut-down-sora-just-15-months-after-its-launch/#comments
We'll use any excuse to reuse this image of a cool dog riding a skateboard, from a video generated by Sora during its [brief public access leak][1] in November 2024.
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2024/11/openai-is-at-war-with-its-own-sora-video-testers-following-brief-public-leak/
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/openai-plans-to-shut-down-sora-just-15-months-after-its-launch/

2026-03-24 19:04:46 UTC

Apple confirms that its Maps app will begin showing ads to users "this summer"
One benefit of most of Apple's hardware and software is that it's [relatively privacy-focused][1] and light on advertising, compared to something like modern Windows or the Roku operating system. But ads have still crept into various apps and services over time, and Apple [confirmed today][2] that its Maps app would [begin showing ads][3] to users in the US and Canada starting "this summer."
Businesses that want to show ads in Apple Maps will be able to claim their physical location and upload photos, and then pay to have their business displayed at the top of search results "based on relevance" and also in a "Suggested Places" section of the app. Apple displays similar relevance-based advertisements when users search for apps in the App Store.
Apple says that users' personal data will still stay on-device and won't be collected by Apple or shared with third parties. The company also says that ads viewed or opened in Maps won't be tied to your Apple account or used to track your physical location.
[Read full article][4]
[Comments][5]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/all-the-ways-apple-tv-boxes-do-and-mostly-dont-track-you/
[2]: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/03/introducing-apple-business-a-new-all-in-one-platform-for-businesses-of-all-sizes/
[3]: https://ads.apple.com/maps
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/apple-confirms-that-its-maps-app-will-begin-showing-ads-to-users-this-summer/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/apple-confirms-that-its-maps-app-will-begin-showing-ads-to-users-this-summer/#comments
Ads in the Maps app are part of a new "Apple Business" service aimed at businesses and IT departments.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/apple-confirms-that-its-maps-app-will-begin-showing-ads-to-users-this-summer/

2026-03-24 19:04:40 UTC

Google's new version of Android Automotive will move beyond infotainment
Android has been creeping into cars for more than a decade, first with the phone-based Android Auto and later with built-in Android Automotive OS. Even when Android is running on cars, it has not been allowed outside of the infotainment box. That could begin changing soon with [Google's new plans][1] for software-defined vehicles (SDVs), but don't expect most carmakers to step on the gas right away.
Car companies are notoriously protective of the software running on their vehicles, which has become a core part of the experience as cars have shifted to "[computers on wheels][2]." Part of that is a matter of safety, but the data collected by automotive software is also highly valuable. As a result of everyone going their own way, vehicles have different software stacks that can include incompatible components from myriad suppliers. Google says it can fix this "fragmentation" mess with a more powerful version of Android Automotive OS (AAOS) designed for SDVs.
For better or worse, cars are increasingly reliant on software for new features—for example, remote climate controls or using smart keys on your phone. Google's car efforts didn't start there, but they've definitely trended in that direction. Early on, the company's in-car play was Android Auto, which could run on a phone or be projected from a phone to supported car displays. Google eventually [dropped the phone-based Auto][3] to focus on the projected Android Auto experience and Android Automotive OS, which runs Android locally on the vehicle. That's where Google's latest initiative is focused.
[Read full article][4]
[Comments][5]
[1]: https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/platforms/android/android-automotive-os/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/05/throw-out-all-those-black-boxes-and-say-hello-to-the-software-defined-car/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/08/google-is-killing-android-auto-for-phones-if-you-even-know-what-that-is/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/google-wants-android-automotive-to-control-more-of-your-car/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/google-wants-android-automotive-to-control-more-of-your-car/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/google-wants-android-automotive-to-control-more-of-your-car/

2026-03-24 19:04:33 UTC

NASA kills lunar space station to focus on ambitious Moon base
WASHINGTON, DC—NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on Tuesday laid out a sweeping vision for the space agency’s next decade during an event called “Ignition” in which he and other senior leaders set out their exploration plans.
Isaacman and his colleagues shared a number of major announcements, including outlining a nuclear-powered mission to Mars that will release three helicopters there and major changes to commercial space stations. However, most significantly, Isaacman outlined a detailed plan to construct a substantial Moon base over the next decade. He framed it as part of a "great power" challenge, saying that if NASA does not succeed now it will cede the Moon to China.
The base included long-range drones, multiple sources of power, sophisticated communications, permanent habitats, scientific laboratories, local manufacturing, and more. To accomplish this, NASA will work with a broad range of industry partners capable of sending medium-size and large cargos to the lunar surface. Isaacman also confirmed that NASA will no longer build a Lunar Gateway in orbit around the Moon, but would rather focus all of its energy and resources on the lunar surface.
[Read full article][1]
[Comments][2]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/nasa-kills-lunar-space-station-to-focus-on-ambitious-moon-base/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/nasa-kills-lunar-space-station-to-focus-on-ambitious-moon-base/#comments
A lunar base as seen from space.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/nasa-kills-lunar-space-station-to-focus-on-ambitious-moon-base/

2026-03-24 17:32:26 UTC

All of DOGE’s work could be undone as lawsuit against Musk proceeds
Elon Musk must defend himself against a lawsuit alleging that he unlawfully seized too much power as the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a judge ruled Monday.
According to the plaintiffs, Musk needed Senate confirmation before directing DOGE on drastic actions like eliminating agencies, mass firings, and steep budget cuts. Allegedly going far beyond the authority granted in President Donald Trump's most expansive DOGE executive orders, Musk took every inch of power granted and then increasingly used it to overreach unlike any presidential advisor who came before, the suit says.
In her [opinion][1] partly denying a [motion to dismiss][2], US District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan did not buy the US government's defense that Musk held no office formally established by law—and therefore did not need Senate confirmation and cannot be alleged to have exceeded his authority under the Constitution's Appointments Clause.
[Read full article][3]
[Comments][4]
[1]: https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/State-of-New-Mexico-v-Musk-Opinion-3-23-26.pdf
[2]: https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/State-of-New-Mexico-v-Musk-Complaint-2-13-25.pdf
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/all-of-doges-work-could-be-undone-as-lawsuit-against-musk-proceeds/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/all-of-doges-work-could-be-undone-as-lawsuit-against-musk-proceeds/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/all-of-doges-work-could-be-undone-as-lawsuit-against-musk-proceeds/

2026-03-24 16:18:35 UTC

Claude Code can now take over your computer to complete tasks
Anthropic is joining the increasingly crowded field of companies with AI agents that can take direct control of your local computer desktop. The company has [announced][1] that Claude Code (and its more casual user-oriented [Claude Cowork][2]) can now "point, click, and navigate what’s on your screen" to "open files, use the browser, and run dev tools automatically" when necessary to complete tasks.
When possible, Anthropic says Claude Code and Cowork will still prioritize using [Connectors][3] to directly access and control outside apps or data sources. When that connection isn't available, though, those tools are now able to ask permission to "scroll, click to open, and explore as needed" on the machine itself to do what's asked. This kind of direct control of the computer can also be initiated and managed remotely via [Claude's Dispatch tool][4] as long as the target computer remains powered on.
An Anthropic video shows some examples of tasks Claud Code can complete on your desktop via Dispatch.
The new feature is now available to Claude Pro and Max subscribers using MacOS in what Anthropic calls a "research preview." That means the system "won't always work perfectly" and will sometimes require a "second try" for complex tasks, Anthropic warns. Completing tasks via "computer use" also "takes much longer and is more error-prone" than performing the same task via Connectors, the company writes.
[Read full article][5]
[Comments][6]
[1]: https://claude.com/blog/dispatch-and-computer-use
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/01/anthropic-launches-cowork-a-claude-code-like-for-general-computing/
[3]: https://claude.com/connectors
[4]: https://support.claude.com/en/articles/13947068-assign-tasks-to-claude-from-anywhere-in-cowork
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/claude-code-can-now-take-over-your-computer-to-complete-tasks/
[6]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/claude-code-can-now-take-over-your-computer-to-complete-tasks/#comments
It's like this, minus the humanoid robot.
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/claude-code-can-now-take-over-your-computer-to-complete-tasks/

2026-03-24 14:51:47 UTC

Study says roads bring more fires to forests; USDA wants more roads to fight fires
When the Trump administration announced plans last year to rescind [a rule limiting roadbuilding][1] and timber harvests on millions of acres of national forests and grasslands, officials called the repeal necessary to prevent and manage wildfires.
But as the US Department of Agriculture prepares to release its draft environmental impact statement for the rescission, that justification is unraveling. And many critics of the move see the claim that roads are needed to fight fires in remote forests as cover for a giveaway to the timber industry.
On average, about 8 million acres have burned each year between 2017 and 2021, according to the [Congressional Budget Office][2], nearly double the average from 1987 to 1991. Wildfires on federal lands average about five times the size of those in the rest of the country, leading some of the nation’s top land managers to argue that national forests are a front line for fighting the nation’s steep increase in wildland blazes.
[Read full article][3]
[Comments][4]
[1]: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2001/01/12/01-726/special-areas-roadless-area-conservation
[2]: https://www.cbo.gov/publication/58212
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/study-says-roads-bring-more-fire-to-forests-usda-wants-more-roads-to-fight-fires/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/study-says-roads-bring-more-fire-to-forests-usda-wants-more-roads-to-fight-fires/#comments
The Gifford Fire burns through Los Padres National Forest in California on Aug. 2, 2025.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/study-says-roads-bring-more-fire-to-forests-usda-wants-more-roads-to-fight-fires/

2026-03-24 12:41:54 UTC

Self-propagating malware poisons open source software and wipes Iran-based machines
A new hacking group has been rampaging the Internet in a persistent campaign that spreads a self-propagating and never-before-seen backdoor—and curiously a data wiper that targets Iranian machines.
The group, tracked under the name TeamPCP, first gained visibility in December, when researchers from security firm Flare [observed ][1] it unleashing a worm that targeted cloud-hosted platforms that weren’t properly secured. The objective was to build a distributed proxy and scanning infrastructure and then use it to compromise servers for exfiltrating data, deploying ransomware, conducting extortion, and mining cryptocurrency. The group is notable for its skill in large-scale automation and integration of well-known attack techniques.
## Relentless and constantly evolving
More recently, TeamPCP has waged a relentless campaign that uses continuously evolving malware to bring ever more systems under its control. Late last week, it [compromised][2] virtually all versions of the widely used Trivy vulnerability scanner in a supply-chain attack after gaining privileged access to the GitHub account of Aqua Security, the Trivy creator.
[Read full article][3]
[Comments][4]
[1]: https://flare.io/learn/resources/blog/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/03/widely-used-trivy-scanner-compromised-in-ongoing-supply-chain-attack/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/03/self-propagating-malware-poisons-open-source-software-and-wipes-iran-based-machines/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/03/self-propagating-malware-poisons-open-source-software-and-wipes-iran-based-machines/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/03/self-propagating-malware-poisons-open-source-software-and-wipes-iran-based-machines/

2026-03-24 11:59:05 UTC

Orbital data centers, part 1: There’s no way this is economically viable, right?
Let's start with the basics. What, exactly, is an orbital data center?
On the ground, data centers are typically large, warehouse-sized facilities filled with racks of storage and servers, and usually some high-speed networking gear to connect everything. A data center can be small or large, but the ones SpaceX is looking to supplant are of the big kind—the ones operated by major industry players like Amazon Web Services and Google, which provide most of the online services you use today. These are sprawling buildings, or even campuses of buildings, with redundant connections to the electrical grid, on-site generators, massive banks of batteries, and enormous cooling systems to handle the heat being shed by thousands upon thousands of machines operating around the clock.
An *orbital* data center replicates all of that, but in space.
[Read full article][1]
[Comments][2]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/orbital-data-centers-part-1-theres-no-way-this-is-economically-viable-right/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/orbital-data-centers-part-1-theres-no-way-this-is-economically-viable-right/#comments
In this article, we assess the economics behind the space data center race.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/orbital-data-centers-part-1-theres-no-way-this-is-economically-viable-right/

2026-03-23 23:43:03 UTC

A mission NASA might kill is still returning fascinating science from Jupiter
Jupiter's colossal storms generate lightning flashes at least 100 times more powerful than those on Earth, according to scientists analyzing data from NASA's Juno spacecraft.
The findings were published March 20 in the journal *AGU Advances. *Researchers used data recorded by Juno in 2021 and 2022, after NASA granted an extension to the spacecraft's operations upon completing a five-year science campaign at Jupiter. Juno remains in [good health][1], but NASA officials have not said if they will approve another extension for the mission. The issue is money.
Questions about the future of Juno and more than a dozen other robotic science missions began swirling nearly a year ago, when the Trump administration asked mission leaders to submit "closeout" plans for how to turn off their spacecraft. [Ars first reported][2] the news soon after the White House released a budget request that called for slashing NASA's science budget by nearly half.
[Read full article][3]
[Comments][4]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/09/scientists-its-do-or-die-time-for-americas-primacy-exploring-the-solar-system/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/07/trump-administration-moves-to-tighten-the-noose-around-nasa-science-missions/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/a-mission-nasa-might-kill-is-still-returning-fascinating-science-from-jupiter/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/a-mission-nasa-might-kill-is-still-returning-fascinating-science-from-jupiter/#comments
A camera on NASA’s Juno spacecraft took this image of a high-altitude storm—a stealth superstorm plume—in Jupiter’s North Equatorial Belt on January 12, 2022. The head of the storm is white because of frozen ammonia crystals. The redder clouds are deeper in the atmosphere. UC Berkeley’s Michael Wong analyzed lightning produced by four stealth superstorms like this between 2021 and 2022.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/a-mission-nasa-might-kill-is-still-returning-fascinating-science-from-jupiter/

2026-03-23 19:26:38 UTC

Apple will talk iOS 27, macOS 27, and more at WWDC 2026 on June 8
Apple [announced today][1] that it would be holding its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) from June 8 to 12 this year, giving both developers and the general public a first look at "incredible updates for Apple platforms, including AI advancements and exciting new software and developer tools." The conference will start with an in-person "special event" at the company's Apple Park headquarters that will also be streamed online via YouTube and [Apple's Developer app][2], among other places.
Apple occasionally introduces new hardware at WWDC, but the presentation is usually dedicated mostly to the major software releases that Apple will test all summer and release alongside new iPhones and other products in the fall. We don't know much for sure about what's coming in the new releases, but we can probably expect iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, and the other new updates to refine the Liquid Glass design language, introduce the promised "AI advancements," and [end support for the last remaining Intel Macs][3].
Like the past few years, Apple will primarily host the developer-centric parts of the conference online. The keynote and the more technical Platforms State of the Union presentation will be live, in-person presentations on the 8th, and Apple says that day will also include opportunities to "meet with Apple engineers and designers, and connect with the worldwide developer community." In-person passes will be [handed out via lottery][4] to those who request them.
[Read full article][5]
[Comments][6]
[1]: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/03/apples-worldwide-developers-conference-returns-the-week-of-june-8/
[2]: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/apple-developer/id640199958
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/06/apple-details-the-end-of-intel-mac-support-and-a-phaseout-for-rosetta-2/
[4]: https://developer.apple.com/wwdc26/special-event/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/apple-will-talk-ios-27-macos-27-and-more-at-wwdc-2026-on-june-8/
[6]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/apple-will-talk-ios-27-macos-27-and-more-at-wwdc-2026-on-june-8/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/apple-will-talk-ios-27-macos-27-and-more-at-wwdc-2026-on-june-8/

2026-03-23 19:26:32 UTC

Intuit beats FTC in court, ending restrictions on "free" TurboTax ads
An appeals court invalidated the Biden-era Federal Trade Commission's attempt to punish Intuit for allegedly deceptive ads that pitched TurboTax as free.
Under then-Chair Lina Khan, [the FTC determined][1] in 2024 that the TurboTax maker violated US law with deceptive advertising and ordered it to stop telling consumers, without more obvious disclaimers, that TurboTax or other products are free. The FTC’s chief administrative law judge had [previously found][2] that Intuit's ads violated prohibitions on deceptive advertising because the firm “advertised to consumers that they could file their taxes online for free using TurboTax, when in truth, for approximately two-thirds of taxpayers, the advertised claim was false."
Intuit appealed in the conservative-leaning US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit and got a resounding victory on Friday in a [3–0 ruling][3] issued by a panel of judges. "Following the Supreme Court’s decision in *SEC v. Jarkesy*, we hold that adjudication of a deceptive advertising claim before an administrative law judge violated the constitutional separation of powers," the 5th Circuit panel said.
[Read full article][4]
[Comments][5]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/01/ftc-says-dishonest-intuit-violated-us-law-by-advertising-turbotax-as-free/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/09/ftc-judge-rules-intuit-broke-law-must-stop-advertising-turbotax-as-free/
[3]: https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/intuit-5th-circuit-ruling.pdf
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/intuit-beats-ftc-in-court-ending-restrictions-on-free-turbotax-ads/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/intuit-beats-ftc-in-court-ending-restrictions-on-free-turbotax-ads/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/intuit-beats-ftc-in-court-ending-restrictions-on-free-turbotax-ads/

2026-03-23 18:13:36 UTC

A bit of good news: It's possible to turn around a groundwater crisis
Generally, when you hear “water use” and “sustainability,” you expect those words to be followed by some bad news. Humanity’s enduring ability to ignore the math of declining water supplies is almost impressive. But there *are* cases where actions have successfully reversed our loss of water resources. A new paper in Science by Scott Jasechko of the University of California, Santa Barbara, examines documented cases of groundwater recovery around the world to identify which strategies have worked.
Groundwater is invaluable for many reasons. For one, it’s (usually) cleaner than surface water. It’s also right under your feet and often close enough to the surface that it doesn’t take much energy to pump it up. And there’s *loads* of it down there, no matter the season. Because of this, humans use a lot of it for drinking water, agriculture, and every other use you can think of.
Unfortunately, in many places, the rate of groundwater use has grown to exceed the rate at which precipitation soaks into the ground to replenish it.
[Read full article][1]
[Comments][2]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/a-bit-of-good-news-its-possible-to-turn-around-a-groundwater-crisis/
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/a-bit-of-good-news-its-possible-to-turn-around-a-groundwater-crisis/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/a-bit-of-good-news-its-possible-to-turn-around-a-groundwater-crisis/

2026-03-23 18:13:29 UTC

As teens await sentencing for nudifying girls, parents aim to sue school
Two teens behind one of the [earliest US high school deepfake scandals][1] will be sentenced this week, but the case is unlikely to resolve families' concerns about the school's significantly delayed response.
Earlier this month, the 16-year-old boys [admitted][2] to using AI tools to "nudify" images of 48 female classmates at Lancaster Country Day School in Pennsylvania, along with 12 other young female acquaintances.
The incident could have been caught early, after the school learned of the images following an anonymous report to a state-run tipline. But officials—who at the time weren't legally required to act—failed to notify parents or police for six months, as the number of victims continued to grow. In total, the boys created at least 347 AI-generated sexualized images and videos before they were stopped.
[Read full article][3]
[Comments][4]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/11/school-failed-to-report-ai-nudes-of-kids-for-months-now-parents-are-suing/
[2]: https://www.attorneygeneral.gov/taking-action/2-teenagers-admit-in-juvenile-court-to-numerous-felonies-regarding-creation-of-morphed-nude-images-of-other-juveniles/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/as-teens-await-sentencing-for-nudifying-girls-parents-aim-to-sue-school/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/as-teens-await-sentencing-for-nudifying-girls-parents-aim-to-sue-school/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/as-teens-await-sentencing-for-nudifying-girls-parents-aim-to-sue-school/

2026-03-23 18:13:24 UTC

Republicans in Congress add $250 annual federal EV tax to transport bill
They might be better than gas-powered cars in most conceivable ways, but electric vehicle sales are having an undeniably hard time right now. The cause is no mystery: since January 2025 the US government has been actively hostile to the idea of energy efficiency and in the intervening months has taken an axe to fuel efficiency regulations, prosecuting polluters, and the consumer-facing tax credit.
That last one had the effect of bringing forward sales from people who needed an EV and knew the credit was expiring at the end of last September, leading to a rosy-looking Q3 2025 followed by a rather bad Q4. Things got even worse this year—in January [just 5.1 percent of all new vehicles sold were EVs][1], compared to 8.3 percent in January 2025. But the government's antipathy toward EVs isn't done yet. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.) [wants to include][2] an annual $250 tax on EV drivers—hybrids would also pay $100 a year—in an upcoming bill.
This is the second time Graves has tried to tax drivers of more efficient vehicles; last year the committee under Graves [wanted to include an escalating EV tax][3], starting at $200 annually, into the budget but was unsuccessful.
[Read full article][4]
[Comments][5]
[1]: https://www.autonews.com/ev/an-ev-registrations-crash-in-january-amid-market-shakeout-0313/
[2]: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-lawmaker-wants-collect-ev-fees-highway-repairs-2026-03-17/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/04/republicans-want-to-tax-ev-drivers-200-year-in-new-transport-bill/
[4]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/republicans-in-congress-add-250-annual-federal-ev-tax-to-transport-bill/
[5]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/republicans-in-congress-add-250-annual-federal-ev-tax-to-transport-bill/#comments
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/republicans-in-congress-add-250-annual-federal-ev-tax-to-transport-bill/