Ars Technica Every one of the 528 stories Ars Technica has led with here, newest first. arstechnica.com space operations SpaceX calls for better coordination in orbit after near-misses with Starlink SpaceX reports near-misses between Starlink satellites in orbit, calling for better coordination protocols. Ars Technica · 5h ago Space has plenty of room for more megaconstellations, but only if all operators are willing to share information about where their satellites are and where they're going, a top executive at SpaceX and its AI subsidiary said this week. Michael Nicolls, SpaceX's vice president for Starlink and president of Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, used a presentation Tuesday at the International Astronautical Congress in Turkey as a clarion call for improved data-sharing among satellite operators. SpaceX's Starlink constellation now has more than 11,000 satellites, about two-thirds of all active spacecraft in low-Earth orbit. Radars and telescopes routinely track thousands more pieces of space junk. social media access Judge weighs if Trump can charge $100K for early access to Truth Social posts Judge examines whether Trump's one-second delay in Truth Social post access constitutes harm to press freedom. Ars Technica · 6h ago Likely in the next few weeks, a federal judge will decide if Donald Trump can become the first president to personally profit from selling early access to government information in his social media posts. At a hearing Wednesday, Department of Justice civil attorney Brantley Mayers argued that there was no conflict whatsoever with Trump charging up to $100,000 monthly for instant API access to Truth Social posts that often break news from his administration. Trump is the largest stakeholder and majority owner of Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company that owns Truth Social, and the value of the API access comes largely from Trump’s role as president. mobile app security Trump Mobile hack and apparent lack of FCC authorization raise security alarms Trump Mobile app hacked and breached. Senator questions missing FCC authorizations and security practices. Ars Technica · 6h ago Trump Mobile apparently failed to obtain necessary authorizations to operate the international calling portion of its phone service, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) wrote in a letter to the company today. Her letter said Trump Mobile also doesn't appear to have submitted a required plan for fighting robocalls. Trump Mobile's key business partner, Liberty Mobile Wireless, did make a robocall database filing, but it was not complete, Hassan said. Hassan's letter raised questions about Trump Mobile's security related to a report that hackers stole personal data of 3,615 customers and Trump Mobile's previous confirmation that a vendor it uses exposed customers' personal data on the Internet. Hassan alleged that Trump Mobile failed to follow multiple FCC filing rules that are supposed… vehicle regulation Feds get ready to rewrite car headlight rules Federal regulators plan to update car headlight rules to reduce glare and enable modern lighting technologies. Ars Technica · 7h ago One of the regulations that make vehicles in the US different from those in Europe or Japan is our headlight rules. They’re laid out in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), and changing them is—or used to be—a lengthy, laborious process, which is a major reason automotive lighting technology has lagged in the US. But the current administration says it’s time for “bolstering driver safety, slashing red tape, and embracing new technologies,” so it’s going to start a negotiated rulemaking process to rewrite the regulations to suit 2026. “Today’s standards do not allow automakers to deploy the latest safety-improving lighting technologies, so we are bringing key experts and stakeholders together to modernize our standards and address potential causes of… computing history R.I.P. Margaret Hamilton, whose code saved the Apollo 11 Moon landing Margaret Hamilton, software engineer and Apollo 11 pioneer, has died. Ars Technica · 7h ago Margaret Hamilton, who coined the term "software engineering" and led the development of on-board flight software for NASA's Apollo program in the 1960s, died last week at the age of 90. A recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, Hamilton was also immortalized as a LEGO minifig the following year—part of the "Women of NASA" set that also included astronauts Mae Jemison and Sally Ride. “To say Margaret Hamilton was a pioneer—to say she was ahead of her time—would be a dramatic understatement. She was a software engineer at a time when that field was in its infancy, and she not only developed advanced code herself but also led a team in using that nascent technology to develop… cybersecurity Let's Encrypt cuts certificate lifetimes to 64 days starting February 2027 Let's Encrypt shortens SSL certificate lifetimes to 64 days from February 2027. Ars Technica · 7h ago Let's Encrypt is continuing a push toward improved security by reducing free SSL/TLS certificate lifetimes from 90 days to 64 days, starting on February 10, 2027. For administrators already implementing modern ACME clients that support ARI (ACME Renewal Information), the change should be seamless. For those still relying on hardcoded renewal schedules or manual processes, next winter will be the deadline to update before certificates start expiring unexpectedly. Starting on October 14, 2026, Let's Encrypt will begin testing the 64-day certificates, and interested users can opt-in to test their setups before production goes live. Prior to Let's Encrypt's launch in early 2016, certificates were often issued for as long as 1 to 3 years at a time. The service start… surveillance, policing Driver wins $76 after ALPR led to bogus traffic stop, drug searches Driver wins $76 after automated license plate reader triggered bogus traffic stop. Ars Technica · 7h ago A federal jury in Texas recently ruled in favor of a man who sued Bexar County and its sheriff over allegations that the agency ran what the plaintiff’s attorneys called an “unconstitutional traffic stop scheme” enabled by “AI-powered” license plate readers. Late last month, plaintiff Alek Schott of Houston was awarded $76, one dollar for each minute that he was detained. (Schott asked for this exact amount as symbolic compensation.) “After the stop, I filed a complaint with the Sheriff’s Office because I knew what happened to me was wrong,” Schott said in a statement after his win. “The department reviewed it, told me they didn’t see any violation, and said if I had a problem with it, I should… public health RFK Jr. unveils sweeping federal initiative to find evidence of vaccine injuries RFK Jr. launches federal initiative to investigate claimed vaccine injury evidence. Ars Technica · 8h ago Under anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the federal health department is undertaking an agency-wide effort to focus on injuries claimed to be related to vaccines. In a press announcement Thursday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) laid out four aspects of the large-scale initiative. The first is a new clinic at the National Institutes of Health that is "dedicated to studying and caring for patients experiencing health problems following vaccination." Despite only being announced today, the clinic actually opened October 5, and Kennedy secretly attended its ribbon-cutting ceremony alongside other high-level Trump administration officials. It's unclear why his visit and the clinic's opening were not disclosed by the Trump administration, but they were reported by Bloomberg… quantum physics An experimental tour-de-force: Entanglement between glass bead and light Researchers achieve quantum entanglement between glass bead and light. Ars Technica · 8h ago Writing about quantum entanglement is always a challenge. There are so many clichés to avoid: It’s mysterious, ghostly, spooky, and weird. Entanglement is none of those things, and yet it is also all of those things—a superposition of clichés, you might say. So, having gotten all of my clichés out of the way in the second sentence, let’s take a look at how a group of researchers managed to entangle a light beam with a glass bead, which is, frankly, quite an achievement. Cliché-free entanglement Quantum entanglement is nothing more or less than the idea that if two objects are linked, then their behavior will, in some ways, be correlated. To take a terrible example: My upper and lower arm… consumer hardware Amazon's new Alexa Tablets drop the Fire branding but are more Android than ever Amazon's new Alexa Tablets replace Fire branding and run standard Android with Google Play instead of Amazon app store. Ars Technica · 11h ago For the last 15 years, you've been able to buy a Fire tablet from Amazon. Which Fire tablet? It doesn't matter—like Kindles, they have been pretty much the same year to year. The company's new tablet lineup is a big change, though. Amazon has dropped the Fire branding in favor of Alexa, and the new Alexa Tablets are now Google-certified Android devices. Throughout the history of Fire Tablets, Amazon downplayed its use of Android. They ran Android apps from the company's Appstore platform, but there was no Google integration with "Fire OS." However, Amazon shut down its app store last year. The new Alexa Tablets run full-fledged Google-y versions of Android with the Play Store and all the apps you'd… space, infrastructure Amazon builds 1,000th satellite, will launch space internet service by end of year Amazon builds its 1000th satellite and plans to launch space internet service by end of year. Ars Technica · 12h ago The world's largest retailer wants to sell you something else—Internet from space. Amazon has been developing a constellation of satellites to deliver broadband Internet from low-Earth orbit for the better part of a decade, and the company is just about ready to pull back the curtain. It is entering a market that SpaceX, with its Starlink Internet, has dominated for the last half-decade. Amazon's debut into satellite Internet is being closely watched, not just by some consumers, but by businesses ranging from airlines to shipping companies to governments. Broadband Internet from orbit has proven broadly useful for a lot of purposes, from video games to commerce to warfighting. But until now, most people had to buy it from Elon Musk… Climate, corporate accountability ExxonMobil's own scientists doubted climate fixes the company hyped Court filings reveal ExxonMobil scientists doubted company's climate solutions. Ars Technica · 13h ago If there was a year the world began waking up to climate change, it might have been 1988. That June, the NASA climatologist James Hansen testified to Congress that the climate was warming and would continue to do so as long as humans pumped fossil fuel pollution into the atmosphere. Months later, the United Nations established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. And, just weeks before the U.N. vote, Frank Sprow of Exxon’s corporate research department warned his colleagues in an internal memo, “If a worldwide consensus emerges that action is needed to mitigate against Greenhouse gas effects, substantial negative impacts on Exxon could occur.” Sprow’s memo is part of a batch of previously undisclosed documents released earlier this year… Nvidia, physical AI Nvidia's big bet on physical AI aims for safer robotaxis, humanoid robots Nvidia develops safety systems for physical AI in robotaxis and humanoid robots. Ars Technica · 16h ago Investors bullish on AI data centers may be fueling Nvidia’s multi-trillion-dollar market capitalization, but the AI chipmaker has also bet billions of dollars on physical AI technologies such as robotics and self-driving cars. Part of that gambit has involved Nvidia developing a full-stack safety system that companies can build upon to reduce the risk of their machines harming nearby people. Nvidia's Halos system launched in 2025 with hardware and software tools to help developers implement guardrails in self-driving cars and other autonomous vehicles. Then the company expanded its safety architecture to more physical AI technologies by announcing Nvidia Halos for Robotics in June 2026—with the goal of enabling safe deployments of autonomous mobile robots in warehouses, humanoid robots walking around… regulation, prediction markets A senator tried to ban gambling on prediction markets—now she's a Kalshi lobbyist Former senator who restricted prediction market contracts now lobbies for the same markets. Ars Technica · 16h ago In July 2010, US Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) predicted the rise of prediction markets and the problems they could cause. If not properly regulated, Lincoln warned during Senate proceedings on the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, prediction markets could evade gambling laws by offering "event contracts" that let people place wagers on sports games. "It would be quite easy to construct an event contract around sporting events such as the Super Bowl, the Kentucky Derby, and Masters golf tournament," Lincoln, who played a key role in making the law that now regulates prediction markets, told fellow senators. "These types of contracts would not serve any real commercial purpose. Rather, they would be used solely for gambling." Today,… Microsoft, Windows AI Microsoft event debuts new AI-friendly hardware and Windows changes Microsoft announces new hardware and Windows features designed to run AI models locally on PCs. Ars Technica · 1d ago In its first live event in two years, Microsoft today announced its newest Surface laptop, outlined a host of changes coming to Windows 11, and shared a vision of how local-AI and agentic workflows could reshape personal computing for those in the dev community as well as home enthusiasts. Surface Laptop Ultra Originally teased in May 2026, the new Surface Laptop Ultra will be Microsoft's first offering to take advantage of the new Nvidia RTX Spark SoC (system on a chip). The device has a starting price of $2,599, and comes in various SoC and memory configurations, with either a 5120-core or 6144-core Blackwell GPU and up to 128GB of LPDDR5x unified memory. It will begin shipping on October 16… generative AI, creative software “Software is over”: Bold AI developer takes aim at Adobe with open source clones Open source AI project creates free alternatives to Adobe's Creative Cloud software. Ars Technica · 1d ago For a while, those hoping to avoid the difficulty and expense of dealing with Adobe's Creative Suite have been able to use several free and/or open-source alternatives that replicate some or all of those capabilities. Now, one developer is using AI-powered reverse engineering to mimic the look, feel, and functionality of Adobe's well-known software with what he hopes will soon be perfect fidelity. Artcraft got its start last year as a "controllable AI for artists" that allows for precise post-generation editing of AI-crafted images and videos. Over the weekend, though, the brand debuted its pivot to a suite of seven open source apps recreating the user interface and tools found in Adobe's Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, Lightroom, After Effects, InDesign, and… public health PA measles outbreak tops 1,000 cases, largest since disease was eliminated Pennsylvania reports over 1,000 measles cases in its largest outbreak since elimination. Ars Technica · 1d ago Pennsylvania's explosive measles outbreak is now the largest the US has seen since the highly infectious virus was declared eliminated in 2000. With well over 1,000 cases, it's the largest on record since 1991. Pennsylvania's health officials reported 1,078 measles cases in all of 2026 as of this afternoon. That includes 12 cases in January and March, with the remaining 1,066 cases since April, when the current outbreak began. The tally includes 145 cases recorded in the last seven days and 74 identified since the previous update on Monday. Health officials noted that 40 of the 74 cases added today were from more than two weeks ago and are just now being recorded. Among the cases, there have been 207… network hardware TP-Link problems in US grow amid FCC router ban and four state lawsuits TP-Link faces US market restrictions from FCC router ban and state lawsuits. Ars Technica · 1d ago TP-Link is facing more legal troubles in the US as Florida and three other states filed lawsuits alleging that it lied to consumers about its connections to China and the risks of its routers being exploited by Chinese state hackers. The lawsuits were filed yesterday, about six months after the Federal Communications Commission announced a sweeping ban on consumer-grade routers produced wholly or partly outside of the US. Numerous router makers have obtained exemptions to the ban, but the Trump administration so far has not granted one to TP-Link. Router makers that received exemptions include Netgear, Asus, Adtran, Amazon and its Eero subsidiary, Calix, Nokia, SpaceX's Starlink division, and others. For now, TP-Link is unable to sell its latest Wi-Fi… chemistry research Chemistry Nobel goes to reactions like those that gave life a hand Chemistry Nobel Prize recognizes research on molecular handedness relevant to life's origins. Ars Technica · 1d ago Life is remarkably selective. Life relies on many molecules with what is termed "handedness"—they're chemically identical but are mirror images of each other. Most chemical reactions will make a 50-50 mix of the left- and right-handed forms of a chemical, but life uses only one of them. In fact, because of the differences between left- and right-handed chemicals, most of the key enzymes used by organisms will fail to work if they're presented with chemicals that have the wrong handedness. That poses a bit of a challenge for origin-of-life research, as we're forced to explain how a world that may have started with an even mix of left- and right-handed chemicals produced organisms that only used one of them. Today's… public health policy Pediatricians renew call to ban raw milk as anti-science rhetoric reigns Pediatricians renew policy recommendations to ban raw milk, emphasizing benefits of heat treatment. Ars Technica · 1d ago As many doctors are moving ahead with the latest advances of modern medicine—from powerful obesity drugs to breakthrough cancer treatments—pediatricians are being forced to turn back, fighting to maintain advances in children's health that were hard-won decades ago. With anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has spent a considerable amount of time and resources in the past year fiercely defending lifesaving vaccinations—safe, routine shots that have saved the lives of millions of children over decades and thwarted untold suffering and disability. But just this week, The New York Times reported that Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas, has opened aggressive investigations against pediatricians simply because they vaccinated their patients. Paxton… AI fraud and music Fraudster jailed for using 10K bots and AI songs to outstream Taylor Swift Man jailed for using AI-generated songs and bot networks to steal $8 million in music streaming royalties. Ars Technica · 1d ago After pleading guilty, a 54-year-old North Carolina man, Michael Smith, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for using artificial intelligence to generate songs for a scheme that stole millions from music streaming platforms. In a press release Tuesday, the US Department of Justice said that Smith is the first American criminally charged with AI-assisted streaming fraud. First charged in 2024, Smith successfully ran the scheme for seven years without detection. electric vehicles Jaguar Type 01 debuts; now, no one remembers the electric Ferrari Jaguar Type 01 electric car design generates online debate about EV aesthetics. Ars Technica · 1d ago Does it feel like people are perhaps a little grumpier or more on edge these days? It’s not like it’s without reason. There are wars. The climate is going haywire. Someone just died of plague. Scientific research is under attack. Machines keep stealing humans’ work. The media is a mess. And just when it all starts to feel a little overwhelming, Jaguar goes and unveils a new car. The Type 01 is the first model to arrive from Jaguar’s rebirth. The British carmaker was an early entrant to the modern EV market with the 2017 I-Pace, which was fun to drive even if it was too small inside and perhaps completely unreliable. An all-electric sedan was supposed to be next,… tech manufacturing policy Trade group crunches numbers on Trump’s impossible push for 100% US-made tech CTA estimates Trump's 100 percent US-made tech mandate would cost firms $230 billion. Ars Technica · 1d ago One of Donald Trump’s biggest goals as president is to increase domestic manufacturing and reshore supply chains so that the most in-demand technologies in the world can be 100 percent made in the United States. By executive order last December, he launched his “Genesis Mission,” an ambitious plan seeking to leverage US dominance in AI to maintain or seize an edge in advanced robotics, biotechnology, semiconductors, and nuclear technologies. According to Trump, that plan works best with self-sustaining supply chains. Not even neighboring countries or longtime allies should be relied upon to manufacture a single component of any US product in his ideal world. The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) has long warned that Trump’s reshoring goals are not grounded in… LLM capability Mistral says "Le Chonk" can challenge the best AI models Mistral releases open-weight model Le Chonk claiming performance parity with top closed models. Ars Technica · 1d ago As tensions mount over who gets access to top-end artificial intelligence, French company Mistral has released a new freely available model that it claims can compete with the very best from the US and China. The new 1 trillion-parameter model, Mistral Large 4—nicknamed Le Chonk—can be used and customized by anyone. It’s currently available in preview, with a final version to follow by the end of the month. Though Le Chonk is built to compete with leading general-purpose models, it’s optimized specifically for coding and cyberdefense, as well as tasks particular to manufacturing, finance, electrical engineering, and other niches. “There are a lot of areas where the other labs will not focus that much,” Guillaume Lample, cofounder and chief scientist… Show 24 more Loading
space operations SpaceX calls for better coordination in orbit after near-misses with Starlink SpaceX reports near-misses between Starlink satellites in orbit, calling for better coordination protocols. Ars Technica · 5h ago Space has plenty of room for more megaconstellations, but only if all operators are willing to share information about where their satellites are and where they're going, a top executive at SpaceX and its AI subsidiary said this week. Michael Nicolls, SpaceX's vice president for Starlink and president of Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, used a presentation Tuesday at the International Astronautical Congress in Turkey as a clarion call for improved data-sharing among satellite operators. SpaceX's Starlink constellation now has more than 11,000 satellites, about two-thirds of all active spacecraft in low-Earth orbit. Radars and telescopes routinely track thousands more pieces of space junk.
social media access Judge weighs if Trump can charge $100K for early access to Truth Social posts Judge examines whether Trump's one-second delay in Truth Social post access constitutes harm to press freedom. Ars Technica · 6h ago Likely in the next few weeks, a federal judge will decide if Donald Trump can become the first president to personally profit from selling early access to government information in his social media posts. At a hearing Wednesday, Department of Justice civil attorney Brantley Mayers argued that there was no conflict whatsoever with Trump charging up to $100,000 monthly for instant API access to Truth Social posts that often break news from his administration. Trump is the largest stakeholder and majority owner of Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company that owns Truth Social, and the value of the API access comes largely from Trump’s role as president.
mobile app security Trump Mobile hack and apparent lack of FCC authorization raise security alarms Trump Mobile app hacked and breached. Senator questions missing FCC authorizations and security practices. Ars Technica · 6h ago Trump Mobile apparently failed to obtain necessary authorizations to operate the international calling portion of its phone service, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) wrote in a letter to the company today. Her letter said Trump Mobile also doesn't appear to have submitted a required plan for fighting robocalls. Trump Mobile's key business partner, Liberty Mobile Wireless, did make a robocall database filing, but it was not complete, Hassan said. Hassan's letter raised questions about Trump Mobile's security related to a report that hackers stole personal data of 3,615 customers and Trump Mobile's previous confirmation that a vendor it uses exposed customers' personal data on the Internet. Hassan alleged that Trump Mobile failed to follow multiple FCC filing rules that are supposed…
vehicle regulation Feds get ready to rewrite car headlight rules Federal regulators plan to update car headlight rules to reduce glare and enable modern lighting technologies. Ars Technica · 7h ago One of the regulations that make vehicles in the US different from those in Europe or Japan is our headlight rules. They’re laid out in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), and changing them is—or used to be—a lengthy, laborious process, which is a major reason automotive lighting technology has lagged in the US. But the current administration says it’s time for “bolstering driver safety, slashing red tape, and embracing new technologies,” so it’s going to start a negotiated rulemaking process to rewrite the regulations to suit 2026. “Today’s standards do not allow automakers to deploy the latest safety-improving lighting technologies, so we are bringing key experts and stakeholders together to modernize our standards and address potential causes of…
computing history R.I.P. Margaret Hamilton, whose code saved the Apollo 11 Moon landing Margaret Hamilton, software engineer and Apollo 11 pioneer, has died. Ars Technica · 7h ago Margaret Hamilton, who coined the term "software engineering" and led the development of on-board flight software for NASA's Apollo program in the 1960s, died last week at the age of 90. A recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, Hamilton was also immortalized as a LEGO minifig the following year—part of the "Women of NASA" set that also included astronauts Mae Jemison and Sally Ride. “To say Margaret Hamilton was a pioneer—to say she was ahead of her time—would be a dramatic understatement. She was a software engineer at a time when that field was in its infancy, and she not only developed advanced code herself but also led a team in using that nascent technology to develop…
cybersecurity Let's Encrypt cuts certificate lifetimes to 64 days starting February 2027 Let's Encrypt shortens SSL certificate lifetimes to 64 days from February 2027. Ars Technica · 7h ago Let's Encrypt is continuing a push toward improved security by reducing free SSL/TLS certificate lifetimes from 90 days to 64 days, starting on February 10, 2027. For administrators already implementing modern ACME clients that support ARI (ACME Renewal Information), the change should be seamless. For those still relying on hardcoded renewal schedules or manual processes, next winter will be the deadline to update before certificates start expiring unexpectedly. Starting on October 14, 2026, Let's Encrypt will begin testing the 64-day certificates, and interested users can opt-in to test their setups before production goes live. Prior to Let's Encrypt's launch in early 2016, certificates were often issued for as long as 1 to 3 years at a time. The service start…
surveillance, policing Driver wins $76 after ALPR led to bogus traffic stop, drug searches Driver wins $76 after automated license plate reader triggered bogus traffic stop. Ars Technica · 7h ago A federal jury in Texas recently ruled in favor of a man who sued Bexar County and its sheriff over allegations that the agency ran what the plaintiff’s attorneys called an “unconstitutional traffic stop scheme” enabled by “AI-powered” license plate readers. Late last month, plaintiff Alek Schott of Houston was awarded $76, one dollar for each minute that he was detained. (Schott asked for this exact amount as symbolic compensation.) “After the stop, I filed a complaint with the Sheriff’s Office because I knew what happened to me was wrong,” Schott said in a statement after his win. “The department reviewed it, told me they didn’t see any violation, and said if I had a problem with it, I should…
public health RFK Jr. unveils sweeping federal initiative to find evidence of vaccine injuries RFK Jr. launches federal initiative to investigate claimed vaccine injury evidence. Ars Technica · 8h ago Under anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the federal health department is undertaking an agency-wide effort to focus on injuries claimed to be related to vaccines. In a press announcement Thursday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) laid out four aspects of the large-scale initiative. The first is a new clinic at the National Institutes of Health that is "dedicated to studying and caring for patients experiencing health problems following vaccination." Despite only being announced today, the clinic actually opened October 5, and Kennedy secretly attended its ribbon-cutting ceremony alongside other high-level Trump administration officials. It's unclear why his visit and the clinic's opening were not disclosed by the Trump administration, but they were reported by Bloomberg…
quantum physics An experimental tour-de-force: Entanglement between glass bead and light Researchers achieve quantum entanglement between glass bead and light. Ars Technica · 8h ago Writing about quantum entanglement is always a challenge. There are so many clichés to avoid: It’s mysterious, ghostly, spooky, and weird. Entanglement is none of those things, and yet it is also all of those things—a superposition of clichés, you might say. So, having gotten all of my clichés out of the way in the second sentence, let’s take a look at how a group of researchers managed to entangle a light beam with a glass bead, which is, frankly, quite an achievement. Cliché-free entanglement Quantum entanglement is nothing more or less than the idea that if two objects are linked, then their behavior will, in some ways, be correlated. To take a terrible example: My upper and lower arm…
consumer hardware Amazon's new Alexa Tablets drop the Fire branding but are more Android than ever Amazon's new Alexa Tablets replace Fire branding and run standard Android with Google Play instead of Amazon app store. Ars Technica · 11h ago For the last 15 years, you've been able to buy a Fire tablet from Amazon. Which Fire tablet? It doesn't matter—like Kindles, they have been pretty much the same year to year. The company's new tablet lineup is a big change, though. Amazon has dropped the Fire branding in favor of Alexa, and the new Alexa Tablets are now Google-certified Android devices. Throughout the history of Fire Tablets, Amazon downplayed its use of Android. They ran Android apps from the company's Appstore platform, but there was no Google integration with "Fire OS." However, Amazon shut down its app store last year. The new Alexa Tablets run full-fledged Google-y versions of Android with the Play Store and all the apps you'd…
space, infrastructure Amazon builds 1,000th satellite, will launch space internet service by end of year Amazon builds its 1000th satellite and plans to launch space internet service by end of year. Ars Technica · 12h ago The world's largest retailer wants to sell you something else—Internet from space. Amazon has been developing a constellation of satellites to deliver broadband Internet from low-Earth orbit for the better part of a decade, and the company is just about ready to pull back the curtain. It is entering a market that SpaceX, with its Starlink Internet, has dominated for the last half-decade. Amazon's debut into satellite Internet is being closely watched, not just by some consumers, but by businesses ranging from airlines to shipping companies to governments. Broadband Internet from orbit has proven broadly useful for a lot of purposes, from video games to commerce to warfighting. But until now, most people had to buy it from Elon Musk…
Climate, corporate accountability ExxonMobil's own scientists doubted climate fixes the company hyped Court filings reveal ExxonMobil scientists doubted company's climate solutions. Ars Technica · 13h ago If there was a year the world began waking up to climate change, it might have been 1988. That June, the NASA climatologist James Hansen testified to Congress that the climate was warming and would continue to do so as long as humans pumped fossil fuel pollution into the atmosphere. Months later, the United Nations established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. And, just weeks before the U.N. vote, Frank Sprow of Exxon’s corporate research department warned his colleagues in an internal memo, “If a worldwide consensus emerges that action is needed to mitigate against Greenhouse gas effects, substantial negative impacts on Exxon could occur.” Sprow’s memo is part of a batch of previously undisclosed documents released earlier this year…
Nvidia, physical AI Nvidia's big bet on physical AI aims for safer robotaxis, humanoid robots Nvidia develops safety systems for physical AI in robotaxis and humanoid robots. Ars Technica · 16h ago Investors bullish on AI data centers may be fueling Nvidia’s multi-trillion-dollar market capitalization, but the AI chipmaker has also bet billions of dollars on physical AI technologies such as robotics and self-driving cars. Part of that gambit has involved Nvidia developing a full-stack safety system that companies can build upon to reduce the risk of their machines harming nearby people. Nvidia's Halos system launched in 2025 with hardware and software tools to help developers implement guardrails in self-driving cars and other autonomous vehicles. Then the company expanded its safety architecture to more physical AI technologies by announcing Nvidia Halos for Robotics in June 2026—with the goal of enabling safe deployments of autonomous mobile robots in warehouses, humanoid robots walking around…
regulation, prediction markets A senator tried to ban gambling on prediction markets—now she's a Kalshi lobbyist Former senator who restricted prediction market contracts now lobbies for the same markets. Ars Technica · 16h ago In July 2010, US Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) predicted the rise of prediction markets and the problems they could cause. If not properly regulated, Lincoln warned during Senate proceedings on the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, prediction markets could evade gambling laws by offering "event contracts" that let people place wagers on sports games. "It would be quite easy to construct an event contract around sporting events such as the Super Bowl, the Kentucky Derby, and Masters golf tournament," Lincoln, who played a key role in making the law that now regulates prediction markets, told fellow senators. "These types of contracts would not serve any real commercial purpose. Rather, they would be used solely for gambling." Today,…
Microsoft, Windows AI Microsoft event debuts new AI-friendly hardware and Windows changes Microsoft announces new hardware and Windows features designed to run AI models locally on PCs. Ars Technica · 1d ago In its first live event in two years, Microsoft today announced its newest Surface laptop, outlined a host of changes coming to Windows 11, and shared a vision of how local-AI and agentic workflows could reshape personal computing for those in the dev community as well as home enthusiasts. Surface Laptop Ultra Originally teased in May 2026, the new Surface Laptop Ultra will be Microsoft's first offering to take advantage of the new Nvidia RTX Spark SoC (system on a chip). The device has a starting price of $2,599, and comes in various SoC and memory configurations, with either a 5120-core or 6144-core Blackwell GPU and up to 128GB of LPDDR5x unified memory. It will begin shipping on October 16…
generative AI, creative software “Software is over”: Bold AI developer takes aim at Adobe with open source clones Open source AI project creates free alternatives to Adobe's Creative Cloud software. Ars Technica · 1d ago For a while, those hoping to avoid the difficulty and expense of dealing with Adobe's Creative Suite have been able to use several free and/or open-source alternatives that replicate some or all of those capabilities. Now, one developer is using AI-powered reverse engineering to mimic the look, feel, and functionality of Adobe's well-known software with what he hopes will soon be perfect fidelity. Artcraft got its start last year as a "controllable AI for artists" that allows for precise post-generation editing of AI-crafted images and videos. Over the weekend, though, the brand debuted its pivot to a suite of seven open source apps recreating the user interface and tools found in Adobe's Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, Lightroom, After Effects, InDesign, and…
public health PA measles outbreak tops 1,000 cases, largest since disease was eliminated Pennsylvania reports over 1,000 measles cases in its largest outbreak since elimination. Ars Technica · 1d ago Pennsylvania's explosive measles outbreak is now the largest the US has seen since the highly infectious virus was declared eliminated in 2000. With well over 1,000 cases, it's the largest on record since 1991. Pennsylvania's health officials reported 1,078 measles cases in all of 2026 as of this afternoon. That includes 12 cases in January and March, with the remaining 1,066 cases since April, when the current outbreak began. The tally includes 145 cases recorded in the last seven days and 74 identified since the previous update on Monday. Health officials noted that 40 of the 74 cases added today were from more than two weeks ago and are just now being recorded. Among the cases, there have been 207…
network hardware TP-Link problems in US grow amid FCC router ban and four state lawsuits TP-Link faces US market restrictions from FCC router ban and state lawsuits. Ars Technica · 1d ago TP-Link is facing more legal troubles in the US as Florida and three other states filed lawsuits alleging that it lied to consumers about its connections to China and the risks of its routers being exploited by Chinese state hackers. The lawsuits were filed yesterday, about six months after the Federal Communications Commission announced a sweeping ban on consumer-grade routers produced wholly or partly outside of the US. Numerous router makers have obtained exemptions to the ban, but the Trump administration so far has not granted one to TP-Link. Router makers that received exemptions include Netgear, Asus, Adtran, Amazon and its Eero subsidiary, Calix, Nokia, SpaceX's Starlink division, and others. For now, TP-Link is unable to sell its latest Wi-Fi…
chemistry research Chemistry Nobel goes to reactions like those that gave life a hand Chemistry Nobel Prize recognizes research on molecular handedness relevant to life's origins. Ars Technica · 1d ago Life is remarkably selective. Life relies on many molecules with what is termed "handedness"—they're chemically identical but are mirror images of each other. Most chemical reactions will make a 50-50 mix of the left- and right-handed forms of a chemical, but life uses only one of them. In fact, because of the differences between left- and right-handed chemicals, most of the key enzymes used by organisms will fail to work if they're presented with chemicals that have the wrong handedness. That poses a bit of a challenge for origin-of-life research, as we're forced to explain how a world that may have started with an even mix of left- and right-handed chemicals produced organisms that only used one of them. Today's…
public health policy Pediatricians renew call to ban raw milk as anti-science rhetoric reigns Pediatricians renew policy recommendations to ban raw milk, emphasizing benefits of heat treatment. Ars Technica · 1d ago As many doctors are moving ahead with the latest advances of modern medicine—from powerful obesity drugs to breakthrough cancer treatments—pediatricians are being forced to turn back, fighting to maintain advances in children's health that were hard-won decades ago. With anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has spent a considerable amount of time and resources in the past year fiercely defending lifesaving vaccinations—safe, routine shots that have saved the lives of millions of children over decades and thwarted untold suffering and disability. But just this week, The New York Times reported that Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas, has opened aggressive investigations against pediatricians simply because they vaccinated their patients. Paxton…
AI fraud and music Fraudster jailed for using 10K bots and AI songs to outstream Taylor Swift Man jailed for using AI-generated songs and bot networks to steal $8 million in music streaming royalties. Ars Technica · 1d ago After pleading guilty, a 54-year-old North Carolina man, Michael Smith, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for using artificial intelligence to generate songs for a scheme that stole millions from music streaming platforms. In a press release Tuesday, the US Department of Justice said that Smith is the first American criminally charged with AI-assisted streaming fraud. First charged in 2024, Smith successfully ran the scheme for seven years without detection.
electric vehicles Jaguar Type 01 debuts; now, no one remembers the electric Ferrari Jaguar Type 01 electric car design generates online debate about EV aesthetics. Ars Technica · 1d ago Does it feel like people are perhaps a little grumpier or more on edge these days? It’s not like it’s without reason. There are wars. The climate is going haywire. Someone just died of plague. Scientific research is under attack. Machines keep stealing humans’ work. The media is a mess. And just when it all starts to feel a little overwhelming, Jaguar goes and unveils a new car. The Type 01 is the first model to arrive from Jaguar’s rebirth. The British carmaker was an early entrant to the modern EV market with the 2017 I-Pace, which was fun to drive even if it was too small inside and perhaps completely unreliable. An all-electric sedan was supposed to be next,…
tech manufacturing policy Trade group crunches numbers on Trump’s impossible push for 100% US-made tech CTA estimates Trump's 100 percent US-made tech mandate would cost firms $230 billion. Ars Technica · 1d ago One of Donald Trump’s biggest goals as president is to increase domestic manufacturing and reshore supply chains so that the most in-demand technologies in the world can be 100 percent made in the United States. By executive order last December, he launched his “Genesis Mission,” an ambitious plan seeking to leverage US dominance in AI to maintain or seize an edge in advanced robotics, biotechnology, semiconductors, and nuclear technologies. According to Trump, that plan works best with self-sustaining supply chains. Not even neighboring countries or longtime allies should be relied upon to manufacture a single component of any US product in his ideal world. The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) has long warned that Trump’s reshoring goals are not grounded in…
LLM capability Mistral says "Le Chonk" can challenge the best AI models Mistral releases open-weight model Le Chonk claiming performance parity with top closed models. Ars Technica · 1d ago As tensions mount over who gets access to top-end artificial intelligence, French company Mistral has released a new freely available model that it claims can compete with the very best from the US and China. The new 1 trillion-parameter model, Mistral Large 4—nicknamed Le Chonk—can be used and customized by anyone. It’s currently available in preview, with a final version to follow by the end of the month. Though Le Chonk is built to compete with leading general-purpose models, it’s optimized specifically for coding and cyberdefense, as well as tasks particular to manufacturing, finance, electrical engineering, and other niches. “There are a lot of areas where the other labs will not focus that much,” Guillaume Lample, cofounder and chief scientist…