Andrew Cunningham 2023-06-02 10:26:24 arstechnica.com Enlarge / Paint’s long-promised dark mode is now available to Windows Insiders. Microsoft In the summer of 2021, Microsoft’s efforts to redesign its software for the Windows 11 era were just …
No groundwater, no new homes, as Arizona severely restricts new housing
Inside Climate News 2023-06-02 10:35:21 arstechnica.com Enlarge / Aerial view of a subdivision in the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale. The nation’s fifth-largest city and surrounding metropolitan area is officially tapped out of groundwater, Arizona Gov. Katie …
Oppo Find N2 review: Beautiful hardware that Android just can’t deal with
Ron Amadeo 2023-06-02 07:40:52 arstechnica.com Enlarge / The inner display of the Oppo Find N2. Ron Amadeo One of the more interesting designs we’ve seen in the wild world of foldable smartphones comes from the Oppo …
Millions of PC motherboards were sold with a firmware backdoor
WIRED 2023-06-01 09:04:17 arstechnica.com BeeBright/Getty Images Hiding malicious programs in a computer’s UEFI firmware, the deep-seated code that tells a PC how to load its operating system, has become an insidious trick in the toolkit of …
Apple reportedly prepping a pair of high-end Mac desktops ahead of WWDC
Andrew Cunningham 2023-06-01 11:51:56 arstechnica.com Enlarge / Apple’s Mac Studio desktop. Andrew Cunningham As Apple rumors go, the long-rumored 15-inch MacBook Air sounds almost certain to be announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference next week. But …
Boeing finds two serious problems with Starliner just weeks before launch
Eric Berger 2023-06-01 18:55:06 arstechnica.com Enlarge / The Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft jettisons the heat shield before it lands in 2019. NASA/Aubrey Gemignani A Boeing official said Thursday that the company was “standing down” from an …
Google Assistant kills off support for third-party note apps
Ron Amadeo 2023-06-01 15:16:44 arstechnica.com Enlarge / The lettering “Hey Google” on the Google pavilion at the CES consumer electronics show in Las Vegas in 2018. These words activate Google Assistant, Google’s virtual personal assistant. Google kills …
Asus will offer local ChatGPT-style AI servers for office use
Benj Edwards 2023-06-01 12:00:46 arstechnica.com Enlarge / The ASUS logo in front of an AI-generated background. ASUS / Stable Diffusion Taiwan’s Asustek Computer (known popularly as “Asus”) plans to introduce a rental business AI server that …
Toyota to build electric 3-row SUV in Kentucky, batteries in N. Carolina
Jonathan M. Gitlin 2023-06-01 10:55:07 arstechnica.com Enlarge / We don’t know what this new SUV will look like or be called. The last big electric SUV concept the company showed was this bZ Large SUV in …
This is the first X-ray taken of a single atom
Jennifer Ouellette 2023-05-31 16:07:17 arstechnica.com Enlarge / An image of a ring-shaped supramolecule where only one Fe atom is present in the entire ring. Saw-Wai Hla Atomic-scale imaging emerged in the mid-1950s and has been advancing …
The solid legal theory behind Nintendo’s new emulator takedown effort
Kyle Orland 2023-05-31 16:35:36 arstechnica.com Enlarge / This Dolphin is not currently under legal threat from Nintendo. When it comes to emulation, Nintendo has a long history of going after the websites that distribute copyrighted game …
Automatic emergency braking should become mandatory, feds say
Jonathan M. Gitlin 2023-05-31 16:46:04 arstechnica.com Enlarge / Emergency braking systems have been on the road for some years, but now the federal government wants them to be mandatory equipment on all new light trucks and …
AI-expanded album cover artworks go viral thanks to Photoshop’s Generative Fill
Benj Edwards 2023-05-31 18:05:24 arstechnica.com Enlarge / An AI-expanded version of a famous album cover involving four lads and a certain road created using Adobe Generative Fill. Over the weekend, AI-powered makeovers of famous music album …
Report: The Pixel Watch 2 dumps Samsung Exynos SoCs for Qualcomm
Ron Amadeo 2023-05-31 16:57:42 arstechnica.com Enlarge / The first-generation Pixel Watch. It’s a perfect, round little pebble. Ron Amadeo The first Pixel Watch represented a promising but first-generation-feeling return to the smartwatch market for Google—will a …
A Snap-based, containerized Ubuntu desktop could be offered in 2024
Kevin Purdy 2023-05-31 11:56:04 arstechnica.com Enlarge / Some of the many Snap apps available in Ubuntu’s Snap Store, the place where users can find apps and Linux enthusiasts can find deep-seated disagreement. [Update, 2:00 pm ET, …
The Falcon 9 may double the record for consecutive launch success tonight
Eric Berger 2023-05-30 10:06:11 arstechnica.com Enlarge / A Falcon 9 rocket launches in March, 2023. SpaceX Nearly seven years ago, on a steamy morning in Florida, a small team of SpaceX engineers was fueling a Falcon …
Critical Barracuda 0-day was used to backdoor networks for 8 months
Dan Goodin 2023-05-30 19:58:34 arstechnica.com A critical vulnerability patched 10 days ago in widely used email software from IT security company Barracuda Networks has been under active exploitation since October. The vulnerability has been used to …
Arm announces the Cortex X4 for 2024, plus a 14-core M2-fighter
Ron Amadeo 2023-05-30 16:29:07 arstechnica.com An overview of Arm’s new chips. Arm Arm’s Cortex X4 is supposedly faster and more power-efficient. Arm The medium chip, the Cortex A720, only sees efficiency gains. Arm The little chips …
What to expect at WWDC 2023: Reality Pro, iOS 17, and new MacBooks
Samuel Axon 2023-05-30 17:05:16 arstechnica.com Enlarge / Inside the Steve Jobs Theater building at Apple’s headquarters. Samuel Axon Apple’s 2023 Worldwide Developer Conference is just a few days away—it kicks off with a keynote on Monday, …
Activision says UK was “irrational” in blocking Microsoft purchase
Kyle Orland 2023-05-30 12:47:06 arstechnica.com Enlarge / A small selection of the characters that would be part of Microsoft if its proposed Activision/Blizzard merger is allowed to go through. Activision Blizzard King Activision isn’t pulling any …
Biden admin wants Europe to reject forced payments from Big Tech to ISPs
Jon Brodkin 2023-05-26 12:26:25 arstechnica.com Getty Images | Alan Schein The Biden administration urged Europe to reject the telecom industry plan to make Big Tech companies pay for Internet service providers’ network expansions and upgrades. In …
Huge Tesla leak reveals thousands of safety concerns, privacy problems
Jonathan M. Gitlin 2023-05-26 09:39:38 arstechnica.com Ian Forsyth/Getty Images The German publication Handelsblatt is in possession of more than 23,000 internal files and documents from Tesla after an employee leaked the data. The files include personal …
Rocket Report: Europe has a rocket problem, FAA testing safety of methane
Eric Berger 2023-05-26 07:00:44 arstechnica.com Enlarge / Korea’s Nuri rocket launched for the third time on Thursday. KARI Welcome to Edition 5.40 of the Rocket Report! I would like to congratulate Virgin Galactic on its successful …
A new report finds NASA has spent an obscene amount of money on SLS propulsion
Eric Berger 2023-05-25 17:17:18 arstechnica.com Enlarge / NASA conducts a test of an RS-25 rocket engine on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center. NASA An independent report published Thursday had troubling findings about the …
People in Old Testament Jerusalem suffered from widespread dysentery, study finds
Jennifer Ouellette 2023-05-25 19:00:34 arstechnica.com Enlarge / Fecal samples in sediment collected from beneath this stone toilet seat at Armon Hanatziv, circa mid-7th century BCE, showed evidence of a dysentery-causing parasite (Giardia II). So did samples …
Neuralink says it has the FDA’s OK to start clinical trials
John Timmer 2023-05-25 20:10:40 arstechnica.com In December 2022, founder Elon Musk gave an update on his other, other company, the brain implant startup Neuralink. As early as 2020, the company had been saying it was close …
Unearthed: CosmicEnergy, malware for causing Kremlin-style power disruptions
Dan Goodin 2023-05-25 17:38:45 arstechnica.com Getty Images Researchers have uncovered malware designed to disrupt electric power transmission and may have been used by the Russian government in training exercises for creating or responding to cyberattacks on …
DeSantis/Musk event didn’t break the Internet, but it did break Twitter
Ashley Belanger 2023-05-25 12:35:26 arstechnica.com Enlarge / Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Yesterday, Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis became the first presidential hopeful to announce his campaign on Twitter Spaces, which Elon Musk had touted as a …
Blank-screen bug triggers first Vinfast VF8 recall
Jonathan M. Gitlin 2023-05-25 11:03:15 arstechnica.com Jonathan Gitlin It didn’t take long before it all went wrong for the crossover from Hai Phong. Vinfast, the startup automaker from Vietnam, just launched its VF8 battery EV here …
At long last, the glorious future we were promised in space is on the way
Eric Berger 2023-05-25 07:45:48 arstechnica.com Enlarge / In this illustration, SpaceX’s Starship vehicle is seen landing on the Moon. NASA Last Friday, NASA awarded a $3.4 billion contract to a team led by Blue Origin for …
Google never agreed it wouldn’t copy Genius’ song lyrics, US official says
Ashley Belanger 2023-05-24 16:19:19 arstechnica.com After song lyrics website Genius sued Google in 2019 for allegedly breaching its terms of service by copying its lyrics transcriptions in search results, the United States Supreme Court invited the …
No one should be surprised Virgin Orbit failed—it had a terrible business plan
Eric Berger 2023-05-24 12:46:09 arstechnica.com Branson dug the 747 aircraft acquired by Virgin Orbit. Eric Berger It’s now official—the launch company Virgin Orbit is being sold for parts. In a new filing as part of the …
Cancel your WinRAR trial: Windows will soon support RAR, gz, 7z, and other archives
Andrew Cunningham 2023-05-24 11:19:24 arstechnica.com Andrew Cunningham Buried among the AI announcements and minor Windows 11 feature tweaks that Microsoft announced yesterday was an addition that will solve a minor but longstanding headache for Windows users: …
Built-in ChatGPT-driven Copilot will transform Windows 11 starting in June
Andrew Cunningham 2023-05-23 13:08:01 arstechnica.com Enlarge / Windows Copilot is an AI-assisted feature coming to Windows 11 preview builds starting in June. Microsoft A couple of months ago, Microsoft added generative AI features to Windows 11 …
Adobe Photoshop’s new “Generative Fill” AI tool lets you manipulate photos with text
Benj Edwards 2023-05-23 15:07:19 arstechnica.com Enlarge / An example of a 1983 file photo of the Apple Lisa computer that has been significantly enhanced by the new “Generative Fill” AI tool in the Adobe Photoshop beta. …
Google bans Downloader app after TV firms complain it can load a pirate website
Jon Brodkin 2023-05-23 15:13:03 arstechnica.com Enlarge / The Downloader app that was suspended from Google Play. The Google Play Store suspended an app that combines a web browser with a file manager after a Digital Millennium …
