Some podcasts are self-recommending on the ‘yep, I’m going to be breaking this one down’ level. This was one of those. So here we go. As usual for podcast posts,...
Get ready for new Macs and iPads: Apple announces “Special Experience” on March 4
It may be more tempting to take that aging Mac you’ve been coddling and put it out to pasture soon. Apple has announced an event for March 4, which in...
Best Buy worker used manager’s code to get 99% off MacBooks, cops say
Best Buy worker linked to shoplifting ring In 2023, a few months before Lettera’s alleged fraud scheme started, the National Retail Foundation warned that monitoring employee theft had become a...
ByteDance backpedals after Seedance 2.0 turned Hollywood icons into AI “clip art”
Misstep or marketing tactic? Hollywood backlash puts spotlight on ByteDance’s sketchy launch of Seedance 2.0. ByteDance says that it’s rushing to add safeguards to block Seedance 2.0 from generating iconic...
A fluid can store solar energy and then release it as heat months later
Sunlight can cause a molecule to change structure, and then release heat later. The system works a bit like existing solar water heaters, but with chemical heat storage. Credit: Kypros...
Michigan antitrust lawsuit says oil companies hobbled EVs and renewables
The energy industry is pressing for laws that would ban climate liability lawsuits. An oil refinery in Louisiana. Facilities such as this have led to a proliferation of petrochemical plants...
Sideways on the ice, in a supercar: Stability control is getting very good
To test stability control, it helps to have a wide-open space with very low grip. You can tell this photo was taken a day or two before we were there...
On Dwarkesh Patel’s 2026 Podcast With Dario Amodei
Some podcasts are self-recommending on the ‘yep, I’m going to be breaking this one down’ level. This was very clearly one of those. So here we go. As usual for...
Space Station returns to a full crew complement after a month
Running solo After these astronauts departed on January 15, just a single NASA astronaut, Chris Williams, remained in orbit. He had reached space on board a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in...
Ancient Mars was warm and wet, not cold and icy
This is important because it means these rocks were less likely to have been altered in a hydrothermal environment, where scalding hot water was temporarily released by melting ice caused...
Editor’s Note: Retraction of article containing fabricated quotations
On Friday afternoon, Ars Technica published an article containing fabricated quotations generated by an AI tool and attributed to a source who did not say them. That is a serious...
“It ain’t no unicorn”: These researchers have interviewed 130 Bigfoot hunters
It was the image that launched a cultural icon. In 1967, in the Northern California woods, a 7-foot-tall, ape-like creature covered in black fur and walking upright was captured on...
NASA has a new problem to fix before the next Artemis II countdown test
John Honeycutt, chair of NASA’s Artemis II mission management team, said the decision to relax the safety limit between Artemis I and Artemis II was grounded in test data. “The...
A Valentine’s Day homage to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
That thief turns out to be Jen, who has secretly been studying martial arts. And Jen’s really not keen on her upcoming arranged marriage because she has fallen in love...
Astronomers are filling in the blanks of the Kuiper Belt
Are you out there, Planet X? Next-generation telescopes are mapping this outer frontier. Credit: NASA/SOFIA/Lynette Cook Out beyond the orbit of Neptune lies an expansive ring of ancient relics, dynamical...
WHO slams US-funded newborn vaccine trial as “unethical”
“Exploiting scarcity is not ethical,” the WHO wrote in its statement today. Dangerous trial The United Nations health agency highlighted that the hepatitis B vaccine birth dose is “an effective,...
Platforms bend over backward to help DHS censor ICE critics, advocates say
Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem sued for coercing platforms into censoring ICE posts. Credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images Credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images Pressure is mounting on tech...
When Amazon badly needed a ride, Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket delivered
The Ariane 64 flew with an extended payload shroud to fit all 32 Amazon Leo satellites. Combined, the payload totaled around 20 metric tons, or about 44,000 pounds, according to...
Santa Monica deploys AI-powered parking cameras to protect bike lanes
This spring, a Southern California beach town will become the first city in the country where municipal parking enforcement vehicles will use an AI system looking for potential bike lane...
Verizon imposes new roadblock on users trying to unlock paid-off phones
Verizon unlocks have 35-day waiting period after paying off device plan online. Credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images Verizon this week imposed a new roadblock for people who want to...
