DNA and jolts of electricity get people to make optimal antibodies

If we ID the DNA for a great antibody, anyone can now make it.

The Android-powered Boox Palma 2 Pro fits in your pocket, but it’s not a phone

This e-reader has a color screen and 5G.

Tech billionaires are now shaping the militarization of American cities

Money means access to power—and tech has plenty of money.

Tesla’s “Mad Max” mode is now under federal scrutiny

The new mode added in the latest update will speed and weave through traffic.

EU accuses Meta of violating content rules in move that could anger Trump

EU alleges Facebook and Instagram make it too hard to report illegal content.

Microsoft’s Mico heightens the risks of parasocial LLM relationships

“It looks like you’re trying to find a friend. Would you like help?”

Rivian is settling $250 million lawsuit to focus on next year’s R2 EV

Investors sued Rivian claiming it knew prices had to rise after its IPO.

Bats eat the birds they pluck from the sky while on the wing

A handful of bat species hunt birds, and new sensor data tells us how.

DNA analysis reveals likely pathogens that killed Napoleon’s army

Microbial DNA suggests troops suffered from paratyphoid fever and relapsing fever, among other diseases.

This browser claims “perfect privacies protection,” but it acts like malware

Researchers note links to Asia’s booming cybercrime and illegal gambling networks.

Satellite shows what’s really happening at the East Wing of the White House

“Now it looks like the White House is physically being destroyed.”

Rocket Report: China tests Falcon 9 lookalike; NASA’s Moon rocket fully stacked

A South Korean rocket startup will soon make its first attempt to reach low-Earth orbit.

With new acquisition, OpenAI signals plans to integrate deeper into the OS

The acquired firm was working on a tool to control macOS directly with AI.

Lawsuit: Reddit caught Perplexity “red-handed” stealing data from Google results

Scraper accused of stealing Reddit content “shocked” by lawsuit.

Researchers show that training on “junk data” can lead to LLM “brain rot”

Models trained on short, popular, and/or “superficial” tweets perform worse on benchmarks.

We let OpenAI’s “Agent Mode” surf the web for us—here’s what happened

From scanning emails to building fansites, Atlas can ably automate some web-based tasks.

Google has a useful quantum algorithm that outperforms a supercomputer

An approach it calls “quantum echoes” takes 13,000 times longer on a supercomputer.

MacBook Pro review: Apple’s most awkward laptop is the first to show off Apple M5

Apple M5 trades blows with Pro and Max chips from older generations.

Should an AI copy of you help decide if you live or die?

Doctors share top concerns of AI surrogates aiding life-or-death decisions.

Yes, everything online sucks now—but it doesn’t have to

Ars chats with Cory Doctorow about his new book Enshittification.

Inside the web infrastructure revolt over Google’s AI Overviews

Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince is making sweeping changes to force Google’s hand.

ROG Xbox Ally X: The Ars Technica review

The first portable “Xbox” fails to unify a messy world of competing PC gaming platforms.

Why Signal’s post-quantum makeover is an amazing engineering achievement

New design sets a high standard for post-quantum readiness.

“Like putting on glasses for the first time”—how AI improves earthquake detection

AI is “comically good” at detecting small earthquakes—here’s why that matters.

We’re about to find many more interstellar interlopers—here’s how to visit one

“You don’t have to claim that they’re aliens to make these exciting.”

Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold review: The ultimate Google phone

Google delivers another phone that is slightly better than its predecessor—is that enough?

Elon Musk tries to make Apple and mobile carriers regret choosing Starlink rivals

SpaceX Starlink’s mobile power play: 50 MHz of spectrum and 15,000 new satellites.

Apple iPhone 17 Pro review: Come for the camera, stay for the battery

If your iPhone is your main or only camera, the iPhone 17 Pro is for you.

How America fell behind China in the lunar space race—and how it can catch back up

Thanks to some recent reporting, we’ve found a potential solution to the Artemis blues.

In their own words: The Artemis II crew on the frenetic first hours of their flight

“Then you go do like, the most energetic thing you’ve ever done in your life.”

Cache poisoning vulnerabilities found in 2 DNS resolving apps

At least one CVE could weaken defenses put in place following 2008 disclosure.

NSO permanently barred from targeting WhatsApp users with Pegasus spyware

Ruling holds that defeating end-to-end encryption in WhatsApp harms Meta’s business.

Nation-state hackers deliver malware from “bulletproof” blockchains

Malicious payloads stored on Ethereum and BNB blockchains are immune to takedowns.

Ars Live recap: Is the AI bubble about to pop? Ed Zitron weighs in.

Despite connection hiccups, we covered OpenAI’s finances, nuclear power, and Sam Altman.

Thousands of customers imperiled after nation-state ransacks F5’s network

Risks to BIG-IP users include supply-chain attacks, credential loss, and vulnerability exploits.

Anthropic’s Claude Haiku 4.5 matches May’s frontier model at fraction of cost

Tiny, fast model hits coding scores similar to GPT-5 and Sonnet 4.

ChatGPT erotica coming soon with age verification, CEO says

Sam Altman claims new tools can detect mental distress while relaxing limits for adults.

Feds seize $15 billion from alleged forced labor scam built on “human suffering”

Scams like this one net billions from well-educated victims.

Nvidia sells tiny new computer that puts big AI on your desktop

The 1 petaflop DGX Spark system runs AI models with 200 billion parameters locally for $4K.

OpenAI wants to stop ChatGPT from validating users’ political views

New paper reveals reducing “bias” means making ChatGPT stop mirroring users’ political language.

Hackers can steal 2FA codes and private messages from Android phones

Malicious app required to make “Pixnapping” attack work requires no permissions.

Why Signal’s post-quantum makeover is an amazing engineering achievement

New design sets a high standard for post-quantum readiness.

Microsoft warns of new “Payroll Pirate” scam stealing employees’ direct deposits

Among other things, the scammers bypass multi-factor authentication.

AI models can acquire backdoors from surprisingly few malicious documents

Anthropic study suggests “poison” training attacks don’t scale with model size.

Discord says hackers stole government IDs of 70,000 users

As more sites require IDs for user age verification, expect more such breaches to come.

The Android-powered Boox Palma 2 Pro fits in your pocket, but it’s not a phone

This e-reader has a color screen and 5G.

With new acquisition, OpenAI signals plans to integrate deeper into the OS

The acquired firm was working on a tool to control macOS directly with AI.

Microsoft makes Copilot “human-centered” with a ‘90s-style animated assistant

“Mico” literally tries to put a face on Microsoft’s chatbot-turned-assistant.

Reports suggest Apple is already pulling back on the iPhone Air

New phone design compromises on camera and battery to achieve a lighter weight.

Samsung Galaxy XR is the first Android XR headset, now on sale for $1,800

It may not be as spendy as the Vision Pro, but $1,800 is still a lot.

AWS outage reminds us why $2,449 Internet-dependent beds are a bad idea

“Would be great if my bed wasn’t stuck in an inclined position …”

Upcoming iOS and macOS 26.1 update will let you fog up your Liquid Glass

Apple backs down from some aspects of Liquid Glass, but not others.

YouTube’s likeness detection has arrived to help stop AI doppelgängers

Likeness detection will flag possible AI fakes, but Google doesn’t guarantee removal.

M5 iPad Pro tested: Stop me if you’ve heard this one before

It’s a gorgeous tablet, but what does an iPad need with more processing power?

HBO Max prices increase by up to $20 today

HBO Max subscription fees have risen every year for the past three years.

MacBook Pro review: Apple’s most awkward laptop is the first to show off Apple M5

Apple M5 trades blows with Pro and Max chips from older generations.

Google Fi is getting enhanced web calls and messaging, AI bill summaries

Google’s MVNO gets better web support, clearer audio, and yes, more AI.

Google reportedly searching for 15 Pixel “Superfans” to test unreleased phones

Selected testers will have to sign an NDA and use a disguised case.

Ring cameras are about to get increasingly chummy with law enforcement

Amazon’s Ring partners with company whose tech has reportedly been used by ICE.

12 years of HDD analysis brings insight to the bathtub curve’s reliability

Backup firm brings a unique, informed perspective to HDD failure rates.

CS2 item market loses nearly $2B in value overnight due to “trade up” update

Once rare $14K knife now sells for $7K, some common guns jump from $10 to over $100.

Roberta Williams’ The Colonel’s Bequest was a different type of adventure game

What if point-and-click games weren’t about the puzzles?

Open source GZDoom community splinters after creator inserts AI-generated code

UZDoom fork promises to fix other top-down leadership problems with the decades-old mod.

ROG Xbox Ally X: The Ars Technica review

The first portable “Xbox” fails to unify a messy world of competing PC gaming platforms.

AMD and Sony’s PS6 chipset aims to rethink the current graphics pipeline

Project Amethyst focuses on efficient machine learning, new compression techniques.

It’s time for game developers to bring back the cheat code

Arcane hidden options can offer accessibility without confusing the “core” game experience.

Rubik’s Cube gets a $299 update, complete with IPS screens and its own apps

The Rubik’s WOWCube is a 2×2 cube with modern twists.

Rally Arcade Classics is a fun ’90s-throwback racing game

If you like games that handle like Project Gotham Racing, you might love this.

Hands-on with Fallout 76’s next expansion: Yep, it has Walton Goggins

TV tie-ins aside, it’s the combat tweaks over the past year that really matter.

EA will be a very different company under private ownership

Analysts see trouble for studios like BioWare, potential for Saudi meddling.

Fortnite disables Peacemaker emote that might resemble a swastika

Epic will “inquire into our partner’s creative intentions” before making a final decision.

It’s official: EA is selling to private equity in $55 billion deal

Investors will receive $210 per share, well above the stock’s all-time high.

30 years later, I’m still obliterating planets in Master of Orion II—and you can, too

There’s an unparalleled purity to MOO2’s commitment to the fantasy.

Reports: EA set to be sold to private investors for up to $50 billion

Saudi investment fund, Jared Kushner are reportedly among the interested buyers

Asus’ new ROG Xbox Ally X set to break the bank at $999.99

The lower-powered ROG Xbox Ally comes in at a more reasonable $599.99.