Search: “ars-technica”

NASA announced one of its biggest reorganizations in recent memory on May 22, combining mission directorates and reshuffling personnel . The reorganization is designed to increase the agency's efficie

Ars Technica's review describes The Mandalorian and Grogu as an 'average' Star Wars entry that provides solid entertainment but falls short of being spectacular or groundbreaking. Directed by Jon Favr

SpaceX delayed a critical test of its massive Starship rocket just seconds before launch after a pin holding the tower arm in place failed to retract. Starship was slated to take off on its twelfth ma

US solar generation surged 35% in 2025 with 27 gigawatts of newly installed capacity, surpassing hydroelectric power for the first time in annual generation. Solar's expansion added roughly 85 terawat

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed suit on May 21, 2026, accusing Meta and WhatsApp of misleading millions of users about the privacy of WhatsApp chats. The lawsuit alleges WhatsApp deceives user

O.J. Simpson was ordered to pay $25,000 in damages for pirating satellite television signals from DirecTV using illegal devices known as 'bootloaders.' Federal agents seized the illegal devices from S

A Reddit user reported that their metallic smartwatch strap accidentally touched the Steam Controller's magnetic charging puck's exposed contacts, creating a short circuit that caused the device to si

The Trump-appointed FCC chairman Brendan Carr initiated an inquiry into whether ABC's daytime talk show 'The View' qualifies as a 'bona fide news program' exempt from political equal-time rules. The p

AcuRite is discontinuing its My AcuRite app, citing obsolete technology and the unsustainability of maintaining two separate apps. The company stated that ongoing maintenance, security updates, and co

The James Webb Space Telescope has created the first weather map of the exoplanet WASP-94A b, located nearly 700 light-years from Earth, revealing that morning clouds make way for clear skies at night

Adaptive driving beam (ADB) headlights use automatic headlight beam switching technology to shine less light on occupied areas of the road and more light on unoccupied areas. The U.S. has allowed auto

Top Gun marks its 40th anniversary in May 2026, four decades after its debut on May 16, 1986, as a landmark blockbuster that defined the essential '80s action film. Powered by Tom Cruise's iconic perf

The International Space Station has an ongoing air leak in its Russian PrK module that has been known since 2019 , and this leak has delayed the launch of Axiom Space's private astronaut mission . NAS

The Trump administration awarded $2 billion in grants to nine quantum-computing companies through deals that include U.S. government equity stakes , marking a departure from traditional government fun

Zillow lost access to thousands of Chicago-area home listings when MRED (Midwest Real Estate Data) cut off its connection to the regional database, reducing available listings from nearly 5,000 to aro

At Google I/O 2026, Google announced major AI-backed upgrades to Search representing the biggest overhaul in over 25 years, featuring a redesigned intelligent search box and new agentic AI capabilitie

Colossal Biosciences announced it successfully hatched 26 live chicks from 3D-printed artificial eggshells designed to mimic natural eggs , marking a major advance for the company's de-extinction effo

SpaceX filed its S-1 IPO prospectus with the SEC, offering public disclosure of its finances ahead of its investor roadshow planned for June . This filing contains the first-ever publicly disclosed in

Google published exploit code for an unfixed vulnerability in its Chromium browser codebase that threatens millions of people using Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and other Chromium-based browsers. The proof

Disney confirmed on May 20, 2026, that Hulu will continue operating as a standalone streaming service in the United States with no current plans to discontinue the Hulu app. The announcement came amid

Mercedes-AMG has unveiled the all-electric GT 4-Door, the first all-electric model in AMG history , powered by three axial flux motors with a 106-kWh battery and featuring a rear-biased all-wheel-driv

A retired Tennessee law enforcement officer, Larry Bushart, spent 37 days in jail for posting a meme after conservative activist Charlie Kirk's assassination. Tennessee officials agreed to pay $835,00

The final trailer for the live-action Masters of the Universe film stars Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Adam/He-Man, who returns to the planet Eternia after 15 years to battle Skeletor, alongside allies

Minnesota became the first state to ban prediction markets when Governor Tim Walz signed a public safety bill into law, making operation, promotion, or advertising of platforms like Kalshi and Polymar

NASA's Psyche spacecraft successfully flew by Mars on May 15, 2026, as part of a gravity-assist maneuver, during which onboard instruments were powered up for calibration and took images of the Red Pl

Russia's state space corporation Roscosmos has begun placing commercial advertising on space launch rockets amid declining revenues and the loss of foreign partners. Since the beginning of 2026, rocke

AMD is preparing an AM4 10th Anniversary Edition Ryzen 7 5800X3D for Q2 2026 launch, reviving its popular Zen 3 X3D chip with the same core specifications but updated packaging. The move is framed as

Figure AI livestreamed three F.03 humanoid robots sorting packages continuously starting May 14, 2026 , generating significant viral attention and becoming a benchmark demonstration for autonomous hum

The Trump administration has requested $1 billion from taxpayers for security additions on the White House campus, including for a new ballroom being constructed on the site of the former East Wing. T

The Software Freedom Conservancy sued Vizio in October 2021 after the company refused to share complete source code for its Linux-based SmartCast TV operating system, which the nonprofit says violates

A bipartisan House bill would require electric vehicle owners to pay a 130 annual federal registration fee, marking the first new revenue stream for the Highway Trust Fund in more than three decades.

The FBI is seeking up to $36 million for nationwide access to automated license plate reader (ALPRs) data, which would allow it to query vehicle movements across the U.S. and its territories through a

Gemini 3.5 Flash runs 4x faster than other frontier models in output tokens per second while delivering frontier-level intelligence, proving that speed and quality no longer require trade-offs. The mo

Google's SynthID watermarking technology is being adopted by major AI companies including OpenAI, Kakao, and ElevenLabs to watermark AI-generated content. Google has also partnered with NVIDIA to wate

Iranian lawmakers have proposed charging tech companies like Google, Meta, and Microsoft annual fees for fiber-optic cables running beneath the Strait of Hormuz . The proposal includes requiring these

Plex announced on May 19, 2026 that it is increasing the Lifetime Plex Pass price from 249.99 to 749.99, effective July 1, 2026 . This represents a 200% price increase and marks the second major price

BMW M marks the close of the sixth-generation M3 with the limited-edition M3 CS Handschalter, pairing lightweight construction with a 6-speed manual transmission and rear-wheel drive. The twin-turbo 3

Bug bounty platforms are being overwhelmed by a surge in AI-generated low-quality vulnerability reports, forcing companies to introduce stricter vetting procedures and filtering tools to manage submis

Artemis II sent four astronauts on a lunar flyby in 2026, becoming the first crewed flight beyond low Earth orbit since the Apollo program. The successful mission appears to have generated significant

The World Health Organization declared an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda caused by the Bundibugyo virus a 'public health emergency of international concern,' with the ou

A federal jury found that Elon Musk waited too long to bring his lawsuit against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and others, dismissing his claims that Altman had unlawfully enriched himself from the organizati

Microsoft has introduced the ability to move the taskbar to any screen edge and added a smaller taskbar option in Windows 11, features previously removed at the OS's 2021 launch. The company also plan

A new Lanterns teaser trailer features Nathan Fillion returning as Guy Gardner , the character introduced in the 2025 Superman movie . Showrunner Chris Mundy confirmed Gardner will 'be in the show a f

Archaeologists at Pompeii Archaeological Park identified one of the victims of the 79 A.D. Mount Vesuvius eruption as a doctor after advanced exams revealed surgical instruments inside a plaster cast.

Dory Sign is a small electronic paper display designed for communication that utilizes E Ink technology rather than traditional light-emitting screens. The device combines a natural frame design, e-in

SpaceX's Starship completed three years of explosive tests and redesigns before launching its twelfth test flight in May 2026 , with the company's IPO approaching, requiring successful demonstrations