Pipes Feed Preview: Science – Ars Technica & Tech

Neural network finds an enzyme that can break down polyurethane

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 22:35:50 -0000

Given a dozen hours, the enzyme can turn a foam pad into reusable chemicals.

You’ll often hear plastic pollution referred to as a problem. But the reality is that it’s multiple problems. Depending on the properties we need, we form plastics out of different polymers, each of which is held together by a distinct type of chemical bond. So the method we use to break down one type of polymer may be incompatible with the chemistry of another. That problem is why, even though we’ve had success finding enzymes that break down common plastics like <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/02/using-ai-to-design-proteins-is-now-easy-making-enzymes-remains-hard/">polyesters</a> and <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/04/researchers-engineer-enzyme-to-break-down-plastic-bottles/">PET</a>, they’re only partial solutions to plastic waste. However, researchers aren’t sitting back and basking in the triumph of partial solutions, and they’ve now got very sophisticated protein design tools to help them out. That’s the story behind a completely new enzyme that researchers developed to break down polyurethane, the polymer commonly used to make foam cushioning, among other things. The new enzyme is compatible with an industrial-style recycling process that breaks the polymer down into its basic building blocks, which can be used to form fresh polyurethane.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/polyurethane-is-the-latest-polymer-broken-down-by-designer-enzymes/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/polyurethane-is-the-latest-polymer-broken-down-by-designer-enzymes/#comments">Comments</a>

Wear marks suggest Neanderthals made ocher crayons

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 15:06:06 -0000

Neanderthals were apparently no easier on their art supplies than modern kids.

Two chunks of ocher unearthed at ancient rock shelters in Ukraine were actually Neanderthal crayons, according to a recent study. The pair of artifacts, unearthed from layers 47,000 and 46,000 years old, showed signs of being deliberately shaped into crayons and resharpened over time. A third piece of ocher had been carefully carved with parallel lines. The finds add to the growing body of evidence that Neanderthals had an artistic streak. <img width="1024" height="528" src="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/NeandOcherYellowCrayon-1024x528.png" class="none large" alt="Photo of a yellow-brown rock with a pointed tip" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/NeandOcherYellowCrayon-1024x528.png 1024w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/NeandOcherYellowCrayon-640x330.png 640w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/NeandOcherYellowCrayon-768x396.png 768w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/NeandOcherYellowCrayon-980x505.png 980w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/NeandOcherYellowCrayon.png 1375w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"> This piece of yellow ocher was used as a crayon and resharpened before finally being worn blunt and discarded. Credit: D'Errico et al. 2025 <h2>Please pass Og the yellow crayon</h2> Rock shelters, occupied by Neanderthals between 100,000 and 33,000 years ago, dot the landscape near the modern city of Bilohirsk in Crimea (a peninsula in southern Ukraine). Archaeologists studying those rock shelters have unearthed dozens of chunks of an iron-rich mineral called ocher. Many of them have flakes knocked out or grooves gouged into their surface, which mark how Neanderthals extracted powdery red, orange, or yellow pigment from the stone. D’Errico and his colleagues used X-ray fluorescence and scanning electron microscopes to examine 16 ocher chunks to better understand exactly what ancient Crimean Neanderthals were doing with the stuff. Most of those ocher chunks could have been used for nearly anything. Ocher is handy not just as a pigment but also for tanning animal hides, mixing with resins into adhesives for hafting tools, or even repelling insects and preventing infection. Knapping a few flakes off a hard nodule of ocher, then crushing them into powder (or just carving out a chunk of a softer, more crumbly piece), is a good way to prepare it for any of those uses. But two pieces, both from a site called Zaskalnaya V, were clearly different.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/crimean-neanderthals-made-stone-age-crayons-from-ocher-50000-years-ago/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/crimean-neanderthals-made-stone-age-crayons-from-ocher-50000-years-ago/#comments">Comments</a>

New study settles 40-year debate: Nanotyrannus is a new species

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 17:00:31 -0000

"This fossil doesn't just settle the debate. It flips decades of T. rex research on its head."

For four decades, a frequently acrimonious debate has raged in paleontological circles about the correct taxonomy for a handful of rare fossil specimens. One faction insisted the fossils were juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex; the other argued that they represented a new species dubbed Nanotyrannus lancensis. Now, paleontologists believe they have settled the debate once and for all due to a new analysis of a well-preserved fossil. The verdict: It is indeed a new species, according to a new paper published in the journal Nature. The authors also reclassified another specimen as a second new species, distinct from N. lancensis. In short, Nanotyrannus is a valid taxon and contains two species. “This fossil doesn’t just settle the debate,” <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1103512?">said Lindsay Zanno</a>, a paleontologist at North Carolina State University and head of paleontology at North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. “It flips decades of T. rex research on its head.” That’s because paleontologists have relied on such fossils to model the growth and behavior of T. rex. The new findings suggest that there could have been multiple tyrannosaur species and that paleontologists have been underestimating the diversity of dinosaurs from this period.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/nanotyrannus-species-confirmed-its-not-just-a-baby-t-rex/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/nanotyrannus-species-confirmed-its-not-just-a-baby-t-rex/#comments">Comments</a>

Falling panel prices lead to global solar boom, except for the US

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 14:28:21 -0000

The economic case for solar power is stronger than ever.

To the south of the Monte Cristo mountain range and west of Paymaster Canyon, a vast stretch of the Nevada desert has attracted modern-day prospectors chasing one of 21st-century America’s greatest investment booms. Solar power developers want to cover an area larger than Washington, DC, with silicon panels and batteries, converting sunlight into electricity that will power air conditioners in sweltering Las Vegas along with millions of other homes and businesses. But earlier this month, bureaucrats in charge of federal lands scrapped collective approval for the Esmeralda 7 projects, in what campaigners fear is part of an attack on renewable energy under President Donald Trump. “We will not approve wind or farmer destroying [sic] Solar,” he posted on his Truth Social platform in August. Developers will need to reapply individually, slowing progress.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/theres-a-global-boom-in-solar-except-in-the-united-states/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/theres-a-global-boom-in-solar-except-in-the-united-states/#comments">Comments</a>

The chemistry behind that pricey cup of civet coffee

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 16:20:59 -0000

Fans of kopi luwak claim the coffee has a unique aroma and taste. A new chemical analysis backs them up.

In 2007’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bucket_List">The Bucket List</a>, Jack Nicholson’s billionaire magnate is a fan of a luxury coffee called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_luwak">kopi luwak</a>, only to be informed that the beans first pass through the digestive tracts of civets and are harvested from their feces prior to roasting. The implication is that the billionaire just liked drinking gimmicky expensive coffee without realizing its less-than-luxurious origins. It’s one of the most expensive coffees in the world, ranging from $45 per pound to $590 per pound, depending on whether the beans are farmed or collected in the wild. Whether kopi luwak is worth that hefty price tag depends on who you ask. A Washington Post food critic <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/all-we-can-eat/post/this-sumatran-civet-coffee-is-crareally-terrible/2012/01/02/gIQArzolaP_blog.html">once compared</a> the beverage to stale Folgers, memorably describing the flavor as “petrified dinosaur droppings steeped in bathtub water.” Yet kopi luwak has many genuine fans who claim the coffee has a unique aroma and taste. Based on a new chemical analysis, they might have a point, according to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-21545-x">a paper</a> published in Scientific Reports. Technically, kopi luwak is a method of processing, not a specific coffee bean variety. Asian palm civets hang around coffee plantations because they love to feast on ripened coffee berries; the berries constitute most of their diet, along with various seeds. The consumed berries undergo fermentation as they pass through the animal’s intestines, and the civets digest the pulp and excrete the beans. Coffee farmers then collect the scat to recover the excreted beans and process and roast them to produce kopi luwak.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/fermentation-is-key-to-coffee-beans-gleaned-from-civet-feces/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/fermentation-is-key-to-coffee-beans-gleaned-from-civet-feces/#comments">Comments</a>

NASA races to keep Artemis II on schedule, even when workers aren’t being paid

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 12:23:08 -0000

"I do think we're rapidly approaching the point where it will be a significant impact."

It has been nearly one month since many parts of the federal government shut down after lawmakers missed a budget deadline at the end of September, but so far, NASA’s most critical operations have been unaffected by the political impasse in Washington, DC. That may change soon. Federal civil servants and NASA contractors are not getting paid during the shutdown, even if agency leaders have deemed their tasks essential and directed them to continue working. Jobs classified as essential include employees operating and safeguarding the International Space Station and NASA’s fleet of robotic probes exploring the Solar System and beyond. Many employees at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida remain at work, too. Their job is to keep the Artemis II mission on schedule for launch as soon as next February. In the four weeks since the start of the government shutdown, crews at Kennedy Space Center have <a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/10/nasas-next-moonship-reaches-last-stop-before-launch-pad/">completed several major milestones</a> on the road to Artemis II, including the stacking of the Orion spacecraft atop its Space Launch System rocket inside the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building. This milestone, completed about one week ago, capped off assembly of the SLS rocket for Artemis II.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/10/nasa-races-to-keep-artemis-ii-on-schedule-even-when-workers-arent-being-paid/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/10/nasa-races-to-keep-artemis-ii-on-schedule-even-when-workers-arent-being-paid/#comments">Comments</a>

Westinghouse is claiming a nuclear deal would see $80B of new reactors

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 22:38:46 -0000

Details are remarkably sparse on what has been agreed to.

On Tuesday, <a href="https://westinghousenuclear.com/">Westinghouse</a> announced that it had reached an agreement with the Trump administration that would purportedly see $80 billion of new nuclear reactors built in the US. And the government indicated that it had finalized plans for a collaboration of GE Vernova and Hitachi to build additional reactors. Unfortunately, there are roughly zero details about the deal at the moment. The agreements were apparently negotiated during President Trump’s trip to Japan. <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/10/28195/">An announcement</a> of those agreements indicates that “Japan and various Japanese companies” would invest “up to” $332 billion for energy infrastructure. This specifically mentioned Westinghouse, GE Vernova, and Hitachi. This promises the construction of both large AP1000 reactors and small modular nuclear reactors. The announcement then goes on to indicate that many other companies would also get a slice of that “up to $332 billion,” many for basic grid infrastructure. So the total amount devoted to nuclear reactors is not specified in the announcement or anywhere else. As of the publication time, the Department of Energy has no information on the deal; Hitachi, GE Vernova, and the Hitachi/GE Vernova collaboration websites are also silent on it.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/westinghouse-is-claiming-a-nuclear-deal-would-see-80b-of-new-reactors/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/westinghouse-is-claiming-a-nuclear-deal-would-see-80b-of-new-reactors/#comments">Comments</a>

Melissa strikes Jamaica, tied as most powerful Atlantic storm to come ashore

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 18:00:21 -0000

The storm was so strong a hurricane hunter had to end its mission early.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in southwestern Jamaica, near New Hope, on Tuesday at 1 pm ET with staggeringly powerful sustained winds of 185 mph. In the National Hurricane Center <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCUAT3+shtml/281701.shtml">update</a> noting the precise landfall time and location, specialist Larry Kelly characterized Melissa as an “extremely dangerous and life-threatening” hurricane. Melissa is bringing very heavy rainfall, damaging surge, and destructive winds to the small Caribbean island that is home to about 3 million people. The effects on the island are sure to be catastrophic and prolonged.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/melissa-strikes-jamaica-tied-as-most-powerful-atlantic-storm-to-come-ashore/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/melissa-strikes-jamaica-tied-as-most-powerful-atlantic-storm-to-come-ashore/#comments">Comments</a>

Why imperfection could be key to Turing patterns in nature

Mon, 27 Oct 2025 16:04:35 -0000

Many Turing mechanism models yield too-perfect patterns; varying cell sizes vastly improves the results.

<figure class="video ars-wp-video"> <div class="wrapper ars-wp-video-wrapper relative" style="aspect-ratio: 1.8888888888889;"> <video class="wp-video-shortcode absolute w-full h-full object-cover left-0 top-0" id="video-2124027-1" width="4080" height="2160" preload="metadata" controls="controls"><source type="video/mp4" src="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Movie_S3.mp4?_=1"></source>A mixture of two types of pigment-producing cells undergoes diffusiophoretic transport to self-assemble into a hexagonal pattern. Credit: Siamak Mirfendereski and Ankur Gupta/CU Boulder</video> </div> <figcaption> <div class="caption font-impact dusk:text-gray-300 mb-4 mt-2 inline-flex flex-row items-stretch gap-1 text-base leading-tight text-gray-400 dark:text-gray-300"> <div class="caption-icon bg-[left_top_5px] w-[10px] shrink-0"></div> <div class="caption-content"> A mixture of two types of pigment-producing cells undergoes diffusiophoretic transport to self-assemble into a hexagonal pattern. Credit: Siamak Mirfendereski and Ankur Gupta/CU Boulder </div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> A zebra’s distinctive black-and-white stripes, or a leopard’s spots, are both examples of “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_pattern">Turing patterns</a>,” after mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing, who proposed an intriguing hypothetical mechanism for how such complex, irregular patterns might emerge in nature. But Turing’s original proposal proved too simplified to fully re-create those natural patterns. Scientists at the University of Colorado at Boulder (UCB) have devised a new modeling approach that achieves much more accurate final patterns by introducing deliberate imperfections, according to a new paper published in the journal Matter. <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/01/clustering-pattern-of-azteca-ant-colonies-may-be-due-to-a-turing-mechanism/">Turing focused on chemicals</a> known as morphogens in his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chemical_Basis_of_Morphogenesis">seminal 1952 paper</a>. He devised <a href="https://www.chemistryworld.com/features/turing-patterns/4991.article">a mechanism</a> involving the interaction between an activator chemical that expresses a unique characteristic (like a tiger’s stripe) and an inhibitor chemical that periodically kicks in to shut down the activator’s expression. Both activator and inhibitor diffuse throughout a system, much like gas atoms will do in an enclosed box. It’s a bit like injecting a drop of black ink into a beaker of water. Normally, this would stabilize a system, and the water would gradually turn a uniform gray. But if the inhibitor diffuses at a faster rate than the activator, the process is destabilized. That mechanism will produce spots or stripes. Scientists have tried to <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/biologists-home-in-on-turing-patterns-20130325/">apply this basic concept</a> to many different kinds of systems. For instance, neurons in the brain could serve as activators and inhibitors, depending on whether they amplify or dampen the firing of other nearby neurons—possibly the reason why we see <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-math-theory-for-why-people-hallucinate-20180730/">certain patterns when we hallucinate</a>. There is evidence for Turing mechanisms at work in zebra-fish stripes, the spacing between hair follicles in mice, feather buds on a bird’s skin, the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3303118/">ridges on a mouse’s palate</a>, and the <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/338/6113/1476">digits on a mouse’s paw</a>.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/why-imperfection-could-be-key-to-turing-patterns-in-nature/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/why-imperfection-could-be-key-to-turing-patterns-in-nature/#comments">Comments</a>

Melissa set to be the strongest hurricane to ever strike Jamaica

Mon, 27 Oct 2025 15:05:07 -0000

Storm reached sustained winds of 160 mph on Monday morning.

Hurricane Melissa will make landfall in southern Jamaica less than 24 hours from now, and it is likely to be the most catastrophic storm in the Caribbean island’s history. As it crawled across the northern Caribbean Sea on Monday morning, Melissa officially became a Category 5 hurricane with 160 mph winds, <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/">according to</a> the National Hurricane Center. The hurricane will likely fluctuate in intensity over the next day or so, perhaps undergoing an eyewall replacement cycle. But the background conditions, including very warm Caribbean waters and low wind shear, will support a very powerful hurricane and the potential for further strengthening.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/melissa-set-to-be-the-strongest-hurricane-to-ever-strike-jamaica/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/melissa-set-to-be-the-strongest-hurricane-to-ever-strike-jamaica/#comments">Comments</a>

Whale and dolphin migrations are being disrupted by climate change

Sat, 25 Oct 2025 11:00:09 -0000

Marine mammals are being forced into new and more dangerous waters, scientists warn.

For millennia, some of the world’s largest filter-feeding whales, including humpbacks, fin whales, and blue whales, have undertaken some of the <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07092025/blue-corridors-whale-superhighways-conservation/">longest migrations</a> on earth to travel between their warm breeding grounds in the tropics to nutrient-rich feeding destinations in the poles each year. “Nature has finely tuned these journeys, guided by memory and environmental cues that tell whales when to move and where to go,” said Trisha Atwood, an ecologist and associate professor at Utah State University’s Quinney College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. But, she said, climate change is “scrambling these signals,” forcing the marine mammals to veer off course. And they’re not alone. Earlier this year, Atwood joined more than 70 other scientists to discuss the global impacts of climate change on migratory species in a workshop convened by the United Nations Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. The organization monitors and protects more than 1,000 species that cross borders in search of food, mates, and favorable conditions to nurture their offspring.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/whale-and-dolphin-migrations-are-being-disrupted-by-climate-change/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/whale-and-dolphin-migrations-are-being-disrupted-by-climate-change/#comments">Comments</a>

Clinical trial of a technique that could give everyone the best antibodies

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 20:58:11 -0000

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

One of the things that emerging diseases, including the COVID and Zika pandemics, have taught us is that it’s tough to keep up with infectious diseases in the modern world. Things like air travel can allow a virus to spread faster than our ability to develop therapies. But that doesn’t mean biotech has stood still; companies have been developing technologies that could allow us to rapidly respond to future threats. There are a lot of ideas out there. But this week saw some early clinical trial results of one technique that could be useful for a range of infectious diseases. We’ll go over the results as a way to illustrate the sort of thinking that’s going on, along with the technologies we have available to pursue the resulting ideas. <h2>The best antibodies</h2> Any emerging disease leaves a mass of antibodies in its wake—those made by people in response to infections and vaccines, those made by lab animals we use to study the infectious agent, and so on. Some of these only have a weak affinity for the disease-causing agent, but some of them turn out to be what are called “broadly neutralizing.” These stick with high affinity not only to the original pathogen, but most or all of its variants, and possibly some related viruses.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/dna-and-jolts-of-electricity-get-people-to-make-optimal-antibodies/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/dna-and-jolts-of-electricity-get-people-to-make-optimal-antibodies/#comments">Comments</a>

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

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 16:16:55 -0000

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

There are three species of bats that eat birds. We know that because we have found feathers and other avian remains in their feces. What we didn’t know was how exactly they hunt birds, which are quite a bit heavier, faster, and stronger than the insects bats usually dine on. To find out, Elena Tena, a biologist at Doñana Biological Station in Seville, Spain, and her colleagues attached ultra-light sensors to Nyctalus Iasiopterus, the largest bats in Europe. What they found was jaw-droppingly brutal. <h2>Inconspicuous interceptors</h2> Nyctalus Iasiopterus, otherwise known as greater noctule bats, have a wingspan of about 45 centimeters. They have reddish-brown or chestnut fur with a slightly paler underside, and usually weigh around 40 to 60 grams. Despite that minimal weight, they are the largest of the three bat species known to eat birds, so the key challenge in getting a glimpse into the way they hunt was finding sensors light enough to not impede the bats’ flight.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/tracking-bats-as-they-hunt-birds-in-the-skies-above-europe/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/tracking-bats-as-they-hunt-birds-in-the-skies-above-europe/#comments">Comments</a>

DNA analysis reveals likely pathogens that killed Napoleon’s army

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 15:24:52 -0000

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

In 1812, Napoleon Bonaparte led a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_invasion_of_Russia">disastrous military campaign</a> into Moscow. The death toll was devastating: Out of some 615,000 men, only about 110,000 survivors returned. (Napoleon abandoned his army in early December to return home on a sled.) Roughly 100,000 of the casualties died in battle, while as many as 300,000 perished from a combination of the bitter cold of Russia’s notoriously harsh winter, starvation, and disease. Scholars have debated precisely what kinds of diseases ravaged Napoleon’s troops. New DNA analysis of some soldiers’ remains has revealed the presence of two pathogens in particular, according to a <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)01247-3">new paper</a> published in the journal Current Biology. The first is Salmonella enterica, which causes <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paratyphoid_fever">paratyphoid fever</a>; the second is Borrelia recurrentis, which is transmitted by body lice and causes <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relapsing_fever">relapsing fever</a>. (A preprint of the paper <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.12.664512v1">appeared on bioaRxiv</a> in July.) “It’s very exciting to use a technology we have today to detect and diagnose something that was buried for 200 years,” <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1102613?">said co-author Nicolás Rascovan</a> of the Institut Pasteur. “Accessing the genomic data of the pathogens that circulated in historical populations helps us to understand how infectious diseases evolved, spread, and disappeared over time and to identify the social or environmental contexts that played a part in these developments. This information provides us with valuable insights to better understand and tackle infectious diseases today.”<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/dna-analysis-reveals-likely-pathogens-that-killed-napoleons-army/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/dna-analysis-reveals-likely-pathogens-that-killed-napoleons-army/#comments">Comments</a>

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

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 11:00:36 -0000

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

Welcome to Edition 8.16 of the Rocket Report! The 10th anniversary of SpaceX’s first Falcon 9 rocket landing is coming up at the end of this year. We’re still waiting for a second company to bring back an orbital-class booster from space for a propulsive landing. Two companies, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and China’s LandSpace, could join SpaceX’s exclusive club as soon as next month. (Bezos might claim <a href="https://x.com/JeffBezos/status/679116636310360067">he’s already part of the club</a>, but there’s a distinction to be made.) Each company is in the final stages of launch preparations—Blue Origin for its second New Glenn rocket, and LandSpace for the debut flight of its Zhuque-3 rocket. Blue Origin and LandSpace will both attempt to land their first stage boosters downrange from their launch sites. They’re not exactly in a race with one another, but it will be fascinating to see how New Glenn and Zhuque-3 perform during the uphill and downhill phases of flight, and whether one or both of the new rockets stick the landing. As always, we <a href="https://arstechnica.wufoo.com/forms/launch-stories/">welcome reader submissions</a>. If you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets, as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar. <figure class="ars-img-shortcode id-1314289 align-center"> <div> <img decoding="async" width="560" height="81" src="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/smalll.png" class="center full" alt="" srcset="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/smalll.png 560w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/smalll-300x43.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px"> </div> </figure> The race for space-based interceptors. The Trump administration’s announcement of the Golden Dome missile defense shield has set off a race among US companies to develop and test space weapons, some of them on their own dime, <a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/10/california-startup-to-demonstrate-space-weapon-on-its-own-dime/">Ars reports</a>. One of these companies is a 3-year-old startup named Apex, which announced plans to test a space-based interceptor as soon as next year. Apex’s concept will utilize one of the company’s low-cost satellite platforms outfitted with an “Orbital Magazine” containing multiple interceptors, which will be supplied by an undisclosed third-party partner. The demonstration in low-Earth orbit could launch as soon as June 2026 and will test-fire two interceptors from Apex’s Project Shadow spacecraft. The prototype interceptors could pave the way for operational space-based interceptors to shoot down ballistic missiles. (submitted by biokleen)<a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/10/rocket-report-china-tests-falcon-9-lookalike-nasas-moon-rocket-fully-stacked/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/10/rocket-report-china-tests-falcon-9-lookalike-nasas-moon-rocket-fully-stacked/#comments">Comments</a>

Dinosaurs may have flourished right up to when the asteroid hit

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 20:57:36 -0000

Fossil beds in New Mexico show diverse species present in the late Cretaceous.

The end of the dinosaurs was clearly linked to an asteroid impact that brought the Cretaceous period to a close. But the details of their end have remained a matter of debate since the impact crater was discovered. There is a lot of evidence that the impact alone <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/10/dust-of-death-did-it-do-in-the-dinosaurs/">should have been enough to do them in</a>. But the asteroid arrived amid <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/02/new-dates-show-massive-volcanic-eruptions-overlapped-with-dinosaurs-death/">major volcanic eruptions</a> associated with previous mass extinctions. And fossils dating to just before the impact have suggested that dinosaur-dominated ecosystems had become less diverse, making them more prone to collapse. Now, a new study has revealed that fossils we already know about originated within the last few hundred thousand years before the impact that killed off all dinosaurs except birds. The results indicate that species richness wasn’t likely to be a problem—at least in the neighborhood of the impact itself. <h2>Wyoming vs. New Mexico</h2> Most of what we know about the last days of the non-avian dinosaurs comes from the Hell Creek Formation, rich fossil beds in present-day Wyoming. These not only date from within a few hundred thousand years prior to the impact, but there may be deposits that <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/04/scientists-say-they-have-deposits-formed-hours-after-dino-killing-impact/">capture the immediate aftermath</a> of the impact. Beyond this area, which reflects the ecosystem of the northern Great Plains, we have little else. It hasn’t been clear whether the diversity of species present at Hell Creek reflects what was present more globally, or if there were regional differences in ecosystems<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/dinosaurs-may-have-flourished-right-up-to-when-the-asteroid-hit/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/dinosaurs-may-have-flourished-right-up-to-when-the-asteroid-hit/#comments">Comments</a>

An NIH director joins MAHA, gets replaced by JD Vance’s close friend

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 19:58:52 -0000

The NTP produced controversial studies on cellphone radiation and fluoride.

The director of a federal health institute that has arguably produced two of the most controversial government studies in recent years has accepted a new federal role to advance the goals of the Make America Healthy Again movement. Meanwhile, the person replacing him as director is a close friend of Vice President JD Vance and was installed in a process that experts describe as completely outside standard hiring practices. The series of events—revealed in an email to staff last week from the National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya—is only exacerbating the spiraling fears that science is being deeply corrupted by politics under the Trump administration. Richard Woychik, a molecular geneticist, is the outgoing director of the NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), which is located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. He has been director since 2020 and was recently appointed to a second five-year term, according to <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/jd-vance-officiated-wedding-new-head-nih-environmental-institute">Science magazine</a>. Woychik was hired at the institute in 2010, when he joined as deputy director, and was appointed acting director in 2019.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/10/an-nih-director-joins-maha-gets-replaced-by-jd-vances-close-friend/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/10/an-nih-director-joins-maha-gets-replaced-by-jd-vances-close-friend/#comments">Comments</a>

The first people to set foot in Australia were fossil hunters

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 17:04:16 -0000

Europeans weren't the first people to collect fossils in Australia.

Australia’s First Peoples may or may not have hunted the continent’s megafauna to extinction, but they definitely collected fossils. A team of archaeologists examined the fossilized leg bone of an extinct kangaroo and realized that instead of evidence of butchery, cut marks on the bone reveal an ancient attempt at fossil collecting. That leaves Australia with little evidence of First Peoples hunting or butchering the continent’s extinct megafauna—and reopens the question of whether humans were responsible for the die-off of that continent’s giant Ice Age marsupials. <h2>Fossil hunting in the Ice Age</h2> In the unsolved case of whether humans hunted Australia’s Ice Age megafauna to extinction, the key piece of evidence so far is a tibia (one of the bones of the lower leg) from an extinct short-faced kangaroo. Instead of hopping like their modern relatives, these extinct kangaroos walked on their hind legs, probably placing all their weight on the tips of single hoofed toes. This particular kangaroo wasn’t quite fully grown when it died, which happened sometime between 44,500 and 55,200 years ago, based on uranium-series dating of the thin layer of rock covering most of the fossils in Mammoth Cave (in what’s now Western Australia).<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/the-first-people-to-set-foot-in-australia-were-fossil-hunters/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/the-first-people-to-set-foot-in-australia-were-fossil-hunters/#comments">Comments</a>

California startup to demonstrate space weapon on its own dime

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 11:15:12 -0000

"All of the pieces that are required to make it viable exist."

Defense contractors are in full sales mode to win a piece of a potentially trillion-dollar pie for development of the Trump administration’s proposed Golden Dome missile shield. CEOs are touting their companies’ ability to rapidly spool up satellite, sensor, and rocket production. Publicly, they all agree with the assertion of Pentagon officials that US industry already possesses the technologies required to make a homeland missile defense system work. The challenge, they say, is tying all of it together under the umbrella of a sophisticated command and control network. Sensors must be able to detect and track missile threats, and that information must rapidly get to weapons that can shoot them down. Gen. Chance Saltzman, the Space Force’s top commander, likes to call Golden Dome a “systems of systems.”<a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/10/california-startup-to-demonstrate-space-weapon-on-its-own-dime/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/10/california-startup-to-demonstrate-space-weapon-on-its-own-dime/#comments">Comments</a>

Google has a useful quantum algorithm that outperforms a supercomputer

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 17:00:00 -0000

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

A few years back, Google made waves when it claimed that some of its hardware had <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/09/paper-leaks-showing-a-quantum-computer-doing-something-a-supercomputer-cant/">achieved quantum supremacy</a>, performing operations that would be effectively impossible to simulate on a classical computer. That claim didn’t hold up especially well, as mathematicians later developed methods to help <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/11/math-may-have-caught-up-with-googles-quantum-supremacy-claims/">classical computers catch up</a>, leading the company to <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/10/google-identifies-low-noise-phase-transition-in-its-quantum-processor/">repeat the work</a> on an improved processor. While this back-and-forth was unfolding, the field became less focused on quantum supremacy and more on two additional measures of success. The first is quantum utility, in which a quantum computer performs computations that are useful in some practical way. The second is quantum advantage, in which a quantum system completes calculations in a fraction of the time it would take a typical computer. (IBM and a startup called Pasqual have published a <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.20658">useful discussion</a> about what would be required to verifiably demonstrate a quantum advantage.) Today, Google and a large collection of academic collaborators are publishing a paper describing a computational approach that demonstrates a quantum advantage compared to current algorithms—and may actually help us achieve something useful.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/google-claims-to-have-quantum-advantage-with-a-potentially-useful-algorithm/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/google-claims-to-have-quantum-advantage-with-a-potentially-useful-algorithm/#comments">Comments</a>

Closing Windows 11’s Task Manager accidentally opens up more copies of Task Manager

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 16:06:33 -0000

Bug affects Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2 users using the October update preview.

One reason to use the Task Manager in Windows is to see if any of the apps running on your computer are misbehaving or using a disproportionate amount of resources. But what do you do when the misbehaving app is the Task Manager itself? After a recent Windows update, some users (including <a href="https://www.windowslatest.com/2025/10/30/windows-11-kb5067036-issue-task-manager-wont-close-and-duplicates-may-hurt-performance/">Windows Latest</a>) noticed that closing the Task Manager window was actually failing to close the app, leaving the executable running in memory. More worryingly, each time you open the Task Manager, it spawns a new process on top of the old one, which you can repeat essentially infinitely (or until your PC buckles under the pressure). Each instance of Task Manager takes up around 20MB of system RAM and hovers between 0 and 2 percent CPU usage—if you have just a handful of instances open, it’s unlikely that you’d notice much of a performance impact. But if you use Task Manager frequently or just go a long time between reboots, opening up two or three dozen copies of the process that are all intermittently using a fraction of your CPU can add up, leading to a potentially significant impact on performance and battery life.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/windows-11-task-manager-bug-makes-the-apps-close-button-do-the-exact-opposite/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/windows-11-task-manager-bug-makes-the-apps-close-button-do-the-exact-opposite/#comments">Comments</a>

“Unexpectedly, a deer briefly entered the family room”: Living with Gemini Home

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 11:30:22 -0000

Gemini for Home unleashes gen AI on your Nest camera footage, but it gets a lot wrong.

You just can’t ignore the effects of the generative AI boom. Even if you don’t go looking for AI bots, they’re being integrated into virtually every product and service. And for what? There’s a lot of hand-wavey chatter about agentic this and AGI that, but what can “gen AI” do for you right now? <a href="https://arstechnica.com/google/2025/10/googles-gemini-powered-smart-home-revamp-is-here-with-a-new-app-and-cameras/">Gemini for Home</a> is Google’s latest attempt to make this technology useful, integrating Gemini with the smart home devices people already have. Anyone paying for extended video history in the Home app is about to get a heaping helping of AI, including daily summaries, AI-labeled notifications, and more. Given the supposed power of AI models like Gemini, recognizing events in a couple of videos and answering questions about them doesn’t seem like a bridge too far. And yet Gemini for Home has demonstrated a tenuous grasp of the truth, which can lead to some disquieting interactions, like periodic warnings of home invasion, both human and animal.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/google/2025/10/unexpectedly-a-deer-briefly-entered-the-family-room-living-with-gemini-home/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/google/2025/10/unexpectedly-a-deer-briefly-entered-the-family-room-living-with-gemini-home/#comments">Comments</a>

Leaker reveals which Pixels are vulnerable to Cellebrite phone hacking

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 20:29:43 -0000

Cellebrite can apparently extract data from most Pixel phones, unless they're running GrapheneOS.

Despite being a vast repository of personal information, smartphones used to have little by way of security. That has thankfully changed, but companies like Cellebrite offer law enforcement tools that can <a href="https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/02/android-0-day-sold-by-cellebrite-exploited-to-hack-serbian-students-phone/">bypass security on some devices</a>. The company keeps the specifics quiet, but an anonymous individual recently logged in to a Cellebrite briefing and came away with a list of which of Google’s Pixel phones are vulnerable to Cellebrite phone hacking. This person, who goes by the handle rogueFed, posted screenshots from the recent Microsoft Teams meeting to the <a href="https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/27698-new-cellebrite-capability-obtained-in-teams-meeting">GrapheneOS forums</a> (spotted by <a href="https://www.404media.co/someone-snuck-into-a-cellebrite-microsoft-teams-call-and-leaked-phone-unlocking-details/">404 Media</a>). GrapheneOS is an Android-based operating system that can be installed on select phones, including Pixels. It ships with enhanced security features and no Google services. Because of its popularity among the security-conscious, Cellebrite apparently felt the need to include it in its matrix of Pixel phone support. The screenshot includes data on the Pixel 6, Pixel 7, Pixel 8, and Pixel 9 family. It does not list the <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/08/google-pixel-10-series-review-dont-call-it-an-android/">Pixel 10 series</a>, which launched just a few months ago. The phone support is split up into three different conditions: before first unlock, after first unlock, and unlocked. The before first unlock (BFU) state means the phone has not been unlocked since restarting, so all data is encrypted. This is traditionally the most secure state for a phone. In the after first unlock (AFU) state, data extraction is easier. And naturally, an unlocked phone is open season on your data.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/leaker-reveals-which-pixels-are-vulnerable-to-cellebrite-phone-hacking/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/leaker-reveals-which-pixels-are-vulnerable-to-cellebrite-phone-hacking/#comments">Comments</a>

Affinity’s image-editing apps go “freemium” in first major post-Canva update

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 20:05:50 -0000

Updated app is "free forever," but won't get a perpetually licensed version.

When graphic design platform-provider Canva bought the Affinity image-editing and publishing apps early last year, we had <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/03/canvas-affinity-acquisition-is-a-subscription-based-weapon-against-adobe/">some major questions</a> about how the companies’ priorities and products would mesh. How would Canva serve the users who preferred Affinity’s perpetually licensed apps to Adobe’s subscription-only software suite? And how would Affinity’s <a href="https://x.com/Affinity/status/1722628680302948394">strong stance against generative AI</a> be reconciled with Canva’s embrace of those technologies. This week, Canva gave us definitive answers to all of those questions: a brand-new unified Affinity app that melds the Photo, Designer, and Publisher apps into a single piece of software called “Affinity by Canva” that is free to use with a Canva user account, but which gates generative AI features behind <a href="https://www.canva.com/pricing/#main">Canva’s existing paid subscription plans</a> ($120 a year for individuals). This does seem like mostly good news, in the near to mid term, for existing Affinity app users who admired Affinity’s anti-AI stance: All three apps’ core features are free to use, and the stuff you’re being asked to pay for is stuff you mostly don’t want anyway. But it may come as unwelcome news for those who like the predictability of pay-once-own-forever software or are nervous about where Canva might draw the line between “free” and “premium” features down the line.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/canvas-new-affinity-app-is-free-to-use-but-locks-ai-features-behind-a-subscription/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/canvas-new-affinity-app-is-free-to-use-but-locks-ai-features-behind-a-subscription/#comments">Comments</a>

Disney+ gets HDR10+ via “over 1,000” Hulu titles

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 17:28:38 -0000

Disney+ joins Netflix, Apple TV in supporting the Dolby Vision rival.

Disney+ has started streaming movies and shows in the HDR10+ format. Support is somewhat limited for now. Only certain content from Hulu, which The Walt Disney Company acquired in June, is available in HDR10+. In an announcement today, Samsung said that “over 1,000” Hulu titles are available in HDR10+ and that “additional Disney+” content will support HDR10+ “in the future.” Previously, Disney+ only supported the HDR10 and Dolby Vision HDR formats. Samsung TVs are the first devices to gain the ability to stream HDR10+ content from Disney+, according to an announcement from Samsung today. The electronics company said that its Samsung Crystal UHD TVs and above from 2018 onward, including its OLED TVs, The Frame TVs, <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/overblown-quantum-dot-conspiracy-theories-make-important-points-about-qled-tvs/">QLED TVs</a>, and <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/08/samsungs-micro-rgb-tv-proves-the-value-of-rgb-backlights-for-premium-displays/">Micro RGB TV</a>, support HDR10+.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/disney-gets-hdr10-through-over-1000-hulu-titles/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/disney-gets-hdr10-through-over-1000-hulu-titles/#comments">Comments</a>

Google makes first Play Store changes after losing Epic Games antitrust case

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 16:19:28 -0000

Google is begrudgingly letting developers lead users away from the Play Store.

Since launching Google Play (née Android Market) in 2008, Google has never made a change to the US store that it didn’t want to make—until now. Having <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/10/judge-orders-google-to-distribute-third-party-app-stores-on-google-play/">lost the antitrust case</a> brought by Epic Games, Google has implemented the first phase of changes mandated by the court. Developers operating in the Play Store will have more freedom to direct app users to resources outside the Google bubble. However, Google has not given up hope of reversing its loss before it’s forced to make bigger changes. Epic began pursuing this case in 2020, stemming from its attempt to sell Fortnite content without going through Google’s payment system. It filed a similar case against Apple, but the company fell short there because it could not show that Apple put its thumb on the scale. Google, however, engaged in conduct that amounted to suppressing the development of alternative Android app stores. It lost the case and <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/07/google-loses-app-store-antitrust-appeal-must-make-sweeping-changes-to-play-store/">came up short on appeal</a> this past summer, leaving the company with little choice but to prepare for the worst. Google has updated its <a href="https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/15582165">support pages</a> to confirm that it’s abiding by the court’s order. In the US, Play Store developers now have the option of using external payment platforms that bypass the Play Store entirely. This could hypothetically allow developers to offer lower prices, as they don’t have to pay Google’s commission, which can be up to 30 percent. Devs will also be permitted to direct users to sources for app downloads and payment methods outside the Play Store.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/google-begins-loosening-developer-restrictions-in-play-store-against-its-will/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/google-begins-loosening-developer-restrictions-in-play-store-against-its-will/#comments">Comments</a>

TV-focused YouTube update brings AI upscaling, shopping QR codes

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 16:37:06 -0000

YouTube seeks a more couch-friendly experience.

YouTube has been streaming for 20 years, but it was only in the last couple that it came to <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/08/for-the-first-time-ever-more-people-watched-streaming-tv-than-cable/">dominate TV streaming</a>. Google’s video platform attracts more TV viewers than Netflix, Disney+, and all the other apps, and Google is looking to further beef up its big-screen appeal with a new raft of features, including shopping, immersive channel surfing, and an official version of the AI upscaling that had creators miffed a few months back. <a href="https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/new-features-to-help-creators/">According to Google</a>, YouTube’s growth has translated into higher payouts. The number of channels earning more than $100,000 annually is up 45 percent in 2025 versus 2024. YouTube is now giving creators some tools to boost their appeal (and hopefully their income) on TV screens. Those elaborate video thumbnails featuring surprised, angry, smiley hosts are about to get even prettier with the new 50MB file size limit. That’s up from a measly 2MB. Video upscaling is also coming to YouTube, and creators will be opted in automatically. To start, YouTube will be upscaling lower-quality videos to 1080p. In the near future, Google plans to support “super resolution” up to 4K.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/tv-focused-youtube-update-brings-ai-upscaling-shopping-qr-codes/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/tv-focused-youtube-update-brings-ai-upscaling-shopping-qr-codes/#comments">Comments</a>

Samsung makes ads on $3,499 smart fridges official with upcoming software update

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 18:10:18 -0000

Update introduces two ways for the fridges to show ads.

After kicking off an unpopular <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/09/samsung-forces-ads-onto-fridges-is-a-bad-sign-for-other-appliances/">pilot test last month,</a> Samsung made the practice of having its expensive smart fridges display ads official this week. The ads will be shown on Samsung’s 2024 Family Hub smart fridges. As of this writing, Samsung’s Family Hub fridges have MSRPs ranging from <a href="https://www.samsung.com/us/home-appliances/refrigerators/all-refrigerators/?shop=Buy+Online&key_category_features=Family+Hub%C3%A2%C2%84%C2%A2&CID=afl-ecomm-rkt-cha-040122-url_Skimlinks.com&utm_source=url_Skimlinks.com&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=1&utm_content=2116208&rktevent=Skimlinks.com_TnL5HPStwNw-XmUXqH629_Fatbxjry_5NQ&ranMID=47773&ranEAID=TnL5HPStwNw&ranSiteID=TnL5HPStwNw-XmUXqH629_Fatbxjry_5NQ">$1,899 to $3,499</a>. The ads will arrive through a software update that Samsung will start issuing this month and display on the fridge’s integrated 21.5- or 32-inch (depending on the model) screen. The ads will show when the fridges are idle and display what Samsung calls Cover Screens. <blockquote>As part of the Family Hub software update, we are piloting a new widget for select Cover Screens themes of Family Hub refrigerators. The widget will display useful day-to-day information such as news, calendar and weather forecasts, along with curated advertisements.</blockquote> Samsung also said that its fridges will only show contextualized ads, instead of personalized ads, which rely on collecting data on users.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/samsung-makes-ads-on-3499-smart-fridges-official-with-upcoming-software-update/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/samsung-makes-ads-on-3499-smart-fridges-official-with-upcoming-software-update/#comments">Comments</a>

AMD shores up its budget laptop CPUs by renaming more years-old silicon

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 15:17:13 -0000

Both AMD and Intel continue to serve low-end PCs with aging silicon.

As newer, more efficient silicon manufacturing processes have gotten more expensive and difficult to develop, chipmakers like Intel and AMD have repeatedly <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/12/intel-accuses-amd-of-selling-old-cpus-with-new-model-numbers-which-intel-also-does/">rebranded some of their older processors</a> with new model numbers. This has allowed both companies to release “new” products that aren’t actually new at all, muddying the waters for people trying to buy lower-end and midrange laptops. As spotted <a href="https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/amd-rebrands-ryzen-7035-7020-series-mobile-processors-zen-2-and-zen-3-chips-receive-new-identities">by Tom’s Hardware</a>, AMD has quietly rebranded a swath of its Ryzen laptop chips with new model numbers without changing the silicon. The rebranded processors use either Rembrandt-R silicon with Zen 3+ CPU cores and RDNA 2 graphics cores or <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/09/amds-first-ryzen-7000-mobile-cpu-is-a-mix-of-old-and-new-for-midrange-laptops/">Mendocino silicon</a> with Zen 2 CPU cores and RDNA 2 graphics cores. Both of these architectures first launched in 2022, but Mendocino’s Zen 2 CPU architecture dates all the way back to 2019. During the company’s <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/09/amd-is-making-laptop-cpu-model-numbers-simultaneously-less-and-more-confusing/">model number decoder ring era</a>, these designs had been sold as Ryzen 7035- and Ryzen 7020-series chips, respectively. This is actually AMD’s second rebranding for the Rembrandt-R silicon, which was launched as the Ryzen 6000 series in 2022. These chips will compete most directly with <a href="https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/series/236798/intel-core-processors-series-1.html">Intel’s non-Ultra Core 100 series processors</a>, most of which use 2022-vintage Raptor Lake silicon.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/amd-shores-up-its-budget-laptop-cpus-by-renaming-more-years-old-silicon/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/amd-shores-up-its-budget-laptop-cpus-by-renaming-more-years-old-silicon/#comments">Comments</a>

A single point of failure triggered the Amazon outage affecting millions

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 21:53:20 -0000

A DNS manager in a single region of Amazon's sprawling network touched off a 16-hour debacle.

The outage that hit Amazon Web Services and took out vital services worldwide was the result of a single failure that cascaded from system to system within Amazon’s sprawling network, according to a post-mortem from company engineers. The series of failures lasted for 15 hours and 32 minutes, Amazon <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/message/101925/">said</a>. Network intelligence company Ookla <a href="https://www.ookla.com/articles/aws-outage-q4-2025">said</a> its DownDetector service received more than 17 million reports of disrupted services offered by 3,500 organizations. The three biggest countries where reports originated were the US, the UK, and Germany. Snapchat, AWS, and Roblox were the most reported services affected. Ookla said the event was “among the largest internet outages on record for Downdetector.” <h2>It’s always DNS</h2> Amazon said the root cause of the outage was a software bug in software running the DynamoDB DNS management system. The system monitors the stability of load balancers by, among other things, periodically creating new DNS configurations for endpoints within the AWS network. A race condition is an error that makes a process dependent on the timing or sequence events that are variable and outside the developers’ control. The result can be unexpected behavior and potentially harmful failures.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/a-single-point-of-failure-triggered-the-amazon-outage-affecting-millions/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/a-single-point-of-failure-triggered-the-amazon-outage-affecting-millions/#comments">Comments</a>

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

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 20:07:30 -0000

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

Digital reading devices like the Kindle have existed for almost 20 years, and the standard eReader form factor has hardly changed at all. Amazon, Boox, and a few other companies have offered larger E Ink screens, but how about something smaller? Boox has unveiled its second-generation Palma e-reader, which still fits in your pocket but adds a color screen and mobile data connectivity. The first-gen Palma launched last year, earning fans who saw it as a way to read and access some apps without the full spate of distracting smartphone experiences. Boox e-readers are essentially Android tablets with E Ink screens and a few software quirks that arise from their unofficial Google Play implementation. The second-gen Palma might offer more opportunities for distraction because it’s almost a smartphone. The Palma 2 Pro upgrades the 6.1-inch monochrome display from the original to a 6.13-inch color E Ink Kaleido display. That’s the same technology used in Amazon’s <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/04/for-regular-books-amazons-280-kindle-colorsoft-falls-short-of-the-paperwhite/">Kindle Colorsoft</a>. The Amazon reader is a bit larger with its 7-inch display and chunkier bezels. Of course, the Kindle isn’t trying to fit in your pocket like the Palma 2 Pro, which is roughly the size and shape of a phone.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/the-android-powered-boox-palma-2-pro-fits-in-your-pocket-but-its-not-a-phone/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/the-android-powered-boox-palma-2-pro-fits-in-your-pocket-but-its-not-a-phone/#comments">Comments</a>

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

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 22:08:40 -0000

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

OpenAI has <a href="https://openai.com/index/openai-acquires-software-applications-incorporated/">acquired</a> Software Applications Incorporated (SAI), perhaps best known for the core team that produced what became Shortcuts on Apple platforms. More recently, the team has been working on Sky, a context-aware AI interface layer on top of macOS. The financial terms of the acquisition have not been publicly disclosed. “AI progress isn’t only about advancing intelligence—it’s about unlocking it through interfaces that understand context, adapt to your intent, and work seamlessly,” an OpenAI rep wrote in the company’s blog post about the acquisition. The post goes on to specify that OpenAI plans to “bring Sky’s deep macOS integration and product craft into ChatGPT, and all members of the team will join OpenAI.” That includes SAI co-founders Ari Weinstein (CEO), Conrad Kramer (CTO), and Kim Beverett (Product Lead)—all of whom worked together for several years at Apple after Apple acquired Weinstein and Kramer’s previous company, which produced an automation tool called Workflows, to integrate Shortcuts across Apple’s software platforms.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/10/openai-acquires-the-team-that-made-apples-shortcuts/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/10/openai-acquires-the-team-that-made-apples-shortcuts/#comments">Comments</a>

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

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 18:48:52 -0000

"Mico" literally tries to put a face on Microsoft's chatbot-turned-assistant.

Microsoft said earlier this month that it <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/microsofts-vision-for-ai-pcs-looks-a-lot-like-another-crack-at-cortana/">wanted to add better voice controls to Copilot</a>, Windows 11’s built-in chatbot-slash-virtual assistant. As described, this new version of Copilot sounds an awful lot like another stab at Cortana, the voice assistant that Microsoft tried (and failed) to get people to use in Windows 10 in the mid-to-late 2010s. Turns out that the company isn’t done trying to reformulate and revive ideas it has already tried before. As part of a push toward what it calls “human-centered AI,” Microsoft is now <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-copilot/blog/2025/10/23/human-centered-ai/">putting a face on Copilot</a>. Literally, a face: “Mico” is an “expressive, customizable, and warm” blob with a face that dynamically “listens, reacts, and even changes colors to reflect your interactions” as you interact with Copilot. (Another important adjective for Mico: “optional.”) Mico (rhymes with “pico”) recalls old digital assistants like Clippy, Microsoft Bob, and <a href="https://the-microsoft-windows-xp.fandom.com/wiki/Rover">Rover</a>, ideas that Microsoft tried in the ’90s and early 2000s before mostly abandoning them.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/microsoft-makes-copilot-human-centered-with-a-90s-style-animated-assistant/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/microsoft-makes-copilot-human-centered-with-a-90s-style-animated-assistant/#comments">Comments</a>

Reports suggest Apple is already pulling back on the iPhone Air

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 15:04:47 -0000

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

Apple’s <a href="https://www.apple.com/iphone-air/">iPhone Air</a> was the company’s most interesting new iPhone this year, at least insofar as it was the one most different from previous iPhones. We came away impressed by its size and weight <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/09/iphone-air-review-apples-different-est-phone-in-years-is-appealing-despite-itself/">in our review</a>. But early reports suggest that its novelty might not be translating into sales success. A note from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, whose supply chain sources are often accurate about Apple’s future plans, <a href="https://x.com/mingchikuo/status/1981051589000671742">said yesterday</a> that demand for the iPhone Air “has fallen short of expectations” and that “both shipments and production capacity” were being scaled back to account for the lower-than-expected demand. Kuo’s note is backed up by reports from other analysts at Mizuho Securities (<a href="https://www.macrumors.com/2025/10/17/iphone-air-production-to-be-cut-amid-lower-sales/">via MacRumors</a>) and <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/spotlight/supply-chain/apple-slashes-iphone-air-production-plans-boosts-other-17-models-sources">Nikkei Asia</a>. Both of these reports say that demand for the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro models remains strong, indicating that this is just a problem for the iPhone Air and not a wider slowdown caused by tariffs or other external factors.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/early-indicators-analyst-reports-suggest-apples-iphone-air-isnt-taking-off/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/early-indicators-analyst-reports-suggest-apples-iphone-air-isnt-taking-off/#comments">Comments</a>

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

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 18:12:50 -0000

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

The era of Android virtual reality is here… again. Google’s first two attempts at making Android fit for your face didn’t work out, but the AI era and a partnership with Samsung have enabled a third attempt, and maybe the third time’s the charm. Samsung has <a href="https://news.samsung.com/global/introducing-galaxy-xr-opening-new-worlds">unveiled the Galaxy XR headset</a>, the first and currently only device running Google’s new <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/12/google-steps-into-extended-reality-once-again-with-android-xr/">Android XR platform</a>. It’s available for pre-order today, but it will not come cheap. The headset, which doesn’t come with controllers, retails for $1,800. Galaxy XR is a fully enclosed headset with passthrough video. It looks similar to the Apple Vision Pro, right down to the battery pack at the end of a cable. It packs solid hardware, including 16GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and a Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 processor. That’s a slightly newer version of the chip powering <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/10/meta-quest-3-review-mixed-reality-version-0-5/">Meta’s Quest 3 headset</a>, featuring six CPU cores and an Adreno GPU that supports up to dual 4.3K displays. The new headset has a pair of 3,552 x 3,840 Micro-OLED displays with a 109-degree field of view. That’s marginally more pixels than the Vision Pro and almost three times as many as the Quest 3. The displays can refresh at up to 90Hz, but the default is 72Hz to save power.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/google/2025/10/samsung-galaxy-xr-is-the-first-android-xr-headset-now-on-sale-for-1800/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/google/2025/10/samsung-galaxy-xr-is-the-first-android-xr-headset-now-on-sale-for-1800/#comments">Comments</a>

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

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 17:57:10 -0000

“Would be great if my bed wasn’t stuck in an inclined position ..."

This week’s <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/10/amazons-dns-problem-knocked-out-half-the-web-likely-costing-billions/">Amazon Web Services outage</a> had some people waking up on the wrong side of the bed. A Domain Name System (DNS) resolution problem affected AWS cloud hosting, resulting in an outage that impacted <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cev1en9077ro">more than 1,000</a> web-based products and services and millions of people. Perhaps one of the most avoidable breakdowns came via people’s beds. The reliance on the Internet for smart bed products from Eight Sleep resulted in people being awoken by beds locked into inclined positions and sweltering temperatures.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/smart-beds-leave-sleepers-hot-and-bothered-during-aws-outage/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/smart-beds-leave-sleepers-hot-and-bothered-during-aws-outage/#comments">Comments</a>

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

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 19:12:30 -0000

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

Apple’s new Liquid Glass user interface design was one of the most noticeable and divisive features of its major software updates this year. It added additional fluidity and translucency throughout iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and Apple’s other operating systems, and <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/09/macos-26-tahoe-the-ars-technica-review/#toc-h9">as we noted in our reviews</a>, the default settings weren’t always great for readability. The upcoming 26.1 update for all of those OSes is taking a step toward addressing some of the complaints, though not by changing things about the default look of Liquid Glass. Rather, the update is adding a new toggle that will let users choose between a Clear and Tinted look for Liquid Glass, with Clear representing the default look and Tinted cranking up the opacity and contrast. <figure> <img decoding="async" width="1024" height="459" src="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/IMG_6230-1024x459.jpeg" class="ars-gallery-image" alt="" loading="lazy" aria-labelledby="caption-2123543" srcset="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/IMG_6230-1024x459.jpeg 1024w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/IMG_6230-640x287.jpeg 640w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/IMG_6230-768x344.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/IMG_6230-980x439.jpeg 980w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/IMG_6230.jpeg 1206w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"> <figcaption> <div class="caption font-impact dusk:text-gray-300 mb-4 mt-2 inline-flex flex-row items-stretch gap-1 text-base leading-tight text-gray-400 dark:text-gray-300"> <div class="caption-icon bg-[left_top_5px] w-[10px] shrink-0"></div> <div class="caption-content"> The default glassy look of the notifications in iOS 26. </div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> <figure> <img decoding="async" width="1024" height="458" src="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/IMG_6229-1024x458.jpeg" class="ars-gallery-image" alt="" loading="lazy" aria-labelledby="caption-2123542" srcset="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/IMG_6229-1024x458.jpeg 1024w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/IMG_6229-640x286.jpeg 640w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/IMG_6229-768x343.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/IMG_6229-980x438.jpeg 980w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/IMG_6229.jpeg 1206w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"> <figcaption> <div class="caption font-impact dusk:text-gray-300 mb-4 mt-2 inline-flex flex-row items-stretch gap-1 text-base leading-tight text-gray-400 dark:text-gray-300"> <div class="caption-icon bg-[left_top_5px] w-[10px] shrink-0"></div> <div class="caption-content"> The Tinted toggle fogs up the glass, preserving a hint of translucency. Credit: Andrew Cunningham </div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> <figure> <img decoding="async" width="1024" height="251" src="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-2.04.47-PM-1024x251.jpeg" class="ars-gallery-image" alt="" loading="lazy" aria-labelledby="caption-2123516" srcset="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-2.04.47-PM-1024x251.jpeg 1024w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-2.04.47-PM-640x157.jpeg 640w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-2.04.47-PM-768x188.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-2.04.47-PM-1536x376.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-2.04.47-PM-980x240.jpeg 980w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-2.04.47-PM-1440x353.jpeg 1440w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-2.04.47-PM.jpeg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"> <figcaption> <div class="caption font-impact dusk:text-gray-300 mb-4 mt-2 inline-flex flex-row items-stretch gap-1 text-base leading-tight text-gray-400 dark:text-gray-300"> <div class="caption-icon bg-[left_top_5px] w-[10px] shrink-0"></div> <div class="caption-content"> The toggle behaved less consistently in macOS 26.1, but here's an example of the glassy look in the Photos app. Credit: Andrew Cunningham </div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> <figure> <img decoding="async" width="1024" height="251" src="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-2.05.09-PM-1024x251.jpeg" class="ars-gallery-image" alt="" loading="lazy" aria-labelledby="caption-2123517" srcset="https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-2.05.09-PM-1024x251.jpeg 1024w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-2.05.09-PM-640x157.jpeg 640w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-2.05.09-PM-768x188.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-2.05.09-PM-1536x376.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-2.05.09-PM-980x240.jpeg 980w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-2.05.09-PM-1440x353.jpeg 1440w, https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-21-at-2.05.09-PM.jpeg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"> <figcaption> <div class="caption font-impact dusk:text-gray-300 mb-4 mt-2 inline-flex flex-row items-stretch gap-1 text-base leading-tight text-gray-400 dark:text-gray-300"> <div class="caption-icon bg-[left_top_5px] w-[10px] shrink-0"></div> <div class="caption-content"> And the same UI with the Tinted toggle turned on. Credit: Andrew Cunningham </div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> The new toggle adds a half-step between the default visual settings and the “reduce transparency” setting, which, aside from changing a bunch of other things about the look and feel of the operating system, is buried further down inside the Accessibility options. The Tinted toggle does make colors and vague shapes visible beneath the glass panes, preserving the general look of Liquid Glass while also erring on the side of contrast and visibility, where the “reduce transparency” setting is more of an all-or-nothing blunt instrument.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/new-ios-and-macos-betas-add-tinted-toggle-to-tone-down-liquid-glass/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/new-ios-and-macos-betas-add-tinted-toggle-to-tone-down-liquid-glass/#comments">Comments</a>

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

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 18:46:42 -0000

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

AI content has proliferated across the Internet over the past few years, but those early confabulations with mutated hands have evolved into synthetic images and videos that can be hard to differentiate from reality. Having helped to create this problem, Google has some responsibility to keep AI video in check on YouTube. To that end, the company has started rolling out its promised likeness detection system for creators. Google’s powerful and freely available AI models have helped fuel the rise of AI content, some of which is aimed at spreading misinformation and harassing individuals. Creators and influencers fear their brands could be tainted by a flood of AI videos that show them saying and doing things that never happened—even lawmakers are <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/08/senates-no-fakes-act-hopes-to-make-unauthorized-digital-replicas-illegal/">fretting about this</a>. Google has placed a large bet on the value of AI content, so banning AI from YouTube, as many want, simply isn’t happening. Earlier this year, YouTube promised tools that would flag face-stealing AI content on the platform. The likeness detection tool, which is similar to the site’s copyright detection system, has now expanded beyond the initial small group of testers. YouTube says the first batch of eligible creators have been notified that they can use likeness detection, but interested parties will need to hand Google even more personal information to get protection from AI fakes.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/google/2025/10/youtube-rolls-out-likeness-detection-to-help-creators-combat-ai-fakes/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/google/2025/10/youtube-rolls-out-likeness-detection-to-help-creators-combat-ai-fakes/#comments">Comments</a>

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

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 17:52:42 -0000

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

This year’s iPad Pro is what you might call a “chip refresh” or an “internal refresh.” These refreshes are what Apple generally does for its products for one or two or more years after making a larger external design change. Leaving the physical design alone preserves compatibility with the accessory ecosystem. For the Mac, chip refreshes are still pretty exciting to me, because many people who use a Mac will, very occasionally, assign it some kind of task where they need it to work as hard and fast as it can, for an extended period of time. You could be a developer compiling a large and complex app, or you could be a podcaster or streamer editing or exporting an audio or video file, or maybe you’re just playing a game. The power and flexibility of the operating system, and first- and third-party apps made to take advantage of that power and flexibility, mean that “more speed” is still exciting, even if it takes a few years for that speed to add up to something users will consistently notice and appreciate. And then there’s the iPad Pro. Especially since Apple shifted to using the same M-series chips that it uses in Macs, most iPad Pro reviews contain some version of “this is great hardware that is much faster than it needs to be for anything the iPad does.” To wit, <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/05/m4-ipad-pro-review-well-now-youre-just-showing-off/">our review of the M4 iPad Pro</a> from May 2024:<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/testing-apples-m5-ipad-pro-future-proofing-for-apples-perennial-overkill-tablet/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/testing-apples-m5-ipad-pro-future-proofing-for-apples-perennial-overkill-tablet/#comments">Comments</a>

HBO Max prices increase by up to $20 today

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 17:20:10 -0000

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

HBO Max subscriptions are getting up to 10 percent more expensive, owner Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) revealed today. HBO Max’s ad plan is going from $10 per month to $11/month. The ad-free plan is going from $17/month to $18.49/month. And the premium ad-free plan (which adds 4K support, Dolby Atmos, and the ability to download more content) is increasing from $21 to $23. Meanwhile, prices for HBO Max’s <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/02/lawsuit-against-prime-video-ads-shows-perils-of-annual-streaming-subscriptions/">annual plans</a> are increasing from $100 to $110 with ads, $170 to $185 without ads, and $210 to $230 for the premium tier.<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/warner-bros-discovery-raises-hbo-max-prices-as-it-puts-itself-up-for-sale/">Read full article</a> <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/warner-bros-discovery-raises-hbo-max-prices-as-it-puts-itself-up-for-sale/#comments">Comments</a>

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