For the second time in six months, SpaceX will deploy a US military satellite that was sitting in storage, waiting for a slot on United Launch Alliance’s launch schedule. Space...
Framework “temporarily pausing” some laptop sales because of new tariffs
Framework, the designers and sellers of the modular and repairable Framework Laptop 13 and other products, announced today that it would be “temporarily pausing US sales” on some of its...
Nintendo explains why Switch 2 hardware and software cost so much
Things just cost more now In justifying the $450 price of the Switch 2, Nintendo executives predictably pointed to the system’s upgraded hardware specs, as well as new features like...
FreeDOS 1.4 brings new fixes and features to modern and vintage DOS-based PCs
We’re used to updating Windows, macOS, and Linux systems at least once a month (and usually more), but people with ancient DOS-based PCs still get to join in the fun...
Meta’s surprise Llama 4 drop exposes the gap between AI ambition and reality
Meta constructed the Llama 4 models using a mixture-of-experts (MoE) architecture, which is one way around the limitations of running huge AI models. Think of MoE like having a large...
De-extinction company announces that the dire wolf is back
On Monday, biotech company Colossal announced what it views as its first successful de-extinction: the dire wolf. These large predators were lost during the Late Pleistocene extinctions that eliminated many...
Balatro yet again subject to mods’ poor understanding of “gambling”
Balatro is certainly habit-forming, but there’s nothing to be won or lost, other than time, by playing it. While the game has you using standard playing cards and poker hands...
Google’s AI Mode search can now answer questions about images
Google started cramming AI features into search in 2024, but last month marked an escalation. With the release of AI Mode, Google previewed a future in which searching the web...
Trump gives China one day to end retaliations or face extra 50% tariffs
China expects to outlast US in trade war, alarming Big Tech. Tech companies’ worst nightmare ahead of Donald Trump’s election has already come true, as the US and China are...
Paramount drops action-packed Mission: Impossible—Final Reckoning trailer
Tom Cruise is back for what may (or may not) be his final turn as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible—Final Reckoning. After giving CinemaCon attendees a sneak peek last week,...
AI 2027: Dwarkesh’s Podcast with Daniel Kokotajlo and Scott Alexander
Daniel Kokotajlo has launched AI 2027, Scott Alexander introduces it here. AI 2027 is a serious attempt to write down what the future holds. His ‘What 2026 Looks Like’ was...
How did eastern North America form?
Collisions hold lessons for how the edges of continents are built and change over time. When Maureen Long talks to the public about her work, she likes to ask her...
Go back to the Grid in TRON: Ares trailer
An AI program enters the real world in TRON: Ares. It’s difficult to underestimate the massive influence that Disney’s 1982 cult science fiction film, TRON, had on both the film...
Dustland Delivery plays like a funny, tough, post-apocalyptic Oregon Trail
Road trips with just two people always have their awkward silences. In Dustland Delivery, my character, a sharpshooter, has tried to break the ice with the blacksmith he hired a few...
Editorial: Mammoth de-extinction is bad conservation
Anti-extinction vs. de-extinction Ecosystems are inconveniently complex, and elephants won’t make good surrogates. Are we ready for mammoths when we can’t handle existing human-pachyderm conflicts? Credit: chuchart duangdaw The start-up...
We have the first video of a plant cell wall being built
Plant cells are surrounded by an intricately structured protective coat called the cell wall. It’s built of cellulose microfibrils intertwined with polysaccharides like hemicellulose or pectin. We have known what...
Newly hatched hummingbird looks, acts like a toxic caterpillar
Further observation of the nest revealed that the female hummingbird had added to its hatchling’s caterpillar camouflage by lining the nest with hairy-looking material from the seeds of balsa trees....
2025 Chevrolet Silverado EV LT review: This is one long pickup truck
At lower speeds, I found the Silverado EV a little more cumbersome. As noted, it’s a very long vehicle, and you need the more expensive RST version if you want...
Switch 2 preorders delayed over Trump tariff uncertainty
Nintendo Switch 2 preorders, which were due to begin on April 9, are being delayed indefinitely amid the financial uncertainty surrounding Donald Trump’s recent announcement of massive tariffs on most...
SpinLaunch—yes, the centrifuge rocket company—is making a hard pivot to satellites
Outside of several mentions in the Rocket Report newsletter dating back to 2018, Ars Technica has not devoted too much attention to covering a novel California space company named SpinLaunch....