section
Tech
Industry, products, and the wires that hold it all together.
744 stories archived
‘Once I started zooming in, I never stopped’: the mesmerising art of macro photography
Converts describe a demanding form of capturing nature very close up that has grown in popularity in last few years Vote here for your favourite invertebrate of the year “I always just pray ‘please don’t fly away’,” says Dara Ojo. As a wildlife photographer, he can handle spending minutes, hours and sometimes days waiting for the shot, but insects are not always very cooperative. Ojo is one of an increasing number of photographers turning their lenses towards something smaller: macro photography. This refers to photographing the natural world at an extremely close range, close enough to see the facets of a fly’s eye, or the geometry of a spider’s face. Continue reading...
So much solar: Digging into the list of every US power plant that went online this year
Utility-scale solar leads by a mile, followed by batteries. Fossil fuels, not so much.
Memories Mysteriously Survive After Brain Shutdown, And Scientists Don’t Know Why
Mice can access memories after hibernation, a state that largely shuts their brains off and reduces synapses, suggesting that memories are stored across shifting neural systems.
Gen Z flocks to BirdTok as birding takes flight: ‘It’s a craving for something real’
Social media and Shazam-like birdsong apps drawing young people to hobby as they seek a gentler connection to the outside world Sorry Elon, but they’re not your kind of tweets. Social media users are flocking to TikTok to join a burgeoning trend for birding videos as the hobby attracts a younger demographic. With the internet ever more cluttered with polarising, shouty and AI content, evidence is emerging of Britons preferring a gentler, more melodic window on the world in the shape of footage of the nation’s feathered friends. Continue reading...
Secondhand booksellers in UK and Ireland suspect AI firms behind ‘strange’ bulk orders
Development comes after Anthropic was found to have spent millions on books to scan for ‘data acquisition’ Secondhand booksellers in the UK and Ireland are reporting a flurry of bulk orders from mystery buyers, amid speculation AI companies are acquiring the tomes for their data. Bookshops contacted by the Guardian say they have been receiving orders from buyers in the US, Canada, continental Europe and the UK. The increase has been replicated around the world, with booksellers in the US, Australia and Europe also reporting unusual orders. Continue reading...
Vulnerability giving attackers full control of Macs is under active exploitation
Screen-sharing bug lets remote hackers log in without a password.
First test flight of largest all-electric aircraft used just $5 of electricity
Airline-backed venture aims to develop a hybrid-electric commercial aircraft.
Suspecting court of using AI, man injected prompts in filings to try to win case
Judge warns pro se litigants are using chatbots wrong and getting desperate.
State judge orders Kalshi to stop offering sports bets and other wagers
Kalshi ordered to stop offering bets in Washington, must implement geofencing.
PBS station fears losing 50TB of data after being ghosted by cloud storage provider
"We don't have access to the data on the hardware/servers," Iron Mountain told Ars.
Policy experts: Europe stuck between "rock and a hard place" on launch
It turns out that the economics of rocket reuse are pretty, pretty good.
Behind the Blog: Endless Scam Parade
This week, we discuss the mainstreaming of Flock, media appearances, and Spotify's AI move.
Ars Live recap: How can we stop publishers from killing their own games?
The Stop Killing Games movement faces an uphill battle.
Scottish police expect ‘great deal of public opposition’ to planned Larbert datacentre
Planning consultation told ‘robust security measures’ will be needed amid growing resistance to such developments Scottish police have warned that a proposed datacentre will require “robust security measures” to prevent “incursion” amid growing public resistance to such developments in Scotland. “A great deal of public opposition is likely” to a datacentre planned in Larbert , about 30 miles west of Edinburgh, the Scottish police have said in a letter submitted as a part of a planning consultation earlier this month. Continue reading...
Judge gives Google one week to fix "anticompetitive" app store download in Google Play
Third-party app stores are about to become more visible in Google Play.
R-rated director's cut of X-Files film restores Chris Carter's original horror vision
Chris Carter chats with Ars about the film he originally wanted to make—and why it's more relevant than ever.
Taylor Farms' connections to Trump admin spurs probe into Cyclospora response
Senator Warren questions whether Taylor Farms' influence swayed Trump admin.
A Queensland man enjoyed soaring profits from a crypto trading app. Then his money started disappearing
The administrative work required to run an effective investment scam has been drastically cut by using merging technology Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Within days of clicking on an online ad for a cryptocurrency trading app, a 29-year-old Queensland man watched his dashboard soar with profits. Making investment gains was as simple as downloading the slick-looking app and browser extension linked to his crypto wallet. So he invested more. Continue reading...
OpenAI and Anthropic in price war as Chinese AI rivals gain ground
US groups release cheaper models after new challenges to their trillion-dollar ambitions.
Meta Patents AI Glasses to Use Facial Recognition to Identify People, Make Highlight Reels of Your Dinner Party
A new Meta published Thursday says a system, like its AI glasses, would use facial recognition to identify people, current a series of video clips, then provide you with a highlight reel of your night.
Man Arrested in Texas For Cussing at a County Meeting
Police arrested EJ Carrion in Fort Worth for 'tumultuous behavior' a week after he called local officials 'bullshit' at a county meeting.
As online dating goes into ‘salvage mode’, can AI solve all its problems?
Dating apps such as Bumble forced to adapt as ‘swipe fatigue’ grows Bumble was supposed to be different. When it launched in 2014, it offered women a simple proposition: if you matched with a man, you had to make the first move. The rule was meant to make online dating safer and less intimidating, while giving women control over who got to speak first. This week, Bumble abandoned it. Continue reading...
Alien: Isolation 2 – another strong female protagonist stalked in a terrifying new world
Creative Assembly could strike gold again with this follow-up to their fan-favourite, film-inspired game … if you’re brave enough to venture outdoors A lien: Isolation redefined Alien games on its release in 2014, bringing the original taut, haunted house theme of the first movie to fans who had mostly been fed action-packed shooters. Cowering under desks and inside lockers wasn’t a new thing; being hunted by an intelligent and lethal xenomorph that could spring down from a duct at any moment was. “I was thinking about what we could do for a sequel while we were still finishing the first game,” reveals Creative Assembly’s Alistair Hope, creative lead on Alien: Isolation and its sequel. “But we didn’t actually start the project until around the time of the 10th anniversary. We’ve seen the response grow over time, watching [Alien: Isolation] continue to find new players, even though it’s a relatively old game. And they’re surprised there isn’t a sequel.” Continue reading...
Rocket Report: Rocket Lab shows off its flexibility; Blue Origin's two-pad plan
"We’ve never seen launch capacity so constrained."