Commercials are still too loud, say “thousands” of recent FCC complaints
1,700 complaints about boisterous TV ads hit the FCC in 2024.
“It’s a lemon”—OpenAI’s largest AI model ever arrives to mixed reviews
GPT-4.5 offers marginal gains in capability and poor coding performance despite 30x the cost.
Europol arrests 25 users of online network accused of sharing AI CSAM
Europol's hunt targets anyone making or sharing AI sex images depicting minors.
Salty game dev comments, easier mods are inside Command & Conquer’s source code
With the right folks involved, EA can capably preserve and update its classics.
Yes, it turns out you can make a Tesla Cybertruck even uglier
Mansory, infamous modifier of cars, turns its attention to the Tesla Cybertruck.
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/02/yes-it-turns-out-you-can-make-a-tesla-cybertruck-even-uglier/
On May 5, Microsoft’s Skype will shut down for good
Skype users will be able to move into Teams with their existing accounts.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/02/on-may-5-microsofts-skype-will-shut-down-for-good/
US Antarctic Program disrupted by DOGE-induced chaos
Long-term impacts will affect not only research but also geopolitics.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/02/us-antarctic-program-disrupted-by-doge-induced-chaos/
AMD’s FSR 4 upscaling is exclusive to 90-series Radeon GPUs, won’t work on other cards
Like Nvidia, AMD is locking some upscaling advancements to its newest GPUs.
Details on AMD’s $549 and $599 Radeon RX 9070 GPUs, which aim at Nvidia and 4K
New GPUs launch March 6, targeting upper-midrange 1440p and 4K gaming PCs.
Rocket Report: Rocket Lab’s news blitz; Starship mishap blamed on vibrations
One Falcon 9 launched an Intuitive Machines lunar lander, an asteroid prospector, and a NASA science probe.
Elon Musk fans truly believe he can make Dogecoin the currency of Earth
Dogecoin Foundation strikes deals to mainstream the popular memecoin.
Did the snowball Earth give complex life a boost?
Planet-wide glaciers may have filled the oceans with mineral nutrients.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/02/bulldozing-glaciers-may-have-spurred-evolution-in-the-ocean/
Astroscale aced the world’s first rendezvous with a piece of space junk
This success lays the foundation for future missions to dock with out-of-control satellites.
Copilot exposes private GitHub pages, some removed by Microsoft
Repositories once set to public and later to private, still accessible through Copilot.
Now the overclock-curious can buy a delidded AMD 9800X3D, with a warranty
CPUs ready to blast past their limits can be had with a warranty, for a premium.
The PlayStation VR2 will get a drastic price cut, but that might not be enough
This could revitalize the platform—or demonstrate that things aren't going well.
Max is pulling CNN and sports from some US subscribers starting on March 30
People who pay for ad-free Max will still have access to CNN Max and B/R Sports.
There’s a battery bigger than in most BEVs inside the Ramcharger hybrid
Why 22 kWh of the Ramcharger's 92 kWh battery is not useable.
Study: Hot Vesuvian ash cloud really did turn a brain to glass
Fresh analysis with calorimetry, X-rays, electron microscopy lend support to hotly debated theory.
What we know about Waymo’s 2025 expansion plans
The public has a long way to go before it trusts autonomous vehicles.
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/02/what-we-know-about-waymos-2025-expansion-plans/