DOGE accesses federal payroll system and punishes employees who objected
Report: IT officials who fought DOGE access put on leave and under investigation.
Apple updates all its operating systems, brings Apple Intelligence to Vision Pro
Updates bring new emoji, Mail organization for Macs, easier Mac setup, and more.
Even Trump may not be able to save Elon Musk from his old tweets
Court win for investors may sway SEC’s probe of Elon Musk’s Twitter purchase.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/03/two-tweets-muddy-elon-musks-path-to-squashing-sec-probe/
Lithium-ion battery waste fires are increasing, and vapes are a big part of it
Tiny batteries and "disposable" e-cigs remain big risks for waste handlers.
Europe’s quest to finally land on Mars takes another turn
Nearly 20 years have passed since the European Space Agency committed to ExoMars.
Google’s new experimental Gemini 2.5 model rolls out to free users
Google's improved AI model is now available for free, but usage is limited.
The 2025 BMW M5 Touring review: Way more power, way too much weight
BMW has been making M5s for 40 years, but the latest one has lost its way somewhat.
There’s a new benchmark in town for measuring performance on Windows 95 PCs
Did you want to see how fast your ancient computer was? Because now you can!
France fines Apple €150M for “excessive” pop-ups that let users reject tracking
Requiring "double consent" for user tracking is too much, French agency says.
Europe’s first private launch company is learning to embrace failure
"Today, we know twice as much about our launch system as yesterday before launch."
Trump on car tariffs: “I couldn’t care less if they raise prices”
Consumers will have to pay the price of the president's unnecessary trade war.
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/03/trump-on-car-tariffs-i-couldnt-care-less-if-they-raise-prices/
Big brands are spending small sums on X to stay out of Musk’s crosshairs
“It’s whatever amount is enough to stay off the naughty list,” says ad executive.
Overblown quantum dot conspiracy theories make important points about QLED TVs
Lawsuits and allegations are creating doubt around quantum dot TVs' use of QDs.
FBI raids home of prominent computer scientist who has gone incommunicado
Indiana University quietly removes profile of tenured professor and refuses to say why.
NASA’s Curiosity rover has found the longest chain carbon molecules yet on Mars
It’s a significant finding in the search for alien life.
What could possibly go wrong? DOGE to rapidly rebuild Social Security codebase.
A safe and proper rewrite should take years not months.
The CDC buried a measles forecast that stressed the need for vaccinations
The move is a sign that the public health agency may be falling in line under RFK Jr.
Why do LLMs make stuff up? New research peers under the hood.
Claude's faulty "known entity" neurons sometime override its "don't answer" circuitry.
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/03/why-do-llms-make-stuff-up-new-research-peers-under-the-hood/
New Windows 11 build makes mandatory Microsoft Account sign-in even more mandatory
"Bypassnro" is an easy MS Account workaround for Home and Pro Windows editions.
Elon Musk’s X has a new owner—Elon Musk’s xAI
xAI buys X; deal values social network at $33 billion, $11B less than Musk paid.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/03/elon-musks-x-has-a-new-owner-elon-musks-xai/