Ars Technica Features

1. US spy satellites built by SpaceX send signals in the “wrong direction”

   It seems US didn't coordinate Starshield's unusual spectrum use with other countries.

2. What if the aliens come and we just can’t communicate?

   Ars chats with particle physicist Daniel Whiteson about his new book Do Aliens Speak Physics?

3. Review: New Framework Laptop 16 takes a fresh stab at the upgradeable laptop GPU

   New components make it more useful and powerful but no less odd.

4. You won’t believe the excuses lawyers have after getting busted for using AI

   I got hacked; I lost my login; it was a rough draft; toggling windows is hard.

5. NASA is kind of a mess: Here are the top priorities for a new administrator

   "He inevitably will have to make tough calls."

6. Mark Zuckerberg’s illegal school drove his neighbors crazy

   Neighbors complained about noise, security guards, and hordes of traffic.

7. How to declutter, quiet down, and take the AI out of Windows 11 25H2

   A new major Windows 11 release means a new guide for cleaning up the OS.

8. Internet Archive’s legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost

   "We survived, but it wiped out the library," Internet Archive's founder says.

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

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

10. Halloween film fest: 15 classic ghost stories

    From The Uninvited to Crimson Peak, these films will help you set the tone for spooky season.

11. New physical attacks are quickly diluting secure enclave defenses from Nvidia, AMD, and Intel

    On-chip TEEs withstand rooted OSes but fall instantly to cheap physical attacks.

12. 10M people watched a YouTuber shim a lock; the lock company sued him. Bad idea.

    It's still legal to pick locks, even when you swing your legs.

13. We let OpenAI’s “Agent Mode” surf the web for us—here’s what happened

    From scanning emails to building fansites, Atlas can ably automate some web-based tasks.

14. Google has a useful quantum algorithm that outperforms a supercomputer

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

15. MacBook Pro review: Apple’s most awkward laptop is the first to show off Apple M5

    Apple M5 trades blows with Pro and Max chips from older generations.

16. Should an AI copy of you help decide if you live or die?

    Doctors share top concerns of AI surrogates aiding life-or-death decisions.

17. Yes, everything online sucks now—but it doesn’t have to

    Ars chats with Cory Doctorow about his new book Enshittification.

18. Inside the web infrastructure revolt over Google’s AI Overviews

    Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince is making sweeping changes to force Google's hand.

19. ROG Xbox Ally X: The Ars Technica review

    The first portable “Xbox” fails to unify a messy world of competing PC gaming platforms.

20. Why Signal’s post-quantum makeover is an amazing engineering achievement

    New design sets a high standard for post-quantum readiness.