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A vehicle Tesla is using for robotaxi testing purposes on Oltorf Street in Austin, Texas, US, on Sunday, June 22, 2025. In an earnings call this week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk teased an expansion of his company's fledgling robotaxi service to the San Francisco Bay Area and other U.S. markets. But California regulators are making clear that Tesla is not authorized to carry passengers on public roads in autonomous vehicles and would require a human driver in control at all times. "Tesla is not allow
Want smarter insights in your inbox? Sign up for our weekly newsletters to get only what matters to enterprise AI, data, and security leaders. Subscribe Now Meta has appointed Shengjia Zhao, a former OpenAI researcher and co‑creator of GPT‑4, as the Chief Scientist of its newly created Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL). The announcement was made Friday by Mark Zuckerberg on Threads, noting Zhao will lead the lab’s scientific agenda alongside him and Alexandr Wang, the former CEO of Scale AI wh
As someone without a STEM degree and who is largely self-taught, I'm interested in hearing about similar experiences. What is your story? What are you doing now? How long have you been doing it? etc, etc.
Discount available: Marshall's Major V headphones are worth it even at full price but right now they're down to $100 -- or around 38% off -- on Amazon, their all-time lowest price on the site. This covers the black, brown and cream colored versions, but not the midnight blue version for whatever reason. I might not be a true battle-tested headphone expert like CNET's David Carnoy but I still love headphones and I'm confident in what I like about them. My most recent pickup, the Marshall Major V
Tesla is launching an even-more-limited version of its early robotaxi service in San Francisco this weekend, according to Business Insider, after an initial rollout began last month in Austin, Texas. The company plans to send invites to Tesla owners to test the service, according to the report. Depending on how and if Tesla proceeds, its actions could violate state regulations — and even if there’s a human safety driver sitting behind the wheel while its vehicles operate autonomously. Two sta
The 2010s was the Wild West of the mobile world. "Mobile-first" was the buzzword, much like "AI-first" is today. Every company, from the biggest social media giants to your local pizza parlor, seemed to be pestering you to download their app. There was a genuine hype train, and everyone was on board. The apps, frankly, were always mediocre, and a far cry from the full functionality of their website counterparts. But the message was clear. If you weren't on mobile, you were falling behind. Fast
India has ordered the blocking of 25 streaming services — many with millions of viewers and even paying subscribers — for allegedly promoting “obscene” content, in one of the South Asian nation’s biggest digital crackdowns yet. The order affects lesser-known, but wildly popular services like Ullu and ALTT that cater to the country’s mass-market appetite for adult and edgy entertainment. This week, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued directives to block access to websites and app
Google’s upcoming Pixel 10 colors haven’t been officially announced yet, but we got a good look at the leaked renders above at the start of the week. Naturally, we wanted to know which one you’re most excited about, so we ran polls across our site and YouTube to find out. Now, the results are in. If you missed the leak that kicked things off, the Pixel 10 is expected to launch in four colors: Obsidian, Indigo, Frost, and Limoncello. Obsidian is Google’s classic black, while Indigo is deepish bl
The Intel Chipset Device Software Utility shows a date of 07/18/1968 because it is symbolic: Intel was founded on that date. The reason this date is used is to lower the rank of drivers in concern. This is necessary because it's a supporting utility that should not overwrite any other drivers. Updating these drivers is not needed. Do not worry if you don't have the latest version. The Intel® Chipset Device Software installs the Windows* INF files. An INF is a text file that provides the operat
Tesla has publicly staked its future on its robotaxis. Now the company is planning to launch a public car service in the San Francisco Bay Area. Tesla is calling it a “robotaxi” service, but legally, this one will have to use cars with human drivers. The plan appears to put the electric carmaker in murky legal waters in a US state with the country's most tightly regulated autonomous vehicle industry—and where Tesla is already being sued for misleading language around its driver assistance tech.
Apple has announced that Pluribus, a new science fiction drama from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, will premiere on Apple TV+ on November 7. Gilligan was confirmed to be working on the project back in 2022, when Better Call Saul's Rhea Seehorn was also announced as its primary star. Alongside the premiere date, Apple also released a short (somewhat ominous) teaser for the series that shows a hospital employee mindlessly licking donuts. Pluribus is supposed to follow "the most miserable pe
The Intel Chipset Device Software Utility shows a date of 07/18/1968 because it is symbolic: Intel was founded on that date. The reason this date is used is to lower the rank of drivers in concern. This is necessary because it's a supporting utility that should not overwrite any other drivers. Updating these drivers is not needed. Do not worry if you don't have the latest version. The Intel® Chipset Device Software installs the Windows* INF files. An INF is a text file that provides the operat
Readers following our existential physics coverage may remember a recent breakthrough from CERN concerning matter’s evil twin, antimatter. An outstanding mystery in physics is that our universe contains more matter than antimatter, contradicting most theoretical predictions. Scientists, therefore, understandably want to explain why and how this is the case. CERN announced yet another significant leap for studying antimatter—and this time, the achievement creeps into the realm of quantum computi
This week, I take a look at the surprisingly strong state of Google, Meta gets a new chief AI researcher, and more. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out this week’s Decoder episode about deepfakes and where they are headed. Also, do you use an AI coding tool like Cursor or GitHub Copilot? I’d love to know what works and what doesn’t… “I think we are doing very well through this moment” After spending time with Google executives during the company’s I/O conference in May, it was clear
The great indentation war is over and it seems like we have a clear winner. Every now and then, while exploring a new programming language, I inevitably stumble upon a heated debate, often buried deep in a GitHub issue thread, where contributors are passionately arguing over whether the language’s formatter should default to tabs or spaces. Over the past few months, as I’ve been immersing myself in Zig, I encountered one such discussion. It got me thinking: After decades of writing code, how i
wassimulator; I make stuff Programming Vehicles in Games The fundamental principles needed to get a functional vehicle in your game. From my talk at the Better Software Conference on July the 13th, 2025. est. reading time: 45 minutes Watch the video of the talk here: Table of Contents Cars are everywhere in games. They're a staple element of many genres, even in games that aren't strictly about cars. If a game world involves any sort of traversal, chances are there's a vehicle in it (unless y
C:\ArsGames We love games here at the Ars Orbiting HQ, from modern to ancient and all points in between. With that in mind, we've partnered with the folks at GOG.com to create a store page featuring a hand-curated list of some of our favorites from GOG's catalog. At the end of every month, we'll rotate a couple of titles off the list and add a few new ones; altogether, we have a list of about 50 games to set in front of you. Twice a month, we'll publish a personal retrospective like this one, wh
Microsoft is investigating an ongoing outage blocking Microsoft 365 administrators with business or enterprise subscriptions from accessing the admin center. While the company has yet to disclose which regions are currently affected by this ongoing service degradation issue, it's currently tracking it on its official service health status page to provide impacted organizations with access to up-to-date information. "Microsoft is investigating a potential issue that may be preventing administra
Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET Apple finally launched the iOS 26 public beta, and with that comes a slew of new AI features you can try out today -- and their usefulness may surprise you. While the new features may not be as flashy as the promised Siri 2.0 update, which has yet to be released, many address issues Apple users have long had with their devices or in their everyday workflows, while others are downright fun. For example, don't you like waiting for customer service calls? Want your song transi
Boox Note Max ZDNET's key takeaways The Boox Note Max comes bundled with the pen and case for $649. It's thin and light, has a high-contrast display, and has a long list of features that make it a very versatile device. Theres no backlight, it's monochromatic, and there's a bit of a learning curve to use it to its fullest. View now at Amazon View now at B&H Photo and Video more buying choices The Boox Note Max is $60 off on Amazon right now, making it cost $630. I went hands-on with the Rema
The great indentation war is over and it seems like we have a clear winner. Every now and then, while exploring a new programming language, I inevitably stumble upon a heated debate, often buried deep in a GitHub issue thread, where contributors are passionately arguing over whether the language’s formatter should default to tabs or spaces. Over the past few months, as I’ve been immersing myself in Zig, I encountered one such discussion. It got me thinking: After decades of writing code, how i
For two straight weeks, Finland has been roasting under record-high temperatures. The country is facing its most intense and persistent heatwave in its recorded history, which has brought beach weather to towns above the Arctic Circle. Friday marked the 14th consecutive day that at least one part of Finland reached a temperature above 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius), according to the Finnish Meteorological Institute. Local weather stations across the country have also reported record
Samsung's new Galaxy phones are shipping and available in select stores starting today, and the major phone carriers are primed to get them into your hands. If you've been contemplating this next generation of foldable phones (or the health features of the new watches), these new deals and trade-in offers for the Galaxy Z Fold 7, Z Flip 7, Z Flip 7 FE and Galaxy Watch 8 models might convince you to upgrade. And don't forget to catch up on all the announcements from Samsung Unpacked. Note that t
Sluggish airline internet might become a thing of the past. For the last 20 years, airline internet has been notoriously unreliable, but Starlink is changing the game with significantly faster speeds. In fact, the latest reports show it's already twice as fast as its in-flight competitors. Starlink-equipped planes achieve superior internet speeds due to its fleet of almost 8,000 low-Earth orbit satellites, which operate much closer to Earth than the geostationary satellites used by competitors
Microsoft Microsoft has a new experiment, called Copilot Appearance, that's designed to bring its AI assistant to life -- visually, anyway. Also: Microsoft's Copilot Vision can now see and analyze your entire Windows desktop Available now as an early preview in Copilot Labs, this feature layers real‑time facial expressions and non‑verbal cues onto Copilot's voice interactions. The goal is to make conversations with Microsoft's AI feel more natural, human‑like, and animated. What is Copilot A
Yesterday, President Trump seemed to offer an olive branch to his former “first buddy,” Elon Musk, amidst their ongoing spat. In a post made to Truth Social, Trump claimed that he didn’t wish any harm on Elon or his businesses. “Everyone is stating that I will destroy Elon’s companies by taking away some, if not all, of the large-scale subsidies he receives from the U.S. Government. This is not so! I want Elon, and all businesses within our Country, to THRIVE, in fact, THRIVE like never before!”
Tesla is planning to follow up on its extremely limited and technical-issues-plagued robotaxi service in Austin, Texas — with an even more limited rollout in San Francisco. According to an internal memo obtained by Business Insider, Elon Musk's EV maker is looking to accelerate its timeline by rolling out a robotaxi service across a large swathe of the Bay Area, as soon as this week. But there's a Gigafactory-sized caveat: a human safety operator will be sitting in the robotaxi's driver seat,
It’s very sad bidding farewell to Solar Opposites, but at least we get one more 10-episode season to enjoy before it wraps up its entertainingly bizarre mix of sci-fi antics, surreal subplots, crass jokes, wacky t-shirts, holiday specials, and sweet lessons about found family. And we won’t have to wait too long: season six hits Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ starting October 13. There’s an official description of the new season as well as a teaser, neither of which tell us much: “Once their alien di
Alongside the ongoing and particularly rare deal on the M2 Max Mac Studio at $900 off the original price, we have some fresh deals today to scope out as well. We are starting with a seriously deep discount on the 14-inch M4 Pro MacBook Pro with 24GB of RAM and the 1TB SSD at $350 off. Next up, we have up to $300 in savings on 13-inch M4 iPad Pro configurations, a chance to land the Midnight AirPods Max USB-C at $136 off and some notable accessory offers too – Apple’s latest all-black Ocean Band,