Technology

Intel’s laptop CPU roadmap has been confusing for years: one generation improves performance but hurts battery life, another improves graphics but stalls CPU gains, and feature support varies by sub-family. Ars Technica’s early look at Panther Lake (Core Ultra Series 3) argues it’s the first lineup in a while that feels like a clean, across-the-board […]

A wave of malicious “skills” (plug-ins) targeting the local AI assistant OpenClaw has been used to deliver information-stealing malware, according to BleepingComputer. The packages were designed to look like helpful tools, but their setup instructions pushed victims into running commands that installed stealers. This is the familiar supply-chain story, adapted to a new ecosystem: when

A federal judge has ruled that the US Department of Energy’s “Climate Working Group” was formed unlawfully and that the government violated rules meant to keep advisory bodies balanced and transparent. Ars Technica reports that the lawsuit also forced disclosure of the group’s communications—emails that are now public. This kind of case can sound procedural,

Raspberry Pi has announced another round of price increases, blaming higher memory costs as shortages spread beyond data centers and PC parts into embedded and hobbyist hardware. Ars Technica reports this is the company’s second broad hike in two months, with the steepest increases landing on the highest-RAM boards. It’s a reminder that “AI chip

Lead is one of those public-health hazards that became “normal” for decades, until regulation forced it out of everyday products. Ars Technica reports that researchers at the University of Utah analyzed hair samples spanning nearly a century and found lead concentrations fell roughly 100-fold—evidence that the phase-out of leaded gasoline and other lead controls did

Notepad++—a widely used Windows text editor—warned that its update infrastructure was compromised for months, enabling attackers to selectively redirect some users to malicious updates. Ars Technica reports the compromise began in June 2025 and that control wasn’t fully restored until December. This is a classic supply-chain pattern: instead of exploiting each victim directly, attackers target

A group of court decisions is allowing US offshore wind projects to resume construction after a sudden federal move to halt them. Ars Technica reports that judges who reviewed the government’s justification were not persuaded, and several injunctions are now blocking the construction stop while the underlying legal challenges proceed. Beyond the energy debate, this

Microsoft pushed an emergency, out-of-band patch for a Microsoft Office zero-day on January 26, and Ukraine’s national CERT says attackers moved fast to weaponize it. The case is a reminder of how narrow the window can be between “vulnerability is publicly acknowledged” and “campaigns are active in the wild,” especially when the targets are government

Ukraine says it is rolling out a verification system for Starlink terminals so that only registered devices can connect inside the country. Ars Technica reports that the plan is explicitly aimed at stopping unauthorized use of Starlink—particularly in attacks carried out with connected drones. The move is a good case study in a broader security

SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI comes with an unusually specific, unusually ambitious claim: that the cheapest place to generate AI compute could eventually be in space. Ars Technica reports that SpaceX has filed with the FCC seeking permission for up to one million satellites operating as “orbital data centers,” paired with internal plans for rapid Starship