Windows Update drivers bricking USB serial chips beloved of hardware hackers
The move to combat counterfeit chips leaves hobbyists stuck in the middle.
Top Post: Windows Update drivers bricking USB serial chips beloved of hardware hackers
In-Depth Reports
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Jury trial concludes: Apple slaps down patent troll’s $94M demand
GPNE sent demand letters to "truckers and farmers, roofers and dairies."
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45,000-year-old modern human bone yields a genome
Places Neanderthal interbreeding at 60,000 years.
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Google offers USB security key to make bad passwords moot
Support from the search giant could put a security key on every users’ key chain.
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Judge in Silk Road case gets threatened on Darknet
"I hope some drug cartel that lost money will murder this lady and her family."
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iOS 8.1 mini-review: Testing Apple Pay, SMS forwarding, and more
We take the new features for a test drive and evaluate the maturity of iOS 8.
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Strange X-ray source is the brightest pulsar ever observed
Two ultraluminous X-ray sources, two very different objects.
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Handful of Virginia police agencies sharing seized phone data
Former judge says cops shouldn't be able "to just transfer information."
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Hands-on with the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9, Google’s shot at “premium” flagships
The next generation of Nexus devices are way bigger and bump up the build quality.
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Staples likely breached, retailer defenses back in spotlight
Time to start sharing data and making corporate networks more secure.
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In wake of Anonabox, more crowdsourced Tor router projects make their pitch
Indiegogo's Invizbox and Kickstarter's TorFi want to deliver privacy for 30 bucks.
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Supreme Court to decide if cops can access hotel registries without warrants
Patrons' credit card, home address, and license info at stake.
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After tax trick ends, Ireland likely to slightly raise taxes on tech firms
When "Double Irish" ends, the "Knowledge Development Box" possibly enters.
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Paralyzed patient regains partial movement due to olfactory nerve cells
Polish team has stabbing victim upright with walker and braces.
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Meet the $800 Windows tablet designed to interpret for deaf people
With limited vocab and slow speeds, will MotionSavvy's new device catch on?
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iFixit’s 2014 Mac Mini teardown shows a sealed, less-upgradeable redesign
Soldered RAM and one fewer drive bay make the Mini a MacBook in a box.
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The north pole moved to the North Pole in a single human lifetime
New record shows last flip of Earth’s magnetic poles happened quickly.
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Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved review: Kinect’s swan songs
Harmonix's stylish, uneven game should put the nail in the motion sensor's coffin.
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Microsoft “loves Linux” as it makes Azure bigger, better
11 million servers, new giant VMs, and more third-party app support.
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Apple: Beginning February 2015, App Store submissions need to be 64-bit
64-bit software gets a performance boost, but many apps still aren't on board.
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Zuckerberg sues lawyers who represented man claiming half of Facebook
The lawyers "knew or should have known that the lawsuit was a fraud."
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People think their opponents are hate-filled—unless you pay them money
Cash for accurate judgments keeps people from thinking the opposition hates them.
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iPads fall for third consecutive quarter, iPhones and Macs boost Apple’s Q4 [Updated]
The Mac brought in more revenue than the iPad for the first time in a while.
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Liveblog: Apple’s Q4 2014 earnings call may feature record sales
Check-in at 2pm PT, signs point to a record-breaking quarter on the back of new iPhones.
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$90 Time Warner Cable bill becomes $190 after two years
Extra fees and expiration of promotional rate double telecom analyst's bill.
Feature Story
Ten years of Ubuntu: How Linux’s beloved newcomer became its criticized king
Ars looks back at the decade in Ubuntu, from Warty Warthog to 25 million users worldwide.
On The Radar
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blinded by the light
Man sentenced for lasering plane with 118 passengers aboard
Judge gave man 4 months detention; similar conviction in US carried 14 years in prison.
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just go offline
Pew survey says online harassment rampant, impacts genders differently
Young women suffer severe types of harassment at "disproportionately high levels."
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we see you seeing us
Bluetooth-tracking beacon programs uncovered in LA, Chicago
Marketers are using beacons to see who sees what in their ad networks.
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Let's see them trademark that one
Google unveils “Inbox” as combined toolset for mail, calendars, tasks
Service begins as an invite-only rollout; comes with "snooze" and "reminder" options.
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Spying For Dollars
After review, NSA’s CTO can no longer work part-time for agency’s former chief
Ex-NSA head Alexander acknowledges "issues" about employing current technology officer.
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Time out
FCC suspends review of Comcast/TWC and AT&T/DirecTV mergers
Content companies refused to grant access to confidential programming contracts.
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EA Destroys Lawsuit
Judge says EA executives committed “puffery,” not securities fraud
Statements about Battlefield 4 launch were "corporate optimism, or puffery."
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not enough square inches
Sapphire manufacturer and Apple agree to part ways “amicably”
GT Advanced Technologies will proceed with surprising bankruptcy.
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Ars Editor’s Picks The web worth reading.
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Mega-download
A huge Halo: Master Chief Collection clocks in at 65GB
Retail edition requires 20GB day-one download rather than a second Blu-ray disc.
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Will Jezebel switch to GIMP?
After #GamerGate tweet, Adobe distances itself from Gawker “bullying” [Updated]
But Adobe employee calls tweet a "case of mistaken identity," promises an update.
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throw some more cores on the pile
Early iPad Air 2 benchmark suggests tri-core CPU, 2GB of RAM
The newest iPad could be more powerful by a sizable margin.
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16 years later
Monica Lewinsky calls herself “patient zero” for online destruction
Lewinsky sees herself an early victim of the Internet's echo chamber.
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Speed demon
New chips will “power the gigabit era of DSL,” Broadcom claims
New tech based on G.fast standard makes copper much faster over short distances.
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Building a better Windows
First major update to Windows 10 Preview, delivered through Windows Update
Build 9860 brings a notification center, more animations, and some bugs.
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wide net
More lawsuits over “no poach” deals get filed against Oracle, Microsoft
An earlier case against Apple and Google is near settling for upwards of $300M.
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Yabba Dabba Doo!
Man who stole 190-million-year-old dinosaur footprint gets house arrest
"I'm just extremely sorry for a horrible decision that I made."
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Biting the hand
Indie game pulled off Steam after dev threatens Gabe Newell on Twitter [Updated]
Paranautical Activity dev was irate over mistaken listing, Steam's monopoly.
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show us the money
Court orders Kim Dotcom to reveal how much money he has
It's the second blow to Dotcom's legal team in two days.
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Equals you!
OnePlus One expands beyond invites, opens to pre-orders October 27
Soon, even average Joes can buy a 5.5-inch Android set pre-loaded with Cyanogenmod.
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man bites dog
California woman charged with using spyware to tap a police officer’s phone
Investigators say Kristin Nyunt intercepted sensitive law enforcement information.
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be your own brand
Spotify adds family plans with independent profiles
Spotify aims to solve problems for multiple people sharing one account.
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Search for "Data Breach"
Mac OS X Yosemite sends location, search data to Apple [Updated]
Apple reportedly collects location and search data via Mac's Spotlight feature.
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Password, please
Chinese government launches man-in-middle attack against iCloud
Targeting new iPhone users to capture user credentials, monitors find.
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Wearing flowers in our hair
Liveblog: Microsoft loves Linux, talks Azure cloud in San Francisco
The cloud first, mobile first company tells us more about its cloud plans.
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Block those fast lanes
Comcast’s net neutrality commitments aren’t good enough, senator says
Sen. Leahy asks Comcast to swear off fast lanes even after NBC deal expires.
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New Creed
Assassin’s Creed co-creator Jade Raymond leaves Ubisoft
Ten-year tenure included leadership credits on Watch Dogs, Splinter Cell games.
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This won't break my phone, right?
Apple releases iOS 8.1 with Apple Pay, Continuity features
iOS 8 now works more closely with OS X Yosemite.
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Comics Gone Bad
UK convicts man over manga sex images of children
Sex imagery of children can be illegal even if it's a drawing.
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even mo' money, even mo' problems
“Under internal review,” NSA CTO works part-time for agency’s former chief
It's the second possible conflict of interest involving former NSA head Keith Alexander.
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To Pluto and beyond!
New destinations past Pluto for New Horizons
A scan with the Hubble locates some Kuiper Belt Objects for it to visit.
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Flappy Sweet? Lolly Bird?
Android 5.0 dev preview updated, includes hidden Flappy Bird clone
Lollipop-themed Easter egg hidden in menus, unlocking fully fledged (and tough) game.
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Halt!
After biosafety lapses, US halts funding for work modifying virus targets
Helping a bird flu virus infect mammals is off the table pending review.
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Feature Story (1 page)
Harley-Davidson goes electric
New Project LiveWire bike is a far cry from company's first motorcycle in 1903.
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Feature Story (2 pages)
Harnessing depression: One Ars writer’s journey
In his final piece for Ars, Dave Girard talks about life with depression.
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Stay in the know with
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Feature Story (25 pages)
OS X 10.10 Yosemite: The Ars Technica Review
For the first time in forever, the Mac could be noticed by someone.
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Feature Story (3 pages)
Samsung Galaxy Note 4 review: small tweaks to a big device
It's a little faster, but this is largely the same phablet.
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Ars Feature Story Archive →