The Best of Ars Technica
20+ most popular Ars Technica articles, as voted by our community.
Original news, reviews, analysis of tech trends, and expert advice on the most fundamental aspects of tech.
New this Week
These are fresh off the press.
The generative AI revolution has begun—how did we get here?
A new class of incredibly powerful AI models has made recent breakthroughs possible.
Trending
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Thanks to AI, it’s probably time to take your photos off the Internet
AI tech makes it trivial to generate harmful fake photos from a few social media pictures.
J. Robert Oppenheimer cleared of being suspected Soviet spy after 68 years
Manhattan Project physicist was infamously stripped of his security clearance in 1954.
“Please slow down”—The 7 biggest AI stories of 2022
Highlights from a year when generative AI went mainstream.
LastPass says hackers obtained password vaults and a wealth of customer info
Password manager says breach it disclosed in August was much worse than thought.
ChatGPT is enabling script kiddies to write functional malware
For a beta, ChatGPT isn't all that bad at writing fairly decent malware.
Ars Technica on AI Art
Shutterstock partners with OpenAI to sell AI-generated artwork, compensate artists
As DALL-E synthesis comes to Shutterstock, Getty Images makes countermoves.
AI wins state fair art contest, annoys humans
Stealth win for AI-generated art inspires heated ethics debate on social media.
Ars Technica on Apple
Apple has finally embraced key-based 2FA. So should you
Hardware keys are more secure—and finally ready for the masses.
Report: Apple plans to support sideloading and third-party app stores by 2024
Europe's Digital Markets Act was the catalyst.
Ars Technica on Artificial Intelligence
With Stable Diffusion, you may never believe what you see online again
AI image synthesis goes open source, with big implications.
«Image synthesis arguably brings implications as big as the invention of the camera—or perhaps the creation of visual art itself. Even our sense of history might be at stake, depending on how things shake out. Either way, Stable Diffusion is leading a new wave of deep learning creative tools that are poised to revolutionize the creation of visual media»
Flooded with AI-generated images, some art communities ban them completely
Smaller art communities are banning image synthesis amid a wider art ethics debate.
Ars Technica on Drones
Amazon begins drone deliveries in California and Texas
Amazon Prime Air wants to deliver packages within 60 minutes.
Ars Technica on Gaming
Inside the $100K+ forgery scandal that’s roiling PC game collecting
From Akalabeth to Xenobia, many rare PC titles are now considered elaborate scams.
New Go-playing trick defeats world-class Go AI—but loses to human amateurs
Adversarial policy attacks blind spots in the AI—with broader implications than games.
Ars Technica on Internet Of Things
Apple, Google, and Amazon team up to create “CHIP,” a new smart home standard
Will this be the one smart home standard to rule them all or just another entry?
“Internet of Things” security is hilariously broken and getting worse
Shodan search engine is only the latest reminder of why we need to fix IoT security.
Ars Technica on Space
Planetary scientists are starting to get stirred up by Starship’s potential
Shared by 228, including Jennifer Ouellette, Evan Kirstel the $B2B Techfluencer
Orion flies far beyond the Moon, returns an instantly iconic photo
Shared by 117, including Daniel Kraft, MD, Evan Kirstel the $B2B Techfluencer, Jennifer Ouellette
Ars Technica on Technology
How Apple, Google, and Microsoft will kill passwords and phishing in 1 stroke
You've heard for years that easier, more secure logins are imminent. That day is here.
Meta’s AI-powered audio codec promises 10x compression over MP3
Technique could allow high-quality calls and music on low-quality connections.
Ars Technica on Tesla
Tesla has a self-driving strategy other companies abandoned years ago
Tesla just shifted the goalposts for "full self-driving" technology.
Gone in 130 seconds: New Tesla hack gives thieves their own personal key
You may want to think twice before giving the parking attendant your Tesla-issued NFC card.
Ars Technica on Voice Computing
Alexa and Google Home abused to eavesdrop and phish passwords
Amazon- and Google-approved apps turned both voice-controlled devices into "smart spies."
This device keeps Alexa and other voice assistants from snooping on you
Meet LeakyPick, the low-cost audio spy detector for network-connected devices.
Popular
These are some all-time favorites with Refind users.
How to get started with machine learning and AI
We wrap our hands around the basics of AI/ML and show you how to get a model off the ground.
NASA scientists say images from the Webb telescope nearly brought them to tears
Deep field images of the universe, exoplanet atmospheres, and more to be unveiled.
Suddenly working at home? We’ve done it for 22 years—and have advice
Your productivity, your health, and your sanity: We have your home office covered.
«Do you like background noise? Set up an unobtrusive radio feed so that your home office environment doesn't feel overbearingly silen»
Amazon Alexa is a “colossal failure,” on pace to lose $10 billion this year
Layoffs reportedly hit the Alexa team hard as the company's biggest money loser.
Someone used neural networks to upscale a famous 1896 video to 4k quality
Machine-learning software fills in missing details to produce realistic images.
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