Technology News

By learning lessons from other sectors, public health can ensure it is ready to face future outbreaks in record time.

Samsung’s celebrated flagship soundbar does just enough to beat out the rest of its Dolby Atmos competitors.

It started, like so many overwrought home optimization projects, during the pandemic.

My wife and I, like many people stuck inside, were ordering takeout more frequently. We wanted to support local restaurants, reduce the dish load, and live a little. It became clear early on that app-based delivery services like DoorDash and Uber Eats were not the best way to support local businesses. If a restaurant had its own ordering site or a preferred service, we wanted to use that—or even, heaven forfend, call the place.

The secondary issue was that we kept ordering from the same places, and we wanted to mix it up. Sometimes we'd want to pick something up nearby. Sometimes we wanted to avoid an entire category ("Too many carbs this week, no pasta") or try the newest places we knew about, or maybe a forgotten classic. Or just give me three places randomly, creative constraints, please—it's Friday.

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Forget about patchy internet connections and dead spots in the house. These WIRED-tested multiroom mesh systems will get you online in no time.

It's been a wild year in tech thanks to the intersection between humans and artificial intelligence. 2024 brought a parade of AI oddities, mishaps, and wacky moments that inspired odd behavior from both machines and man. From AI-generated rat genitals to search engines telling people to eat rocks, this year proved that AI has been having a weird impact on the world.

Why the weirdness? If we had to guess, it may be due to the novelty of it all. Generative AI and applications built upon Transformer-based AI models are still so new that people are throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. People have been struggling to grasp both the implications and potential applications of the new technology. Riding along with the hype, different types of AI that may end up being ill-advised, such as automated military targeting systems, have also been introduced.

It's worth mentioning that aside from crazy news, we saw fewer weird AI advances in 2024 as well. For example, Claude 3.5 Sonnet launched in June held off the competition as a top model for most of the year, while OpenAI's o1 used runtime compute to expand GPT-4o's capabilities with simulated reasoning. Advanced Voice Mode and NotebookLM also emerged as novel applications of AI tech, and the year saw the rise of more capable music synthesis models and also better AI video generators, including several from China.

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Villains were everywhere and more relatable than ever. Across pop culture, social media, and IRL, the phenomenon went full-on main character.

The plant-based-meat company’s CEO, Ethan Brown, credits a series of attack ads with prompting a potentially sector-saving change of plan.

Deepfakes were nothing like the political force in 2024 that many feared—but that doesn’t mean that generative AI didn’t profoundly affect elections all over the world.

From Chinese cyberspies breaching US telecoms to ruthless ransomware gangs disrupting health care for millions of people, 2024 saw some of the worst hacks, breaches, and data leaks ever.

Despite the arrival of new competitors and growing political tensions between the US and China, the ecommerce juggernaut Temu proved in 2024 it’s here to stay.

Despite the arrival of new competitors and growing political tensions between the US and China, the ecommerce juggernaut Temu proved in 2024 it’s here to stay.

Countries must collaborate if we’re going to create a less fearful future for artificial intelligence.

New to Govee? Get a $5 coupon on your first purchase just for signing up.

These beard tools deliver a quality trim for all types of facial hair.

A beauty subscription box feels like a monthly present. These are our favorites.

Hey, look at that! Another year has flown by, and I suspect many people would say "good riddance" to 2024.

The 2020s have been quite the decade so far. No matter what insanity has transpired by a particular December 31, the following year has shown up and promptly said, "Hold my beer."

The biggest news at Ars in 2024 was our first site redesign in nearly a decade. We're proud of Ars 9.0 (we're up to 9.0.3 now), and we have continued to make changes based on your feedback. The best kind of feedback, however, is your clicks. Those clicks power this recap, so read on to learn which stories our readers found especially compelling.

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There’s nothing more done to death than the vampire. Director Robert Eggers says he tried to avoid the obvious by returning to “the older folklore.”

AI voice cloning and deepfakes are supercharging scams. One method to protect your loved ones and yourself is to create secret code words to verify someone’s identity in real time.

Your physical and mental well-being are crucial—but the picture isn’t complete if you aren’t flexing your connection muscles, too. Here’s how to build—and keep—your social health.