The speaker makers holiday quarter forecast is lifting its stock, but fallout from last springs app fiasco still lingers.

The celebrated documentarian co-directs this two-night extravaganza on PBS about the towering genius of the Renaissance.

Emily Watson, Olivia Williams and Mark Strong star in a visually grand six-part series, which takes place before the events of Denis Villeneuves blockbusters and focuses on a scheming drama surrounding the Bene Gesserit.

like we said Trump team puts EV tax credit on the block, Tesla is on board: Report Elon Musk is on record as saying it would hurt competitors more than Tesla. Jonathan M. Gitlin Nov 14, 2024 2:40 pm | 141 Credit: Getty Images Credit: Getty Images Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreSome electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids are set to get less affordable from next year, it seems. As expected, the incoming Trump administration has set its sights on killing off the IRS clean vehicle tax credit, according to a report in Reuters this afternoon.The clean vehicle tax credit was overhauled as part of President Joe Biden's signature climate legislation. Until then, the size of a plug-in vehicle's tax credit was based on its battery capacity, with a credit of up to $7,500 available. But from 2023 the rules changed, requiring a certain amount of domestic production to qualify, as well as adding price and income caps to address criticism that the tax credit mostly subsidized the already-wealthy.Far fewer vehicles are now eligible for the rebate at time of purchase, particularly after the US Treasury Department got tougher about Chinese content, although a loophole means that none of these conditions apply to leased EVs.Ending the tax credit is not something the incoming administration can do via executive actionCongress controls government spending, and this would require new legislation. But the budget reconciliation process results in bills that cannot be filibustered, and Reuters says that the Trump transition team will likely use this route as part of a larger revamp of tax laws.Tesla was a major beneficiary of the new clean vehicle tax credit; under the previous scheme, an OEM was only eligible until it sold its 200,000th plug-in vehicle, at which point the credit available to its customers began to sunset. Teslawhich exclusively sells plug-in vehicleswas unsurprisingly the first to reach this threshold, at which point its EVs became more expensive than competitor cars. But the sales cap was eliminated under the new rules.One might expect the company would be up in arms over this proposal. But according to Reuters, that's not the caseTesla is in favor of ending the clean vehicle tax credit, and CEO Elon Musk has previously said such a move would be far more damaging to rival companies than to Tesla.Jonathan M. GitlinAutomotive EditorJonathan M. GitlinAutomotive Editor Jonathan is the Automotive Editor at Ars Technica. He has a BSc and PhD in Pharmacology. In 2014 he decided to indulge his lifelong passion for the car by leaving the National Human Genome Research Institute and launching Ars Technica's automotive coverage. He lives in Washington, DC. 141 Comments Prev story

start your usb drives Microsoft makes it easier to do a clean Windows install on Arm-based PCs Generic install media brings Arm PCs closer to feeling like any old x86 PC. Andrew Cunningham Nov 14, 2024 2:22 pm | 2 Credit: Microsoft Credit: Microsoft Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreFor some PC buyers, doing a clean install of Windows right out of the box is part of the setup ritual. But for Arm-based PCs, including the Copilot+ PCs with Snapdragon X Plus and Elite chips in them, it hasn't been possible in the same way. Microsoft (mostly) hasn't offered generic install media that can be used to reinstall Windows on an Arm PC from scratch.Microsoft is fixing that todaythe company finally has a download page for the official Arm release of Windows 11, linked to but separate from the ISOs for the x86 versions of Windows. These are useful not just for because-I-feel-like-it clean installs, but for reinstalling Windows after you've upgraded your SSD and setting up Windows virtual machines on Arm-based PCs and Macs.Previously, Microsoft did offer install media for some Windows Insider Preview Arm builds, though these are for beta versions of Windows that may or may not be feature-complete or stable. Various apps, scripts, and websites also exist to grab files from Microsoft's servers and build "unofficial" ISOs for the Arm version of Windows, though obviously this is more complicated than just downloading a single file directly.Per usual when you do a from-scratch installation of Windows, you'll need to make sure you can find all the drivers for your hardware so that all of your hardware functions like it's supposed to. Some of these drivers may be downloaded automatically through Windows Update if you've got an Internet connection; others may need to be grabbed manually from your computer manufacturer's website.If your Arm PC shipped with Windows 11, you should have no problem installing a fresh copy of the operating system. If your PC shipped with Windows 10 instead, Windows 11 ought to be supported most of the time, but there are some early Windows 10 Arm PCs that don't meet the operating system's hardware requirements. You need at least a Snapdragon 850 processor; you can check the full Arm compatibility list here.Andrew CunninghamSenior Technology ReporterAndrew CunninghamSenior Technology Reporter Andrew is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars Technica, with a focus on consumer tech including computer hardware and in-depth reviews of operating systems like Windows and macOS. Andrew lives in Philadelphia and co-hosts a weekly book podcast called Overdue. 2 Comments Prev story

The results of the 2024 US presidential election kicked off a flurry of speculation about what changes a second Donald Trump administration will bring in terms of policy, including cybersecurity.InformationWeek spoke to three experts in the cybersecurity space about potential shifts and how security leaders can prepare while the industry awaits change.Changes to CISAIn 2020, Trump fired Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Christopher Krebs after he attested to the security of the election, despite Trumps unsupported claims to the contrary. It seems that the federal agency could face a significant shakeup under a second Trump administration.The Republican party believes that agency has had a lot of scope creep, AJ Nash, founder and CEO of cybersecurity consultancy Unspoken Security, says.For example, Project 2025, a policy playbook published by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, calls to end CISAs counter-mis/disinformation efforts. It also calls for limits to CISAs involvement in election security. The project proposes moving the CISA to the Department of Transportation.Trump distanced himself from Project 2025 during his campaign, but there is overlap between the playbook and the president-elects plans, the New York Times reports.Related:I think it safe to say that CISA is going to have a lot of changes, if it exists at all, which I think [is] challenging because they have been very responsible for both election security and a lot of efforts to curb mis-, dis- and malinformation, says Nash.AI Executive OrderIn 2023, President Biden signed an executive order regarding AI and major issues that arose in the wake of its boom: safety, security, privacy, and consumer protection. Trump plans to repeal that order.We will repeal Joe Bidens dangerous Executive Order that hinders AI Innovation, and imposes Radical Leftwing ideas on the development of this technology. In its place, Republicans support AI Development rooted in Free Speech and Human Flourishing, according to a 2024 GOP Platform document.Less federal oversight on the development of AI could lead to more innovation, but there are questions about what a lack of required guardrails could mean. AI, how it is developed and used, has plenty of ramifications to cybersecurity and beyond.The tendency of generative AI to hallucinate or confabulate that's the concern, which is why we have guardrails, points out Claudia Rast, chair of the intellectual property, cybersecurity, and emerging technology practice at law firm Butzel Long.Related:While the federal government may step back from AI regulation, that doesnt mean states will do the same. You're going to see California [and] Texas and other states taking a very proactive role, says Jeff Le, vice president of global government affairs and public policy at cybersecurity ratings company SecurityScorecard.California Governor Gavin Newsom signed several bills relating to the regulation of GenAI. A bill -- the Texas Responsible AI Governance Act (TRAIGA) -- was introduced in the Lone Star State earlier this year.Cybersecurity RegulationThe Trump administration is likely to roll back more cybersecurity regulation than it will introduce. I fully anticipate there to be a significant slowdown or rollback on language or mandated reporting, incident reporting as a whole, says Le.Furthermore, billionaire Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the new Department of Government Efficiency, which will look to cut back on regulation and restructure federal agencies, Reuters reports.But enterprise leaders will still have plenty of regulatory issues to grapple with. They'll be looking at the European Union. They'll be looking at regulations coming out of Japan and Australia they'll also be looking at US states, says Le.That's going to be more of a question of how they're going to navigate this new patchwork.Related:Cyber Threat ActorsNation state cyber actors continue to be a pressing threat, and the Trump administration appears to be planning to focus on malicious activity coming out of China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.I do anticipate the US taking a more aggressive stance, and I think that's been highlighted by the incoming national security advisor Mike Waltz, says Le. I think he has made a point to prioritize a more offensive role, and that's with or without partners.Waltz (R-Fla.) has been vocal about combatting threats from China in particular.Preparing for ChangePredicting a political future, even just a few short months away, is difficult. With big changes to cybersecurity ahead, what can leaders do to prepare?While uncertainty prevails, enterprise leaders have prior cybersecurity guidelines at their fingertips today. It's time to deploy and implement the best practices that we all know are there and [that] people have been advising and counseling for years at this point, says Rast.

Mario Platt, Vice President and CISO, LastPassNovember 14, 20244 Min ReadElly Miller via Alamy StockShadow IT has long been a problem for companies, from personal devices brought into the workplace to untested software installed inside the perimeter. As companies have moved to cloud, the problem has only become more tangled: Well-meaning employees set up unsanctioned services, and technical teams use unapproved cloud services to add functionality to their projects.Plus, remote employees and their mashup of consumer and pro-sumer technologies bring less visibility and more risks into the IT-security equation.According to HashiCorp's 2024 study, only 8% of companies had highly mature" practices across both infrastructure and security lifecycle management. Add to that mix the chaos of a merger or divestiture, and problems can grow quickly. The blending of two technology platforms in a merger or the breaking apart of common infrastructure in a divestiture likely leads to breakage and the loss of security oversight.Managing shadow IT is an ongoing challenge that requires a combination of technical controls, governance processes, and cultural change to address it effectively. Here are three ways that companies can get a handle on shadow IT.1. SSO is necessary, but far from sufficient. A common way to gain visibility into cloud and on-premises services is to rely on single sign-on (SSO) platforms to know which applications and services employees are using. The challenge, however, is that not every application is SSO-enabled, especially cloud or mobile applications on employees personal devices that are often used for work.Related:Separations and divestitures produce duplicates of most critical services, new devices for employees, and the need for a revamp of all security controls, as a company moves from legacy services to a new platform. During these times, detection, analysis and response to threats (DART) can be particularly challenging.The lesson for corporate security teams is not only to gain visibility, but to create a backend process that educates employees and diverts them from non-approved risky applications to approved platforms.2. Assets must be discovered across hybrid infrastructure. Another challenge is the proliferation of remote and mobile workers, whose devices -- often poorly managed -- exist in home offices or often connect from the road.For in-house workers, companies have default control over on-premises technology, even if that technology is non-sanctioned shadow IT. To help manage remote technology, companies should have agents on any device connecting to a corporate cloud service or using a virtual private network. Such security can be sufficient, depending on how your company implements the defenses and checkpoints.Related:During a merger, organizations must gain clear visibility of all IT assets across the new enterprise and enforce a zero-trust approach to any access to sensitive corporate data. During a separation, organizations may lose visibility of devices and applications, resulting in shadow IT and potential vectors of attack.The transition to remote work caused by the coronavirus pandemic forced many companies to switch to secure web gateways to enforce policies with in-house and remote employees. Companies should focus on additional zero-trust security measures to enforce security policies even when employees are outside of the corporate firewall.3. Cultural changes are necessary. Organizations must make sure that every cloud service supports their mission of security, and no technology is unmanaged. This is especially true during challenging events, such as a merger or divestiture.Shadow IT comes from a culture that treats the security teams as gatekeepers that can be evaded. According to software supply-chain firm Snyk, more than 80% of companies have developers skirting security policies and using AI code completion tools to generate code. ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) became the top shadow IT in 2023, months after release.Related:Companies need to show employees why security is necessary to keep the business running and what the consequences could be if that focus is lost. Keeping that focus is admittedly difficult, especially when companies often go through a cycle of alternately emphasizing security and cost savings.Effective management of shadow IT calls for a combination of strong technical measures and cultivating a culture of security awareness, thereby reducing the risks associated with unapproved tools and services. In times of rapid digital transformation, especially during mergers and divestitures, creating a flexible IT infrastructure that adapts to change is key to safeguarding security and maintaining trust across the business.About the AuthorMario PlattVice President and CISO, LastPassMario Platt is an accomplished, highly respected and innovative information security expert, with a multi-faceted track record of expertise ranging from penetration testing, operations, product management, design authority, risk management and governance; with success in attaining and maintaining compliance through security frameworks, across telecommunications, retail, healthcare and public sector organizations throughout the last 15+ years.See more from Mario PlattNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also LikeWebinarsMore WebinarsReportsMore Reports

Weight-loss drugs are helping pin down a potential source of chronic painneotemlpars/ShutterstockMedications like Ozempic and Wegovy may be able to reduce both chronic and acute pain. This makes these types of drugs promising safer alternatives to pain treatments such as opioids.Ozempic and Wegovy work by mimicking a hormone released after eating known as GLP-1, which reduces appetite and regulates blood sugar levels. While these medications are only approved for treating obesity and type 2 diabetes, a growing number of studies have shown that

Factory aerosols can transform the clouds aboveGetty Images/iStockphotoPlumes of pollution from large factories can trigger snowfall and leave holes in clouds that stretch over large areas, satellite images have revealed.It has long been known that tiny particles of pollutants like soot, known as aerosol pollution, can affect clouds in many ways. Water vapour can condense on pollutant particles, triggering cloud formation, and pollutants can also alter the properties of existing clouds. AdvertisementWhile studying these effects, Velle Toll at the University of Tartu in Estonia noticed that there were sometimes holes in clouds downwind of major pollution sources. He and his colleagues have now analysed thousands of satellite images of North America and Eurasia and found 67 places where this effect can be seen, during the correct atmospheric conditions.Weather radar confirmed that these events were causing snowfall. In the biggest instance the team found, up to 15 millimetres of snow fell over a 2200-square-kilometre (850-square-mile) area.This happens because pollutant particles cause supercooled water droplets in clouds to freeze around them, producing ice crystals that grow into snowflakes, says Toll. And if we have water coming out of the cloud as snow, then we end up with less clouds. Get a dose of climate optimism delivered straight to your inbox every month.Sign up to newsletterIn the absence of any particles, water droplets in clouds can stay liquid even when the air is as cold as -40C (-40F).This satellite image shows reduced cloud cover downwind of a copper smelter in CanadaVelle TollThe 67 pollution sources the team found are mostly oil refineries and factories producing metals, cement or fertilisers. But surprisingly, the researchers occasionally saw a similar effect near four nuclear power stations that dont produce any aerosol emissions.This might be because the warm air rising from these power stations is lifting up aerosol pollution from elsewhere, but the team hasnt confirmed this. We dont have a definite explanation for that, says Toll.In theory, the aerosol effect could be used to deliberately trigger snowfall, but it would only work where clouds of supercooled liquid water droplets are already present, says Toll.Journal reference:Science DOI: 10.1126/science.adl0303Topics:weather

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Google DeepMind has a new way to look inside an AIs mind We dont know exactly how AI works, or why it works so well. Thats a problem: It could lead us to deploy an AI system in a highly sensitive field like medicine without understanding that it could have critical flaws embedded in its workings. A team at Google DeepMind that studies something called mechanistic interpretability has been working on new ways to let us peer under the hood. It recently released a tool to help researchers understand what is happening when AI is generating an output. Its all part of a push to get a better understanding of exactly what is happening inside an AI model. If we do, well be able to control its outputs more effectively, leading to better AI systems in the future. Read the full story. Scott J Mulligan Whats on the table at this years UN climate conference Talks kicked off this week at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Running for a couple of weeks each year, the global summit is the largest annual meeting on climate change. The issue on the table this time around: Countries need to agree to set a new goal on how much money should go to developing countries to help them finance the fight against climate change. Complicating things? A US president-elect whose approach to climate is very different from that of the current administration (understatement of the century). This is a big moment that could set the tone for what the next few years of the international climate world looks like. Heres what you need to know about COP29 and how Donald Trumps election is coloring things. Casey Crownhart This story is from The Spark, our weekly newsletter giving you the inside track on all things energy and climate. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday. The must-reads Ive combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 The FBI is investigating crypto predictions-betting platform Polymarket Its investigating whether the firm allowed US traders to bet on the election. (Bloomberg $)+ Doing so would have been a violation of an agreement with the US government. (NYT $)+ Polymarket claims to be a fully transparent prediction market. (WSJ $)2 OpenAI is calling for the US government to invest in AI Without financial support, the US could lose crucial ground to China, it warns. (WP $)+ The firm floated the idea of building a colossal data center. (The Information $) 3 AI-generated Elon Musk propaganda is rife on Facebook Pro-Musk inspiration porn is the content of choice for spammers. (404 Media)+ Trump is surrounding himself with terminally online edgelords. (The Atlantic $)4 The online right has a misogynistic new rallying cry Your body, my choice is being spread by young men seeking to provoke. (New Yorker $)+ The upcoming presidency could usher in an age of gendered regression. (The Guardian)5 Chinas human factory workers are under pressure Robots are creeping into every level of the manufacturing process. (FT $)+ Three reasons robots are about to become way more useful. (MIT Technology Review)Efforts to revitalize native facilities arent exactly going to plan. (6 The future of chipmaking in AmericaWired $)+ Whats next in chips. (MIT Technology Review)7 Blindbox live streaming is thrilling shoppers in ChinaYou never know what youre going to get. (NYT $) 8 What the glacial Earth may have looked like Around 700 million years ago, the entire planet was covered in ice. (Ars Technica)+ Life-seeking, ice-melting robots could punch through Europas icy shell. (MIT Technology Review)9 How to protect the worlds largest single coral colony The newly-discovered colony is the size of two basketball courts. (Vox)+ The race is on to save coral reefsby freezing them. (MIT Technology Review)10 These researchers have reinvented the wheel This morphing wheel can roll over obstacles up to 1.3 times the height of its radius. (Reuters) Quote of the day Shawty crunk, so fresh, so clean. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO-turned rapper, debuts a reworked version of 2002 rap hit Get Low in a tribute to his wife, the Wall Street Journal reports. The big story Marseilles battle against the surveillance state June 2022Across the world, video cameras have become an accepted feature of urban life. Many cities in China now have dense networks of them, and London and New Delhi arent far behind. Now France is playing catch-up. Concerns have been raised throughout the country. But the surveillance rollout has met special resistance in Marseille, Frances second-biggest city.Its unsurprising, perhaps, that activists are fighting back against the cameras, highlighting the surveillance systems overreach and underperformance. But are they succeeding? Read the full story.Fleur Macdonald We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.) + This years gurning championship winning mugshots do not disappoint.+ What does it mean to have personal style, exactly?+ Amsterdams unofficial police cat is absolutely adorable (and he lives on a boat!)+ Save the wormsthis writer certainly is.