Facepalm: Unscrupulous resellers are still trying to hawk used Seagate hard drives as brand new. After tinkering with the SMART system, the fraudsters have found a new way to clean usage logs and make worn-out drives appear as new. Users can still protect themselves against this scam but must be vigilant. It is still a big problem that is not going away. A recently updated report by Heise online found that fraudsters are still finding ways to pass off used Seagate hard disk drives as new. Emails from deceived buyers sharing their unfortunate purchase experience have not ended since Heise exposed the fraud weeks ago. The only change is that the scammers are now aware of their tell-tale mistakes and have developed a new way to fake usage data.The original method, discovered earlier this year, involved several tricks to fake usage logs and make the drive look new. As Heise pointed out, analyzing the Field Accessible Reliability Metrics (FARM) values gives away the ruse. Now, the crooks have worked out how to change even these deep-seated analytic numbers.The FARM log system provides access to metrics regarding drive health, usage, and environmental parameters. Along with SMART values, data stored in FARM logs could help customers predict a potential drive failure event. The FARM log is easy to use with the right tools. That is to say that all customers can readily access logged metrics using openly available tools.Before the scammers discovered their new tinkering method, users could reliably detect a "fake" new drive by comparing the number of operating hours recorded by SMART values with those stored in FARM. Heise notes that this strictly hardware-based check-up method is no longer reliable. Looking at the stored drive data in newer, multi-terabyte Seagate Exos HDDs is useless now that the scammers are tampering with it.All is not lost, though. Users can employ tips and tricks to protect themselves against untrustworthy sellers. First, new HDDs should not have a production date older than six months. A missing sticker on the drive's front is also a sign the drive is fraudulent. As previously recommended, scan the drive's QR or barcodes and compare the warranty expiration with the drive's manufacture date. It should be a few months more than five years. // Related StoriesThe scam discovered in January involved heavily used Seagate drives from Chia cryptocurrency miners. Chinese coin farmers shut down most of these mining operations and tried to resell the drives, many going to reputable retailers. Seagate is not involved in the scam but is investigating as it ramps up its HAMR drive production and sales.

If youre looking for gaming laptop deals on a powerful machine, you should turn your attention to B&H Photo Videos offer for the Asus ROG Strix G17. From its original price of $1,999, its down to $1,449 for huge savings of $550. Its still not what youd call a budget option, but at this price, youll be getting a steal. Theres limited supply available for this gaming laptop though, so if youre interested, youre going to have to be quick in completing your purchase.The Asus ROG Strix G17 received a rating of 4 stars out of 5 stars in our review, and its earned a place in our roundup of the best Asus gaming laptops as it gives you the best value for money. Thats even more appropriate right now with this offer from B&H Photo Video, as youll be getting the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HX processor and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card, plus 32GB of RAM that leaves you room to stream or run multiple applications while youre playing the best PC games at their highest settings, according to our guide on how much RAM do you need.The portability of the Asus ROG Strix G17 gaming laptop takes a hit because of its 17.3-inch screen with 2560 x 1440 resolution, but the trade-off is a wide and gorgeous display with a 240Hz refresh rate that will let you fully appreciate the graphics of your favorite titles. The gaming laptop also comes with a 1TB SSD, for ample storage space for several AAA games, and with Windows 11 Pro out of the box, you can start installing them right away.RelatedGamers who are thinking about making a serious investment in a gaming laptop will want to consider taking advantage of this discount from B&H Photo Video on the Asus ROG Strix G17. Its available at $550 off, which lowers the devices price from $1,999 to $1,449. The savings wont be available forever though, as theres only limited supply available for the Asus ROG Strix G17 gaming laptop. If you want to make sure you buy it for a lower price than usual, you need to proceed with the transaction for it right now.Editors Recommendations

B&H Photo Video isnt the usual source for gaming laptop deals, but its currently offering the Acer Predator Helios Neo 14 with a $550 discount that brings its price down to $1,300 from $1,850 originally. Were not sure how much time is remaining before this bargain ends, but youre going to want to take advantage of it if you want a powerful gaming laptop at a relatively affordable price. You should hurry, as the savings may no longer be available as soon as tomorrow.The Acer Predator Helios Neo 14 is a premium gaming laptop with a sleek design that matches its dependable performance. Its powered by the Intel Core Ultra 9 processor and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card, plus 32GB of RAM that our guide on how much RAM do you need says is the sweet spot for high-end gamers. This machine wont have any trouble running the best PC games at their highest settings, and its going to be ready for the upcoming PC games of the next few years.The 14.5-inch screen of the Acer Predator Helios Neo 14 maintains its portability if you like gaming on the go, but it will still let you fully appreciate your favorite titles graphics with its 3072 x 1920 resolution and 165Hz refresh rate. The gaming laptop ships with a 1TB SSD with Windows 11 Home pre-installed, and its got a Thunderbolt 4 port, a USB-C port, and two USB-A ports for connecting all the accessories that you need at the same time.RelatedNot all laptop deals are designed to meet the needs of gamers, so youll need to be careful in deciding what to buy for your next gaming laptop if you dont want to be disappointed. That certainly wont happen with the Acer Predator Helios Neo 14, which is on sale from B&H Photo Video at $550 off. From its sticker price of $1,850, its down to $1,300, which is actually a good price for a device of this caliber. We highly recommend completing your purchase of the Acer Predator Helios Neo 14 gaming laptop right now though, as the discount may disappear at ay moment.Editors Recommendations

The Italian aerospace and defense group said it will launch 18 military satellites and 20 civil multi-sensor satellites between 2027 and 2028, which would provide European governments with an alternative to Starlink, owned by Elon Musks SpaceX.

A show at the Louvre expands our understanding of the Florentine father of Western painting, who brought a revelatory naturalism and narrative sense to his work in the 13th century.

The star singer returns with her first solo LP since 2020, and its full of typically irresistible hooks and her signature sense of drama.

Open pockets Pocket Casts makes its web player free, takes shots at Spotify and AI Cross-platform client says podcasts "belong to the people, not corporations." Kevin Purdy Mar 11, 2025 5:51 pm | 11 Credit: PocketCasts/Automattic Credit: PocketCasts/Automattic Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn more"The future of podcasting shouldn't be locked behind walled gardens," writes the team at Pocket Casts. To push that point forward, Pocket Casts, owned by the company behind WordPress, Automattic Inc., has made its web player free to everyone.Previously available only to logged-in Pocket Casts users paying $4 per month, Pocket Casts now offers nearly any public-facing podcast feed for streaming, along with controls like playback speed and playlist queueing. If you create an account, you can also sync your playback progress, manage your queue, bookmark episode moments, and save your subscription list and listening preferences. The free access also applies to its clients for Windows and Mac."Podcasting is one of the last open corners of the internet, and were here to keep it that way," Pocket Cast's blog post reads. For those not fully tuned into the podcasting market, this and other statements in the postlike sharing "without needing a specific platform's approval" and that "podcasts belong to the people, not corporations"are largely shots at Spotify, and to a much lesser extent other streaming services, that have sought to wrap podcasting's originally open and RSS-based nature inside proprietary markets and formats.Pocket Casts also took a bullet point to note that "Discovery should be organic, not algorithm-driven, and that users, not an AI that "promotes whats best for the platform."Spotify spent big to acquire podcasts like the Joe Rogan Experience, along with podcast analytic and advertising tools. As the platform now starts leaning into video podcasts, seeking to compete with the podcasts simulcasting or exclusively on YouTube, Pocket Casts' concerns about the open origins of podcasting being co-opted are not unfounded. (Pocket Casts' current owner, Automattic, is involved in an extended debate in public, and the courts, regarding how "open" some of its products should be).Pocket Casts started as an independent app in 2011, developed by a two-person Australian team named Shifty Jelly. The app was sold in 2018 to a collective of National Public Radio and affiliated entities, including WNYC, WBEZ Chicago, the This American Lifeshow, and NPR itself, with BBC Studios later joining in. After failing to gain traction or make profit, the broadcasters sold Pocket Casts to Automattic in 2021, with original co-founders Russell Ivanovic and Philip Simpson remaining in leadership.As Nicholas Quah noted at his Hot Pod newsletter at the time, third-party podcast clients were on the decline, boxed out of the public mindshare by the default clients on devices and the content networks themselves. Except Google Podcasts, the search and advertising firm's third go at a client, which shut down in 2024 and lateral-passed its users to YouTube Music.I've been a Pocket Casts user for about as long as the app has existed, starting on Android and moving to iOS in recent years. At some point I purchased a lifetime license to the web version, which remained in place and which I used when I wanted to share episodes with others, listen to something relevant to work, or listen on a Chromebook. It's a reliable bit of software that gets updates and features, and its dual Android/iOS nature makes it easy to share things across the smartphone platform divide.Apple also now offers a free web version of its Podcasts app. That obviously syncs to a user's Apple account for playlists and other features, and redirects people on iOS devices to their native Podcasts app.Kevin PurdySenior Technology ReporterKevin PurdySenior Technology Reporter Kevin is a senior technology reporter at Ars Technica, covering open-source software, PC gaming, home automation, repairability, e-bikes, and tech history. He has previously worked at Lifehacker, Wirecutter, iFixit, and Carbon Switch. 11 Comments

"Libel tourism" Xs globe-trotting defense of ads on Nazi posts violates TOS, Media Matters says X allegedly ignored the chosen venues in the TOS when filing "thermonuclear" lawsuits. Ashley Belanger Mar 11, 2025 4:59 pm | 18 Credit: Chip Somodevilla / Staff | Getty Images News Credit: Chip Somodevilla / Staff | Getty Images News Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreMedia Matters for America (MMFA) has a plan to potentially defuse Elon Musk's "thermonuclear" lawsuits filed so far in three cities around the world, which accuse the nonprofit media watchdog organization of orchestrating a very costly X ad boycott.On Monday, MMFA filed a complaint in a US district court in San Francisco, alleging that X violated its own terms of service by suing MMFA in Texas, Dublin, and Singapore. According to the TOS, MMFA alleged, X requires any litigation over use of its services to be "brought solely in the federal or state courts located in San Francisco County, California, United States.""X Corp.s decision to file in multiple jurisdictions across the globe is intended to chill Media Matters reporting and drive up costsboth of which it has achievedand it is directly foreclosed by Xs own Terms of Service," MMFA's complaint said.MMFA alleged that X's lawsuits all stem from a claim that Media Matters supposedly manipulated X's platform to force ads from major brands to appear alongside posts that touted Hitler or the Nazi party in a way that X claims its algorithm wouldn't organically have allowed. This, X alleged, constituted business disparagement in the US and defamation and malicious falsehoods outside the US.Because the fight is clearly linked to MMFA's use of X's services, MMFA wants the California district court to settle the litigation. They've asked the court for an injunction blocking X's litigation outside California, which they claimed represented X's "vendetta-driven campaign of libel tourism" attempting to bleed MMFA dry by forcing them to raise defenses in foreign cities.X appears to be avoiding filing its claims in California, MMFA suggested, after the same California district court that MMFA chose dismissed X's suit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate over similar reporting on hate speech on X's platform spooking advertisers. In that case, judge Charles Breyer ruled that X's suit was just "about punishing the defendants for their speech," which MMFA alleged is the same in their case. Throughout the "globetrotting litigation," X has never denied that MMFA's report at issue in the suit was truthful, MMFA said."X conceded that depending on what content a user follows and how long theyve had their account, they might see advertisements placed next to extremist content," MMFA alleged.As MMFA sees it, Musk is trying to blame the organization for ad losses spurred by his own decisions after taking over the platformlike cutting content moderation teams, de-amplifying hateful content instead of removing it, and bringing back banned users. Through the lawsuits, Musk allegedly wants to make MMFA pay "hundreds of millions of dollars in lost advertising revenue" simply because its report didn't outline "what accounts Media Matters followed or how frequently it refreshed its screen," MMFA argued, previously likening this to suing MMFA for scrolling on X.MMFA has already spent millions to defend against X's multiple lawsuits, their filing said, while consistently contesting X's chosen venues. If X loses the fight in California, the platform would potentially owe damages from improperly filing litigation outside the venue agreed upon in its TOS."This proliferation of claims over a single course of conduct, in multiple jurisdictions, is abusive," MMFA's complaint said, noting that the organization has a hearing in Singapore next month and another in Dublin in May. And it "does more than simply drive up costs: It means that Media Matters cannot focus its time and resources to mounting the best possible defense in one forum and must instead fight back piecemeal," which allegedly prejudices MMFA's "ability to most effectively defend itself.""Media Matters should not have to defend against attempts by X to hale Media Matters into court in foreign jurisdictions when the parties already agreed on the appropriate forum for any dispute related to Xs services," MMFA's complaint said. "That isthis Court."X still recovering from ad boycottAlthough X CEO Linda Yaccarino started 2025 by signaling the X ad boycott was over, Ars found that external data did not support that conclusion. More recently, Business Insider cited independent data sources last month who similarly concluded that while X's advertiser pool seemed to be increasing, its ad revenue was still "far" from where Twitter was prior to Musk's takeover.Part of the problem was seemingly decreased spending from big brands that did return, like reportedly Apple. Other dips were linked to X's decision to partner with adtech companies, splitting ad revenue with Magnite, Google, and PubMatic, Business Insider reported. The CEO of a marketing consultancy Ebiquity, Ruben Schreurs, told Business Insider that most of the top 100 global advertisers he works with were still hesitant to invest in X, confirming, "no signs of a mass return."For X, the ad boycott has tanked revenue for years, even putting X on the brink of bankruptcy, Musk claimed. The billionaire paid $44 billion for the platform and at the end of 2024, Fidelity estimated that X was worth just $9.4 billion, CNN reported.But at the start of 2025, analysts predicted that advertisers may return to X to garner political favor with Musk, who remains a senior advisor in the Trump administration. Perhaps more importantly in the short-term, sources also told Bloomberg that X could potentially raise as much as Musk paid$44 billionfrom investors willing to help X pay down its debt to support new payments and video products.That could put a Band-Aid on X's financial wounds as Yaccarino attempts to persuade major brands that X isn't toxic (while X sues some of them) and Musk tries to turn the social media platform once known as Twitter into an "everything app" as ubiquitous in the US as WeChat is in China.MMFA alleged that its research showing how toxic X is today has been stifled by Musk's suits spanning three cities, but other groups have filled the gap. The Center for Countering Digital Hate has resumed its reporting since defeating X's lawsuit last March, and most recently University of California, Berkeley, researchers conducted a February analysis showing that "hate speech on the social media platform X rose about 50 percent" in the eight months after Musk's 2022 purchase, which suggests that advertisers had potentially good reason to be spooked by changes at X that seems to continue to keep them at bay today."Musk has continually tried to blame others for this loss in revenue since his takeover," MMFA's complaint said, alleging that all three suits were filed to intimidate MMFA "for having dared to publish an article Musk did not like."Ashley BelangerSenior Policy ReporterAshley BelangerSenior Policy Reporter Ashley is a senior policy reporter for Ars Technica, dedicated to tracking social impacts of emerging policies and new technologies. She is a Chicago-based journalist with 20 years of experience. 18 Comments

Saturn now has a total of 274 moonsNASA/JPL/Space Science InstituteA further 128 moons have been discovered orbiting Saturn, bringing the planets total to 274 more than there are around all the other planets in our solar system combined. But as advances in telescope technology allow us to spot progressively smaller planetary objects, astronomers face a problem: how tiny can a moon be before it is just a rock?Edward Ashton at Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan, and his colleagues found the new moons with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, revealing dozens that have previously evaded astronomers. They took hours of images of Saturn, adjusted them for the planets movement through the sky and stacked them on top of each other to reveal objects that would otherwise be too dim to see. AdvertisementAll the new moons are between 2 and 4 kilometres in diameter and are likely to have been formed hundreds of millions or even billions of years ago in collisions between larger moons, says Ashton.These are small little rocks floating in space, so some people might not find it quite an achievement, says Ashton. But I think its important to have a catalogue of all the objects in the solar system.The dot at the centre of this image is one of the new fuzzy blob moons of SaturnEdward Ashton et al. (2025)Despite the wealth of data gathered by his team, these latest moons still only appear as fuzzy blobs, says Ashton. There are more powerful telescopes that could potentially resolve the moons in more detail,The newly discovered moons have been recognised by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), and Ashton and his teamCould there be more moons out there? Scientists have spent decades scanning the area around Saturn with increasingly powerful telescopes, which has paid off in recent years. In 2019, 20 new moons were found, and Ashton and his colleagues had already discovered 62 in 2023, separate from the 128 they most recently found. Ultimately, it is likely that further discoveries will require advances in telescope technology, says Ashton, who believes there are easily thousands of moons in orbit around Saturn, even discounting the smaller, rocky debris found in the planets rings.Mike Alexandersen at the Minor Planet Center, which logs planetary bodies for the IAU, says there are likely to be many more moons yet to be found in our solar system as improvements to telescopes allow them to see smaller objects. He says decisions will have to be made about what does and doesnt count as a moon.I do know that the IAU decided that, due to the number of moons that are likely to exist, theyre not going to prioritise naming anything thats smaller than 1 kilometre. But thats not the same as them not recognising it as a moon, says Alexandersen. Theyll probably only name it if a spacecraft goes to visit it.He suggested that the cutoff between what is a moon and what is just a rock particle that makes up part of a planetary ring is probably going to be somewhere between 1 kilometre and 1 metre in diameter. In the end, it probably wont be my decision, itll be the IAU, which will make up some cutoff which will be more or less controversial just like the cut for whats a planet or not. And its most likely going to be relatively arbitrary, says Alexandersen.Elizabeth Day at Imperial College London says that, one day, there may even be commercial reasons for having accurate maps of the solar system. We might want to extract resources from asteroids and moons in the solar system, so having a great understanding of what is where is important for that, says Day.Topics:solar system/Saturn/moons

A mosaic image of asteroid Bennu composed of images collected by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraftNASA/Goddard/University of ArizonaThe asteroid Bennu is puzzling scientists, with samples from the space rock showing weirder properties than they expected. These include extremely high nitrogen levels and improbably magnetic properties.Scientists have been analysing clumps of rock from Bennu since NASAs OSIRIS-REx spacecraft returned samples from the asteroid to Earth in 2023. They quickly found these contained a plethora of the chemical building blocks for life, including particles