A former cop in the United Kingdom was sentenced to 5 and a half years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to covering up his theft of 50 bitcoins seized during an investigation into the now-defunct illicit dark web marketplace Silk Road.

In 2014, the former UK National Crime Agency (NCA) officer, Paul Chowles, assisted in the arrest of Thomas White, a man "who had launched Silk Road 2.0 less than a month after the FBI had shut down the original site in 2013," the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a press release.

Chowles was tapped to analyze and extract "relevant data and cryptocurrency" from White's seized devices, specifically due to Chowles' reputation for being "technically minded and very aware of the dark web and cryptocurrencies," CPS said.

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Karl Urban takes a break from The Boys to play a washed-up Johnny Cage in the trailer for Mortal Kombat II, a sequel to 2021's Mortal Kombat reboot and the fourth live-action film in the franchise based on the 1990s video game series. It comes one day after Warner Bros. released a (very entertaining) fake trailer for a new in-universe, faux 1990s Johnny Cage movie, Uncaged Fury. (Cage's prior fake film credits apparently include Cool Hand Cage, Hard to Cage, and Rebel Without a Cage.)

The first live-action Mortal Kombat film turns 30 this year. It was a box office success but a critical failure, although it has since evolved into a campy cult classic—and Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa is still considered by many to be the definitive portrayal of sorcerer Shang Tsung.  A 1997 sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, however, bombed both critically and financially. And Midway, the game publisher, filed for bankruptcy soon after.

However, Warner Bros. bought the rights and eventually tapped Simon McQuoid to direct a reboot more than 20 years after the original's release, focusing on MMA fighter Cole Young (Lewis Tan). The 2021 film earned mixed reviews, but performed sufficiently well at the box office for Warner Bros. to green-light a sequel, also directed by McQuoid. The 2021 film ended with Cole heading to Los Angeles to look for martial arts movie star Johnny Cage, who is the main protagonist of Mortal Kombat II.

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Gamers of a certain age will remember a period roughly 15 years ago when the industry collectively decided stereoscopic 3D was going to be the next big thing in gaming. From Nvidia's "3D Vision" glasses system to Nintendo's glasses-free 3DS to Sony's 3D TV aimed specifically at gamers, major gaming companies put a lot of effort into bringing a sense of real depth to the flat video game scenes of the day.

Unfortunately for those companies, the stereoscopic 3D gaming hype faded almost as quickly as it rose; by 2012, most companies were scaling back their stereoscopic investments in light of underwhelming public demand (case in point: Nintendo's pivot to the 3D-free 2DS line of portables). And while some stray upstarts have tried to revive the stereoscopic gaming dream in the years since, the idea seemed destined to be a footnote in gaming tech history.

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The premiere of Alien: Earth is just weeks away, and FX/Hulu dropped one last trailer to pique our interest, along with a much more detailed synopsis. It's meditative and existential in tone, with a haunting tune playing over footage of mysterious alien craft, dead bodies, blood-spattered humans fleeing through futuristic corridors, and, of course, a spooky silhouette of a xenomorph in the distance.

As previously reported, the eight-episode series is set in 2120, two years before the events of the first film, Alien (1979), in a world where corporate interests are competing to unlock the key to human longevity—maybe even immortality. Showrunner Noah Hawley has said that the style and mythology will be closer to that film than Prometheus (2012) or Alien: Covenant, both of which were also prequels.

Per the official premise:

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The US Senate voted to rescind two years' worth of funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), delivering a blow to public radio and television stations around the country. The CPB is a publicly funded nonprofit corporation that supports NPR and PBS stations.

The 51-48 vote today on President Trump's rescissions package would eliminate $1.1 billion that was allocated to public broadcasting for fiscal years 2026 and 2027. All 51 yes votes came from Republicans, while Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) voted against. The $1.1 billion includes $60 million for "costs associated with replacing and upgrading the public broadcasting interconnection system" and other back-end infrastructure for public media.

"Without federal funding, many local public radio and television stations will be forced to shut down. Parents will have fewer high quality learning resources available for their children," CPB CEO Patricia Harrison said. "Millions of Americans will have less trustworthy information about their communities, states, country, and world with which to make decisions about the quality of their lives. Cutting federal funding could also put Americans at risk of losing national and local emergency alerts that serve as a lifeline to many Americans in times of severe need."

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How many Google AI researchers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A recent research paper detailing the technical core behind Google's Gemini AI assistant may suggest an answer, listing an eye-popping 3,295 authors.

It's a number that recently caught the attention of machine learning researcher David Ha (known as "hardmaru" online), who revealed on X that the first 43 names also contain a hidden message. "There’s a secret code if you observe the authors’ first initials in the order of authorship," Ha wrote, relaying the Easter egg: "GEMINI MODELS CAN THINK AND GET BACK TO YOU IN A FLASH."

The paper, titled "Gemini 2.5: Pushing the Frontier with Advanced Reasoning, Multimodality, Long Context, and Next Generation Agentic Capabilities," describes Google's Gemini 2.5 Pro and Gemini 2.5 Flash AI models, which were released in March. These large language models, which power Google's chatbot AI assistant, feature simulated reasoning capabilities that produce a string of "thinking out loud" text before generating responses in an attempt to help them solve more difficult problems. That explains "think" and "flash" in the hidden text.

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It's widely accepted conventional wisdom that when it comes to creative works—TV shows, films, music, books—consumers crave an optimal balance between novelty and familiarity. What we choose to consume and share with others, in turn, drives cultural evolution.

But what if that conventional wisdom is wrong? An analysis based on data from a massive online fan fiction (fanfic) archive contradicts this so-called "balance theory," according to a paper published in the journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. The fanfic community seems to overwhelmingly prefer more of the same, consistently choosing familiarity over novelty; however, they reported greater overall enjoyment when they took a chance and read something more novel. In short: "Sameness entices, but novelty enchants."

Strictly speaking, authors have always copied characters and plots from other works (cf. many of William Shakespeare's plays), although the advent of copyright law complicated matters. Modern fan fiction as we currently think of it arguably emerged with the 1967 publication of the first Star Trek fanzine (Spockanalia), which included spinoff fiction based on the series. Star Trek also spawned the subgenre of slash fiction, when writers began creating stories featuring Kirk and Spock (Kirk/Spock, or K/S) in a romantic (often sexual) relationship.

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Delta has become the first airline to announce that it is using AI to boost profits by personalizing pricing through a pilot program that for months has caused customers to pay different prices for the same flights based on their data profile.

Critics have warned that this use of AI goes beyond airline practices that charge people who book flights ahead less than people who book flights at the last minute—and could ultimately mean the end of cheap flights across the board if other airlines follow.

On an earnings call last week, Delta Air Lines President Glen William Hauenstein confirmed that seats on about 3 percent of domestic flights were sold using the AI pricing system over the past six months. By the end of the year, Delta's goal is to boost that to 20 percent of tickets.

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Automakers selling cars in the United States now have even less incentive to care about fuel economy. As Ars has noted before, the current administration and its Republican allies in Congress have been working hard to undermine federal regulations meant to make our vehicle fleet more efficient.

Some measures have been aimed at decreasing adoption of electric vehicles—for example the IRS clean vehicle tax credit will be eliminated at the end of September. Others have targeted federal fuel economy regulations that require automakers to meet specific fleet efficiency averages or face punishing fines for polluting too much. At least, they used to.

According to a letter seen by Reuters, sent to automakers by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal government has decided it will not levy any fines on companies that have exceeded the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) limits dating back to model year 2022.

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The European Commission has stalled one of its investigations into Elon Musk’s X for breaking the bloc’s digital transparency rules, while it seeks to conclude trade talks with the US.

Brussels was expected to finalise its probe into the social media platform before the EU’s summer recess but will miss this deadline, according to three officials familiar with the matter. They noted that a decision was likely to follow after clarity emerged in the EU-US trade negotiations. “It’s all tied up,” one of the officials added.

The EU has several investigations into X under the bloc’s Digital Services Act, a set of rules for large online players to police their platforms more aggressively.

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For the 2025 model year, Aston Martin's user interface took a major step forward across the lineup, with improvements to the physical controls and digital infotainment, as well as updated gauge cluster layouts. However, the big news dropped in the spring, when Aston and Apple announced the launch of CarPlay Ultra, the next generation of Apple's nearly ubiquitous automotive operating system.

Ultra extends beyond the strictly “phone” functions of traditional CarPlay to now encompass more robust vehicular integration, including climate control, drive modes, and the entire gauge cluster readout. Running Ultra, therefore, requires a digital gauge cluster. So far, not many automakers other than Aston have signaled their intent to join the revolution: Kia/Hyundai/Genesis will adopt Ultra next, and Porsche may come after that.

Before future partnerships come to fruition, I spent a week with a DB12 Volante to test Ultra's use cases and conceptual failure points, most critically to discover whether this generational leap actually enhances or detracts from an otherwise stellar driving experience.

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Broadcom is kicking some cloud service providers (CSPs) out of the VMware channel partner program, bringing uncertainty for the technological and financial futures of numerous businesses, especially small-to-medium-sized ones.

As reported by The Register today, Broadcom this week revealed to VMware CSP partners that it is launching a new invite-only channel program for CSPs on November 1. Fewer CSPs are expected to be eligible for this new program. The Register said that “some mid-size partners won’t be invited to the new program."

Current VMware CSPs that didn’t receive an invite for the new program by today have reportedly been cut and will receive a notice of non-renewal.

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The Mercedes-Benz CLA is a marked departure from Mercedes' EV efforts. Instead of a dedicated line of EQ vehicles—like the EQB, EQC, and EQS—we're getting vehicles "with EQ Technology." It started with the electric G Wagon, but the CLA is the first mainstream product to make the change. The thing is that the change is significant and for the better. Several months ago, we got some time in a prototype CLA; now we've driven the final product.

The CLA returns for the 2026 model year as an EV first (with a hybrid coming) on an all-new 800-volt architecture. This architecture will find its way to other Mercedes vehicles, like the upcoming GLB and GLC. This thoroughly modern setup features some of the company's biggest innovations.

The CLA will be available with either one or two electric motors, with a two-speed setup for efficiency and performance. The 250+ base model makes 268 hp (200 kW) and 247 lb-ft (335 Nm) of torque. Mercedes is claiming up to 792 km of range with this model on the WLTP cycle. Accounting for WLTP's optimism, it's still possible we might see an EPA-rated range over 400 miles, but Mercedes isn't quoting any real numbers yet.

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Researchers from the Google Threat Intelligence Group said that hackers are compromising SonicWall Secure Mobile Access (SMA) appliances, which sit at the edge of enterprise networks and manage and secure access by mobile devices.

The targeted devices are end of life, meaning they no longer receive regular updates for stability and security. Despite the status, many organizations continue to rely on them. That has left them prime targets by UNC6148, the name Google has given to the unknown hacking group.

“GTIG recommends that all organizations with SMA appliances perform analysis to determine if they have been compromised,” a report published Wednesday said, using the abbreviation for Google Threat Intelligence Group. “Organizations should acquire disk images for forensic analysis to avoid interference from the rootkit anti-forensic capabilities. Organizations may need to engage with SonicWall to capture disk images from physical appliances.”

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Valve's famously permissive rules for what games are and are not allowed on Steam got a little less permissive this week, seemingly in response to outside pressure from some of its partner companies. In a Tuesday update to the "Rules and Guidelines" section of Steam's Onboarding Documentation, the company added a new rule prohibiting "Content that may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam’s payment processors and related card networks and banks, or Internet network providers. In particular, certain kinds of adult only content."

On its own, the new rule seems rather vague, with no details on which of the many kinds of "adult only content" would belong in the "certain" subset prohibited by these unnamed payment processors and ISPs. But the trackers over at SteamDB noticed that the publication of the new rule coincides with the removal of dozens of Steam games whose titles make reference to incest, along with a handful of sex games referencing "slave" or "prison" imagery.

Holding the keys to the bank

Valve isn't alone in having de facto restrictions on content imposed on it by outside payment processors. In 2022, for instance, Visa suspended all payments to Pornhub's ad network after the adult video site was accused of profiting from child sexual abuse materials. And PayPal has routinely disallowed payments to file-sharing sites and VPN providers over concerns surrounding piracy of copyrighted materials.

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xAI continues to face backlash over its Memphis data center, as the NAACP joined groups today appealing the issuance of a recently granted permit that the groups say will allow xAI to introduce major new sources of pollutants without warning at any time.

The battle over the gas turbines powering xAI's data center began last April when thermal imaging seemed to show that the firm was lying about dozens of seemingly operational turbines that could be a major source of smog-causing pollution. By June, the NAACP got involved, notifying the Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) of its intent to sue xAI to force Elon Musk's AI company to engage with community members in historically Black neighborhoods who are believed to be most affected by the pollution risks.

But the NAACP's letter seemingly did nothing to stop the SCHD from granting the permits two weeks later on July 2, as well as exemptions that xAI does not appear to qualify for, the appeal noted. Now, the NAACP—alongside environmental justice groups; the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC); and Young, Gifted and Green—is appealing. The groups are hoping the Memphis and Shelby County Air Pollution Control Board will revoke the permit and block the exemptions, agreeing that the SCHD's decisions were fatally flawed, violating the Clean Air Act and local laws.

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Netflix has finally released an extended teaser for the fifth and final season of Stranger Things, airing late this year. It's got everything we could hope for in terms of the conclusive showdown—spooky shots of the Upside Down bleeding into Hawkins, attacking demo-dogs, flamethrowers—plus an armed and dangerous Linda Hamilton taking on the monsters beside our plucky Hawkins crew.

(Spoilers for prior seasons below.)

S4 ended with Vecna—the Big Bad behind it all—opening the gate that allowed the Upside Down to leak into Hawkins. We're getting a time jump for S5, but in a way, we're coming full circle, since the events coincide with the third anniversary of Will's original disappearance in S1. The fifth season will have eight episodes, and each one will be looong—akin to eight feature-length films. Per the official premise:

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Ars Technica's community is—in our biased opinion—second to none online. For more than 26 years, readers have enabled and inspired our work, creating a community with an amazing signal-to-noise ratio. To aid these efforts, we're updating our Posting Guidelines to make them more accessible to new readers—and more straightforward and more transparent for everyone.

The substance of the guidelines isn't changing. Most provisions are just common-sense items meant to foster genuine discussion, such as the prohibitions against hate speech, personal attacks, trolling, and spam. We did, however, think a few rules could be clarified and that we could explain the moderation process more clearly. To that end, we are introducing The Ars Posting Guidelines Version 3.0. (The previous version of the Guidelines is archived here for comparison purposes, but again, the substance hasn't changed.)

We now outline the moderation process more clearly because it has caused some confusion in the past. As Captain Barbossa put it in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, "The Code is more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules." Same thing here. Human judgment will always be used when it comes to interpreting infractions. We will, for instance, be much more patient with long-term members who have a history of good-faith posts but who sometimes have a bad day—but much less tolerant of brand-new posters who try to stir people up.

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The Trump administration yesterday sued three Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) board members who refused to leave their offices after President Trump fired them.

On April 28, the White House informed Democratic board members Laura Ross, Thomas Rothman, and Diane Kaplan that their board positions were "terminated effective immediately." Their departures would have left the board with only two members, both Republicans, but the CPB defied the president and continued with five board members.

The US government's lawsuit against Ross, Rothman, and Kaplan alleged that they "have been usurping and purporting to exercise unlawfully the office of board member of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting... As recent Supreme Court orders have recognized, the President cannot meaningfully exercise his executive power under Article II of the Constitution without the power to select—and, when necessary, remove—those who hold federal office."

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A Falcon 9 rocket launched from Florida's Space Coast overnight with a batch of Internet satellites for Amazon's Project Kuiper network, thrusting a rival one step closer to competing with SpaceX's Starlink broadband service.

Amazon's third set of operational Kuiper satellites lifted off at 2:30 am EST (06:30 UTC) on Wednesday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket arced downrange over the Atlantic Ocean, heading northeast to place its payload into the Kuiper constellation at an inclination of 51.9 degrees to the equator.

The Falcon 9's upper stage released the 24 Kuiper satellites about an hour after launch at an altitude of approximately 289 miles (465 kilometers). The satellites will use onboard electric propulsion to raise their orbits and reach their operating altitude of 391 miles (630 kilometers).

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