Chrome OS is “combining” with Android, but what does that mean?

Chrome OS is “combining” with Android, but what does that mean?

fivenewscrypto    juillet 15, 2025   

Android and Chrome OS have been developed in parallel for years, but Google is planning to streamline its operating systems. In a recent interview, Android Ecosystem President Sameer Samat stated bluntly that Android and Chrome OS are merging. This shift, a long time in the making, could give Google more room to maneuver as it plans for new mobile computing experiences.

In the interview, TechRadar's Lance Ulanoff had other things on his mind, but Samat peppered him with questions about how he uses his Apple devices. "I asked because we’re going to be combining ChromeOS and Android into a single platform, and I am very interested in how people are using their laptops these days and what they’re getting done," said Samat.

We don't get back to this point in the remainder of the interview, but it's probably the most interesting thing Samat said. "Combining" can mean many things, but we can certainly speculate. In this case, it might mean the writing is on the wall for Chrome OS as it currently exists.

Read full article

Comments

New Grok AI model surprises experts by checking Elon Musk’s views before answering

New Grok AI model surprises experts by checking Elon Musk’s views before answering

fivenewscrypto    juillet 15, 2025   

An AI model launched last week appears to have shipped with an unexpected occasional behavior: checking what its owner thinks first.

On Friday, independent AI researcher Simon Willison documented that xAI's new Grok 4 model searches for Elon Musk's opinions on X (formerly Twitter) when asked about controversial topics. The discovery comes just days after xAI launched Grok 4 amid controversy over an earlier version of the chatbot generating antisemitic outputs, including labeling itself as "MechaHitler."

"That is ludicrous," Willison told Ars Technica upon initially hearing about the Musk-seeking behavior last week from AI researcher Jeremy Howard, who traced the discovery through various users on X. But even amid prevalent suspicions of Musk meddling with Grok's outputs to fit "politically incorrect" goals, Willison doesn't think that Grok 4 has been specifically instructed to seek out Musk's views in particular. "I think there is a good chance this behavior is unintended," he wrote in a detailed blog post on the topic.

Read full article

Comments

Hyundai’s Ioniq 6 N offers more sound, more shifts, more smiles

Hyundai’s Ioniq 6 N offers more sound, more shifts, more smiles

fivenewscrypto    juillet 15, 2025   

Hyundai provided flights from Albany, New York, to London and accommodation so Ars could attend the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Ioniq 6 N reveal. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.

Hyundai's N division is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2025. That's not long enough to earn the cachet of other performance sub-brands, like BMW's M or Mercedes-Benz's AMG, but N has certainly developed a reputation for fun, attainable, and powder-blue cars. With the Ioniq 5 N, Hyundai's skunkworks for speed proved that it can do the impossible: make an EV that's ridiculously, irrationally fun. Now, it's trying to reproduce that magic.

Meet the Ioniq 6 N, a new big-winged, high-powered, pastel-dipped machine designed for those who cross the spectrum between a love of EVs and a need for speed. It shares much of the performance architecture of the Ioniq 5 N, including stronger motors and cooling to match, but it has some significant updates that should make it even more engaging and fun.

Let's start with what's the same: The Ioniq 6 N uses a pair of uprated electric motors to deliver 641 hp (478 kW) and 568 lb-ft (779 nm) of torque, directed to all four wheels. Not only can those motors put out big power, but they can regen it as well, with the Ioniq 6 N able to brake at up to 0.6 G before it calls in support from its physical brake. (That's about twice as much as most EVs, which usually switch over to friction brakes at 0.3 G.)

Read full article

Comments

Two guys hated using Comcast, so they built their own fiber ISP

Two guys hated using Comcast, so they built their own fiber ISP

fivenewscrypto    juillet 15, 2025   

Samuel Herman and Alexander Baciu never liked using Comcast's cable broadband. Now, the residents of Saline, Michigan, operate a fiber Internet service provider that competes against Comcast in their neighborhoods and has ambitions to expand.

"All throughout my life pretty much, I've had to deal with Xfinity's bullcrap, them not being able to handle the speeds that we need," Herman told Ars. "I lived in a house of 10. I have seven other brothers and sisters, and there's 10 of us in total with my parents."

With all those kids using the Internet for school and other needs, "it just doesn't work out," he said. Herman was particularly frustrated with Comcast upload speeds, which are much slower than the cable service's download speeds.

Read full article

Comments

Species at 30 makes for a great guilty pleasure

Species at 30 makes for a great guilty pleasure

fivenewscrypto    juillet 15, 2025   

Earlier this month, Hollywood mourned the passing of Michael Madsen, a gifted actor best known for his critically acclaimed roles in Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill, and Donnie Brasco, among others. Few obituaries have mentioned one of his lesser-known roles: a black ops mercenary hired to help hunt down an escaped human/alien hybrid in 1995's Species. The sci-fi thriller turns 30 this year, and while it garnered decidedly mixed reviews upon release, the film holds up quite well as a not-quite-campy B monster movie that makes for a great guilty pleasure.

(Many spoilers below.)

Screenwriter Dennis Feldman (The Golden Child) was partially inspired by an Arthur C. Clarke article discussing how the odds were slim that an extraterrestrial craft would ever visit Earth, given the great distances that would need to be traversed (assuming that traveling faster than the speed of light would be highly unlikely). Feldman was intrigued by the prospect of making extraterrestrial contact via information— specifically, alien instructions on how to build an instrument that could talk to terrestrial humans.

Read full article

Comments

A new Martian climate model suggest a mostly cold, harsh environment

A new Martian climate model suggest a mostly cold, harsh environment

fivenewscrypto    juillet 14, 2025   

The Curiosity rover was sent up the Mount Sharp, the biggest sediments stack on Mars. On the way, it collected samples that indicated a portion of carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere might have been sequestered in the sedimentary rocks, just as it happens with limestone on Earth. This would have drawn carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, reducing the greenhouse effect that warmed the planet.

Based on these findings, a team of scientists led by Benjamin Tutolo, a researcher at the University of Calgary, used this data to conclude Mars had a carbon cycle that could explain the presence of liquid water on its surface. Building on that earlier work, a team led by Edwin Kite, a professor of planetary science at the University of Chicago (and member of the Curiosity science team) has now built the first Martian climate model that took these new results into account. The model also included Martian topography, the luminosity of the Sun, latest orbital data, and many other factors to predict how the Martian conditions and landscape evolved over the span of 3.5 billion years.

Their results mean that any Martian life would have had a rough time of it.

Read full article

Comments

5 big EV takeaways from Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill”

5 big EV takeaways from Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill”

fivenewscrypto    juillet 14, 2025   

If you’re an electric vehicle enthusiast, President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) is anything but. The legislation, signed by the president last weekend, cuts all sorts of US government support for emission-light vehicles. The whole thing creates a measure of uncertainty for an American auto industry that’s already struggling to stay afloat during a sea change.

Still, nearly one in four US vehicle shoppers say they’re still “very likely” to consider buying an EV, and 35 percent say they’re “somewhat likely,” according to a May survey by JD Power—figures unchanged since last year. On those EV-curious folks’ behalf, WIRED asked experts for their tips for navigating this weird time in cars.

Go electric … soon? Now?

First things first: The new bill nixed the electric vehicle tax credit of up to $7,500, bringing to an end years of federal support for EVs. This program was supposed to last until 2032 but is now set to expire on September 30. This extra oomph from the feds helped some of the “cheapest” electrics—like the $43,000 Tesla Model 3, the $37,000 Chevy Equinox EV, and the $61,000 Hyundai Ioniq 9—feel more accessible to people with smaller (but not small) budgets.

Read full article

Comments