theck1 IT/AI news

Windows 11’s Steam Deck-ish, streamlined Xbox gaming UI comes to all PCs in April

Andrew Cunningham • March 11, 2026 When Asus and Microsoft launched the ROG Xbox Ally X last summer, it came with a bespoke controller-driven full-screen interface running on top of Windows 11. The handheld was still running Windows under the hood, and you could bring up the typical Windows desktop any time, but it defaulted

Explain it like I’m 5: Why is everyone on speakerphone in public?

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Nate Anderson • March 11, 2026 The key to working at a place like Ars Technica is solid news judgment. I’m talking about the kind of news judgment that knows whether a pet peeve is merely a pet peeve or whether it is, instead, a meaningful example of the Ways that Technology is Changing our

14,000 routers are infected by malware that’s highly resistant to takedowns

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Dan Goodin • March 11, 2026 Researchers say they have uncovered a takedown-resistant botnet of 14,000 routers and other network devices—primarily made by Asus—that have been conscripted into a proxy network that anonymously carries traffic used for cybercrime. The malware—dubbed KadNap—takes hold by exploiting vulnerabilities that have gone unpatched by their owners, Chris Formosa, a

FCC chair blasts Amazon after it criticizes SpaceX megaconstellation

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Eric Berger • March 11, 2026 It is fairly common for satellite companies to verbally spar over constellations, battling over territory such as preferred orbits and the electromagnetic spectrum for data transmission. The venue for such disputes is often the Federal Communications Commission, which has regulatory authority over satellite communications. Everyone pretty much fights with

Report: RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine agenda curbed as GOP realizes it’s unpopular

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Beth Mole • March 11, 2026 Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s relentless anti-vaccine agenda is getting reined in as Republicans warn that further attacks on lifesaving vaccines could harm the party during the midterms, according to a report by The Washington Post. The Post reported Wednesday that Kennedy’s hand-selected committee of vaccine advisors—who share

Google Play Games for PC is getting more premium titles and cross-buy with Android

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Ryan Whitwam • March 11, 2026 Google has been tinkering with porting its Play Games platform to Windows for several years, but it started getting serious about it last year. Now, with the 2026 Game Developer Conference underway, Google has announced a new batch of updates for its desktop gaming efforts. The company promises its

How I streamed my off-road Miata race using Starlink and StarStream

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Emme Hall • March 12, 2026 Regardless of your interest in motorsport, you’ve almost certainly heard of the Monaco Grand Prix, Daytona 500, and Indianapolis 500. These iconic races are easy to spectate, with grandstands lining the course and a camera or two at every turn. Video feeds from the race can be transmitted live

Remembering the 30-year-old computer game that introduced me to Star Wars

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Samuel Axon • March 12, 2026 I grew up in a Star Trek household, not a Star Wars one. More to the point, I wasn’t even allowed to watch Star Wars when I was a kid, so I didn’t see the original trilogy until I was nearly an adult—about 17 years old, as I recall.

OpenAI’s Sora video generator is reportedly coming to ChatGPT

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Stevie Bonifield • March 11, 2026 OpenAI’s Sora video generator could soon become a built-in feature in ChatGPT, as reported by The Information. Sora is currently only available on its website or as a standalone app, which has fallen shy of the popularity of ChatGPT. This update would allow users to access Sora’s video generation

Microsoft’s next Xbox, Project Helix, won’t reach alpha until 2027

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Jay Peters • March 11, 2026 We’re here at the 2026 Game Developers Conference, where Microsoft “VP of Next Generation” Jason Ronald is talking about a topic near and dear to many gamers’ hearts: the future of Xbox. Ronald says the next Xbox, codenamed Project Helix, will have a custom AMD chip with “an order