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HP has new incentive to stop blocking third-party ink in its printers Members of the International Imaging Technology Council (Int’l ITC) are calling out HP for issuing firmware updates that [brick third-party ink][1] and toner functionality in its printers. HP calls this Dynamic Security and has been doing it [for years][2]; however, the Int'l ITC is taking new issue with the practice, considering that it is explicitly prohibited for devices registered under the General Electronics Council’s (GEC’s) Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) 2.0 registry. The Int’l ITC is a nonprofit trade group that [says][3] it represents North American “toner and inkjet cartridge re-manufacturers, component suppliers, and cartridge collectors." It’s important to note that the Int’l ITC may be considered biased because its members could greatly profit when printer manufacturers commit to supporting aftermarket cartridges in devices. [Read full article][4] [Comments][5] [1]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/firmware-update-b… [2]: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/09/hp… [3]: https://i-itc.org/history/ [4]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/hp-has-new-incent… [5]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/hp-has-new-incent… https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/hp-has-new-incent…

Live Nation director boasted of gouging ticket buyers, "robbing them blind" Newly unsealed documents show that a Live Nation regional director boasted of gouging ticket buyers and "robbing them blind" with fees for ancillary services such as slight upgrades to parking. Live Nation has tried to exclude Slack messages from a trial that seeks a breakup of Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary, claiming the messages are irrelevant to the case, "highly prejudicial," and would "inflame the jury." The US government and state attorneys general opposed the motion to exclude evidence. US District Judge Arun Subramanian of the Southern District of New York hasn't ruled on the motion yet, but ordered the documents unsealed yesterday. Live Nation has touted the experiences it offers concertgoers at amphitheaters but sought "to exclude candid, internal messages in which the individual who is currently Head of Ticketing for these amphitheaters calls fans 'so stupid,' explains that he 'gouge[s]' them, and brags that Live Nation is 'robbing them blind, baby,'" said a [memorandum of law][1] filed by the US and states. [Read full article][2] [Comments][3] [1]: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd… [2]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/live-nation-d… [3]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/live-nation-d… https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/live-nation-d…

Trump's DOJ is not falling for Sam Bankman-Fried's MAGA makeover on X Ever since Donald Trump took office and declared himself a "pro-crypto president," FTX's disgraced founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, has been working to convince the administration that he's a Republican now. The former Democratic megadonor apparently hopes that a right-wing pivot might help him escape a [25-year prison sentence][1] ordered after Joe Biden's Department of Justice proved he stole more than $8 billion from customers of his cryptocurrency exchange. These days, Bankman-Fried frequently praises Trump's policies and quotes his Truth Social posts on X, where his bio confirms that posts are: "SBF's words. Posted through a proxy." He also regularly rants against Democrats, including Biden officials who, he claimed in a [motion][2] for a new trial, intimidated FTX employees into lying on the stand or refusing to testify in order to take down Bankman-Fried as a political foe. [Read full article][3] [Comments][4] [1]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/03/ftx-fraudster… [2]: https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/US… [3]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/trumps-doj-is… [4]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/trumps-doj-is… Sam Bankman-Fried, disgraced co-founder of FTX. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/trumps-doj-is…

Centuries before the Inca, Peru's wealthy imported parrots from afar Centuries before the rise of the Inca Empire, a much smaller kingdom on the central coast of Peru already had a sophisticated trade network—one it used to import live parrots across the Andes from the Amazon rainforest. Australian National University conservation geneticist George Olah and his colleagues recently studied feathers from a headdress in a Ychsman noble’s tomb, dating to 1100–1400 CE (the centuries before the rise of the Inca Empire). DNA and chemical isotopes reveal that the parrots the feathers came from (still bright blue, yellow, and green after all these centuries) were born in the wild on the far side of the Andes but kept in captivity somewhere on the Peruvian coast. To pull off importing live parrots from hundreds of miles away across the steep, towering Andes, the Ychsma (who the Inca annexed around 1470) must have had a far-reaching trade network that spanned at least half a continent. And they must have really liked birds. [Read full article][1] [Comments][2] [1]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/centuries-before-… [2]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/centuries-before-… This large, elaborate Ychsma funerary bundle features a wooden mask painted with cinnabar and adorned with a parrot-feather headdress. https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/centuries-before-…

Perplexity's "Personal Computer" brings its AI agents to the, uh, Personal Computer Last month Perplexity [announced][1] the confusingly named "Computer," its cloud-based agent tool for completing tasks using a harness that makes use of multiple different AI models. This week, the company is moving that kind of functionality to the desktop with the confusingly named "[Personal Computer][2]," now available in early access by invite only. Much like the cloud-based version, Personal Computer asks users to describe general objectives rather than specific computing tasks—[an introductory video][3] shows Personal Computer's questions in a sidebar asking things like, "Create an interactive educational guide" and "create a podcast about whales." But Personal Computer, running on a Mac Mini, also gives Perplexity's agents local access to your files and apps, which it can open and manipulate directly to attempt to complete those tasks. That should sound familiar to users of the open source [OpenClaw][4] (previously Moltbot), which similarly allows users to let AI agents loose on their personal machines. From the outside, Personal Computer looks like a more buttoned-up, user-friendly version of the same concept, with an easy-to-read, dockable interface that can help users track multiple tasks. Perplexity users can also log in remotely to their local copy of Personal Computer, making it "controllable from any device, anywhere," Perplexity says. [Read full article][5] [Comments][6] [1]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/02/perplexity-announces-c… [2]: https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/blog/everything-is-computer [3]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9mjOnznkNA [4]: https://arstechnica.com/tag/openclaw/ [5]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/perplexitys-personal-c… [6]: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/perplexitys-personal-c… A vague marketing image for Perplexity's "Personal Computer," which accompanies a blog post with the marketing phrase "Everything is Computer" https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/03/perplexitys-personal-c…

Lucid announces midsize EV platform, says profitability lies with SUVs Lucid's entry into the highly competitive, high-volume midsize SUV market will be key to achieving profitability, the company told investors today. And it's going to do that with a trio of electric SUVs that will use its new midsize EV platform, which it says has been engineered to deliver a starting price below $50,000. "Today, we’re keeping the same Lucid product and technology DNA intact, while applying increased scale, capital efficiency, and cost discipline, and materially reduced costs, to enable a great business with a clear and credible path to profitability and free cash flow, supported by what we are executing now and what we are building for the future," said Marc Winterhoff, interim CEO at Lucid. The company has provided a few details about the first two SUVs due on the new midsize platform. The Lucid Earth is aimed at "trendsetting achievers" and will be the more spacious one. The Lucid Cosmos we expect to be sportier—this one is targeting "upscale nurturers." The unnamed third SUV will likely be something a bit more off-roady, filling the same niche that [Rivian has gone for with its R2][1]. [Read full article][2] [Comments][3] [1]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/rivian-reveals-prici… [2]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/lucid-announces-mids… [3]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/lucid-announces-mids… Among the ways Lucid is making its next cars affordable is to reduce the amount of wiring it needs. https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/lucid-announces-mids…

We study pandemics, and the resurgence of measles is a grim sign of what’s coming In the three decades between 1993 and 2024, measles in the US was relatively rare—a few hundred cases each year, at most. But suddenly, the disease has become so entrenched in American life that it sometimes fails to make headlines when a new outbreak erupts. As of March 2026, measles has been continuously circulating around the US for more than a year, starting with an [outbreak in Texas][1] that lasted from January to August 2025. Before [that outbreak was declared over][2], an [outbreak on the Utah][3] and [Arizona border][4] began in August and is ongoing. An outbreak in [South Carolina][5] began in September, drastically increased in January 2026, and continues. [Thirty states have had measles cases this year][6]; 47 have seen cases since the start of 2025. Health officials across the US have [confirmed 1,300 infections already this year][7] as of March 6, putting the country on track to surpass 2025’s numbers, which were the highest in 35 years. [Read full article][8] [Comments][9] [1]: https://www.dshs.texas.gov/news-alerts/measles-outbreak-2025 [2]: https://www.dshs.texas.gov/news-alerts/texas-announces-en… [3]: https://files.epi.utah.gov/Utah%20measles%20dashboard.html [4]: https://www.azdhs.gov/preparedness/epidemiology-disease-c… [5]: https://dph.sc.gov/diseases-conditions/infectious-disease… [6]: https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html [7]: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/measles/us-measles-total-appro… [8]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/we-study-pandemic… [9]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/we-study-pandemic… Signs point the way to measles testing in the parking lot of the Seminole Hospital District across from Wigwam Stadium on February 27, 2025 in Seminole, Texas. https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/we-study-pandemic…

Rivian reveals pricing and trim details for its R2 SUV Between [the antics particular to a certain car company][1] and the industrial chaos that was set off by COVID (then compounded by the invasion of Ukraine) it's easy to have become cynical about things like timelines. And yet, [when Rivian showed off a midsize electric vehicle][2] in 2024 and said it would go on sale during the first half of 2026, it meant it: deliveries of the first R2 SUVs will begin this spring. As a new automaker Rivian often does things its own way, but with the R2 launch it's following industry practice and starting with the more superlative version first. That's the R2 Performance, which starts at $57,990 with the launch package (but not including a $1,495 delivery charge). You get quite a lot of electric SUV for that, however: up to 330 miles (531 km) from a single charge of the 87.9 kWh battery pack, with 656 hp (489 kW) and 609 lb-ft (825 Nm) from the dual motor powertrain. Fast charging takes 29 minutes from 10-80 percent. The Performance features semi-active suspension, a rear window that drops into the tailgate, an interior with birch accents, heating for the front and rear seats with ventilation for the former as well, a nine-speaker sound system, matrix LED headlights, and some other neat touches like the flashlight that lives in the side of the door, similar to the way some cars [hide an umbrella there][3]. [Read full article][4] [Comments][5] [1]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2018/04/experts-say-tesla-ha… [2]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/03/rivian-reveals-three… [3]: https://www.jalopnik.com/more-cars-need-built-in-umbrella… [4]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/rivian-reveals-prici… [5]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/rivian-reveals-prici… Rivian brings its friendly looking styling to the midsize electric SUV segment as it prepares to start deliveries of the R2. https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/rivian-reveals-prici…

Valve compares its loot boxes to Labubus in lawsuit defense Last month, the New York Attorney General (NYAG) [brought a lawsuit against Valve][1] accusing the company of promoting "illegal gambling" through its randomized in-game loot boxes. On Wednesday, Valve [issued its first public comment on the case][2], comparing its digital loot boxes to randomized real-world purchases like blind-bagged toys or packs of trading cards. "Generations have grown up opening baseball card packs and blind boxes and bags, and then trading and selling the items they receive," Valve wrote. "On the physical side, popular products used in this way include baseball cards, Pokemon, Magic the Gathering, and Labubu." Though that may seem like an apt comparison on the surface, Valve's loot boxes differ from these real-world examples in large part because of Valve's control of the Steam Marketplace, which serves as the only legitimate way to exchange or resell those items. While owners of real-world items are free to trade or sell them however they want, Valve has cracked down on many third-party sites that enable the exchange of in-game items—[especially][3] when those items are [used as glorified chips for gambling games][4]. [Read full article][5] [Comments][6] [1]: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/02/new-york-sues-valv… [2]: https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/6300-A6C4-519D… [3]: https://store.steampowered.com/oldnews/22883 [4]: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/07/valve-lawyers-send… [5]: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/03/valve-compares-its… [6]: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/03/valve-compares-its… What's in the box? https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/03/valve-compares-its…

Apple's MacBook Neo makes repairs easier and cheaper than other MacBooks Apple's [MacBook Neo][1] is the company's first serious effort to break into the sub-$1,000 laptop business, challenging midrange Windows laptops and Chromebooks with its $599 starting price and its focus on build quality rather than high-end performance. One less-advertised change that may make the Neo more appealing to businesses, schools, and the accident-prone is that its internal design is a bit more modular and easier to repair than other modern MacBooks. That's our takeaway after spending some time thumbing through the official MacBook Neo repair documentation that Apple published on its support site this week. Replacements for pretty much any component [in the Neo][2] are simpler and involve fewer steps and tools than in [the M5 MacBook Air][3]. That includes the battery, which [in the MacBook Air][4] is attached to the chassis with multiple screws and adhesive strips but which in the Neo [comes out relatively easily][5] after you get some shielding and flex cables out of the way. [Read full article][6] [Comments][7] [1]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/apple-macbook-neo… [2]: https://support.apple.com/en-us/126172 [3]: https://support.apple.com/en-us/125709 [4]: https://support.apple.com/en-us/125712 [5]: https://support.apple.com/en-us/126157 [6]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/more-modular-desi… [7]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/more-modular-desi… The MacBook Neo. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/more-modular-desi…

Google Maps gets its biggest navigation redesign in a decade, plus more AI Google Maps is one of the company's core products, which means it hasn't escaped the [shift to Gemini][1]. There will be more opportunities to converse with a robot in Google Maps starting today, but there's also a new navigation experience on the way. The revamped navigation isn't as explicitly focused on the AI revolution, but Google stresses Gemini is still key to making it work. The latest AI shift in Maps is called Ask Maps, and you can probably guess what it does just from its title. Ask Maps is a Gemini-powered conversational system that can plan trips and answer complex questions about locations across the app's millions of cataloged points of interest. Ask Maps, Reservation Ask Maps, Reservation The new chatbot will be accessible via a button up near the search bar. You can ask it anything you're likely to find in Google Maps without jumping into another app. You can ask for directions, of course, but it can also plan out road trips and vacations from a single prompt. Ask Maps works like a chatbot, so it accepts follow-up prompts to refine and expand on its suggestions. [Read full article][2] [Comments][3] [1]: https://arstechnica.com/google/2025/11/so-long-assistant-… [2]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/google-maps-gets-… [3]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/google-maps-gets-… https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/google-maps-gets-…

Facing heavy losses, Honda cancels its three US-made electric vehicles Last year, [Honda gave Ars a tour][1] of some of its manufacturing facilities in Ohio. The Anna Engine Plant and Marysville Auto Plant had undergone a transformation that added to their capabilities: a massive die cast operation to make electric vehicle battery packs alongside the lines that make engines at Anna, and a gleaming new section of Marysville filled with robots, ready to incorporate three new Honda and Acura EVs into the production mix alongside Accords and Integras. Only now, they won't. Earlier today, Honda announced that it's facing heavy losses for the financial year: between $5.1 billion and $7 billion (820 billion–1.12 trillion yen). To help stanch the flow, it's sacrificing the Honda 0 SUV, Honda 0 sedan, and the electric Acura RSX, EVs [it revealed at CES last year][2] in "nearly production" state. Honda says there are several reasons for killing off its new EVs before they even reach the market. The first is extremely predictable: the ongoing chaos of the trade war and its tariffs, which have eaten into the profitability of the cars it imports into the US. A second is the US government's revanchist decision to cease enforcing emissions and fuel economy standards on the auto industry. Although Honda says that "striving for carbon neutrality" is a "responsibility Honda... must fulfill for the future," it seems that responsibility only applies when being forced by a government. [Read full article][3] [Comments][4] [1]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/02/honda-cleans-greens-… [2]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/01/after-partnerships-w… [3]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/facing-heavy-losses-… [4]: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/facing-heavy-losses-… The Honda 0 SUV and Honda 0 sedan were to go into production in Ohio. Now they won't. https://arstechnica.com/cars/2026/03/facing-heavy-losses-…