Browsing: Tech Reviews

Verizon’s network is experiencing technical issues that are impacting calls and wireless data. Verizon customers on X have reported seeing “SOS” rather than the traditional network bars on their smartphones, and even the network provider’s own status page struggled to load, likely due to the number of customers trying to access it.Based on the experience of Verizon users on Engadget’s staff, the services that are impacted appear to be calls and wireless data. Text messages continue to be delivered normally, at least for some users. On DownDetector, reports of a Verizon outage started growing around 12PM ET and numbered in…

Joseph Maldonado/CNETVerizon said late Wednesday that it has resolved a major service outage on Wednesday that reportedly affected more than 2 million customers, rendering them unable to use their devices.In a comment to CNET sent late Wednesday, a Verizon spokesperson apologized for the outage and promised that the company would give credits to customers who were affected:Today, we let many of our customers down and for that, we are truly sorry. They expect more from us. We are working non-stop and making progress. Our teams will continue to work through the night until service is restored for all impacted customers. We will make…

Global copper demand will outpace supply by millions of metric tons soon, experts warnRecycling alone cannot meet growing copper demand over the next two decadesChina dominates nearly half of the global copper smelting and refining capacityCopper demand continues to rise as electrification expands across transport, power generation, and industrial systems, experts have warned, with potential shortages possibly not too far away.Electric vehicles, grid upgrades, renewable energy installations, and data center infrastructure all rely heavily on copper for wiring, motors, and interconnects.Even components closely tied to a CPU and high-speed memory subsystems rely on dense copper pathways at both board and…

In a network, everything goes through the router. As a result, its security determines the entire system’s overall security. This post explains simple steps to keep your Wi-Fi router secure, enough to give you peace of mind. Security is nuanced—the only way to be absolutely secure in networking is to unplug. Dong’s note: I originally published this post on April 17, 2018, and last updated it on January 13, 2026, to add up-to-date, relevant information. Related stories on home network security and privacy Wi-Fi router security: You can’t tell how secure your router is by looking at it intensely. Home…

RAM prices have soared, which is bad news for people interested in buying, building, or upgrading a computer this year, but it’s likely good news for people exasperated by talk of so-called AI PCs. As Ars Technica has reported, the growing demands of data centers, fueled by the AI boom, have led to a shortage of RAM and flash memory chips, driving prices to skyrocket. In an announcement today, Ben Yeh, principal analyst at technology research firm Omdia, said that in 2025, “mainstream PC memory and storage costs rose by 40 percent to 70 percent, resulting in cost increases being…

Several of Meta’s VR studios have been affected by the company’s metaverse-focused layoffs. The company has shuttered three of its VR studios, including Armature, Sanzaru and Twisted Pixel. VR fitness app Supernatural will no longer be updated with fresh content.Employees at Twisted Pixel, which released Marvel’s Deadpool VR in November, and Sanzaru, known for Asgard’s Wrath, posted on social media about the closures. Bloomberg reported that Armature, which brought Resident Evil 4 to Quest back in 2021 has also closed and that the popular VR fitness app Supernatural will no longer get updates.“Due to recent organizational changes to our Studio,…

With everything being done digitally nowadays, there’s little reason to keep all those receipts like before (you know, “just in case”). And if you don’t carry cash, there’s no good reason to have those old-fashioned wallets, either. Minimal wallets allow you to carry just those few cards you can’t be without, while looking modern and stylish to boot. Modern wallets seem to be trending toward simplicity and minimalism, with card slots for an ID, credit cards and a couple of other items. These wallets tend to be highly durable — with some offering RFID protection — and are secure enough…

Here’s the thing about distributed denial-of-service attacks: for years, terabit-scale floods were the cybersecurity equivalent of a hundred-year storm.You’d read about them in incident reports, nod gravely, and go back to worrying about ransomware. 2025 ended that comfortable abstraction.Jérôme MeyerSocial Links NavigationLeads security research for Nokia Deepfield.Terabit-level DDoS attacks are now a daily occurrence for major telecommunications providers. Not weekly. Not “several times a month.” Daily. The first attack exceeding 10 Tbps landed in September. By October, we were tracking incidents past 30 Tbps. You may like The industry is already bracing for 100 Tbps: not as a theoretical ceiling,…

If you’re still sad that Micron retired its Crucial brand late last year to focus on providing system memories for the development of artificial intelligence, here’s some good news: The storage and memory maker today announced at CES 2026 the Micron 3610 NVMe, its first PCIe Gen 5 QLC NVMe SSD for mainstream PCs, both desktops and laptops. As it seems, Micron’s support for general consumers hasn’t died completely, just the Crucial brand. Still, the effect of AI in the whole process remains true. Related stories on Micron SSD and general storage The Micron 3610 M.2 NVMe SSD is available…

On Sunday, Google removed some of its AI Overviews health summaries after a Guardian investigation found people were being put at risk by false and misleading information. The removals came after the newspaper found that Google’s generative AI feature delivered inaccurate health information at the top of search results, potentially leading seriously ill patients to mistakenly conclude they are in good health. Google disabled specific queries, such as “what is the normal range for liver blood tests,” after experts contacted by The Guardian flagged the results as dangerous. The report also highlighted a critical error regarding pancreatic cancer: The AI…