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      Finally, a new controller that solves the Switch 2's "flat Joy-Con" problem

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica • 22 January 2026 • 1 minute

    When I reviewed the Switch 2 back in June , I noted that the lack of any sort of extended grip on the extremely thin Joy-Con 2 controllers made them relatively awkward to hold, both when connected to the system and when cradled in separate hands. At the time, I said that "my Switch 2 will probably need something like the Nyxi Hyperion Pro , which I’ve come to rely on to make portable play on the original Switch much more comfortable."

    Over half a year later, Nyxi is once again addressing my Switch controller-related comfort concerns with the Hyperion 3 , which was made available for preorder earlier this week ahead of planned March 1 shipments. Unfortunately, it looks like players will have to pay a relatively high price for a potentially more ergonomic Switch 2 experience.

    While there are plenty of third-party controllers for the Switch 2, none of the current options mimic the official Joy-Cons' ability to connect magnetically to the console tablet itself (controllers designed to slide into the grooves on the original Switch tablet also can't hook to the successor console). The Hyperion 3 is the first Switch 2 controller to offer this magnetic connection, making it uniquely suited for handheld play on the system.

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      eBay bans illicit automated shopping amid rapid rise of AI agents

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica • 22 January 2026

    On Tuesday, eBay updated its User Agreement to explicitly ban third-party "buy for me" agents and AI chatbots from interacting with its platform without permission, first spotted by Value Added Resource . On its face, a one-line terms of service update doesn't seem like major news, but what it implies is more significant: The change reflects the rapid emergence of what some are calling "agentic commerce," a new category of AI tools designed to browse, compare, and purchase products on behalf of users.

    eBay's updated terms, which go into effect on February 20, 2026, specifically prohibit users from employing "buy-for-me agents, LLM-driven bots, or any end-to-end flow that attempts to place orders without human review" to access eBay's services without the site's permission. The previous version of the agreement contained a general prohibition on robots, spiders, scrapers, and automated data gathering tools but did not mention AI agents or LLMs by name.

    At first glance, the phrase "agentic commerce" may sound like aspirational marketing jargon, but the tools are already here, and people are apparently using them. While fitting loosely under one label, these tools come in many forms.

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      All sorts of interesting flags and artifacts will fly to the Moon on Artemis II

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica • 22 January 2026

    NASA's first astronauts to fly to the Moon in more than 50 years will pay tribute to the lunar and space exploration missions that preceded them, as well as aviation and American history, by taking with them artifacts and mementos representing those past accomplishments.

    NASA on Wednesday (Jan. 21) revealed the contents of the Artemis II mission's Official Flight Kit (OFK), continuing a tradition dating back to the Apollo program of packing a duffel bag-size pouch of symbolic and celebratory items to commemorate the flight and recognize the people behind it. The kit includes more than 2,300 items, including a handful of relics.

    "This mission will bring together pieces of our earliest achievements in aviation, defining moments from human spaceflight and symbols of where we're headed next," Jared Isaacman, NASA's administrator, said in a statement. "Historical artifacts flying aboard Artemis II reflect the long arc of American exploration and the generations of innovators who made this moment possible."

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      Meta wants to block data about social media use, mental health in child safety trial

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica • 22 January 2026

    As Meta heads to trial in the state of New Mexico for allegedly failing to protect minors from sexual exploitation, the company is making an aggressive push to have certain information excluded from the court proceedings.

    The company has petitioned the judge to exclude certain research studies and articles around social media and youth mental health; any mention of a recent high-profile case involving teen suicide and social media content; and any references to Meta’s financial resources, the personal activities of employees, and Mark Zuckerberg’s time as a student at Harvard University.

    Meta’s requests to exclude information, known as motions in limine, are a standard part of pretrial proceedings, in which a party can ask a judge to determine in advance which evidence or arguments are permissible in court. This is to ensure the jury is presented with facts and not irrelevant or prejudicial information and that the defendant is granted a fair trial.

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      Judge orders stop to FBI search of devices seized from Washington Post reporter

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica • 21 January 2026

    A federal judge today ordered the US government to stop searching devices seized from the house of a Washington Post reporter. It may be only a temporary reprieve for the Post and reporter Hannah Natanson, however. Further proceedings will be held on whether the search can resume or whether the government must return the devices.

    Natanson herself isn't the subject of investigation, but the FBI executed a search warrant at her home and seized her work and personal devices last week as part of an investigation into alleged leaks by a Pentagon contractor. The Post filed a motion to force the return of the reporter's property, and a separate motion for a standstill order that would prevent review of the seized devices until the court rules on whether they must be returned.

    "Almost none of the seized data is even potentially responsive to the warrant, which seeks only records received from or relating to a single government contractor," a Post court filing today said. "The seized data is core First Amendment-protected material, and some is protected by the attorney-client privilege."

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      Millions of people imperiled through sign-in links sent by SMS

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica • 21 January 2026 • 1 minute

    Websites that authenticate users through links and codes sent in text messages are imperiling the privacy of millions of people, leaving them vulnerable to scams, identity theft, and other crimes, recently published research has found.

    The links are sent to people seeking a range of services, including those offering insurance quotes, job listings, and referrals for pet sitters and tutors. To eliminate the hassle of collecting usernames and passwords—and for users to create and enter them—many such services instead require users to provide a cell phone number when signing up for an account. The services then send authentication links or passcodes by SMS when the users want to log in.

    Easy to execute at scale

    A paper published last week has found more than 700 endpoints delivering such texts on behalf of more than 175 services that put user security and privacy at risk. One practice that jeopardizes users is the use of links that are easily enumerated, meaning scammers can guess them by simply modifying the security token, which usually appears at the right of a URL. By incrementing the token—for instance, by first changing 123 to 124 or ABC to ABD and so on—the researchers were able to access accounts belonging to other users. From there, the researchers could view personal details, such as partially completed insurance applications.

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      mRNA cancer vaccine shows protection at 5-year follow-up, Moderna and Merck say

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica • 21 January 2026 • 1 minute

    In a small clinical trial, customized mRNA vaccines against high-risk skin cancers appeared to reduce the risk of cancer recurrence and death by nearly 50 percent over five years when compared with standard treatment alone. That's according to Moderna and Merck , the two pharmaceutical companies that have collaborated on the experimental cancer vaccine, called intismeran autogene (mRNA-4157 or V940).

    So far, the companies have only reported the top-line results in a press release this week. However, the results align closely with previous, more detailed analyses from the trial, which examined rates of recurrence and death at earlier time points, specifically at two years and three years after the treatment. More data from the trial—a Phase 2 trial—will soon be presented at a medical conference, the companies said. A Phase 3 trial is also underway, with enrollment complete.

    The ongoing Phase 2 trial included 157 patients who were diagnosed with stage 3 or stage 4 melanoma and were at high risk of having it recur after surgical removal. A standard treatment to prevent recurrence after such surgery is immunotherapy, including Merck's Keytruda (pembrolizumab). This drug essentially enables immune cells, specifically T cells, to attack and kill cancer cells—something they normally do. But, in many types of cancers, including melanoma, cancer cells have the ability to bind to receptors on T cells (called PD-1 receptors), which basically shuts the T cells down. Keytruda works by physically blocking the PD-1 receptors, preventing cancer cells from binding and keeping the T cells activated so they can kill the cancer.

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      Trump FCC threatens to enforce equal-time rule on late-night talk shows

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica • 21 January 2026 • 1 minute

    The Federal Communications Commission today issued a warning to late-night and daytime talk shows, saying these shows may no longer qualify for an exemption to the FCC's equal-time rule. Because the FCC is chaired by vocal Trump supporter Brendan Carr , changing how the rule is enforced could pressure shows into seeking out more interviews with Republican candidates.

    The public notice providing what the FCC calls "guidance on political equal opportunities requirement for broadcast television stations" appears to be part of the Trump administration's campaign against alleged liberal bias on broadcast TV. Carr, who has eroded the FCC's historical independence from the White House, previously pressured ABC to suspend Jimmy Kimmel and threatened ABC’s The View with the equal-time rule.

    The Carr FCC's public notice today said that federal rules "prevent broadcast television stations, which have been given access to a valuable public resource (namely, spectrum), from unfairly putting their thumbs on the scale for one political candidate or set of candidates over another." These rules come from "the decision by Congress that broadcast television stations have an obligation to operate in the public interest—not in any narrow partisan, political interest," the Carr FCC said.

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      The problem with revisiting Tomb Raider: Reacclimating to tank controls

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica • 21 January 2026

    For a lot of the games I've written about in the C:\ArsGames series, I've come to the conclusion that the games hold up pretty well, despite their age— Master of Orion II , Jill of the Jungle , and Wing Commander Privateer , for example. Each of those have flaws that show now more than ever, but I still had a blast revisiting each of them.

    This time I'd like to write about one that I think doesn't hold up quite as well for me: For the first time in almost 30 years, I revisited the original Tomb Raider via 2024's Tomb Raider I-III Remastered collection.

    You might be thinking this is going to be a dunk on the work done on the remaster, but that's not the case, because the core issue with playing 1996's Tomb Raider in 2026 is actually unsolvable, no matter how much care is put into a remaster.

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