Plex is adding new social features to the platform.

As of today, users can make and share “personalized lists on Plex of any movie, show or episode,” the company said in an announcement. Later this year, users will be able to import lists from other streaming services and react to other people’s lists.

This month, Plex will also launch a community forum that will allow people to “post and comment directly on any movie, show, season, or episode.” Later this year, Plex will introduce “Match Scores” based on a viewer’s history and past ratings to predict how much they’ll like a show or movie, Plex said.

Plex already lets people rate content, and this year it will also allow them to react with emoji. Similarly, Plex will also enable people to respond to reviews and discussions with images. The goal, per Plex’s announcement, is to bring “a new layer of expression to every conversation.”

Finally, a “Follow Anything” feature coming this year will provide users with alerts around movies, shows, actors, and crew members that they follow.

Plex’s announcement claimed that its users have already “made over 100 million watching decisions a month and created more than 45 million watchlists,” making the new capabilities relevant to how people use Plex today.

“The addition of these features marks the next step in Plex’s vision to unify entertainment discovery and help users navigate an increasingly fragmented streaming landscape,” Plex’s announcement said.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/06/new-social-features-further-plexs-evolution-from-media-server-business/

Microsoft’s Build developer conference kicked off today, and as with almost everything the company has done in the last few years, Microsoft’s opening keynote focused overwhelmingly on AI and other closely related technologies. There’s Microsoft Scout, an OpenClaw-based “Autopilot” agent that can hook into Microsoft 365 data to perform tasks for users; several new AI models; an expanded preview of “Codename MDASH,” which is a “multi-model agentic scanning system” meant to detect and fix software vulnerabilities.

A few of those announcements stood out to us as particularly interesting, either for esoteric technical reasons or because they seem like they may have some utility for those who aren’t spending their every waking moment using generative AI tools. (Microsoft’s recent efforts to make its flagship operating system faster, more reliable, more useful, and less annoying didn’t really come up, but there have been plenty of other announcements on that front lately.)

On the hardware front, we didn’t get any updates for existing Surface devices (not counting yesterday’s Surface Laptop Ultra announcement), but we did get something new: the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box is “a compact developer PC” built around Nvidia’s new RTX Spark chip with up to 128GB of built-in memory.

The Dev Box looks a little like a cartoon anvil or piano fell onto an Xbox Series X and flattened it. Its aluminum casing was designed “to double as a heatsink,” and its preloaded version of Windows 11 Pro will include a “purposeful” set of developer-centric default settings and preinstalled tools.

This is a follow-up of sorts to the Windows Dev Kit 2023, also known as “Project Volterra.” This Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3-powered PC was essentially the system board from a Surface Pro tablet stuffed into a plastic box, and it was introduced alongside Arm-native versions of several Microsoft developer tools. It helped to set the stage for the Arm-based flagship Surface devices that launched the next year, which benefitted from a better and faster x86-to-Arm code translation technology called Prism and a greater number of Arm-native third-party apps that didn’t need to be translated in the first place.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/06/microsoft-plans-linux-tools-and-an-rtx-spark-desktop-for-windows-developers/

However, Microsoft is clear that this is still just a concept. None of it works, but the company is committed to spending money on it as part of its massive AI expansion plans.

Agentic concepts

Microsoft has shown off two concept devices that illustrate where it hopes to go with Project Solara. The more conventional is the Desk Concept, which looks like a typical smart display. It’s got a touchscreen, microphones, and a camera. While you sit at your desk, this gadget would keep you apprised of what your theoretical AI agents are doing on your behalf. It can act as a secondary monitor or become a standalone Windows PC with Windows 365 cloud computing. This concept is built around MediaTek IoT chips.

The other Solara concept skews weirder. What if the work badge at the end of your lanyard had a touchscreen, 5G connectivity, a camera, microphones, and a fingerprint scanner? That’s the Badge Concept. It would have the same Solara software, piping in generative interfaces from your preferred AI agent. Microsoft envisions this Qualcomm-based device providing biometric-authenticated access to your agents—just tap the sensor and start telling your personal robot what to do. It could also record and summarize meetings and use the camera to “take action on the environment,” whatever that means.

You can’t even get in line to buy either of these devices. Microsoft’s next step is to demo its agent-first devices with industry partners, including AccuWeather, Best Buy, CVS Health, Levi’s, and Target.

Microsoft has struggled to branch out beyond traditional computing and enterprise services, having tried and failed on numerous occasions to gain a foothold in mobile computing. With AI, Microsoft was uncharacteristically at the forefront of change. With its OpenAI deal sputtering, the company is now looking to the future, and this is it: agents instead of apps.

This is an interesting pitch for how we might actually use AI agents, and it’s not coming totally out of left field. Google is also pursuing agentic interfaces in its search products. At I/O, Google previewed new agent-first search tools that can instantly build dashboards and mini-apps based on your search queries.

As vague and pie-in-the-sky as Project Solara may be, Microsoft is pretty in tune with the rest of big tech’s AI plans. If any of it works, we can only hope it doesn’t lead to a new generation of touchscreen millstones around our necks.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/06/microsofts-project-solara-is-an-android-os-designed-for-agents-instead-of-apps/

We’re expecting Android 17 to begin rolling out later this month, but first, Google has a batch of updates for the wider Android device ecosystem. As usual, some of the new features are limited to specific devices, and others require using Google’s apps. But if you don’t mind the latter, you can get automated protection from the growing threat of deepfake phone scams.

According to Google, “impersonation fraud” is one of the most common types of financial scams. The FTC tracked almost $3 billion in losses from such scams during 2024, and the improvements in AI voice cloning tools more recently are making the schemes easier to pull off. The voice models are becoming so capable that it can be difficult to identify a fake caller even when an AI is imitating someone you talk to every day.

Google’s solution is an expansion of the system it debuted last month for verified financial calls. Now, a similar feature will work with anyone in your contacts. Many of the most effective deepfake scams involve spoofing a contact’s number, which makes the call look more legitimate when your phone lights up. Victims of these scams are then greeted by an accurate re-creation of the person’s voice spinning a yarn that involves an urgent need for cash.

Google’s scam call detection feature will be available on all phones running Android 12 or higher, but it does require you to have three Google apps installed: Phone by Google, Contacts, and Google Messages. Depending on your device, you may already have these. They’re the preloaded options on Pixel and Motorola phones, and Samsung has now switched over fully to Google Messages. Google claims that Phone by Google is the most widely used dialer, but that doesn’t seem right—Samsung has its own phone app, and it’s the largest Android OEM by far.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/06/google-announces-deepfake-call-detection-for-android-new-airdrop-device-support/

Dell, Asus, Lenovo, HP, MSI, Acer, and Gigabyte are among the PC makers that are designing systems around Nvidia’s RTX Spark, Nvidia’s new Arm-based chip for Windows PCs. But the flagship RTX Spark PC may be from the same company that makes Windows: the new Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra is a high-end RTX Spark system that will offer up to 128GB of unified memory for “creators, developers, and AI builders.”

Microsoft says the Laptop Ultra will be available “later this year” but didn’t discuss any specific pricing or configuration options.

The Laptop Ultra will slot in above the regular Qualcomm Snapdragon-based Surface Laptops in Microsoft’s lineup. Microsoft has made high-end Surface devices with more powerful CPUs and GPUs before, but to date, they’ve also come with convertible designs that may have limited their appeal. The first was the old Surface Book, with its fully detachable screen and bendy-straw hinge that didn’t close all the way; the second was the Surface Laptop Studio, with its chunky design and sliding screen. The Laptop Ultra is Microsoft’s first attempt to follow the MacBook Pro formula: it’s like the other Surface Laptops, just with more power.

Microsoft says the Laptop Ultra will include USB-A, USB-C, and HDMI ports, as well as an SD card slot and headphone jack. It’s said to include a haptic trackpad that’s “the largest we’ve ever put on a Surface.” A 15-inch PixelSense display offers up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/06/microsoft-surface-laptop-ultra-will-be-among-the-first-nvidia-rtx-spark-arm-pcs/

In 2021, a team led by Zak Kassas, director of the Autonomous Systems Perception, Intelligence, and Navigation (ASPIN) Laboratory at The Ohio State University, showed how electronically eavesdropping on signals from six Starlink satellites could pinpoint locations on Earth to within 8 meters of accuracy—although that required 13 minutes of tracking rather than delivering instantaneous results.

Such opportunistic eavesdropping is challenging, because Starlink is consistently optimizing for its primary satellite Internet service by turning beams on and off, or sometimes switching beams as the fast-moving satellites talk to many different users, Kassas explained. That creates unpredictable jumps in the signal timing estimates that the researchers rely upon to calculate positioning data.

To tackle those challenges, Kassas and his colleagues use Doppler measurements of signal frequency changes that reflect satellite motions relative to the receiver, along with software algorithms to correct for timing errors. They have also deployed phased-array antennas—capable of communicating with just one or two satellites at a time—in combination with low-gain, omnidirectional antennas that can capture signals from nearly 10 satellites at a time. By 2025, the researchers had shown how to harness signals from an average of three Starlink satellites to deliver positioning results to within 2 meters of accuracy in just 20 seconds.

But this general eavesdropping strategy is not just limited to Starlink’s thousands of satellites—they have also exploited satellite signals from Orbcomm, Iridium, Starlink, OneWeb, NOAA, and the dedicated PNT constellation, Xona. “I’m not really married to Starlink—I love them all,” Kassas said.

The team has demonstrated this alternative navigation solution with ground vehicles, a high-altitude balloon, and a drone. One of the latest experiments showed how exploiting signals from both Starlink and OneWeb satellites could improve ship navigation accuracy off the west coast of Greenland in the Arctic, meaning that the technique could probably work nearly anywhere on Earth.

All this suggests that people may not have to wait much longer for new GPS alternatives, whether they come directly from Starlink or third parties. Kassas and his team have already licensed their technology to some organizations. “I think people are hungry and hurting in the absence of GPS or GNSS, and they want these solutions,” Kassas told Ars.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/05/starlink-blocks-access-to-its-gps-alternative-ahead-of-spacex-ipo/

Apple has released version 26.5 of all of its operating systems today: iOS 26.5, iPadOS 26.5, macOS 26.5, watchOS 26.5, tvOS 26.5, visionOS 26.5, and version 26.5 of the HomePod software (whew).

None of these are particularly momentous updates, which is pretty normal this late in their lifecycle, but they add a small batch of new features alongside the pile of patches outlined on Apple’s security vulnerabilities page. This is Apple’s first release to support end-to-end encryption for the RCS messaging standard, for example, which, when enabled, can give green-bubble messages some of the same security and privacy advantages that iMessage users have long enjoyed.

Encrypted RCS messaging has a “beta” label in this release, and Apple says it’s limited to a subset of supported cellular carriers. Expanded support “will roll out over time.” Encrypted chats will show up with a padlock icon in the Messages app; if you don’t see a padlock, the message isn’t encrypted, even if you’re using RCS.

Other additions in the 26.5 releases are new Pride-themed wallpapers and some of the initial work needed to support ads in the Apple Maps app. There are also a handful of smaller platform-specific additions and bug fixes, which you can find on Apple’s release notes pages (we’ve linked each in the first paragraph). Apple has been testing several changes to third-party wearable support in the EU to comply with local regulations for several beta cycles now, and those features also arrive for EU iOS users in the 26.5 update.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/05/ios-macos-and-ipados-26-5-updates-arrive-with-encrypted-rcs-messaging-and-more/

About a year ago, I was in my parents’ living room, where a new TV sat in its box, waiting to be set up. My sister-in-law pointed to a woman on the packaging and said, “Oh, that’s Dua Lipa!” I barely know who she is, so I didn’t think it was unusual for the singer to be featured on the box. But at least one person thinks it’s a big deal: Lipa herself.

On Friday, Lipa filed a lawsuit against Samsung for using her image on some of its TV boxes, alleging that its use constitutes copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and a violation of her right of publicity. The complaint (PDF), filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California, says that Lipa owns all “rights, title, and interest in the image titled ‘Dua Lipa – Backstage at Austin City Limits, 2024.’”

“Samsung mass-manufactured, distributed (or caused to be distributed) marketed, and sold in interstate commerce across the United States a vast number of its televisions in various sizes in these cardboard boxes containing the [image],” the lawsuit says.

“Samsung’s infringing conduct—using Ms. Lipa’s assets for zero consideration—makes a mockery of her hard work in establishing a successful brand and has deprived her of the ability to control and monetize her assets,” the complaint reads.

The filing says Lipa learned about the boxes around June 2025 “and immediately demanded that Samsung cease and desist.” However, Samsung was “dismissive and callous, and the Infringing Products remain on the market to this day, still being sold throughout” the US, the filing says. Lipa would not have allowed the image to be used on Samsung TV boxes, the complaint says, adding:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/05/singer-dua-lipa-sues-samsung-for-15-million-for-using-her-image-on-tv-boxes/

Cook attributes the desktop shortages in part to demand from AI enthusiasts running models locally on Mac hardware—Apple Silicon’s low power usage, good performance, and unified memory pool accessible by both the CPU and GPU have made them popular among these buyers. Combine that with the fact that replacements for these computers are reportedly due soon and that Apple often winds down production of old models before introducing new ones, and you have a recipe for extreme shortages.

The situation with the MacBook Neo is different. For one, it remains much easier to get than either desktop; one ordered now should arrive within two or three weeks. This has generated headlines, but it’s the same shipping estimate Apple was giving a month ago. While I don’t have March data recorded, it appears to be the same shipping estimate Apple was giving two months ago, shortly after the Neo launched.

And unlike the desktops, the Neo remains readily available through third-party retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. Given that the Neo is a play for new Mac owners, it probably makes sense for Apple to prioritize other retailers over its own store. And if Apple isn’t keeping up with demand, it at least isn’t falling farther behind, as it is with the Mac mini and Studio.

That this situation has been so stable for weeks belies the sky-is-falling behind-the-scenes reports of unforeseen demand, component shortages, and falling profit margins that have circulated about the Neo in recent weeks. If those rumors are to be believed, Apple can’t possibly continue to offer the Neo at its current price, and it must therefore be considering cutting the $599/256GB model already. If Apple is struggling this mightily to meet MacBook Neo demand, the company is showing few outward signs of it.

Other small slips: MacBook Air and MacBook Pro

The MacBook Air’s availability remains mostly good, but you’ll wait slightly longer for a 32GB RAM configuration.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

Though most of Apple’s other computers remain readily available, there are a few places in the lineup where the supply constraints Cook mentioned seem to be taking a toll.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/05/were-tracking-423-mac-configurations-to-see-how-apple-is-handling-shortages/

Manufacturing smartphones is getting much more expensive.

Credit: Counterpoint Research

The good news for Samsung is that while the MX division struggles, its semiconductor division is raking it in. Samsung Semiconductor has smashed records in the first quarter of 2026, earning an estimated $38 billion (KRW 57.2 trillion) in profit. That’s more than seven times its net from Q1 2025.

Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix are all accelerating plans to expand memory and storage production lines—Samsung specifically has started spinning down LPDDR4 production to boost the supply of LPDDR5—but Nekkei Asia projects that won’t be enough. Even with best-case improvements in output, DRAM production in 2027 could fall 40 percent short of expected demand. The only thing that could challenge that prediction is a substantial change in demand for AI applications. With most of the world’s tech giants firmly committed to expanding AI compute through next year, it’s unlikely that supply constraints will ease soon.

Higher demand, higher prices

There are already signs that RAM and storage costs are making phones more expensive. Motorola recently raised the price of its Moto G budget phones by up to 50 percent. Low-cost devices like the Moto G will feel the rising cost of components the most, making the very idea of a budget phone in the coming years suspect.

With the prospect of sinking profitability in 2026, Samsung is also making changes. The recently released Galaxy A37 and A57 mid-range devices come with a $50 price hike over the last generation. The company has also increased prices on some more expensive devices, adding $80 to the Galaxy Z Flip 7 (512 GB) and Z Fold 7 (512 GB and 1 TB). Some of its tablets are also more spendy, including a $100 increase for the Galaxy Tab S11.

With profitability in doubt, Samsung is on the verge of releasing new, ultra-expensive phones. This summer, the company will debut a new generation of Galaxy Z foldables, which are always priced even higher than the Galaxy S series. These devices come with ample storage and RAM to help justify the exorbitant price tags. That makes them prime candidates for price hikes that leave foldables even more unrealistically expensive.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/04/samsung-may-be-bracing-for-first-ever-annual-loss-in-smartphone-business/