Month: January 2024

Enlarge / Look closely and you'll spot the changes to the 2024 Tesla Model 3. (credit: Tesla)

Tesla might not have the most expansive range among automakers—the vast majority of its sales come from just two models. But it's hard to deny that the company has sold a lot of those EVs; in some areas, the only car you might see more than the Model 3 would be the similar-looking Model Y crossover. But now, the eagle-eyed among you may spot some subtle differences on new Tesla Model 3s as the company finally starts selling the restyled version here in North America.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the Model 3 back in 2016, with customer deliveries starting the following year. Were Tesla any other automaker, a replacement model would almost certainly be in the works for 2025. But Tesla rarely uses the same playbook as its rivals, and it only gave the electric sedan a styling refresh after six years on sale rather than the more-usual four.

The restyled 3, codenamed Highland, went on sale in China in September 2023, and European customers have been able to buy one since last October. But changes to the federal tax credit for clean vehicles may have delayed the introduction of the revised Model 3 here in the US—for 2024, the car is no longer eligible for the credit.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

For the past year, previously unknown self-replicating malware has been compromising Linux devices around the world and installing cryptomining malware that takes unusual steps to conceal its inner workings, researchers said.

The worm is a customized version of Mirai, the botnet malware that infects Linux-based servers, routers, Web cameras, and other so-called Internet-of-things devices. Mirai came to light in 2016 when it was used to deliver record-setting distributed denial-of-service attacks that paralyzed key parts of the Internet that year. The creators soon released the underlying source code, a move that allowed a wide array of crime groups from around the world to incorporate Mirai into their own attack campaigns. Once taking hold of a Linux device, Mirai uses it as a platform to infect other vulnerable devices, a design that makes it a worm, meaning it self-replicates.

Dime-a-dozen malware with a twist

Traditionally, Mirai and its many variants have spread when one infected device scans the Internet looking for other devices that accept Telnet connections. The infected devices then attempt to crack the telnet password by guessing default and commonly used credential pairs. When successful, the newly infected devices target additional devices, using the same technique. Mirai has primarily been used to wage DDoSes. Given the large amounts of bandwidth available to many such devices, the floods of junk traffic are often huge, giving the botnet as a whole tremendous power.

Enlarge / If our comments are anything to go by, there is a huge demand out there for a small, cheap EV. Well, this is a small, cheap EV from VinFast. (credit: VinFast)

This year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas isn't just about AI infotainment add-ons and concept cars—sometimes automakers actually debut new production models, too. Yesterday, we heard from VinFast, which used CES 2024 as the global debut for its new electric vehicle, the VF3.

If the VinFast name is unfamiliar, that's understandable—the Vietnamese automaker was founded in 2017 and only brought its first car to these shores last year. That was the very underwhelming VF8, a midsize crossover EV that wasn't fully baked by the time a bunch of journalists, Ars included, got to drive it.

VinFast launched the VF8 into one of the most competitive market segments, up against cars like the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Kia EV6, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Nissan Ariya, Tesla Model Y, Volkswagen ID.4—all of which we (and most other auto journalists) would recommend first.

Enlarge (credit: RunPhoto via Getty)

If we are what we eat, there’s growing evidence to help explain how nanoplastics and microplastics are in our blood, in our intestines and in some of our organs.

Two new studies published this week shed further, and alarming, light on all the tiny plastic particles that people are consuming every day.

A liter of bottled water may contain nearly a quarter million pieces of the smallest particles of plastic. These nanoplastic particles are so small, scientists have found, that some pass through intestines and lungs or make their way into human blood and placental fluid. The bottled water study, done by researchers at Columbia and Rutgers Universities, was published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.