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A federal appeals court has reinstated a Texas state law that bans "censorship" on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, allowing Texas to enforce the law while litigation continues.

A US District Court judge had granted a preliminary injunction blocking the law in December, ruling that it violates the social networks' First Amendment right to moderate user-submitted content. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appealed the injunction to the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and a panel of three judges issued a ruling Wednesday that stayed the preliminary injunction.

The ruling did not explain the judges' reasoning. "It is ordered that appellant's opposed motion to stay preliminary injunction pending appeal is granted," the ruling said. The panel ruling was not unanimous, but it didn't say how each judge voted.

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  Lego Optimus Prime in both robot and truck form. [credit: The Lego Group ]

If you're tired of having to choose between your Lego bricks and your Transformers at playtime, Hasbro and the Lego Group have teamed up to solve your problem. A new Optimus Prime kit, due out on June 1 for $169.99, is both a 1,508-piece Lego set and a fully functional Transformer with 19 points of articulation.

In addition to transforming from a robot into a truck, the Optimus Prime kit includes a jetpack, an ion cannon, and an Energon axe and cube—everything your Lego Optimus Prime will need to fight Lego Decepticons if any ever make it to Earth.

Optimus Prime comes with the accessories you'd expect, also in Lego form. (credit: The Lego Group)

The Optimus Prime collaboration is the latest Lego set aimed at a very specific audience: formerly Lego-loving kids who have grown up and acquired a source of disposable income. Past entries in this series include a scale-model Lego Nintendo Entertainment System with a "working" TV, a folding question block set that recreates some of Super Mario 64's most recognizable worlds in miniature, and the entirety of the Lego Art lineup.

Enlarge (credit: Jeff Dunn)

It's once again time for a new Dealmaster. Our latest roundup of the best tech deals from around the web includes a nice discount on Apple's latest iPad Mini, which is currently down to $409 at Amazon and Walmart. While that's $10 more than the all-time low we saw earlier this month, it's the best discount we've seen otherwise, still coming in at $90 below Apple's MSRP and about $50 below its recent street price online.

We gave the new Mini a positive review upon its launch last September, praising its refreshed, iPad Pro-inspired design, solid performance aided by Apple's A15 chip, accurate display, and respectable front and rear cameras, among other features. In general, it does what it sets out to do: be a small iPad that works about as well as any other modern iPad. Just note that it's really only for people who specifically want the more diminutive 8.3-inch display; the roomier iPad Air and iPad Pro are generally better suited to the kind of multitasking and productivity-focused updates Apple has been pumping into iPadOS in recent years, and the M1 chip in those tablets is more performant (albeit to the point of overkill in some cases).

The $329 iPad, meanwhile, still does the job for more casual uses at a much lower price, though its design is far more dated. The iPad Mini is meant for a particular niche, in other words, but if you really want a higher-quality, one-handed tablet for e-reading, web browsing, or doodling with an Apple Pencil, the Mini is the one to get, and this deal makes its typically high price a bit more approachable.

Enlarge / The RTX 3080 Ti. (credit: Sam Machkovech)

After years of hinting, Nvidia announced yesterday that it would be open-sourcing part of its Linux GPU driver, as both Intel and AMD have done for years now. Previously, Linux users who wanted to avoid Nvidia's proprietary driver had to rely on reverse-engineered software like the Nouveau project, which worked best on older hardware and offered incomplete support at best for all of Nvidia's GPU features.

"This release is a significant step toward improving the experience of using NVIDIA GPUs in Linux, for tighter integration with the OS, and for developers to debug, integrate, and contribute back," says a blog post attributed to several Nvidia employees. "For Linux distribution providers, the open source modules increase ease of use. They also improve the out-of-the-box user experience to sign and distribute the NVIDIA GPU driver. Canonical and SUSE are able to immediately package the open kernel modules with Ubuntu and SUSE Linux Enterprise Distributions."

Nvidia is specifically releasing an open source kernel driver under a dual MIT/GPL license and is not currently open-sourcing parts of the driver that run in user space. This includes drivers for OpenGL, Vulkan, OpenCL, and CUDA, which are still closed source, in addition to the firmware for the GPU System Processor (GSP). Nvidia says these drivers "will remain closed source and published with pre-built binaries," so it doesn't sound like there are immediate plans to release open source versions.

Enlarge (credit: Scharon Harding)

A USB-C monitor is a good way to minimize the cables needed for your setup. And if that setup is for work, where webcams have become virtually mandatory, a monitor with an integrated camera lets you skip an additional cable. The HP Z24m G3 I checked out this week seems like it will be a decent option for workers who don't need the highest-resolution panel, either because they're content with fewer pixels or use a multi-monitor setup.

At a 2560×1440 resolution, the 23.8-inch monitor still has a good pixel density of 123 pixels per inch. USB-C with the current max power delivery of 100 W makes it a good fit for Windows-based thin-and-lights and MacBooks that can charge over the port.

I didn't get the chance to analyze the Z24m's image quality, but HP said the IPS panel is aimed at professional creators. It should have sufficient color coverage for working with Windows and the web while also serving Mac users with 99 percent sRGB and 90 percent DCI-P3 color coverage. Any errors should be invisible to the naked eye, as the company says the panel has a Delta E of <2.

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  Sony's WH-1000XM5 wireless noise-canceling headphones. They cost $399. [credit: Jeff Dunn ]

Sony's WH-1000XM4 has been widely regarded as one of the best pairs of noise-canceling headphones for most people since launching in August 2020, and we at Ars have recommended them in various buying guides over that time. On Thursday, Sony is announcing the next iteration of those flagship wireless headphones: the WH-1000XM5. They'll arrive on May 20 for $400, which is a $50 increase over the existing XM4.

An updated design

In general, the WH-1000XM5—which remains a mouthful of a name—aren't a massive shift from their predecessor, and interestingly, Sony will continue to sell the prior XM4 alongside this new pair. Still, there are a few changes of note. The most immediately noticeable tweaks are in the design department: Compared to the XM4, the XM5 has a thinner headband and wider earcups that should better fit those with larger ears. The earcups use a softer synthetic leather material, and the slider used to adjust the headband's fit now has a smoother, notchless action.

I've only had the XM5 on hand for about a day as of this writing, which unfortunately isn't enough time for me to give more definitive impressions. At first blush, though, the fit feels roomier and lighter on the head, despite only weighing 4 grams less than the XM4 (at 250 g, compared to 254 g before). The XM4 were already comfortable, but the XM5 appears to distribute its weight a bit more evenly, putting less pressure on the sides of your head without letting in a ton of outside noise. They're closer to Bose's QuietComfort 45 in that regard, albeit not quite as spacious-feeling.