Broadcom is kicking some cloud service providers (CSPs) out of the VMware channel partner program, bringing uncertainty for the technological and financial futures of numerous businesses, especially small-to-medium-sized ones.

As reported by The Register today, Broadcom this week revealed to VMware CSP partners that it is launching a new invite-only channel program for CSPs on November 1. Fewer CSPs are expected to be eligible for this new program. The Register said that “some mid-size partners won’t be invited to the new program."

Current VMware CSPs that didn’t receive an invite for the new program by today have reportedly been cut and will receive a notice of non-renewal.

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Mercedes provided flights from Detroit to Copenhagen, Denmark, and accommodation so Ars could drive the CLA with EQ Technology. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.

The Mercedes-Benz CLA is a marked departure from Mercedes' EV efforts. Instead of a dedicated line of EQ vehicles—like the EQB, EQC, and EQS—we're getting vehicles "with EQ Technology." It started with the electric G Wagon, but the CLA is the first mainstream product to make the change. The thing is that the change is significant and for the better. Several months ago, we got some time in a prototype CLA ; now we've driven the final product.

The CLA returns for the 2026 model year as an EV first (with a hybrid coming) on an all-new 800-volt architecture. This architecture will find its way to other Mercedes vehicles, like the upcoming GLB and GLC . This thoroughly modern setup features some of the company's biggest innovations.

The CLA will be available with either one or two electric motors, with a two-speed setup for efficiency and performance. The 250+ base model makes 268 hp (200 kW) and 247 lb-ft (335 Nm) of torque. Mercedes is claiming up to 792 km of range with this model on the WLTP cycle. Accounting for WLTP's optimism, it's still possible we might see an EPA-rated range over 400 miles, but Mercedes isn't quoting any real numbers yet.

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Researchers from the Google Threat Intelligence Group said that hackers are compromising SonicWall Secure Mobile Access (SMA) appliances, which sit at the edge of enterprise networks and manage and secure access by mobile devices.

The targeted devices are end of life, meaning they no longer receive regular updates for stability and security. Despite the status, many organizations continue to rely on them. That has left them prime targets by UNC6148, the name Google has given to the unknown hacking group.

“GTIG recommends that all organizations with SMA appliances perform analysis to determine if they have been compromised,” a report published Wednesday said, using the abbreviation for Google Threat Intelligence Group. “Organizations should acquire disk images for forensic analysis to avoid interference from the rootkit anti-forensic capabilities. Organizations may need to engage with SonicWall to capture disk images from physical appliances.”

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Valve's famously permissive rules for what games are and are not allowed on Steam got a little less permissive this week, seemingly in response to outside pressure from some of its partner companies. In a Tuesday update to the "Rules and Guidelines" section of Steam's Onboarding Documentation , the company added a new rule prohibiting "Content that may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam’s payment processors and related card networks and banks, or Internet network providers. In particular, certain kinds of adult only content."

On its own, the new rule seems rather vague, with no details on which of the many kinds of "adult only content" would belong in the "certain" subset prohibited by these unnamed payment processors and ISPs. But the trackers over at SteamDB noticed that the publication of the new rule coincides with the removal of dozens of Steam games whose titles make reference to incest, along with a handful of sex games referencing "slave" or "prison" imagery.

Holding the keys to the bank

Valve isn't alone in having de facto restrictions on content imposed on them by outside payment processors. In 2022, for instance, Visa suspended all payments to Pornhub's ad network after the adult video site was accused of profiting from child sexual abuse materials. And PayPal has routinely disallowed payments to file-sharing sites and VPN providers over concerns surrounding piracy of copyrighted materials.

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xAI continues to face backlash over its Memphis data center, as the NAACP joined groups today appealing the issuance of a recently granted permit that the groups say will allow xAI to introduce major new sources of pollutants without warning at any time.

The battle over the gas turbines powering xAI's data center began last April when thermal imaging seemed to show that the firm was lying about dozens of seemingly operational turbines that could be a major source of smog-causing pollution. By June, the NAACP got involved, notifying the Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) of its intent to sue xAI to force Elon Musk's AI company to engage with community members in historically Black neighborhoods who are believed to be most affected by the pollution risks.

But the NAACP's letter seemingly did nothing to stop the SCHD from granting the permits two weeks later on July 2, as well as exemptions that xAI does not appear to qualify for, the appeal noted. Now, the NAACP—alongside environmental justice groups; the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC); and Young, Gifted and Green—is appealing. The groups are hoping the Memphis and Shelby County Air Pollution Control Board will revoke the permit and block the exemptions, agreeing that the SCHD's decisions were fatally flawed, violating the Clean Air Act and local laws.

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Netflix has finally released an extended teaser for the fifth and final season of Stranger Things , airing late this year. It's got everything we could hope for in terms of the conclusive showdown—spooky shots of the Upside Down bleeding into Hawkins, attacking demo-dogs, flamethrowers—plus an armed and dangerous Linda Hamilton taking on the monsters beside our plucky Hawkins crew.

(Spoilers for prior seasons below.)

S4 ended with Vecna—the Big Bad behind it all—opening the gate that allowed the Upside Down to leak into Hawkins. We're getting a time jump for S5, but in a way, we're coming full circle, since the events coincide with the third anniversary of Will's original disappearance in S1. The fifth season will have eight episodes, and each one will be looong—akin to eight feature-length films. Per the official premise:

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Ars Technica's community is—in our biased opinion—second to none online. For more than 26 years, readers have enabled and inspired our work, creating a community with an amazing signal-to-noise ratio. To aid these efforts, we're updating our Posting Guidelines to make them more accessible to new readers—and more straightforward and more transparent for everyone.

The substance of the guidelines isn't changing. Most provisions are just common-sense items meant to foster genuine discussion, such as the prohibitions against hate speech, personal attacks, trolling, and spam. We did, however, think a few rules could be clarified and that we could explain the moderation process more clearly. To that end, we are introducing The Ars Posting Guidelines Version 3.0. (The previous version of the Guidelines is archived here for comparison purposes, but again, the substance hasn't changed.)

We now outline the moderation process more clearly because it has caused some confusion in the past. As Captain Barbossa put it in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, "The Code is more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules." Same thing here. Human judgment will always be used when it comes to interpreting infractions. We will, for instance, be much more patient with long-term members who have a history of good-faith posts but who sometimes have a bad day—but much less tolerant of brand-new posters who try to stir people up.

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The Trump administration yesterday sued three Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) board members who refused to leave their offices after President Trump fired them.

On April 28, the White House informed Democratic board members Laura Ross, Thomas Rothman, and Diane Kaplan that their board positions were "terminated effective immediately." Their departures would have left the board with only two members, both Republicans, but the CPB defied the president and continued with five board members .

The US government's lawsuit against Ross, Rothman, and Kaplan alleged that they "have been usurping and purporting to exercise unlawfully the office of board member of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting... As recent Supreme Court orders have recognized, the President cannot meaningfully exercise his executive power under Article II of the Constitution without the power to select—and, when necessary, remove—those who hold federal office."

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A Falcon 9 rocket launched from Florida's Space Coast overnight with a batch of Internet satellites for Amazon's Project Kuiper network, thrusting a rival one step closer to competing with SpaceX's Starlink broadband service.

Amazon's third set of operational Kuiper satellites lifted off at 2:30 am EST (06:30 UTC) on Wednesday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket arced downrange over the Atlantic Ocean, heading northeast to place its payload into the Kuiper constellation at an inclination of 51.9 degrees to the equator.

The Falcon 9's upper stage released the 24 Kuiper satellites about an hour after launch at an altitude of approximately 289 miles (465 kilometers). The satellites will use onboard electric propulsion to raise their orbits and reach their operating altitude of 391 miles (630 kilometers).

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