This week has been one of Tesla’s worst. The company has cut 10 percent of its workforce, from sales advisers to engineers—the biggest round of layoffs in the company’s history. Two top executives—vice president of public policy and business development, Rohan Patel; and senior vice president of powertrain and energy, Drew Baglino—also announced they were… Continue reading Tesla’s Layoffs Won’t Solve Its Growing Pains
Author: Wired Magazine
The Atlas Robot Is Dead. Long Live the Atlas Robot
You don’t need to have been petrified by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Skynet-commissioned cyborg assassin in 1984’s The Terminator to fret that super-strong, all-terrain, bipedal humanoid robots sprinting up steps, pulling backflips, and righting themselves could be programmed to break our necks on sight. (And laser guns, never give them laser guns.) With the Old Atlas, we… Continue reading The Atlas Robot Is Dead. Long Live the Atlas Robot
Big Tech Squares Off Against US Spies
A trade organization representing some of the world’s largest information technology companies—Google, Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft among them—say its members are voicing strong opposition to ongoing efforts by the Biden administration to dramatically expand a key US government surveillance authority. The US Senate is poised to vote Thursday on legislation that would extend a global… Continue reading Big Tech Squares Off Against US Spies
Sony’s TV Lineup 2024: New TVs, New Direction
“It’s time to reintroduce HDR,” according to Sony’s chief distinguished engineer, Toshiyuki Ogura, who has been working with and developing HDR (high dynamic range) technology since its inception. Speaking at Sony’s home theater spring showcase in March, Ogura was referring in part to the company’s latest LED TV tech, which Sony hopes will help reshape… Continue reading Sony’s TV Lineup 2024: New TVs, New Direction
The New Hot Handset Is a Cute and Transparent Dumb Phone You Can’t Buy
We’re only spending more and more time staring at our smartphones, and over the past few years, tech companies have tried to offer salves to this very problem they created. Apple and Google launched tools within their respective mobile operating systems to curb screen time. Devices like the Light Phone, designed to act as a… Continue reading The New Hot Handset Is a Cute and Transparent Dumb Phone You Can’t Buy
Change Healthcare’s New Ransomware Nightmare Goes From Bad to Worse
Change Healthcare is facing a new cybersecurity nightmare after a ransomware group began selling what it claims is Americans’ sensitive medical and financial records stolen from the health care giant. “For most US individuals out there doubting us, we probably have your personal data,” the RansomHub gang said in an announcement seen by WIRED. The… Continue reading Change Healthcare’s New Ransomware Nightmare Goes From Bad to Worse
Google Workers Protest Cloud Contract With Israel’s Government
Dozens of Google employees began occupying company offices in New York City and Sunnyvale, California, on Tuesday in protest of the company’s $1.2 billion contract providing cloud computing services to the Israeli government. The sit-in, organized by the activist group No Tech for Apartheid, is happening at Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian’s office in Sunnyvale… Continue reading Google Workers Protest Cloud Contract With Israel’s Government
US Senate to Vote on a Wiretap Bill That Critics Call ‘Stasi-Like’
The United States Senate is poised to vote on legislation this week that, for the next two years at least, could dramatically expand the number of businesses that the US government can force to eavesdrop on Americans without a warrant. Some of the nation’s top legal experts on a controversial US spy program argue that… Continue reading US Senate to Vote on a Wiretap Bill That Critics Call ‘Stasi-Like’
Airchat Is Silicon Valley’s Latest Obsession
Ravikant said most of the funding for Airchat has come from his own fund, as well as from Jeff Fagnan, a founding partner at Accomplice Ventures. “[OpenAI CEO] Sam Altman threw in a check, kind of blindly,” Ravikant said. He communicated all of this to me in a public response on Airchat, after politely declining… Continue reading Airchat Is Silicon Valley’s Latest Obsession
Donald Trump Poses a Unique Threat To Truth Social, Says Truth Social
Trump Media & Technology Group, the Truth Social parent company majority-owned by former president Donald Trump, filed a document with the Securities and Exchange Commission this morning that helpfully details all of the ways Trump himself poses a threat to the company and its shareholders. While the company generated just over $4 million in revenue… Continue reading Donald Trump Poses a Unique Threat To Truth Social, Says Truth Social