This story originally appeared on Canada’s National Observer and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. A plan to charge Toronto homeowners and businesses for paved surfaces on their properties is creating a public backlash, a deluge of negative international media attention, and even derisive comments from Donald Trump Jr. The outcry reached such a… Continue reading Toronto Wants to Manage Storms and Floods—With a Rain Tax
Author: Wired Magazine
House Votes to Extend—and Expand—a Major US Spy Program
A controversial US wiretap program days from expiration cleared a major hurdle on its way to being reauthorized. After months of delays, false starts, and interventions by lawmakers working to preserve and expand the US intelligence community’s spy powers, the House of Representatives voted on Friday to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance… Continue reading House Votes to Extend—and Expand—a Major US Spy Program
Change Healthcare Faces Another Ransomware Threat—and It Looks Credible
For months, Change Healthcare has faced an immensely messy, months-long ransomware debacle that has left hundreds of pharmacies and medical practices across the United States unable to process claims. Now, thanks to an apparent dispute within the ransomware criminal ecosystem, it may have just become far messier still. Last month, the ransomware group AlphV, which… Continue reading Change Healthcare Faces Another Ransomware Threat—and It Looks Credible
Can You Really Run on Top of a Train, Like in the Movies?
Just because you see something done in a movie, that doesn’t mean you should try it yourself. Take, for example, a human running on top of a moving train. For starters, you can’t be sure it’s real. In early Westerns, they used moving backdrops to make fake trains look like they were in motion. Now… Continue reading Can You Really Run on Top of a Train, Like in the Movies?
Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 Review: Big but Still Beautiful
How much is great sound worth to you? Sennheiser’s top wireless earbuds ask that question in more ways than one. The previous version, the True Wireless 3, was praised by reviewers, but some users raised issues like battery drain and connection glitches. The Momentum True Wireless 4 set out to address these complaints with an… Continue reading Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 Review: Big but Still Beautiful
Taylor Swift’s Music Is Back on TikTok—Right Before Her New Album Drops
In the drawn-out contract battle between TikTok and Universal Music Group, a high-profile exemption has been made for Taylor Swift. A few of her songs became available again as TikTok sounds on Thursday, just a week before the release of Swift’s latest album, The Tortured Poets Department. It remains unclear what kind of arrangement was… Continue reading Taylor Swift’s Music Is Back on TikTok—Right Before Her New Album Drops
Bird Flu Is Spreading in Alarming New Ways
As a recent example of what may ensue, Pitesky points to the repeated African swine fever outbreaks across various Asian countries in the past decade, which decimated the pig farming industry to the extent that pork was briefly usurped by poultry as the most widely consumed animal protein on the planet. Pitesky argues, however, that… Continue reading Bird Flu Is Spreading in Alarming New Ways
Apple Is Making It Slightly Easier to Repair Your iPhone
Apple will make it a little bit easier to get an iPhone fixed with used parts, marking a reversal of long-standing, strict rules around swapping out iPhone parts. The change, announced Thursday, will begin with “select” iPhone models this fall (The Washington Post reported it will cover iPhone 15 and newer). It comes as states… Continue reading Apple Is Making It Slightly Easier to Repair Your iPhone
‘Fallout’ Nails Video Game Adaptations by Making the Apocalypse Fun
Nolan tasked Fallout showrunners Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet with threading that particular needle. The pair chose to center the series around three protagonists, played by Walton Goggins, Ella Purnell, and Aaron Clifton Moten, all of whom enter the story at a turning point in their lives. As a cowboy movie star turned ghoul, Goggins’… Continue reading ‘Fallout’ Nails Video Game Adaptations by Making the Apocalypse Fun
Trump Loyalists Kill Vote on US Wiretap Program
For the third time since December, House Speaker Mike Johnson has failed to wrangle support for reauthorizing a critical US surveillance program, raising questions about the future of a law that compels certain businesses to wiretap foreigners on the government’s behalf. Johnson lost 19 Republicans on Tuesday in a procedural vote that traditionally falls along… Continue reading Trump Loyalists Kill Vote on US Wiretap Program