We’re turning 30 this year—we know, we don’t look a day over 23.714; we have good genes—and we’re celebrating this milestone by launching our very own merchandise store. Readers and fans have been emailing, tweeting, tooting, and DMing us for years asking where they can buy WIRED-branded shirts, water bottles, tote bags, and other provocative… Continue reading Do You Like WIRED? Do You Like Merch? Guess What: WIRED Now Has Merch
Author: Wired Magazine
Yes, There’s a New Covid Variant. No, You Shouldn’t Panic
It’s scariant season—again. A new offshoot of Omicron, BA.2.86—nicknamed Pirola—has popped up in Israel, the US, South Africa, and the UK after it was first recorded in Denmark in late July. Pirola initially set off alarm bells because it was spotted in four countries at the same time—and because, having majorly curtailed our viral surveillance… Continue reading Yes, There’s a New Covid Variant. No, You Shouldn’t Panic
6 Best Lubes (2023): Water-Based, Silicone, and Dispensers
I’ll scream it from the mountaintops as many times as I have to: Your bedroom should have a bottle of lube! Ideally more than one. Whether you’re flying solo or with a copilot(s), too much friction is a bad time for everyone. Even if it doesn’t seem like you need a lubricant, you’d be better… Continue reading 6 Best Lubes (2023): Water-Based, Silicone, and Dispensers
SpaceX Must Fix 63 Issues Before Its Starship Can Fly Again
As the dust settled following SpaceX’s brief, explosive test launch of Starship in April, both the company and the Federal Aviation Administration dug into investigating the aftermath. The gigantic rocket’s flight lasted just four minutes before it blew up near SpaceX’s Boca Chica launch site on the Texas coast. Images and news reports posted in… Continue reading SpaceX Must Fix 63 Issues Before Its Starship Can Fly Again
Top US Spies Meet With Privacy Experts Over Surveillance ‘Crown Jewel’
Senior United States intelligence officials met privately in Virginia yesterday with over a dozen civil liberties groups to field concerns about domestic surveillance operations that have drawn intense scrutiny this summer among an unlikely coalition of Democratic and Republican lawmakers in the US Congress. The closed-door session, convened at the Liberty Crossing Intelligence Campus—a sprawling… Continue reading Top US Spies Meet With Privacy Experts Over Surveillance ‘Crown Jewel’
Axon’s Ethics Board Resigned Over Taser-Armed Drones. Then the Company Bought a Military Drone Maker
Company leadership expects to generate more than $1.5 billion in revenue in 2023, it said in an August investor statement. And by 2025, Rick Smith has set a target of reaching $2 billion. According to its own reports, Axon, which went public in 2001, has generated “over $15 billion in wealth” for its shareholders. Still,… Continue reading Axon’s Ethics Board Resigned Over Taser-Armed Drones. Then the Company Bought a Military Drone Maker
The End of Burning Man Is Also Its Future
A hurricane hitting the desert was not on anyone’s Burner bingo card for 2023. Burning Man, the annual 80,000-person bacchanal, happens about three hours outside of Reno, Nevada, in the Black Rock Desert every Labor Day. It’s a place of extremes: extreme temperatures, extreme dust storms, and an extreme lack of water. Climate change, and… Continue reading The End of Burning Man Is Also Its Future
US and UK Mount Aggressive Crackdown on Trickbot and Conti Ransomware Gangs
The United States Department of Treasury and United Kingdom Foreign Office announced today that they have sanctioned 11 people for their alleged involvement in the Trickbot cybercriminal gang. The US Department of Justice also unsealed indictments against nine people whom it says are connected to Trickbot and its sibling organization Conti. Seven of those nine… Continue reading US and UK Mount Aggressive Crackdown on Trickbot and Conti Ransomware Gangs
This Is the True Scale of New York’s Airbnb Apocalypse
The number of short-term Airbnbs available in New York City has dropped 70 percent after the city began enforcing a new law requiring short-term rental operators to register their homes. But despite the new requirements, there are still thousands of listings that could be unregistered. The drop, recorded between August 4 and September 5, the… Continue reading This Is the True Scale of New York’s Airbnb Apocalypse
The International Criminal Court Will Now Prosecute Cyberwar Crimes
For years, some cybersecurity defenders and advocates have called for a kind of Geneva Convention for cyberwar, new international laws that would create clear consequences for anyone hacking civilian critical infrastructure, like power grids, banks, and hospitals. Now the lead prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at the Hague has made it clear that he… Continue reading The International Criminal Court Will Now Prosecute Cyberwar Crimes