Investigators across Europe, including intelligence agencies, will now be trying to piece together exactly who and what caused the apparent explosions. This is likely to involve multiple steps, such as examining what data is held about the area, including seismic data and other sensors, checking whether any communications around the incident have been intercepted, and… Continue reading The Race to Find the Nord Stream Saboteurs
Author: Wired Magazine
Google Borrows From TikTok to Keep Gen Z Searching
In July, the Google executive who oversees the company’s lucrative and dominant search engine made a surprising admission. Younger users were diverting questions that would once have naturally flowed to the iconic search box to social networks, Prabhakar Raghavan said at a Forbes conference. Take the example of where to go for lunch: Google’s studies… Continue reading Google Borrows From TikTok to Keep Gen Z Searching
Everything Amazon Announced at Its Annual Hardware Event
Amazon announced a Prime Early Access Sale earlier this week (aka Prime Day 2.0), but today, the company took the wraps off of some new hardware it’s been cooking up over the past year. That includes new Echo speakers, as usual, but there are some surprises too, such as the Kindle Scribe—the first Kindle you… Continue reading Everything Amazon Announced at Its Annual Hardware Event
Amazon Wants to Cocoon You With ‘Ambient Intelligence’
That project is now personified by today’s announcement of Halo Rise, the $140 “no-contact bedside sleep tracker, smart alarm and wake-up light” that picks up signals from your bedroom that even the partner sleeping beside you won’t notice. (To get the best use of that data to improve sleep, users must subscribe to the premium… Continue reading Amazon Wants to Cocoon You With ‘Ambient Intelligence’
You’ll Need a Magnifying Glass to Find the iPhone 14’s Upgrades
As I was getting a haircut last week, my hairdresser asked if I’d seen the new iPhone. She didn’t know my occupation but saw my Apple Watch and, as is obligatory in that line of work, was making small talk. “Does it look any different?” was the main query. I reached into my back pocket… Continue reading You’ll Need a Magnifying Glass to Find the iPhone 14’s Upgrades
NASA’s DART Spacecraft Smashes Into an Asteroid—on Purpose
“This is the first time we’ve actually attempted to move something in our solar system with the intent of preventing a [potential] natural disaster that has been part of our planet’s history from the beginning,” says Statler. The DART probe—the name is short for the Double Asteroid Redirection Test—has been in the works since 2015.… Continue reading NASA’s DART Spacecraft Smashes Into an Asteroid—on Purpose
Hurricane Ian Blows Back NASA’s Artemis Launch
NASA’s team leading the Artemis program of lunar missions really wants to get on with their inaugural spaceflight—which was slated for tomorrow morning. But with a strengthening Hurricane Ian barreling toward the Florida launchpad, it’s time to move the massive Space Launch System rocket to safety. The space agency will roll the rocket back to… Continue reading Hurricane Ian Blows Back NASA’s Artemis Launch
A Sprawling Bot Network Used Fake Porn to Fool Facebook
In November 2021, Tord Lundström, the technical director at Swedish digital forensics nonprofit Qurium Media, noticed something strange. A massive distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack was targeting Bulatlat, an alternative Phillippine media outlet hosted by the nonprofit. And it was coming from Facebook users. Lundström and his team found that the attack was just… Continue reading A Sprawling Bot Network Used Fake Porn to Fool Facebook
A Wheel Made of ‘Odd Matter’ Spontaneously Rolls Uphill
In a physics lab in Amsterdam, there’s a wheel that can spontaneously roll uphill by wiggling. This “odd wheel” looks simple: just six small motors linked together by plastic arms and rubber bands to form a ring about 6 inches in diameter. When the motors are powered on, it starts writhing, executing complicated squashing and… Continue reading A Wheel Made of ‘Odd Matter’ Spontaneously Rolls Uphill
Child Predators Mine Twitch to Prey on Kids
Some churches across the United States are using invasive phone-monitoring technology in efforts to discourage “sinful” behavior, a WIRED investigation revealed this week. The churches are using a series of apps, dubbed “shameware,” that track people’s activity and use their personal data as a way to control their lifestyle choices. The apps can record everything… Continue reading Child Predators Mine Twitch to Prey on Kids