BMW revived its sub-brand “i” division in 2011—long before most people had even heard of Tesla—to design and make plug-in electric vehicles. The launch cars were the still-in-production i3 and the i8 sports car. It was an expensive gamble, but even if BMW had not sold in excess of 240,000 units of these two cars… Continue reading The BMW i7 EV Has a Fold-Down Movie Screen
Author: Wired Magazine
Lotus’ All-Electric Eletre SUV Has a Grill That ‘Breathes’
SUVs don’t often get called beautiful. Rugged, cool, maybe even stylish on occasion. Marketing departments like to pepper SUV launches with adjectives that tap into our primordial instincts to haul stuff or ram through forest roads, but the typical Range Rover, Toyota RAV4, or Volvo has long since left its utilitarian roots behind. Looks, as… Continue reading Lotus’ All-Electric Eletre SUV Has a Grill That ‘Breathes’
Why Paleontologists Are Getting Into Florida’s Oyster Business
But harvesting the oysters was far from easy. At low tide, the oyster reefs are surrounded by viscous, sometimes thigh-high mud. The shells themselves are razor-sharp and covered with infection-causing bacteria. This made heavy gloves and sturdy balance essential when maneuvering around the exposed reefs. The gray, fossilized oyster shells, rough and often stippled with… Continue reading Why Paleontologists Are Getting Into Florida’s Oyster Business
The Best Base Layers to Keep You Warm
There’s nothing basic about base layers. The base layer (outdoor industry speak for “undergarment”) is the foundation for your entire outdoor clothing system, and it all starts next to the skin. From the choice in fabrics to the location of the seams, a lot of engineering goes into an outdoor base layer that sets it… Continue reading The Best Base Layers to Keep You Warm
This Was the Year When Finance Jumped the Doge
None of that would matter if it all remained confined to the realm of social media. Except the past few years have witnessed the explosion of zero-commission trading apps that allow easy access to stock markets—and suddenly people can follow through on their love for the meme. US Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler… Continue reading This Was the Year When Finance Jumped the Doge
7 Rapid At-Home Covid-19 Tests—and Where to Find Them
There’s a chance your test result may show up as invalid. This means the test didn’t work. If this happened with your first test, you can try again with the second one in the box (though you’ll need to buy another pack to test again). Fluctuating Stock and Insurance Coverage Snagging a rapid at-home… Continue reading 7 Rapid At-Home Covid-19 Tests—and Where to Find Them
Autonomous Weapons Are Here, but the World Isn’t Ready for Them
This may be remembered as the year when the world learned that lethal autonomous weapons had moved from a futuristic worry to a battlefield reality. It’s also the year when policymakers failed to agree on what to do about it. On Friday, 120 countries participating in the United Nations’ Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons could… Continue reading Autonomous Weapons Are Here, but the World Isn’t Ready for Them
5 Apps That Are Better on the Desktop Than in Your Browser
Many of us use browser tabs to run our most frequented apps: media players, instant messengers, office suites, and more. But while this often means we can take our favorite services anywhere without installing anything, the web version of an app is not necessarily better. Here are five programs that are just as good—or better—in… Continue reading 5 Apps That Are Better on the Desktop Than in Your Browser
Buckle Up for More Log4j Madness
It feels like the world has a lot of Pandora’s boxes open at once right now. Last week another crisis came into view with disclosure of a vulnerability in the widely used open source Apache logging library Log4j. Since then, system administrators, incident responders, and governments have been scrambling to install patches and reduce the… Continue reading Buckle Up for More Log4j Madness
These Are Our Favorite Robot Vacuums
No Device I’ve tested has advanced as quickly as the humble robot vacuum in the past few years. You can now find robot vacs at every price point with an incredible array of features, including mapping capabilities, self-emptying bins, and even cameras—all to help you keep grit from sticking to your bare feet when you… Continue reading These Are Our Favorite Robot Vacuums