Jim Sanborn couldn’t believe it. He was weeks away from auctioning off the answer to Kryptos, the sculpture he created for the CIA that had defied solution for 35 years. As always, wannabe solvers kept on paying him a $50 fee to offer their guesses to the remaining unsolved portion of the 1,800-character encrypted message,… Continue reading Inside the Messy, Accidental Kryptos Reveal
Author: Wired Magazine
The ‘Surge’ of Troops May Not Come to San Francisco, but the City Is Ready Anyway
After months of deployments by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the National Guard across American cities, federal agents have been preparing to descend into San Francisco. Local resistance groups have been coordinating with activists in other cities across the country that have been besieged by federal law enforcement. Thousands of volunteers, coordinating through Signal… Continue reading The ‘Surge’ of Troops May Not Come to San Francisco, but the City Is Ready Anyway
How Hacked Card Shufflers Allegedly Enabled a Mob-Fueled Poker Scam That Rocked the NBA
“If there’s a camera that knows the cards, there is always some kind of underlying threat. Customers are gonna be essentially at the mercy of the person setting up the machine,” poker player and card house owner Doug Polk previously told WIRED. “If you’re showing up in a private game and there’s a shuffler, I… Continue reading How Hacked Card Shufflers Allegedly Enabled a Mob-Fueled Poker Scam That Rocked the NBA
Trump’s Investment in Intel Is Paying Off
The Trump administration’s investment in Intel appears to be paying off, but the once-mighty chipmaker has a long way to climb back to industry dominance. In August, the US government announced it was converting about $9 billion in federal grants that Intel had been issued during the Biden administration into a roughly 10 percent equity… Continue reading Trump’s Investment in Intel Is Paying Off
‘War on Crypto Is Over’: Donald Trump Pardons Binance Founder CZ
US president Donald Trump has pardoned Changpeng Zhao, founder of the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance. Zhao, widely known as CZ, pled guilty in November 2023 to violating anti-money-laundering laws and US sanctions. The plea formed part of a sweeping deal with the US Department of Justice, under which Binance was required to pay a… Continue reading ‘War on Crypto Is Over’: Donald Trump Pardons Binance Founder CZ
White House Staffers Couldn’t Care Less About the East Wing Demolition
White House staffers don’t appear to care all that much about the ongoing demolition of the East Wing occurring in the middle of the government shutdown. “Not affecting me at all, to be honest,” a White House aide tells WIRED. This source, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press,… Continue reading White House Staffers Couldn’t Care Less About the East Wing Demolition
Google Earth Gets an AI Chatbot to Help Chart the Climate Crisis
Google has come up with a way to better map Earth’s disasters, predict them, and be able to track which communities and ecosystems are going to be harmed. If you want to find out what’s straining the environment in your neck of the woods, all you have to do is ask. Google Earth AI, a… Continue reading Google Earth Gets an AI Chatbot to Help Chart the Climate Crisis
Elon Musk Wants ‘Strong Influence’ Over the ‘Robot Army’ He’s Building
Tesla might be an electric auto maker, but CEO Elon Musk has made clear that he thinks of it as much more: an innovator in artificial intelligence and software, a builder of world-shaking robots. He’s also argued that Tesla should be worth a lot more than it is today: up to $20 trillion, he posted… Continue reading Elon Musk Wants ‘Strong Influence’ Over the ‘Robot Army’ He’s Building
Tinder Launches Mandatory Facial Verification to Weed Out Bots and Scammers
On Wednesday, Tinder announced that it is rolling out a mandatory facial verification tool for new users in the US to help combat the spread of fake profiles and weed out “bad actors.” Tinder claims its mandatory facial integration feature, called Face Check, is a first for a major dating app. During the sign-up process,… Continue reading Tinder Launches Mandatory Facial Verification to Weed Out Bots and Scammers
No, ICE (Probably) Didn’t Buy Guided Missile Warheads
On September 19, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement made a $61,218 payment for “guided missile warheads and explosive components,” according to the Product and Service Code (PSC) included in the payment record on a federal contracting database. “This award provides multiple distraction devices to support law enforcement operations and ICE- Office of Firearms and Tactical… Continue reading No, ICE (Probably) Didn’t Buy Guided Missile Warheads