What's New
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Introducing WIRED's Gadget Lab!
Although we paused on publishing narrated versions of WIRED articles in this feed, you will still hear the latest in tech from the WIRED team.On WIRED's Gadget Lab, you'll find hosts Lauren Goode and Michael Calore tackling the biggest questions in the world of tech with knowledgeable WIRED reporters.You can expect the best of WIRED's breaking news and tech analysis right here in this feed.Listen to WIRED's Gadget Lab: https://listen.wired.com/YDai_aaZ Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Open Source AI Has Founders—and the FTC—Buzzing
DC went to YC to talk OS. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Bitcoin Bros Go Wild for Donald Trump
At the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Trump told crypto enthusiasts exactly what they want to hear. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Polluted Lakes Are Being Cleansed Using Floating Wetlands Made of Trash
Platforms combining plants and recycled garbage could offer a cut-price solution for reviving polluted bodies of water. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
At The Olympics, AI Is Watching You
A controversial new surveillance system in Paris foreshadows a future where there are too many CCTV cameras for humans to physically watch. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Here's What Happens When You Give People Free Money (They Get Poorer)
OpenResearch released the first results of the most comprehensive study on giving unrestricted cash grants to impoverished Americans. Researchers say it will flame both sides of the debate over welfare. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
RealPage Says Rental Pricing Tech Is Misunderstood, but Landlords Aren’t So Sure
The software company has pushed back hard against claims that its algorithms helped make rent in the US too damn high. Property owners and managers aren't entirely convinced. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Waymo Is Suing People Who Allegedly Smashed and Slashed Its Robotaxis
The Alphabet-owned driverless car service is getting aggressive against alleged vandals after a series of violent incidents in San Francisco. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
J.D. Vance Left His Venmo Public. Here’s What It Shows
The Republican VP nominee's Venmo network reveals connections ranging from the architects of Project 2025 to enemies of Donald Trump—and the populist's close ties to the very elites he rails against. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Spotify, Stop Trying to Become a Social Media App
The music streaming service has added a comment function under podcasts. Who is it for, anyway? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Paris Mayor Defies Poo Threats to Swim in Seine, and Prove a Point
French politicians’ pledge to make swimming possible in the iconic river is a way to ward off criticism about the cost of the clean up operation. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Tiny Texas Village Seeks Billion-Dollar Bitcoin Miner to Pave Potholes, Scare Dogs Away
In a roundabout bid to win public opinion (and a juicy tax abatement,) Riot Platforms is preparing for its prized bitcoin mine to be annexed by a miniscule village in rural Texas. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Pressure Grows in Congress to Treat Crypto Investigator Tigran Gambaryan, Jailed in Nigeria, as a Hostage
A new resolution echoes what 16 members of Congress have already said to the White House: It must do more to free one of the most storied crypto-focused federal agents in history. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
How Watermelon Cupcakes Kicked Off an Internal Storm at Meta
Arab and Muslim workers at Meta allege that its response to the crisis in Gaza is one-sided and out of hand. “It makes me sick that I work for this company,” says one employee. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Apple to Allow Rivals to Access ‘Tap and Go’ Technology
In the latest iOS overhaul prompted by European Union rules, the smartphone maker will give third-party developers access to its payment technology. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Epic Games Lashes Out at Apple Over App Store Rejection
Fortnite creator Epic Games says Apple rejected its App Store rival for being too similar to its own—a move it deemed “arbitrary, obstructive,” and in violation of EU rules. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
What Will Plants Be Like on Alien Worlds?
Scientists know enough about exoplanets to speculate about how simple plants might arise on them. But don't count on them being green. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
How Labour Can Fix the UK’s Tech Industry
The new government could bring about a renaissance in UK tech and bolster the country’s precarious post-Brexit startup pipeline. That’s if politics don’t get in the way. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
After a 10 Year Wait, Mt. Gox Bitcoin Is Finally Being Returned
Former customers of bankrupt crypto exchange Mt. Gox are preparing to be reunited with their lost bitcoin—and it's a $9bn windfall. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Hurricane Beryl Isn’t a Freak Storm—It’s the Exact Nightmare Meteorologists Predicted
A hot ocean provides the energy hurricanes need to grow—and can limit the cooling that happens in their wake, making it likelier that the storms that follow will be powerful ones. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Leading Lab-Grown Meat Company Cuts Dozens of Jobs
Upside Foods is slashing staff, citing legislative, regulatory, and funding headwinds. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Meta's Pay for Privacy Model Is Illegal, Says EU
In the latest big tech reprimand, European Commission officials say the tech giant must offer another option for EU users to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
French AI Startups Felt Unstoppable. Then Came the Election
With polls suggesting voters are about to swing toward the far right or hard left, the AI industry is starting to freak out. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
OpenAI Wants AI to Help Humans Train AI
Having humans rate a language model’s outputs produced clever chatbots. OpenAI says adding AI to the loop could help make them even smarter and more reliable. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Air So Polluted It Can Kill Isn’t Being Taken Seriously Enough
Toxic air kills over half a million children every year, yet only once has air pollution been listed as a cause of death on a death certificate. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The Julian Assange Saga Is Finally Over
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has agreed to plead guilty to one count of espionage in US court on Wednesday, ending a years-long legal battle between the US government and a controversial publisher. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Post-Pandemic Recovery Isn’t Guaranteed
The aftermath of a disaster like Covid can be divided into roughly three stages: the honeymoon, the slump, and the uptick. The aim is always to build back better—but in some cases that never happens. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Perplexity Plagiarized Our Story About How Perplexity Is a Bullshit Machine
Earlier this week, WIRED published a story about the AI-powered search startup Perplexity, which Forbes has accused of plagiarism. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Potatoes Are the Perfect Vegetable—but You’re Eating Them Wrong
The humble potato is a miraculous vegetable, but Americans are eating less of them than ever before and have ditched fresh potatoes for frozen. Is it time to rebrand the spud? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
STEM Students Refuse to Work at Google and Amazon Over Project Nimbus
Students and young workers from more than 120 universities have pledged to refuse work at Google and Amazon until the Israeli contract is dropped. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Banks Are Finally Realizing What Climate Change Will Do to Housing
Extreme weather threatens the investment value of many properties, but financing for climate mitigation efforts are only just getting going. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
AI Is Coming for Big Tech Jobs—but Not in the Way You Think
Companies aren’t replacing workers with AI yet. But they are sacrificing thousands of jobs in the race to further innovation in the technology. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
I Spent a Week Eating Discarded Restaurant Food. But Was It Really Going to Waste?
Food app Too Good To Go promises to cut waste by directing hungry bargain hunters to leftover restaurant food. But the week we spent living off the app had me wondering if Too Good To Go is too good to be true. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
From the Archives: Scientists Have Finally Found the Origins of a Mysterious Asteroid
Astronomers show how a 50-meter space rock orbiting near Earth isn’t a typical asteroid: It probably blasted off the moon millions of years ago. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Apple Proved That AI Is a Feature, Not a Product
Other tech companies want to sell you chatbots. Apple’s demos show the value of seeing the AI as an integrated, holistic experience rather than a stand-alone app or device. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
US National Security Experts Warn AI Giants Aren't Doing Enough to Protect Their Secrets
Susan Rice, who helped the White House broker an AI safety agreement with OpenAI and other tech companies, says she's worried China will steal American AI secrets. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
From the Archives: The ‘Green’ Future of Furniture Is a Sofa Stuffed With Seaweed
Foam rubber—like the filling inside your couch—produces an enormous amount of CO2. A Norwegian company called Agoprene thinks seaweed could be the solution. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
An AI Cartoon May Interview You For Your Next Job
As if trying to land a new gig isn't demoralizing enough, job seekers are meeting with characters powered by generative AI who are capable of meeting with infinite candidates to judge their skills. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The Snowflake Attack May Be Turning Into One of the Largest Data Breaches Ever
The number of alleged hacks targeting the customers of cloud storage firm Snowflake appears to be snowballing into one of the biggest data breaches of all time. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The Case for MDMA's Approval Is Riddled With Problems
The FDA is considering approving MDMA alongside psychotherapy as a treatment for PTSD. But evidence of the drug’s effectiveness isn’t clear cut. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
From the Archives: Energy Drinks Are Out of Control
Highly caffeinated drinks have become a cultural staple. But following a death allegedly related to Panera Bread’s Charged Lemonade, has our collective obsession with energy drinks become unsafe? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
From the Archives: Here Come the Glow-in-the-Dark Houseplants
Startup Light Bio has created a bioluminescent petunia using mushroom genes and plans to start shipping the plants next spring. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
From the Archives: What Will Plants Be Like on Alien Worlds?
Scientists know enough about exoplanets to speculate about how simple plants might arise on them. But don't count on them being green. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Marc Andreessen Called Online Safety Teams an Enemy. He Still Wants Walled Gardens for His Kid
Investor Marc Andreessen called tech ethics and safety teams “the enemy” in his “Techno-Optimist Manifesto” last year. Today he clarified he’s in favor of online guardrails for his 9-year-old son. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
From the Archives: A Medieval French Skeleton Is Rewriting the History of Syphilis
We're bringing an extra episode from our show Science, Spoken.Christopher Columbus was blamed for bringing syphilis to Europe. New DNA evidence suggests it was already there. Maybe both stories are true. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
An American Company Enabled a North Korean Scam That Raised Money for WMDs
Wyoming’s secretary of state has proposed ways of “preventing fraud and abuse of corporate filings by commercial registered agents” in the aftermath of the scheme’s exposure. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
AI Is Your Coworker Now. Can You Trust It?
Generative AI tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Copilot are becoming part of everyday business life. But they come with privacy and security considerations you should know about. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The Ticketmaster Data Breach May Be Just the Beginning
Data breaches at Ticketmaster and financial services company Santander have been linked to attacks against cloud provider Snowflake. Researchers fear more breaches will soon be uncovered. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Google's AI Overviews Will Always Be Broken. That's How AI Works
Google rushed out fixes after its AI search feature made errors that went viral. Fundamental limitations of generative AI mean that it will still screw up sometimes. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
What Ever Happened to the Tiny House Movement?
We're bringing an extra episode from our show Business, Spoken.Tiny houses started as a minimalist revolution. They ended up as an Instagram aesthetic. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices