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WIRED
The latest in-depth coverage covering the intersection of technology and culture will help you make sense of a world in constant transformation. Join us as we explore the ways technology is changing our lives.
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Mentioned books

Sep 12, 2018 • 7min
Digital DJs Have New Ways to 'Spin' Their Tracks
If you've been to a club, festival, pool party, or bar mitzvah in the past few years and taken a peek at the DJ booth, you've seen somebody using Traktor. The widely beloved app, made by the Berlin company Native Instruments, lets a performer seamlessly mix together tracks from their MP3 library to make a non-stop, fluidly changing DJ set.

Sep 12, 2018 • 5min
Eyeing the Future, Snap Debuts Two New Styles of Spectacles
Snap's camera-enabled Spectacles get an update today with two new styles of frames. The new sunnies look less like the circular Spectacles of yore, and more like something a knock-off Anna Wintour might wear, were she interested in being on the other side of the paparazzo's lens. They come with all the capabilities of Snap’s second generation Spectacles: improved image quality, dual microphones, and water-resistant frames. A button on the left side controls video and still photo capture.

Sep 11, 2018 • 5min
Chevy's Beefy ZR2 Bison Is the Pickup Truck You Bring to Armageddon
Of the growing numbers of US car buyers who go for SUVs and pickups, most do it because they look good, they have a nice high seating position, and they’re handy for that odd weekend they hit up Home Depot. Their cars will never get really dirty, or make use of their improved ground clearance, and off-road capabilities. There exists, however, a smaller class of buyers who really need those capabilities—and then some.

Sep 11, 2018 • 4min
Elon Musk’s Blunt-Toking Goodwill Tour Isn't Enough to Save Tesla
The thing to remember about Elon Musk smoking a blunt with Joe Rogan is not that he took just one hit, or that he didn’t seem to know what a blunt was, or that he whiffed on an opportunity to show off just how useful his “not a flamethrower” can be. It’s that it came 130 minutes into his two-and-a-half-hour interview with Rogan, for the former Fear Factor host’s podcast, livestreamed on YouTube.

Sep 10, 2018 • 13min
The 19th Century Argument for a 21st Century Space Force
Government sclerosis is no match for the hot take industrial complex. Since President Trump ordered the Department of Defense to prepare for a sixth military branch in June—an order that has stalled, since it requires congressional approval—the debate over this proposed Space Force has become so clouded by partially-informed, mostly-partisan rhetoric, there’s barely enough light for an honest appraisal.

Sep 10, 2018 • 6min
Why Science Fiction Is the Most Important Genre
Yuval Noah Harari, author of the best-selling books Sapiens and Homo Deus, is a big fan of science fiction, and includes an entire chapter about it in his new book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. “Today science fiction is the most important artistic genre,” Harari says in Episode 325 of the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast.

Sep 7, 2018 • 7min
Bump-Canceling Bunk Beds Promise Super Smooth Bus Rides
If you are, say, over the age of three, chances are someone has told you not to climb into a van, parked in an alley, with a bunch of strangers. But this was for science, mom, and the very nice trio that beckoned a reporter within turned out to be rather entrepreneurial spirits, who just want to create a good night’s sleep. A good night’s sleep in any context, really, but especially for the 23 passengers they hope to pack into bus rollicking down a California freeway.

Sep 7, 2018 • 26min
Kelly Slater's Artificial Surf Pool Is Really Making Waves
Adam Fincham is trying to make waves with a Tupperware full of agave and an avocado. Internal waves, specifically—the kind that exist in stratified fluid. Fincham is standing at a metal chef’s table in the kitchen at Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch, in toasty Lemoore, California. A chef is in the kitchen preparing salmon grain bowls for the assemblage of pro surfers hanging around outside, but Fincham is intent on his own concoction.

Sep 6, 2018 • 7min
Nike, Colin Kaepernick, and the Changing Role of the Athlete
To commemorate Nike’s 30th anniversary of its iconic “Just do it” campaign, the sportswear goliath on Monday released a series of striking black-and-white ads featuring tennis champion Serena Williams, pro-skateboarder Lacey Baker, and NFL wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. Its most controversial placard, though, was a close-up image of former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick overlaid with the message: “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.

Sep 6, 2018 • 7min
Review: Whistle 3 Pet Tracker
Because I work from home, and because my dogs are the best dogs, we are in contact all day, every day. We're a three-headed, ten-legged Hydra, rotating around each other as we move from my office to the living room to the kitchen. Whatever I do, they're usually there too—whether that's sleeping at night, pacing around my living room, or feeding my kids. And unfortunately, whatever happens to me, usually happens to them too. Last night, a friend saw my dogs after a long absence.