Uncanny Valley | WIRED

Vaccine Incentives, From Donuts to Dollars

04 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

So, you want to vaccinate your populace. Sometimes it's not enough to appeal to people's basic sense of self-preservation. You have to find other ways...

Oh, the Huemanity

28 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For as long as humans have existed, we've been obsessed with color. Everything from the color of your clothes to the brightly illuminated pixels on yo...

Android Dreams

21 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Google made a slew of announcements at its IO developer conference this week. A whole new look for Android! New privacy features! Better smartwatch so...

Muchos Bezos

14 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Few tech companies have charted a more fascinating course than Amazon. It's expanded from its humble beginnings as a bookseller to an absolute juggern...

The Truth About Section 230

07 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

There's no way the lawmakers who drafted Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act way back in 1996 could have known that it would go on to determ...

Leave No Trace

30 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Facebook, Apple, and Google may have very different approaches to user privacy, but they do have something in common: All three companies are currentl...

Facebook’s Andrew Bosworth

23 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Facebook doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to keeping user data private. So when it revealed a few weeks ago that it was working on a...

500th Episode Extravaganza

16 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week marks the 500th episode of Gadget Lab. That is an astonishingly huge number; to pay proper tribute to it, we’ve invited some of Gadget Lab...

Breaking Up, Hooking Up

09 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tech companies are very good at serving up personalized content based on what they know about you. But they're not very good at picking up on big, sud...

Free Shipping

02 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Last week, the cargo ship Ever Given got itself stuck in the Suez Canal for six days. The blockage completely disrupted maritime trade routes, capture...

Reentry Anxiety

26 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Vaccines are here, unemployment is down, and the pandemic is nearing its end. These are obviously good things. Still, the idea of returning to "normal...

Future Computing the Facebook Way

19 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How will we interact with computers in the future? When we finally evolve beyond keyboards, mice, touchscreens, and voice controls, what’s next? Thi...

WTF Is an NFT?

12 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When you think of digital media, you probably think of something like a YouTube video or a meme. Something you can access for free, any time you want....

Facing Our AR Future

05 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

While augmented reality has long been billed as the "next big thing" it hasn't quite arrived. Some pretty basic logistical problems get in the way. Th...

Gadgets on Mars

26 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Hey, did you know that the new Mars rover is really cool? Its eyes see crazy different colors! It shoots out a helicopter drone! It can vaporize rocks...

How to Get a PlayStation 5

19 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Do you have a PlayStation 5? If so, good for you. If not, well, join the club. Sony’s newest game console has been very difficult to purchase since ...

Who Let the Doge Out

12 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When Bitcoin first appeared out of digital thin air, it was hailed as having the potential to upend the way people spent money. But more than a decade...

Clubhouse’s Elon Moment

05 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Elon Musk made headlines again this week. As usual, it was something involving Mars, memes, Tesla, and ... monkey brain implants? These topics, among ...

Your Covid Vaccine Questions, Answered

29 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Vaccines are here, but they’ve had a bit of a bumpy landing. In fact, the US is way behind on the distribution goals set by the federal government, ...

Reboot Your Brain

22 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Look, last year wasn't great. And just because it's 2021 now, that doesn't mean things are magically better. If you feel burned out, stressed, or just...

CES Wrap-Up

15 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

You'd be forgiven if you didn't pay much attention to CES this week. There's been quite a lot going on outside the world of consumer tech, plus the vi...

Facebook and Twitter Finally Respond to Trump

08 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

New year, new ... coup? On Wednesday, angry supporters of President Trump stormed the US Capitol building and violently disrupted a congressional sess...

Our 2021 Predictions

18 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

You'd be forgiven if the New Year's resolutions you made at the beginning of 2020 haven't exactly panned out. It's been a ridiculous, infuriating year...

Gift Rap

11 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It's been a rough year, and the typically stressful holiday season is bound to be even more so. You might be having a hard time figuring out what gift...

Ride Share’s Road Ahead

04 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Uber and Lyft had it pretty good in the beginning. The companies could roll out their services to new cities, entice a bunch of drivers and riders to ...

Pedal Revolution

20 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Ebikes are having a moment. Today's electric bikes are powerful, elegant, maneuverable, and, as battery technology improves, they're able to ride for ...

Apple Chips Ahoy

13 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Another month, another Apple event. This time around, we saw three new Macs, all with a shiny new chip inside them. Apple's M1 processor is a great bi...

Console Wars

06 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Consoles: They're new, they're shiny, they'll be here next week. Sony's PlayStation 5 and Microsoft's Xbox Series X launch a couple days apart, and to...

Car Talk

30 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On November 3, Massachusetts voters will get to weigh in on Question 1, a proposal on the ballot that would make the data on a car’s computer availa...

Google and the Government

23 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, the US Department of Justice filed an antitrust suit against Google. It accuses the company of stifling competition and operating a near-mo...

The iPhones 12

16 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Less than a month after its last hardware event, Apple held another one this week where it announced a slate of new iPhones. The standout feature of a...

Battling Burnout

09 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Trying to be a functional human being in 2020 can feel exhausting. Our devices send us constant notifications, social media demands all our attention,...

Invasion of the Home Drone

02 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the past few weeks, we’ve seen hardware announcements from Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. In them, there’s been a lot of emphasis on gad...

The TikTok Dance

25 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In August, Trump signed executive orders that labeled both TikTok and another Chinese-owned app, WeChat, as national security threats. Unless they cou...

Apple Bundles Up

18 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Apple's September product events are usually noteworthy for their hardware announcements. But this year, like with just about everything else, was dif...

Connected Cardio

11 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Even before the pandemic, Peloton was the clear leader in connected, at-home workout equipment. So it was really no surprise that when gyms closed dow...

Tech the Vote

04 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Whether you're prepared for it or not, the United States is hurtling toward another presidential election. Like just about everything in 2020, the vot...

Alexa, Play My Alibi

28 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As smart speakers for the home continue to grow in popularity, police departments have started to take notice. Now, whenever attorneys and law enforce...

Let’s Talk About Texts

21 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Maybe you aren't a political dissident engaging in top secret conversations over text messages. But if you care about privacy, you should probably be ...

The Foldable Future

14 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Microsoft's dual screen Surface Duo became available for sale. Like many other folding devices, the Duo has been marketed as a product for ...

We Love Cheap Phones

07 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Used to be that if you wanted a new phone, you had to choose between something cheap and something good. But a recent slate of smartphones like the ne...

Amazon’s Hidden Prime Secrets

31 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

If you have an Amazon Prime membership (maybe it’s where you’ve been buying all your toilet paper during the pandemic) then you’re likely aware ...

Tick Tock, TikTok

24 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

All the kids are talking about it. And now, so are government officials and corporate bigwigs. An app typically known for short, clever videos (and lo...

Get WIRED: Citizen and the Bizarre World of Live-Streamed Crime

24 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The idea behind the Citizen app is that its users upload videos of the things that are going on in the neighborhood in real time — anything from as ...

Introducing: Get WIRED

20 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Get WIRED is a new podcast about how the future is realized. Each week, we burrow down new rabbit holes to investigate the ways technology is changing...

I Stream, You Stream

17 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It’s hard to remember what television on the internet was like before Netflix started streaming original programming on demand. But maybe that fact ...

I Can't Stop Doomscrolling

10 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Doomscrolling—everybody's doing it! You’re lying in bed, on your phone, trying to fall asleep, but then you end up staying awake for hours as your...

Home Bodies

03 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Getting through this pandemic hasn't been easy. Each day can feel like a slog, especially when, for many people, the necessary shelter-in-place restri...

Arrested Developer Event

26 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference is normally an energetic, bustling affair. This year, of course, things are anything but normal. Instea...

Inside the eBananas Scandal

20 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A package showing up on your doorstep normally gives you a little hit of excitement. But for one Massachusetts couple last year, the arrival of each n...

When Can I See You Again?

12 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As states and cities lift shelter-in-place restrictions, there’s still so much we don’t know about the coronavirus and how it spreads. Which has l...

Tech and the Police State

05 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Across the world, millions of people have gathered to protest police brutality and systemic racism after an officer in Minneapolis killed George Floyd...

Trump v. Twitter

29 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A political firestorm erupted this week when Twitter flagged two of President Trump’s tweets about mail-in voting, calling them potentially misleadi...

Remote Desktop

22 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Silicon Valley loves its disruption. If any industry was prepared to handle the monumental changes brought on by the coronavirus, it’s big tech. Com...

The Dark Secrets of a Hacking Hero

15 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In May of 2017, Marcus Hutchins saved the internet. A vicious ransomware attack known as WannaCry had infected computer systems across dozens of count...

On the Road Again

08 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

While every economic sector in America has been upended by the coronavirus, few have been hit as hard as the transit and food service industries. It's...

The Argument for Making End-of-Life Decisions Early

01 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Back in March, counter-culture icon and founder of the Whole Earth Catalog Stewart Brand made a statement on Twitter that surprised some people: He ha...

Open For Business

24 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Depending on where you live, the stores, parks, playgrounds, and offices in your area could be shut down for the rest of this summer. Or, they could a...

Will Contact Tracing Work?

17 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Even amid a global pandemic, the world of tech keeps on turning. Some companies have responded directly to the outbreak, offering up smartphone-based ...

The Race to Make a Vaccine

10 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Researchers around the world are toiling to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus. But the creation of a working vaccine that can be safely distribute...

Supply Demand

03 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The coronavirus outbreak is accelerating in the United States. According to projections, the number of Covid-19 cases in the US is expected to peak ar...

Pandemic Panic

27 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it can be hard to keep track of what's real and what's not. There is a constant deluge of news from across the ...

The Generation Gap

20 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As the number of coronavirus-caused quarantines has spiked across the globe, people are being driven into isolation en masse. In some countries, socia...

Socially Distanced

13 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As COVID-19 sweeps across the world, it has prompted thousands of people to isolate themselves to avoid spreading the virus. This week on Gadget Lab, ...

Is Facebook Forever?

06 Mar 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Facebook started in 2004 as a simple network for connecting students at Harvard University. At the time, nobody could have predicted that it would gro...

There’s No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

28 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Gadget Lab, WIRED senior writer and former show host Arielle Pardes drops by to talk about how Silicon Valley has ruined work culture. Th...

The Anti-Bias Bot

21 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Many companies say they want to diversify their workforce. Far fewer have actually succeeded in doing so, even if they're earnestly trying. And one of...

Smartphone Launch Events Are Silly

14 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On Tuesday of this week Samsung held its annual Galaxy Unpacked event in San Francisco. It did what most tech companies set out to do when they host a...

The Virus and the Vote

07 Feb 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week on Gadget Lab, WIRED digital director Brian Barrett joins us to talk about the app that derailed the Iowa caucus—and what it means for ele...

Everything Old Is New Again

31 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It doesn’t take much to make people nostalgic anymore. With the rapid pace of technological advancement, folks get whimsical for even their clunky c...

Open Wide for Mouth Tech

24 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

There's money in your mouth. Figuratively speaking (we hope). A growing number of startups and full-fledged companies are looking to bring their smart...

One Wheel, Zero Buttons

17 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

There’s an old joke about Steve Jobs, that he never wore a suit because he hated buttons. There’s some truth to that old trope about designers alw...

Best of CES

10 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

CES, the all-consuming tech trade show, took over Las Vegas this week. Convention halls and hotels were jam packed with shiny gizmos, bleeding-edge te...

Sex Toys and Toothbrushes

03 Jan 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Next week, we’ll be bound for the largest consumer electronics showcase of the season. CES starts on January 7 in Las Vegas, and we’ll be heading ...

Our Favorite Stuff from 2019, Plus Our 2020 Predictions

20 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

2019 was a tumultuous time for technology. While product engineers created hybrid franken-gadgets and software companies turned nearly everything into...

The Case for Cassava

13 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The cassava plant is one of the most important food sources in the world. In Africa, it sustains 500 million people and provides a stable income for f...

Going Places

06 Dec 2019

Contributed by Lukas

In May, Tesla, the electric vehicle manufacturer run by billionaire Elon Musk, filed a patent to put lasers on its cars. While this might sound like a...

Life After Facebook

22 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Former Facebook bigwig Chris Cox has been busy. In March, Cox left his position as chief product officer of the social media giant, where he had overs...

Finally, We Can ‘Like’ Apple’s Keyboards Again

15 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Tech companies say they want to serve their customers, but sometimes they’re curiously resistant to fixing problems with their products. Their solut...

When Big Tech Buys Your Darlings

08 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Given all the criticism, mistrust, and investigations that have been levied at Facebook in the past couple years, one might think that they would do t...

Deep Listening

01 Nov 2019

Contributed by Lukas

The way we listen to audio has evolved with technology. Headphones, once bulky skull-huggers that kept us plugged into a device, are going increasingl...

YouTube Creators Want More From YouTube

25 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Without video creators, YouTube wouldn’t be one of the world’s biggest social platforms. Without the platform, YouTubers wouldn’t be, well, YouT...

Facial Recognition Tech Is Coming to a School Near You

18 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Despite a lack of evidence that more technology makes kids safer, facial recognition technology may soon be coming to a school near you. It’s part o...

It's Time to Put Down Your Phone

11 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

How long have you gone without checking your phone in the past week? 10, 15, maybe 20 minutes while you’re awake? Our screens have commandeered our ...

Panos Panay Says Microsoft’s New Phone Isn’t a Phone

04 Oct 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Microsoft surprised just about everyone this week by showing off a pair of new mobile devices with two screens apiece. The pocketable Surface Duo and ...

Spot, the Robot Dog, Learns New Tricks

27 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

For 25 years, Boston Dynamics has been building robots and releasing videos of the terrifying things running around, opening doors, and fending off st...

Your DNA Belongs on the Blockchain

20 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

You may not realize it, but when you send a spit-filled tube off to a lab that’s going to analyze your DNA, you’re linking the most unique identif...

iPhones to the Max

13 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

New iPhones! A shinier Apple Watch! So many camera lenses! On this week’s episode of Gadget Lab, it’s Apple week yet again. Lauren, Mike, and Arie...

How Uber Went Down in Flames

06 Sep 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Once upon a time, there was a true unicorn, a startup named Uber. Led by CEO Travis Kalanick, the company broke all the rules of business and truly di...

Why It’s So Hard to Unlink Yourself From Facebook

30 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

If you have both an Instagram and Facebook account, chances are they are connected, whether you like it or not. But what if you didn’t connect them ...

You’ve Got Microplastics

23 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Plastic is everywhere. No, really, it is everywhere. Tiny bits of plastic waste, called microplastic, have come to permeate nearly every part of the p...

How Google’s Secrecy Lead to Company Turmoil

16 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

For years, Google has flourished in large part because of its famously open internal structure. Leadership encouraged active and vocal communication b...

Amazon's Quest for World Domination

09 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Amazon didn’t become the behemoth it is by accident. Its services, like Amazon Prime, and products, like the Echo smart speaker, were designed to le...

Bumps in the Road to Our Robo-Car Future

02 Aug 2019

Contributed by Lukas

From fledgling startups to automotive giants like General Motors, there’s a whole lot of companies looking to develop fully self-driving cars. But t...

Why New York’s Revenge Porn Law Is Flawed

26 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, New York governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law a bill criminalizing the spread of nonconsensual pornography, or revenge porn. WIRED’s Emm...

Twitter’s Redesign Is Impressive. Is It Enough?

19 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

On Monday, Twitter began rolling out its first desktop redesign in seven years. It was a mostly aesthetic makeover, with changes like a new layout, da...

Facebook's Libra and the Future of Money

13 Jul 2019

Contributed by Lukas

Last month, Facebook announced its plans to get into the cryptocurrency race with Libra. A blend of blockchain and partnership with 28 companies, Libr...

Rebalancing Our Relationship With Tech

28 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week, a conversation with Aza Raskin, cofounder of the Center for Humane Technology at Stanford University, about the “asymmetric power relatio...

A Genius Move

21 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

If you thought an internet giant stole your hard work and claimed it as their own, how would you ever prove it? Well, what if you could booby trap the...

The Biggest News From E3

14 Jun 2019

Contributed by Lukas

This week was E3, the trade show where the biggest names in gaming debut their latest shiny products and software. On this week’s Gadget Lab podcast...