Tech ado Labs

Hunker down at home and block out the real world with these deals on Chromebooks, headphones, and more. https://bit.ly/3zUQXWp

The brain's default mode is set to mind-wandering. Your meditation app can bring you back into the now. https://bit.ly/3zZY7cb

William Gibson's classic 1984 novel is still the gold standard for cyberpunk. https://bit.ly/3zW9KAU

Face coverings are back. Read our updated tips on how to pick an effective mask—whether you’re heading back to the office or just want to stay safe and stylish. https://bit.ly/3yjHpE4

Hopes for a “normal” fall have been dashed by variants and low vaccine uptake. Businesses and the White House think requiring shots can turn things around. https://bit.ly/2Vok2dK

The Tokyo Games have taken a unique psychological toll on all of the athletes. https://bit.ly/2V4xkfU

A new formula measures the “mortality cost of carbon,” and how much would have to be removed from the atmosphere to save a single life. https://bit.ly/3laP04e

“We love our jobs, but our jobs don’t love us back,” one worker told WIRED. "So we’re trying to change that.” https://bit.ly/3l6xrlB

In a bid to protect its investments in hybrids and hydrogen fuel cells, the carmaker is lobbying against the transition to electric vehicles. https://bit.ly/2V28Dk3

Social media is not the reason the pandemic hasn’t been conquered. https://bit.ly/3l5YsG0

An extraordinary drought in the West, plus dry lakes and reservoirs, mean there will be less water for farms, hydroelectric energy, and home users. https://bit.ly/3f4qjTd

PunkSpider is back, and crawling hundreds of millions of sites for vulnerabilities. https://bit.ly/3BJOnEB

Just a few days after ditching its invite-only status, the audio chat app had fewer than 500,000 new downloads. https://bit.ly/3BIHnYu

You want to be productive. Software wants to help. But even with a glut of tools claiming to make us all into taskmasters, we almost never master our tasks. https://bit.ly/3kXMcr3

The company announced a strategy that involves new machinery and new technologies. It may get a boost from the US government. https://bit.ly/3x2lrUN

One of the best gaming chairs just got better, but it's not for everyone. https://bit.ly/3iMO8js

Calculating angular velocity and the moment of inertia isn’t quite as hard as competing in the Olympic gymnastics tournament—but it’s pretty darn tough. https://bit.ly/3kUqrIr

The popular short-video app survived a plan to block it on US phones. Now, it’s mistrusted by both the US and Chinese governments. https://bit.ly/3rB3lYO

Dozens of viruses don't use the same four nucleotide bases found in all other life. New work shows how this is possible—and perhaps more common than we think. https://bit.ly/2WiRUcJ

Let your phone be your guide. Even default map apps have handy features to help you plan an awesome itinerary. https://bit.ly/3kVp4tg

Money is pouring into autonomous trucking startups, just as many are souring on the short-term prospects for self-driving cars. https://bit.ly/3i2TKqv

A complaint filed this week alleges corrosive behavior that seems increasingly endemic to the video game industry. https://bit.ly/3rz7PyV

Catch up on the most important updates from this week. https://bit.ly/3xYA4JU

Scott Edelman's "A Plague on Both Your Houses" is a tale of the undead written in iambic pentameter. https://bit.ly/3iG8s61

In a warped version of international cooperation, the Games could provide a place for variants of the virus to spread and then return home with athletes. https://bit.ly/3iHK57Q

A decryption tool has emerged, meaning any victims whose systems remain locked up can soon breathe easy. https://bit.ly/3eOPZTA

InSight and Perseverance have sent back unprecedented data on everything from marsquakes to the Red Planet’s inner layers. https://bit.ly/2V7uExy

For the Amazon and Blue Origin founder, suborbital space tourism is just the first step toward something much bigger. https://bit.ly/3zm3O3G

Eliminating the global feed is a good step. But until the platform offers privacy by default, it remains a liability for many of its users. https://bit.ly/3eMM0H5

Researchers think these flexible semiconductors will be able to monitor your heartbeat or tell you whether your milk has spoiled. https://bit.ly/3kJpNNW

The day was a career highlight for the Amazon and Blue Origin founder. But the real star of the show was Wally Funk. https://bit.ly/3rmrXEA

Here's all the WIRED coverage in one place, from how to keep your children entertained to how this outbreak is affecting the economy. https://bit.ly/2TsXYOM

The Amazon founder, his brother, aviation pioneer Wally Funk, and a paying passenger were the first to test out the New Shepard suborbital rocket system. https://bit.ly/3ivE0LD

The country's hackers have gotten far more aggressive since 2015, when the Ministry of State Security largely took over the country’s cyberespionage. https://bit.ly/3kAaTcT

When the invasive swine root through soils around the world, they release as much carbon dioxide as a million cars. Good luck getting rid of them. https://bit.ly/3kxh5lU

WIRED is reporting daily from Van Horn, Texas, where the Amazon founder will be among the first passengers aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket system. https://bit.ly/36L4Dqw

A new “red team” will try to anticipate and thwart attacks on machine learning programs. https://bit.ly/3eww3Vk

Autonomous vehicles use the equivalent of 200 laptops to get around. Some want to tap that computing power to decode viruses or mine bitcoin. https://bit.ly/3hNbcit

Creative and dedicated, the master builders of the best-selling video game have forged some incredible structures. https://bit.ly/3hKCgyZ

Melinda Snodgrass' novel The High Ground examines human cruelty in an alien first-contact scenario. https://bit.ly/3kvjDRj

Plus: REvil goes dark, spyware runs amok, and more of the week's top security news. https://bit.ly/2Th6H6s

We’ve tested all the top slates, from Apple’s iPads to Android and Windows devices. https://bit.ly/3kh3A6y

The security researchers used infrared photos and third-party hardware to best Microsoft’s facial-recognition tech. https://bit.ly/3riD7Kg

Catch up on the most important updates from this week. https://bit.ly/3ikb8pD

The Dimension of Miracles author paved the way for Philip K. Dick and Harlan Ellison. https://bit.ly/3reLZRa

This powerful and smart air conditioner might require some fiddling during installation, but it delivers on its promises. https://bit.ly/36Gr0gY

Security researchers say the group exploited a zero-day in Apple’s operating system to target European government officials over LinkedIn. https://bit.ly/3kmtpoZ

The $400 handheld will let you bring your Steam library anywhere. But before you reserve one, here’s what you need to know. https://bit.ly/2VEqQEj

Starting with a beta that launches today, you’ll no longer have to route all your messages through your smartphone. https://bit.ly/2VFKCPL

Last fall, researchers said the presence of phosphine in the planet’s atmosphere could indicate life. But a new study says there could be a geological explanation. https://bit.ly/2U5Atf7