Society

Plus: China’s pipeline probing, a Chromebook debacle, and more of the week’s top security news. This week, Venmo took a long overdue step toward privacy by eliminating its global social feed in its latest redesign. That’s good! Now you can no longer witness an endless stream of complete strangers sending money to and from one…

We found discounts on a MacBook Pro, an Instant Pot, and the newest Amazon Fire tablet. If getting out of the house isn’t a readily available option this summer, the next best course of action might be to improve the little things that irk you. Tired of turning up the TV, only to have imbalanced…

The president needs to prioritize Americans’ wellbeing over Big Tech’s whims to begin a path to restoring democracy, privacy, and competition. The federal government’s campaign to reform internet platforms dramatically escalated this week. The Surgeon General cited disinformation as a public health menace. The White House press secretary called on Facebook to remove 12 accounts…

Catch up on the most important updates from this week. The pandemic Olympics, vaccine misinformation, and reinstated Covid-19 passes. Here’s what you should know: Want to receive this weekly roundup and other coronavirus news? Sign up here! Headlines The Olympics could be a Covid-19 ‘super-evolutionary’ event A year later than planned, the 2020 Summer Olympics…

No, it’s not dead. But fans around the world mourn the loss anyway. The Monitor is a weekly column devoted to everything happening in the WIRED world of culture, from movies to memes, TV to Twitter. It’s fitting that the new Dune trailer came out this week. Not because it’s summer and huge trailers are…

This week, Steven Levy fills us in on the Blue Origin launch, its implications, and why so many billionaires are obsessed with space travel. This week, Jeff Bezos flew to space. Or at least high enough into the sky for it to technically count. While his 10-minute joyride in a Blue Origin rocket was mainly…

The apparel and shoes for Team USA were designed for peak performance—ecologically and athletically.   Ever since the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy, US athletes on the Olympic podium have worn Nike. Nike apparel. Nike footwear. Not just on the podium, either; Team USA athletes competing in about half of the events, from track…

A decryption tool has emerged, meaning any victims whose systems remain locked up can soon breathe easy. Nearly three weeks ago, a ransomware attack against a little-known IT software company called Kaseya spiraled into a full-on epidemic, with hackers seizing the computers of as many as 1,500 businesses, including a major Swedish grocery chain. Last…

Amnesty International sheds alarming light on an NSO Group surveillance tool—and the gaps in Apple’s and Google’s defenses. The shadowy world of private spyware has long caused alarm in cybersecurity circles, as authoritarian governments have repeatedly been caught targeting the smartphones of activists, journalists, and political rivals with malware purchased from unscrupulous brokers. The surveillance…

From Groundhog Day to Interstellar, filmmakers love messing with timelines. Thankfully, that makes for mind-bending entertainment. Time—ravager of youth; spoiler of milk; humanity’s oldest and deadliest foe. Yet in films we can conquer time easily: running it forwards and backward, skipping into the future or past with a simple edit. Filmmakers constantly time travel, so…