Society

Palantir, the software company cofounded by Peter Thiel, is part of an effort by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to build a new “mega API” for accessing Internal Revenue Service records, IRS sources tell WIRED. For the past three days, DOGE and a handful of Palantir representatives, along with dozens of career…

Since President Donald Trump took office, US authorities have increasingly abdicated responsibility for policing crypto-related offenses. Attorneys and lawmakers fear the resulting enforcement vacuum could be used to violate rules with impunity. While running for office, Trump repeatedly declared himself a champion of bitcoin, and members of his family have become thoroughly entangled with the…

Every day, the world seems to be slipping further and further into dystopia, with President Donald Trump placing tariffs on islands inhabited by penguins and the country’s head of Medicare and Medicaid touting AI-first health care. In case you needed an even higher dose of Orwellian anxiety in your life, though, Black Mirror has finally…

It’s been total chaos since President Trump announced tariffs last week. Despite the endless reporting on this story, none of it really makes any sense yet. So today, we attempt to make sense of how the tariffs could revamp the entire tech industry and what you can do to deal with this new normal. You…

The Social Security Administration will no longer be communicating with the media and the public through press releases and “dear colleague” letters, as it shifts its public communication exclusively to X, sources tell WIRED. The news comes amid major staffing cuts at the agency. “We are no longer planning to issue press releases or those…

If you logged on to X or Bluesky this past week, you were likely swept up in the onslaught of posts about Trump’s reciprocal tariffs and the plunging stock market. And, if you follow the tech industry as closely as I do, you probably also noticed who wasn’t posting about the tariffs: many of the…

It’s nothing new—politicians complain about silly science projects funded by the government to get taxpayers riled up. I get it. You might think super expensive particle accelerators or even dirt-cheap experiments on the color of petunias are a waste of money. OK, you’re coming from a business perspective. But even if you care only about…

Google Pixel phones are our favorite Android phones here at WIRED and have been for a few years. They have industry-leading cameras, get speedy software and security updates directly from Google (like iPhones do from Apple), and are priced competitively. But which of the new Google Pixel phones should you buy? The Pixel 9a? The…

In a time of great uncertainty about international trade, mattresses are one purchase you can make without losing sleep. Because they’re large and heavy, roll-packed bed-in-a-box mattresses are relatively expensive to ship. And because they shouldn’t be left compressed for too long, reputable makers try to avoid shipping them over the ocean. This means that…

President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Chinese imports have sent millions of manufacturers, retailers, and small businesses on both sides of the Pacific scrambling to cope with a sudden and punishing rise in costs. After Beijing responded with its own retaliatory measures, the White House said that a wide range of Chinese-made goods—from toys to…