2019 August

A Boeing Code Leak Exposes Security Flaws Deep in a 787's Guts

Late one night last September, security researcher Ruben Santamarta sat in his home office in Madrid and partook in some creative googling, searching for technical documents related to his years-long obsession: the cybersecurity of airplanes. He was surprised to discover a fully unprotected server on Boeing's network, seemingly full of code designed to run on […]

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AI Needs Your Data—and You Should Get Paid for It

Robert Chang, a Stanford ophthalmologist, normally stays busy prescribing drops and performing eye surgery. But a few years ago, he decided to jump on a hot new trend in his field: artificial intelligence. Doctors like Chang often rely on eye imaging to track the development of conditions like glaucoma. With enough scans, he reasoned, he […]

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Ugly or Beautiful? The Housing Blocks Communism Left Behind

Picture a suburb and you probably imagine cookie-cutter houses with two-car garages and over-fertilized lawns. But in formerly communist countries, they look a little different. Think towering apartment blocks, prefabricated concrete panels, and loads of gray. Such structures dominate the peripheries of cities across what was once the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc. They go […]

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HBO's Next Big Idea: Recommendations From Actual Humans

Click:leveling agent Hey, you. Yes, you! Are you tired of Netflix's algorithm telling you what to watch? Does the streaming service think you enjoy Black Mirror and Friends reruns a lot more than you actually do? HBO hears you, and it has a solution: recommendations from actual people. Recommended by Humans, launched today, is a […]

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The Weird, Dark History of 8chan

Fredrick Brennan is a vivid dreamer, and toward the end of his time running the notorious website 8chan, one sequence would play out in his mind night after night as he slept. Brennan, wheelchair-bound from a genetic disorder, dreamed that he was being hauled away by police and locked behind bars while dressed in an […]

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Self-Driving Trucks Are Ready to Do Business in Texas

Don Burnette and Paz Eshel are Silicon Valley, through and through. Burnette is a veteran of Google’s self-driving car project and Otto, the robotic trucking company acquired by Uber. Eshel has a background in venture capital, and his résumé is a rolling list of enterprise startups. Aarian Marshall covers autonomous vehicles, transportation policy, and urban […]

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While You Were Offline: Mitch McConnell Got a New Nickname

Let's begin with a recap of the week's big news. President Trump called Baltimore "rat infested." The US withdrew from a nuclear treaty signed during the Cold War. Last month was the hottest month on record, and it's all humanity's fault. Oh, and there are new threats of an escalating trade war with China. What […]

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Want to Know the Real Future of AR/VR? Ask Their Devs

If you want to get a rosy view of the future of virtual and augmented reality, ask a company that works in the space. If you want to get a pessimistic view, ask an investor. But if you want a realistic view, one shaped by experience instead of conjecture and wishful thinking, ask the folks […]

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Which Sonos Speakers Should You Buy?

Here at WIRED, we like Sonos speakers. We really do. Throughout the past eight years, we’ve reviewed all of the company's wirelessly connectable speakers, from its small Play:1 to its Beam soundbar, and we've recommended every one of them. But it’s not cheap to turn your home into a Sonos-powered shrine to sound. Like Apple […]

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Which Sonos Speakers Should You Buy?

Here at WIRED, we like Sonos speakers. We really do. Throughout the past eight years, we’ve reviewed all of the company's wirelessly connectable speakers, from its small Play:1 to its Beam soundbar, and we've recommended every one of them. But it’s not cheap to turn your home into a Sonos-powered shrine to sound. Like Apple […]

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