This article is part of Gizmodo Deals, produced separately from the editorial team. We may earn a commission when you buy through links on the site. The devices made it easier than ever to control and secure your home while integrating with Alexa. However, after regulatory setbacks, Amazon withdrew the purchase in January 2024. In any case, Amazon continues to offer some of the lowest prices on smart home products, and today's offer on the iRobot Roomba Combo Essential (Y0140 model) robot vacuum and mop is excellent. That's the all-time lowest price for this model, and it's great if you're looking to keep your home clean any time. This Roomba model unites mighty vacuuming and mopping in a single machine with a 4-stage cleaning system that strikes dust and dirt on all types of floors. Its edge-sweeping brush picks up even baseboards and corners spotless. Roomba Combo Essential is out-of-the-box ready to use and only requires several minutes to assemble: Wi-Fi connectivity means it can be used with the iRobot Home app or through Alexa or Google Assistant voice commands. The app lets you schedule a clean, monitor progress of the cleaning, and even receive a Clean Map report of where the robot has cleaned-prefect for busy households or pet owners who want to ensure all areas are being cleaned. Performance-wise, the Roomba Combo Essential comes with three levels of suction power and three water level settings for mopping so you can tailor the cleaning to your home's needs. Battery life is also impressive at giving you up to 120 minutes of cleaning on a single charge. If the battery ever runs out, the robot will automatically find its way back to its charging station so you don't have to worry about interruptions. All things considered, this iRobot Roomba combo for $149 is a fantastic bargain which combines affordability, reliability, and intelligence. If you've been considering a robot vacuum and mop for your cozy home, then this record-low price makes it time to buy. Get the best tech, science, and culture news in your inbox daily. We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our sites.

All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. When former national security adviser Mike Waltz had a picture taken of him last week, he didn't expect for the whole world to see that he was using TeleMessage, a messaging app similar to Signal. Now the app has been hacked, with portions of data linked to government entities like Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and companies like Coinbase. Today on the show, we're joined by WIRED senior writer Lily Hay Newman to discuss what this incident tells us about the growing vulnerabilities in government communications. Articles mentioned in this episode:Mike Waltz Has Somehow Gotten Even Worse at Using Signal, by Lily Hay NewmanThe Signal Clone the Trump Admin Uses Was Hacked , by Joseph Cox and Micah LeeThe Signal Clone Mike Waltz Was Caught Using Has Direct Access to User Chats, by Lily Hay Newman You can also download an app like Overcast or Pocket Casts and search for “Uncanny Valley.” We're on Spotify too. Note: This is an automated transcript, which may contain errors. If you have tech-related questions that have been on your mind or a topic that you wish we'd cover, write to us at uncannyvalley@WIRED.com. I'm WIRED's director of business and industry, Zoë Schiffer. We're going to talk about how former national security adviser Mike Waltz was seen last week using the app in a cabinet meeting and what this latest incident tells us about the growing vulnerabilities in government communication. I'm joined by Lily Hay Newman, senior writer at WIRED. Lily Hay Newman: It's a pleasure to be here. So TeleMessage is a company that's been around since the late '90s. It was founded in Israel, and it creates apps that are sort of mirror images or clones of existing communication apps, and then adds in an archiving feature. So this is especially perhaps wanted for apps that are securing communications, such that it's difficult to retain copies of the messages. So if you need copies for compliance or you need a record, the idea is that these services are giving the same functionality as apps you know, like WhatsApp or Telegram or Signal, but with the addition of these archiving features. Zoë Schiffer: And that's important, obviously, for people who work in government because, technically, members of the press and other people are supposed to be allowed to access a lot of the communications that aren't classified by submitting Freedom of Information Act requests. And you can't do that if the messages are disappearing. There are record retention laws in the US and other countries for transparency and information requests, as you said. But historically, the way governments and other institutions have complied with that is by using communication platforms that are built for the purpose of government communications, tailor-built to be in compliance in a number of ways. So all of this is coming up because now the Trump administration in recent months has been sort of departing from the standard ways that officials in the US have communicated to use consumer platforms, particularly the secure messaging platform Signal, to talk to each other, but doing so in a very ad hoc consumer way like in the same way that you and I would set up a Signal conversation. That's what they've been doing, and that's where you get into this whole question of how do you comply with records requirements. How do you comply with safety requirements when you're just kind of using off-the-shelf tech in a regular way? Zoë Schiffer: Well, it seems like one of the people, as we mentioned earlier, who was using TeleMessage was Mike Waltz, the now former national security adviser, who at this point is best known for starting that infamous Signal group chat a few weeks back that accidentally added a senior member of The Atlantic Newsroom. How did we find out that he was using TeleMessage in the first place? Lily Hay Newman: So his screen, the screen of his phone, was sort of inadvertently captured in a photo of a cabinet meeting, a Reuters photo, that Mike Waltz was participating in, was sitting at the table with Trump and a number of officials. The photo is a bit funny because it seems like he thinks no one can see him using his phone, or he is kind of checking his phone. I mean, we've all been there, looking under the conference table at our phone. But additionally, his screen shows what appears to be Signal. So we're really going, zooming in deep into this photo, right. And then in the notification, instead of the normal words that would be there, people noticed that the Signal … where it would normally say Signal, was being referred to as TM Signal. Nothing makes me love reporters more than the absolute psychotic behavior of zooming in on a tiny little phone screen to be like, “What exactly is going on here?” But kudos to 404 Media, because I think they were the first ones to point that out. You wrote in a recent WIRED article that Mike Waltz has inexplicably gotten even worse at using Signal. So, I guess what did you mean by that? How is he getting worse at using this end-to-end encrypted app? Lily Hay Newman: This whole revelation about his use of TM Signal is building on this previous situation called Signal Gate. And so already Mike Waltz was not having a great track record, and then disappearing messages were on the whole time. So we don't know this, but presumably then he started using TM Signal as a solution to that aspect of the issues raised. It could be that they were already using it, or he was already using TM Signal at the time. But one might suspect that hearing some of this criticism, he was like, “OK, let me find a solution that does retain records and does have an archiving feature.” And that's where TeleMessage would come in. Zoë Schiffer: So the national security advisoer sets up this group chat, presumably not in compliance, then switches to one that looks like it might be in compliance, and then that version is promptly hacked. Do we know at this point who is behind the hacking? Lily Hay Newman: More and more is coming out about potential hacks of TeleMessage or sort of ability to intercept messages and see messages in memory. First, 404 Media and Micah Lee published a piece with an unnamed hacker providing evidence that they could breach TeleMessage. So clearly there's a lot of insecurity here. And the criticism of TM Signal from this company, TeleMessage, is that it claims to have all the same security features as real Signal and to sort of preserve that, and just add on this archiving feature. But, definitionally, adding in the archiving feature breaks Signal security. The way signal is designed and other end-to-end encrypted apps like WhatsApp, when you add in this other party, it's virtually impossible that the security guarantees could be preserved. And then, on top of that, it seems like from source code review that's starting to come out, and research that's starting to happen, and analysis into TM Signal, that actually it's just not constructed in a very secure way at all. So, just a lot of layers to get to the point, which is that this was a wildly insecure app for Mike Waltz to be using, sitting at a table with the top cabinet members and the president of the United States. Zoë Schiffer: We're going to get into what exactly was accessed in this hack. So let's get into what exactly was accessed when it looks like multiple hackers were able to break into TM Signal, which was being used by at least one member of the Trump administration. Lily Hay Newman: So far, these researchers, what they've shown is that some messages, sometimes at least, are being sent to the archiving server in plain text, meaning they are readable. That's precisely what a platform like genuine Signal is trying to avoid. So these were sort of fragments or pieces or whole messages, but not whole conversations, things like that, so far. One thing that 404 Media reported on from these leaks was evidence that US Customs and Border Patrol agents have been using TM Signal. It's not totally clear what's going on with this. We've been trying to get clarification on what this leaked data means. There seem to be confirmed CBP phone numbers associated with these accounts that came out of this breach. CBP has told WIRED just that they're looking into it. Zoë Schiffer: Is there a national security concern with the fact that this app was developed in Israel, regardless of the fact that it was acquired by a US company recently? You don't want to involve any other parties. So, for that reason, particularly, perhaps it's a concern that TeleMessage was founded in the country and has those ties. Zoë Schiffer: After this reporting came out, TeleMessage has paused or stopped its services. They say that they are investigating a potential breach and have employed a third-party firm to help them with that. Zoë Schiffer: That's a good place to end it. I'm Zoë Schiffer, WIRED's director of business and industry. I'm joined today by WIRED senior writer Lily Hay Newman. Before we take off, Lily, tell our listeners what they absolutely have to read on WIRED this week. US border agents are asking for help taking photos of everyone entering the country by car. And this is, we're just continuing our CBP discussions for today. CBP has apparently released a request for information seeking pitches, essentially for companies to help them do vehicle surveillance at the border and face recognition technology to see specifically who is in cars, not just the front seat. And I think it's really important for all of us to be aware of the extensive and expansive surveillance dragnet at the US border and all different types of US border crossings. And it'll be interesting to see which company gets this contract. OK. Well, I wanted to flag a piece that we published yesterday by Paresh Dave and Kylie Robison. It's about OpenAI announcing that it is not, in fact, going to restructure its company to make the nonprofit arm not in control. These groups don't usually agree on a lot, but they agreed on this, that becoming a for-profit company was in violation of OpenAI's founding mission. So we have a lot of good reporting on how people are taking this news and what it means for the future of the company. Make sure to check out Thursday's episode of Uncanny Valley, which is about Trump's meme coin saga and the conflict of interest that come with it. Amar Lal at Macro Sound mixed this episode. Condé Nast's head of global audio is Chris Bannon. And Katie Drummond is WIRED's global editorial director. Big Story: The worm that no computer scientist can crack Yuval Noah Harari: “Prepare to share the planet with AI superintelligence” WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast.

Emulated docked performance is comparable to a GTX 1050 Ti. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. While we still have a month before the Nintendo Switch 2 makes its official debut, hardware sleuth Geekerwan managed to obtain an engineering board for the device. Given Nintendo's strict legal stance and letigous precedents, it's quite amazing how Geekerwan managed to get ahold of the board, proceeded to dissect the SoC, and spilled all the juicy details on YouTube. Apparently, the board was acquired by hardware analyst Kurnal from Xianyu (Taobao's version of eBay) and then passed on to Geekerwan. Based on the data gathered by Geekerwan, the Switch 2's SoC uses a customized Samsung process that blends features from its 10nm and 8nm technologies. In essence, it carries similar characteristics to Samsung's 8N node employed on the RTX 30 series, but is slightly different. Earlier speculation suggested Nintendo might employ a more advanced 5nm process. However, porting Ampere, which was originally designed for 8N, to a completely new process would necessitate redesigning and revalidating all IP blocks, with added costs, and that's something Nintendo likely wanted to avoid. Die-shot analysis of the T239 reveals 8x Arm Cortex-A78C cores, each with 256KB of private L2 cache, sharing a 4MB L3 pool, next to an Ampere-based GPU, likely based on the GA10B die, with 6 TPCs, for a total of 12 SMs or 1,536 Ampere-based CUDA cores. Interestingly, both of these carry larger SMs than the GA102-based RTX 3090, which sits at 2.57mm2. The built-in power delivery system can supply up to 34.4W of power, though I doubt that the Switch 2 will actually need that much juice. Memory-wise, we're looking at 12GB (2x6GB) of LPDDR5x-8533 RAM from SK hynix. While not a one-to-one recreation, in synthetics, the laptop (using leaked docked specifications) showed similar performance to a GTX 1050 Ti, while the handheld-spec configuration matched a GTX 750 Ti, slightly inferior to the Steam Deck. We'll need to wait for the official embargo next month to get a better idea about the performance. However, it wouldn't be wrong to expect Nintendo to eye a mid-gen refresh using a more modern 5nm/3nm process. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he's not working, you'll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun. Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. © Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York,

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. If you're old enough to remember when 8MB thumb drives hit the scene, you'll probably remember Clippy, Microsoft's digital writing assistant. Clippy lived in the bottom corner of Microsoft Office from 1996 to 2003, but now he can return to your desktop with a new life as a mouthpiece for AI, thanks to a new project from software engineer ‪Felix Rieseberg. This odd couple of 90's UI design and the modern-day AI craze provides potential users the ability to set up any locally installed LLM and use Clippy as its mouthpiece. Many of the most popular publicly-available LLMs will function with Clippy, with one-click installation supported for the newest from Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Qwen. On installation, Clippy silently cycles through animations while the program automatically downloads Google's Gemma3-1B model. There is certainly something to be said about the relationship between an artist and programmer designing a quirky writing aide character, and a chatbot later told to attempt to emulate that work — though the list of people waxing philosophical about Clippy likely doesn't extend far beyond this author. We've seen Clippy replacements before, but this new-and-improved paperclip doesn't require access to a paid tier of ChatGPT, nor does it seek to modernize Clippy's look to match Windows' newer design sensibilities. ): a more 90's-looking blend of old and new computing sensibilities. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Dallin Grimm is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware. He has been building and breaking computers since 2017, serving as the resident youngster at Tom's. From APUs to RGB, Dallin has a handle on all the latest tech news. Nvidia warns U.S. AI hardware export rules could backfire, empowering Huawei to define global standards Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. © Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York,

Uber and Chinese autonomous vehicle technology company WeRide plan to expand a commercial robotaxi partnership and bring the service to another 15 cities over the next five years. As part of that expansion, Uber will increase its investment into WeRide by $100 million, according to a Wednesday regulatory filing. In Abu Dhabi, they work with local Tawasul Transport to handle fleet operations. Uber has locked up more than 15 partnerships with a wide-range of autonomous vehicle technology companies over the past two years across ride-hailing, delivery, and trucking. In the past two months, Uber has announced deals with Ann Arbor, Michigan-based May Mobility Volkswagen, and Chinese self-driving firm Momenta.It's most high-profile partnership in the U.S. — and one that is commercially operating today — is with Waymo. It has been refreshed with Uber's capital commitment to WeRide. Get inside access to Europe's top investment minds — with leaders from Monzo, Accel, Paladin Group, and more — plus top-tier networking at StrictlyVC London. Figma releases new AI-powered tools for creating sites, app prototypes, and marketing assets Carta abandons startup shutdown business, instead backs SimpleClosure's $15M Series A Uber invests $100M in WeRide to fuel robotaxi expansion across 15 more cities

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. With the retail embargo lifting tomorrow, reviews of AMD's China-exclusive RX 9070 GRE have gone live. Hardware publication EXPreview has published its review of a custom model from XFX, providing us with insight into the card's performance and where it stands versus the competition. It trails the RTX 5070 in rasterization, and its pricing doesn't really add to its value versus AMD's own RX 9070. Around 10 days ago, the RX 9070 GRE unexpectedly became available for pre-order across major Chinese online stores. AMD later officially confirmed the card, but it is currently region-locked, with no word on when it might hit the global market. It offers 12GB of GDDR6 memory at slower 18 Gbps speeds, but that is likely an artificial limitation. For context, the RX 9070 and RTX 5070 both debuted at 4,499 RMB ($625). Saving $50 means you'll be missing out on exclusives, like RTX HDR, VSR, Smooth Motion, and MFG found on the RTX 5070, and the extra VRAM and compute power with the RX 9070 that can enable 4K gaming. The model under review is the XFX RX 9070 GRE Snow Wolf, a pure-white card with a triple-fan cooler and dual 8-pin connectors. Internally, the card is equipped with 20 Gbps GDDR6 modules from Samsung, so you might be able to extract some performance gains by memory overclocking.Across a suite of games at 1440p, the RTX 5070 appears to be on average 5-10% faster than the RX 9070 GRE in raw rasterization performance. In a world where RDNA 4 GPUs were readily available, the RX 9070 GRE would've been another upsell for the RX 9070, which already acts as a stepping stone for the RX 9070 XT. That said, it's important to remember the RX 7900 GRE also launched with a steep $700 price tag in China before its global launch at $549. In any case, RX 9070 GRE GPUs, along with pre-built systems from System Integrators, will be available for purchase tomorrow in China. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he's not working, you'll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun. Nvidia to drop CUDA support for Maxwell, Pascal, and Volta GPUs with the next major Toolkit release Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. © Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York,

Foundation season two wrapped up in September 2023—a thrilling, thoroughly entertaining outing that improved upon season one in many ways. Will that trend continue for the third season of Apple TV+‘s Isaac Asimov adaptation? It seems highly likely considering the teaser and first-look images the streamer just shared, along with a premiere date: July 11. As both of these galactic powers forge an uneasy alliance, a threat to the entire galaxy appears in the fearsome form of a warlord known as ‘The Mule' whose sights are set on ruling the universe by use of physical and military force, as well as mind control. Laura Birn is the crafty android Demerzel; Cassian Bilton and Terrence Mann play the younger and older Cleons, respectively. Rowena King also returns as the legendary mathematician Kalle. New characters in season three—necessary due to that time jump, as well as the fact that a lot of folks did not survive season two—will be played by Cherry Jones, Brandon P. Bell, Synnøve Karlsen, Cody Fern, Tómas Lemarquis, Alexander Siddig, and Troy Kotsur. Pilou Asbæk, a fan favorite from Game of Thrones, is playing the terrifying Mule—introduced in season two as more of a shadowy future promise—which feels like perfect casting. Here are some first-look season three images, including our pal the Mule: It'll run 10 episode with a weekly rollout through September 12. Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who. Get the best tech, science, and culture news in your inbox daily. News from the future, delivered to your present. "Creation Myths" wrapped up the second season of Apple TV+'s Isaac Asimov adaptation, but left a door yawning open for more. The Apple TV+ Isaac Asimov adaptation starring Jared Harris and Lee Pace is better than ever in its second season. The Apple TV+ epic sci-fi series starring Jared Harris and Lee Pace returns July 14. We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our sites.

This article is part of Gizmodo Deals, produced separately from the editorial team. We may earn a commission when you buy through links on the site. Portable monitors are extremely convenient, even if you're just working from home. More real estate for all the things you need to do on your computer is always a good idea. Second monitors can be overpriced, or just not that great in general. That's why you won't want to miss out on this deal at Amazon. The 15.6-inch MNN Portable Monitor is just $60 at Amazon, down from its usual price of $90. That's an absolutely excellent price if you're looking to supplement a monitor you already have, and in fact is less than the price than a fancy dinner out. Plus, this monitor checks all the right boxes: it's lightweight, slim, easy to carry, and has full HD visuals perfect for when you're crunching spreadsheets or watching Netflix. Nearly 16 inches makes it the perfect size to act as a secondary screen next to your laptop without feeling too small or cramped. And because it uses an IPS panel, you'll get solid color accuracy and wide viewing angles without the potential for color weirdness. You can just plug this monitor in and go, without a lengthy setup procedure. It includes two USB-C ports and a Mini HDMI port, so whether you're connecting to a MacBook, Windows laptop, Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, or even your phone, it's basically ready to go out of the box. You aren't beating this monitor's price for just $60. It's an invaluable addition to a portable work station and an even better way to spruce up your desktop area at home. But if you're planning on buying it, be sure to do so quickly. There's no way they won't sell out at this price. Get the best tech, science, and culture news in your inbox daily. We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our sites.

Tech executives have long talked about how AI is going to revolutionize the advertising industry. In particular, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been quite vocal about how exactly he wants his company to lead the transformation. Speaking onstage at Stripe's annual Sessions conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, Zuckerberg laid out his plans to automate the entire ad industry with a black-box, end-to-end AI ad tool. “In a way, it's kind of like the ultimate business results machine. I think it'd be one of the most important and valuable AI systems that gets built.” Zuckerberg first described this hypothetical machine on Ben Thompson's Stratechery podcast last week, and — if built as Zuckerberg envisions it — it would have huge implications for the ad industry. “We're gonna be able to come up with, like, 4,000 different versions of your creative and just test them and figure out which one works best,” said Zuckerberg. The company more recently launched a social portal and dedicated app that spotlights generative AI content. Now, it appears yet another category of generative AI — ads — is poised to gunk up Meta's social media ecosystem. While testing AI-generated ads may deliver value for companies, it means users will have to suffer through yet more slop. There's been significant backlash over the ethics of using generative AI in creative fields. In October 2024, more than 11,000 creators signed an open letter condemning the use of human-generated art to train AI systems. To be fair, there are just as many creators and advertising executives who believe AI tools won't threaten their livelihoods anytime soon. In any event, it seems that Zuckerberg has a pretty clear idea of how he wants to automate the ad industry and fill Meta's feed with AI — whether ad agencies or users like it or not. Get inside access to Europe's top investment minds — with leaders from Monzo, Accel, Paladin Group, and more — plus top-tier networking at StrictlyVC London. Figma releases new AI-powered tools for creating sites, app prototypes, and marketing assets

This article is part of Gizmodo Deals, produced separately from the editorial team. We may earn a commission when you buy through links on the site. Our laptops can handle a lot all by themselves, yes. What's considered a big laptop is like 17 inches, yet monitors pretty much start at 10 inches larger than that nowadays. Then you have the super wide, 4K displays for even more field of view. Maybe you do a lot of typing at your desk and you'd prefer having a tactile mechanical keyboard. On-board speakers for your laptop not loud enough? Then we have microphones, headphones, maybe even a drawing tablet for the artists out there. And all those need to be plugged in but you just have the one USB port on your laptop. Well, that's why you need a good docking station. Plus, Amazon currently has it marked down 26% for a limited time. That brings the price from $190 to just $140, saving you $50. This Anker docking station is a single cable solution so you can avoid a messy desk and tangled wires. It wouldn't be an Anker product without fantastic charging capabilities. This docking station is equipped with a 85W laptop-charging USB-C port. It's also got an 18W Power Delivery USB-C port. Most computers no longer have an SD card slot built in, meaning we need to rely on dongles that can get lost easily. Anker's USB-C 13-in-1 docking station is a marvelous addition to any desk for laptop users. And thanks to Amazon's ongoing sale, you can get the handy device for just $140. Get the best tech, science, and culture news in your inbox daily. News from the future, delivered to your present. We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our sites.

All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission. “Bald Eaglet Dies During Snowstorm.” “Third Eaglet Belonging to Famous Big Bear Bald Eagles Dies.” “Jackie and Shadow Continue to Care for Their Eaglets.” For years now, millions of viewers have been tuning in to live nest cams like this one, watching various bird species assemble nests from foraged sticks, feed fish and snakes to their young, and engage in all manner of activities both heartwarming and not. This is the promise of Birdfy's new Polygon smart nest, a garden ornament of sorts that also serves as a backyard bird life documentarian. Instead of capturing birds simply eating, as with a smart bird feeder (Birdfy, a subsidiary of Netvue, also happens to make our favorite one), the Polygon and its AI-assisted app are primed and waiting to auto-edit a social-media-ready “story”—a prelude, followed by the process of nesting, hatching, growing, and fledging, and then The End, when the nest is officially abandoned for the season. Its single 2-MP, 1080p camera and associated mechanisms are in a cavity separate from the nest box itself, the box's back hinges open for easy cleaning, and there's a totally waterproof remote control attached to a 10-foot wire, so you can restart the camera or charge it remotely if the built-in rooftop solar panel fails or runs out. (Though I never had to use this feature, as the camera stayed quite well charged—even during extended cloudy periods—during my testing period.) All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. Looking a bit like a jaunty parallelogram, this box is made of FSC-certified, rot-resistant bamboo with turquoise-painted panels on the front and back. It's certainly unique—it even won the gold award at 2024's French Design Awards. All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. Also of interest are the included interchangeable entry holes (0.9 inch, 1.5 inches, and 2 inches), each with its own metal predator guard to prevent chewing by squirrels or other unwanted visitors. I recommend consulting Cornell Lab's NestWatch project for both hole sizes and nesting box heights. I was able to quickly mount it by myself on a 1-inch-diameter pole from Amazon. All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. You'll definitely want to keep in mind the nesting seasons for your geographic region, as this is not a device for year-round use. The camera needs to be kept above 32 degrees Fahrenheit for optimal operation, and birds' nesting instinct is activated within a fairly rigid window of time. If you're in the US, the US Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency has a handy chart of date ranges by state during which you'll want to keep nesting boxes up. Aside from the questionable nesting hole size advice, a couple of other Polygon features gave me pause. After five weeks of the birdhouse being up in my Pacific Northwest backyard within the nesting season window and not having so much as one curious visitor (at least, not one captured on camera), I reached out to Robyn Bailey, project director of NestWatch at Cornell Lab of Ornithology, with photos of my Polygon setup to see if something about it might be scaring the birds away. “If you live somewhere that is warm, then I would have expected something to at least have gone inside it to look by now,” she said. She did point out that she has a similar nest box from another brand and noticed that the inside is quite cavernous compared to what birds typically prefer in the wild. All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. “I think most birds shy away from boxes that are much bigger than their needs, preferring to nest in a box that is just the right size,” she said. That said, if there is a shortage of good nesting sites, I would expect something to use the box.” Given that birds are scared off my feeders when a door opens 30 feet away, I can see how sudden noises from inside their actual nest might be a deal-breaker. Bailey pointed out, however, that because birds are most active during the day, there's enough ambient noise around that a camera click may not register, though this could vary widely from species to species. Despite the camera having quite decent infrared night vision, I will likely refrain from checking on any nesting birds at night, since they will be more likely to become startled by the noise. If and when birds do decide to pay a visit, I'm confident the Polygon will be ready. All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast.

Netflix announced on Wednesday that it's testing a short-form video feature, signaling that even a streaming giant with over 300 million subscribers is concerned about losing viewers' time spent on mobile to apps like TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels. Netflix's new mobile-only vertical feed allows users to easily scroll through clips of its original titles. Within this feed, users can tap on buttons to watch the entire show or movie immediately, save it to their “My List,” or share it with friends. It'll appear for users as a tab on the in-app homepage. The introduction of this feature comes at a pivotal time, as competition among platforms for viewer attention intensifies. Audiences increasingly favor quick entertainment, leading to a shift in traditional viewing habits. As a result, even large players like Netflix are adapting to retain and attract subscribers. The latest test follows a trend among other streaming services that are trying out similar features. More recently, Peacock launched curated vertical video playlists earlier this year that not only feature short clips from TV series and films but also sports and news content. In 2021, the platform rolled out a TikTok-inspired feature called “Fast Laughs,” which focused on funny clips. However, this new test aims to reach a broader audience beyond just comedy fans and will be more personalized. Netflix also has new “callout” badges that help viewers discover titles. For instance, if they give a thumbs-up to the popular TV series “Wednesday,” the system will quickly adjust their homepage to display similar recommended titles. Get inside access to Europe's top investment minds — with leaders from Monzo, Accel, Paladin Group, and more — plus top-tier networking at StrictlyVC London. Figma releases new AI-powered tools for creating sites, app prototypes, and marketing assets Uber invests $100M in WeRide to fuel robotaxi expansion across 15 more cities

All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. Nearly a decade ago, Nike's Vaporfly 4% ushered in running's “super shoe” era. With its big-rebound super foam midsole and carbon plate, boasting 4 percent efficiency gains, that shoe's revolutionary design triggered a running shoe arms race as rival brands adapted the formula for themselves. That battle is still raging, and now Puma wants in, with the Fast-R Nitro Elite 3—a hi-tech shoe that it says delivers the biggest gains yet. It's a bold claim, but Puma is so confident that it offered WIRED access to its testing facility, allowing us to compare the Nitro Elite 3 against other running shoe brands. To make things interesting, we decided to compare it with the elite racer's favorite, the $250 Adidas Adios Pro 4, as well as a mid-priced daily running shoe, the $140 Asics Novablast 5. The impact of a good running shoe can't be underestimated. With records—both on road and track—tumbling in recent years, World Athletics was forced to change its footwear rules in 2020, limiting the stack height of road race competition shoes to a maximum of 40mm and a single carbon plate. But those limitations haven't stifled the gains. Studies show that for every 100 grams (about 3.5 oz) shaved off your shoe, running economy improves by approximately 1 percent. The hunt is always on for lighter foams, ways to cut unnecessary material from the midsole, plate and outsole. Stripped-back uppers also play a part with minimal heel collars, thin tongues and barely-there mesh. Research indicates that while some runners experience improvements in running economy with new footwear tech, others see minimal benefits or even a decline in performance. Individual biomechanics, running speed, and adaptation to the shoe's design all play a significant role. The mixed results mean we've not seen any rival claims to compete with Nike's original 4% stamp. Puma says the new Fast-R Nitro Elite 3 not only unlocks efficiency gains that outperform any other shoe on the shelves right now. But it's also a running shoe all runners respond to. But in some ways it cuts a unique shape with a decoupled midsole, a steep heel cutaway that saves weight and an extended carbon plate that lips out at the front for additional leverage. Zeroing in on the details that unlocked the improved efficiency required a new design approach inspired by Formula 1's digital prototyping. Nowadays, tweaks to F1 cars are often modelled virtually, rather than physically on the track. Puma essentially applied a similar digital modelling approach to its running shoe development. “We 3D recorded the foot strike of 15 athletes running, then used a computer to average them out and turn them into one,” says Todd Falker, product lead for running at Puma. Romain Girard, VP of innovation at Puma adds more. “We replicated runner behavior in a 3D world, but the replication is 100 percent accurate. “But we were able to test hundreds of plates and configurations digitally until we had a couple that were looking better, and then we had to make a decision.” The Puma Fast-R3 now weighs in at just 6.2 oz or 176 g in a US men's 9.5—one of the lightest running shoes going. “The product that you see here, is the first physical prototype that we built after this digital optimization,” says Girard. “Basically what the computer said would work, works,” adds Falker. Hoogkamer's team put 15 volunteers, all of whom had run 5km in under 21 minutes (that's pretty quick, the average is closer to 30 minutes), in various leading carbon shoes, to test their running economy in a series of treadmill tests. In fact, it offered improved running economy against every shoe on test, including its predecessor, the Fast-R2. “We've never seen any other shoe beat this [the Fast-R 3] on any person in the lab, full stop. The least [response] has been about 2 percent,” adds Falker. “But on average, we're about 3.5 percent percent more efficient than the largest and second largest footwear brand's best shoes.” Kieran gets to work with a running economy test in Puma's Nitro Lab. Brands don't often invite close comparison with rival brands but numbers like those from Hoogkamer's study might explain why Puma threw open the lab doors for us to test it for ourselves. The team at Puma's Nitro Lab put me through the same test used for Hoogkamer's study—something called a running economy test. “Running economy savings can directly translate to running performance, meaning you can run faster for the same amount of energy. In theory, if we can make you more efficient with our shoes, we can make you faster.” The Puma research team strapped me into an oxygen exchange mask, a bit like those often used for VO2 Max tests. After an obligatory Bane impersonation and a 10 minute warm-up on the treadmill, I was asked to maintain a series of 5 minute efforts, running around 10 seconds slower than my target marathon pace in each of my test shoes. I ran twice in each one, reversing the order on the second set, with two minutes rest between each effort. While I was secretly hoping my underdog, the mid-priced Novablast 5 might produce a shock win, from a subjective perspective, the Adidas and Puma shoes felt more efficient. I also felt more natural in the Puma shoe, but that was a much closer call. I was 4.9 percent less efficient in the non-plated Asics Novablast 5. I was also 2.23 percent less efficient in the carbon-plated Adidas Adios Pro 4. In the world of elite, or indeed serious amateur, running, those are significant numbers. While the efficiency gains don't translate one-for-one into time savings, the efficiency improvements would mean a theoretical performance gain for a half marathon of close to a minute and half (from 1:22:00 to 1:20:37) or 3 minutes knocked off my marathon time (from 2:54:00 to 2:50:58). Of course there's more to running a PR than the shoes you do it in but, with all other things in balance, those are big potential time savings. Boosting efficiency on a treadmill in a lab is one thing, but it's another to reproduce that performance on the feet of real runners taking part in real runs. But early tests in the wild are certainly positive for Puma. That still means more didn't than did, of course, but it's notable that 38 runners beat their times by more than three minutes. In a slightly less prestigious test, this WIRED guinea pig knocked 12 seconds off their 5km PR, running 17:41 at a London parkrun. Looking closer at my stats, I held PR pace up to the 19th mile before dropping off. Light, punchy, propulsive and crucially comfortable over the full 26.2 miles, even when things aren't quite going according to plan. If you're chasing a PR, this shoe should be on your list to consider. Big Story: The worm that no computer scientist can crack Yuval Noah Harari: “Prepare to share the planet with AI superintelligence” Exclusive: Up To 50% Off 6 Boxes With Factor Promo Code WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast.

They were surrounded by a sprawling Minecraft village, complete with custom-coded NPCs reciting lore about the couple's decade-long digital courtship. Nearby, pixelated foxes darted between guests—each one logged in from across the world, dressed in custom skins as forest druids and rogue mages. After the vows (typed and read aloud on Discord), guests dispersed for side quests, scavenger hunts, and an enchanted maze culminating in a virtual fireworks show. Over the past decade, virtual weddings emerged as a necessity—Zoom ceremonies during Covid-19 lockdowns, livestreams for distant relatives, even robotic proxies for international couples facing visa issues. More couples are choosing to host their ceremonies in the very digital spaces where they first met, bonded, and built their lives. As such, platforms like Minecraft, Discord, and VRChat have become unconventional yet meaningful venues. These aren't stopgap solutions; they're deliberate, deeply personal choices. These digital ceremonies often incorporate interactive elements: virtual scavenger hunts, themed quests, and personalized avatars. Guests might receive digital invitations embedded with augmented reality features, allowing them to experience a 3D animation of the couple's journey together. One couple, who met in a Discord server dedicated to indie game development, tells WIRED they hosted their wedding within that same server, complete with custom emoji, bot-generated confetti, and a playlist curated by fellow server members. They also offer a canvas for creativity, enabling couples to design experiences that reflect their unique stories and shared interests. Sarah Nguyen, 24, from Portland, Oregon, and Jamie Patel, 25, from Leicester, England, met when they were 13 years old on a Minecraft role-play server. “We'd log on almost every day after school,” Nguyen tells WIRED. It was this creative outlet that became our friendship and then something more.” By the time they were 18, Nguyen and Patel had developed their own shared Minecraft world—a sprawling, custom-coded fantasy realm where their avatars led an epic saga as rulers of a magical kingdom. When Patel proposed last year, it happened, fittingly, in Minecraft. He designed a secret quest line for Nguyen's character, culminating in a mountaintop scene where an NPC delivered his proposal via in-game dialog. “It's the closest thing we have to a shared home,” Nguyen explains. That world is where we live together.” (The couple now lives together in Portland.) Around 50 friends and family attended, logging in from eight countries. “We had some older relatives watch via Twitch since they weren't gamers,” Patel says. While some guests were skeptical at first, both families ultimately embraced it. “My parents loved that it was so personal,” Nguyen says. The whole event cost around $300, mostly for custom skin commissions, server hosting, and paying a designer to help with scripting the NPCs and quests. They also held a small in-person dinner a few weeks later for local relatives, but for them, the Minecraft ceremony was “the real wedding.” In the Roblox metaverse, Ashley Rivera, 27, from San Diego, and Luna Kim, 26, from Seoul, held their wedding inside a pastel castle floating among digital clouds. The couple met five years ago in a Roblox fashion design community, bonding over a shared love of avatar styling, digital art, and hyperpop playlists. “We'd spend hours just designing outfits together,” Kim says. “We met most of our friends there,” Rivera says. “It's where we threw birthday parties, hosted art shows, organized karaoke nights. When Kim proposed last summer, it happened inside a Roblox “fashion show” they'd built together. “She walked an avatar down the runway holding a giant neon ring,” Rivera says. Guests arrived as anime-style avatars dressed in themed looks—cottagecore, fairy, or postapocalyptic chic. Instead of a cocktail hour, guests completed an obstacle course Kim designed. “My grandma thought Roblox was a new church,” Rivera says, laughing. “But my little cousins were obsessed.” They also hosted an IRL brunch with family a month later. The entire virtual event cost them about $500, mainly spent on custom avatar assets and hiring a Roblox developer to script the venue and activities. “We had way more freedom than a real-world venue would allow,” Rivera says. Though both couples admitted to some early fears about being judged, they found their communities overwhelmingly supportive. We were just making one that felt true to us.” Jessica Hu, 34, an ordained officiant based in Chicago, has made a name for herself as a “digital celebrant,” specializing in ceremonies across Twitch, Discord, and VRChat. “I've worked with queer couples whose families wouldn't attend a physical wedding, or couples in countries where their identities aren't recognized. In virtual space, they can be surrounded by love, on their own terms.” Event planning companies are starting to offer digital packages. For instance, Wedfuly specializes in virtual wedding services, providing equipment and professional support to livestream ceremonies with multi-angle coverage and interactive features. Tech developers are building plug-ins and mods specifically for ceremonies in platforms like Minecraft or VRChat. There's also a broader cultural resonance: These weddings speak to a generation raised on fandom, internet-native humor, and platforms where the line between creator and consumer is blurred. So no, the church bells aren't going silent anytime soon. Big Story: The worm that no computer scientist can crack Yuval Noah Harari: “Prepare to share the planet with AI superintelligence” WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast.

AMD warns that the U.S. export tariffs may hit its sales When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. The company's results were driven by sales of expensive client and datacenter CPUs as well as improved sales of Instinct MI300-series AI accelerators. But while the company's revenues in Q1 set records, AMD warned that the U.S. export tariffs may hit its sales by around $1.5 billion in 2025. When it comes to earnings, this is the best quarter posted by AMD throughout its history. In fact, it is more than AMD earned for the whole year 2019. AMD's gross profit totaled $3.736 billion, whereas its net income achieved $709 million for the quarter (up a whopping 2,139% for the same quarter a year ago) as its gross margin hit 50%. In the first quarter, AMD's Client and Gaming division generated $2.9 billion in revenue, reflecting a 28% increase compared to the same period last year. The Client subsegment contributed $2.3 billion, marking a 68% rise year-on-year, largely fueled by high interest in the latest generation of Ryzen AI processors and a product mix that included more premium parts (such as Ryzen 9000 X3D for desktops and Ryzen AI 300-series for laptops). In contrast, revenue from the Gaming subsegment declined 30% to $647 million, mainly due to reduced contributions from AMD's semi-custom system-on-chips for Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation game consoles. Nonetheless, AMD expressed optimism about sales of its latest Radeon RX 9070-series graphics cards for desktop PCs based on the RDNA 4 architecture. This sharp increase was primarily fueled by continued momentum in server processor, particularly the 5th Generation EPYC CPUs. Nonetheless, AMD says that sales of its Instinct MI300-series accelerators for AI also inreased. This decline reflected varied conditions across end markets, with some areas showing strength while others struggling. In addition, AMD also began shipments of Spartan UltraScale+ FPGAs and second-generation Versal AI Edge SoCs. However, demand for other products was a mixed bag. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Without this adjustment, the gross margin would be around 54%. Reviews show AMD's RX 9070 GRE trails the RTX 5070 in raster — ray tracing is on par, and it's $50 cheaper Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher.

Last November, Bradford G. Smith got a brain implant from Elon Musk's company Neuralink. And by last week he was ready to reveal it in a post on X. Smith's case is drawing interest because he's not only communicating via a brain implant but also getting help from Grok, Musk's AI chatbot, which is suggesting how Smith can add to conversations and drafted some of the replies he posted to X. The generative AI is speeding up the rate at which he can communicate, but it also raises questions about who is really talking—him or Musk's software. The promise of brain-computer interface is that if you can combine it with AI, it can be much faster,” says Eran Klein, a neurologist at the University of Washington who studies the ethics of brain implants. More volunteers will get Elon Musk's brain implant, but don't expect a product soon. As the disease progressed, he lost the ability to move anything except his eyes, and he was no longer able to speak. When his lungs stopped pumping, he made the decision to stay alive with a breathing tube. Starting in 2024, he began trying to get accepted into Neuralink's implant study via “a campaign of shameless self-promotion,” he told his local paper in Arizona: “I really wanted this.” The day before his surgery, Musk himself appeared on a mobile phone screen to wish Smith well. “I am so excited to get this in my head,” Smith replied, typing out an answer using a device that tracks his eye movement. This was the technology he'd previously used to communicate, albeit slowly. Smith was about to get brain surgery, but Musk's virtual appearance foretold a greater transformation. Smith's brain was about to be inducted into a much larger technology and media ecosystem—one of whose goals, the billionaire has said, is to achieve a “symbiosis” of humans and AI. Consider what unfolded on April 27, the day Smith announced on X that he'd received the brain implant and wanted to take questions. Can you describe how it feels to type and interact with technology overall using the Neuralink?” Smith: “Hey Adrian, it's Brad—typing this straight from my brain! The exchange on X in many ways seems like an almost surreal example of cross-marketing. So it's fair to ask: Where does Smith end and Musk's ecosystem begin? That's a question drawing attention from neuro-ethicists, who say Smith's case highlights key issues about the prospect that brain implants and AI will one day merge. What's amazing, of course, is that Smith can steer a pointer with his brain well enough to text with his wife at home and answer our emails. “I don't want to wade in over my head,” he said. The eye tracker Smith previously used to type required low light and worked only indoors. The implant lets him type in brighter spaces—even outdoors—and quite a bit faster. The thin wires implanted in his brain listen to neurons. With control over this pointer, Smith types using an app. But various AI technologies are helping him express himself more naturally and quickly. The “voice clone” can read his written words aloud in a way that sounds like him. (The service is already used by other ALS patients who don't have implants.) Researchers have been studying how ALS patients feel about the idea of aids like language assistants. In 2022, Klein interviewed 51 people with ALS and found a range of different opinions. Some people are exacting, like a librarian who felt everything she communicated had to be her words. Others are easygoing—an entertainer felt it would be more important to keep up with a fast-moving conversation. In the video Smith posted online, he said Neuralink engineers had started using language models including ChatGPT and Grok to serve up a selection of relevant replies to questions, as well as options for things he could say in conversations going on around him. I chose the option that told him in my voice to get her a bouquet of carrots. These aren't really his thoughts, but they will do—since brain-clicking once in a menu of choices is much faster than typing out a complete answer, which can take minutes. Smith told us he wants to take things a step further. He says he has an idea for a more “personal” large language model that “trains on my past writing and answers with my opinions and style.” He told MIT Technology Review that he's looking for someone willing to create it for him: “If you know of anyone who wants to help me, let me know.” The new general AI agent from China had some system crashes and server overload—but it's highly intuitive and shows real promise for the future of AI helpers. What the firm found challenges some basic assumptions about how this technology really works. The country poured billions into AI infrastructure, but the data center gold rush is unraveling as speculative investments collide with weak demand and DeepSeek shifts AI trends. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time.

Marathon Venture Capital, a venture firm in Athens that prides itself on being “day one partners to Greek tech partners,” just closed its newest fund with €75 million in capital commitments, according to partner Panos Papadopoulos. The vehicle brings the firm's total assets under management to €175 million — a meaningful amount for an 8-year-old, seed-stage investor in Greece and a reflection, too, of some sizable exits. Among them was the sale last year of Marathon's portfolio company Augmenta to CNH, a maker of farm machinery and construction equipment in a cash deal that valued Augmenta at $110 million. Marathon also sold some of its shares in Hack the Box, a cybersecurity upskilling and talent assessment platform, to the investment firm Carlyle in a secondary transaction. Greece has historically seen less venture investment than other European countries. For starters, Marathon I is a top percentile performer globally in [realized returns]; we built a portfolio that captured the current zeitgeist well before, for example, AI-assisted scientific research, robotics, or defense became the norm. We are backing founders who do something hard in important markets. It can be hard because it requires unique knowledge, like a research PhD, or high agency, meaning understanding of a regulated or overlooked industry like power grid management. Greek startups have traditionally faced challenges scaling beyond the domestic market. How are you evaluating a company's international growth potential in this environment where capital efficiency matters more than rapid expansion? Greek startups leverage local talent to serve leading global customers and markets from day one. Across our portfolio there is virtually no revenue coming from the domestic market. At the same time, capital efficiency and team grit are second nature to our community. We're seeing fewer IPOs globally and extended holding periods for venture-backed companies. We don't need decacorns for our fund economics to work. We invest early on, maintain substantial equity positions, and keep our fund sizes small. We did secondaries back in 2021 when most of the market was promising infinite holding times. Is Marathon taking a similar approach, or do you see different opportunities specific to the Greek ecosystem? Greek founders have historically received less funding than counterparts in Berlin, Paris, or Stockholm. In our experience, this is not about geography or price. We are backing founders in nonconsensus opportunities that most VCs would ignore. These might sound like table stakes; they still are not. Given the challenging global exit environment, how are you advising your portfolio companies about strategic alternatives like secondary sales or acqui-hires? We work with our portfolio companies toward default alive scenarios. We see founders truly want to run their companies for the long term. The EU has emphasized supporting startups through various funding mechanisms. We advise, however, our portfolio founders not to waste time on non-market-related activities. How has Greece's improved macroeconomic situation affected both your fundraising process and the quality of startups you're seeing? It's always good when you are not making the press headlines, but what we do is less relevant to local macro. When it comes to the talent front, I would say truly based on naive empiricism that, if there is any correlation, that is inverse. It is definitely a different market but also creates increased opportunity for European investors. We must always count on ourselves and be aligned with founders for the long term. She's also the founder of StrictlyVC, a daily e-newsletter and lecture series acquired by Yahoo in August 2023 and now operated as a sub brand of TechCrunch. Get inside access to Europe's top investment minds — with leaders from Monzo, Accel, Paladin Group, and more — plus top-tier networking at StrictlyVC London. Figma releases new AI-powered tools for creating sites, app prototypes, and marketing assets Carta abandons startup shutdown business, instead backs SimpleClosure's $15M Series A Uber invests $100M in WeRide to fuel robotaxi expansion across 15 more cities