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A Scratching Post TV Is the Only Channel You Really Need

Apple thinks it’s figured out the future of TV, but it’s not apps. A few random clicks through YouTube reveals the real media goldmine waiting to be tapped: cats. But why pay for a monthly streaming service when this TV-shaped scratching post provides hours of real-life entertainment? You don’t need to connect it to your…

You Can Only Find the Best Version Of Wonder Woman in Sensation Comics

Sure, Wonder Woman has her own ongoing comic book. She has a starring role in Justice League, and appears in countless other DC series. But if you want to see Wonder Woman at her very best, triumphing everything the character has ever stood up for, you seriously need to read Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman.…

4K Video on the iPhone 6s Is the Future, and No One Will Care

I’ve been pondering Apple’s addition of 4K video recording on the new iPhone 6s and 6s plus. My feeling is simple, and applies to many facets of any new Apple product. Please, oh please. Do not let yourself be roofied by Apple ads and marketing-speak that will attempt to sell 4K as magical rainbow juice…

The Dark Web Just Got Safer 

The dark web isn’t the scary, pervert-riddled digital crime swamp that shows like CSI:Cyber portray it as. But until this week, dark web sites hidden with the .onion domain lacked some basic security features. Without recognition from internet regulators like ICANN, people running .onion sites had no easy way to get security certificates. It was…

China Could Be the First Country to Land on the Moon’s Far Side

The far side of the moon has long been a tantalizing mystery. But China, a latecomer to the lunar landing game, could soon make history as the first country to touch its surface. State media reports from China this week confirm the country’s intention to send a Chang’e-4 landing probe to the far side of…

Your Beloved’s Soft Skin Is Just an Illusion

People generally enjoy gently touching and being touched by the people they love. Psychologists at University College London have found that our brains may encourage this behavior by making other people feel softer to us than they really are. In their experiments, published today in the journal Current Biology, 133 volunteers were paired up and…

The Upcoming Monster El Niño Is About to Bring Us a Year of Weird, Persistent Floods

With the news today that we should almost certainly see the predicted monster El Niño through the upcoming winter and spring, people are wondering what to expect. The answer is flooding. So much flooding. Top image: 1998 El Niño floods in California / Dave Gatley/FEMA. Along with the latest El Niño forecast today, NOAA also…

Scientists Urge Caution in Wake of “Transmittable” Alzheimer’s Claim

A provocative new paper published in Nature suggests that neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s may be transmissible through certain medical procedures. It’s an alarming claim—but one that will require more proof if it’s to be accepted by the scientific community. Protein Problems To understand how the researchers came to this conclusion it’s important…

When robots start acting like humans you can expect the worst

Corporations aren’t inherently evil, they’re only as greedy as the humans behind them. It’s the same thing with robots. Robots have no emotions—they’re just a pile of metal, screws and circuits—but they will be as mean, selfish, and avaricious as the people programming them. Wire Cutters is a brilliantly crafted student film directed and animated…

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Get Your Next Iron Bank Withdrawal in Quarters; Game of Thrones Pinball Is Here

Don’t act so surprised that pinball is still a thing, sometimes knocking around a steel ball can be just as satisfying as gunning down a room full of virtual zombies. And even moreso when the table features swords, dragons, and even the Iron Throne from Game of Thrones. The latest creation from Stern Pinball has…

New Apple TV Meta Hands-On: Touching and Talking Takes Some Practice

Apple wasn’t able to invite us to its homecoming dance in San Francisco this year, but we admired its dance moves from afar. We also tuned into the after party gossip when attendees told everyone how they really felt about the latest products. The new Apple TV, apparently, is pretty good. The new all-about-the-apps Apple…

Even Lunar Rovers Require a Touch of Personalizing Flair

What is the most important part of any off-planet exploration vehicle? A nice dash of flair in the form of a raccoon tail dangling from the tailgate. The Apollo 15 astronauts Jim Irwin and Dave Scott were the first off-planet drivers, taking a lunar rover for a spin around Hadley Rille in 1971. But before…

The Best Things George R.R. Martin Created (That Aren’t Game of Thrones)

Creating an epic, sprawling fantasy series like A Song of Ice and Fire seems like an author’s life’s work, but it’s certainly not the only thing George R.R. Martin has achieved. His short stories and novels were taking us to amazing worlds long before we visited Westeros. Here are some of his best non-Game of…

iPad Pro Meta Hands On: It’s Really, Really Big

Is it a laptop or a tablet? Apple’s newly announced iPad Pro seems to bring a bit of both. It’s got a fabric keyboard and glorified stylus (both sold separately), and a whopping 12.9 inch screen. It will run you at least $800—on par with some computers. Can it replace your laptop? Here’s what the…

Marvel’s Jessica Jones TV Series Has a Trippy New Trailer and a Premiere Date

I’m not exactly sure why Marvel and Netflix decided the first trailer for their Jessica Jones show needed to be a psychedelic drug trip in which the titular superhero-turned-private detective was seen solely as a tiny figure in the distance, but man, it sure is striking. I wonder if this is actually a version of…

T-Mobile Undercuts Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Plan With $20 Per Month Deal

T-Mobile will be offering a pretty sweet deal on the iPhone 6s: $20 per month on its Jump upgrade plan. That’s cheaper than Apple’s newly announced offer, but is it a better overall deal? Yesterday, Apple announced a new upgrade plan, which allows you to pay a starting rate $32/$37 per month for your iPhone…

The Sadly Typical Routine of Off-Duty Stormtroopers

Photographer Jorge Pérez Higuera’s latest series of work is called “The Other Side,” and it will remind you that the vast majority of Imperials we see in the movies are just everyday mooks. Higuera told Wired: The most important thing for me is to value everyday life, underlining the fun aspects in each tiny detail…

Diary of Soviet Ambassador to London Rewrites History of World War II

From 1932 to 1943, the Soviet ambassador to London kept a personal diary, the details of which were only recently revealed. It tells the exceptional story of a diplomat who tried to harmonize Soviet and British interests, while also demonstrating how events could have unfolded very differently. Stalin’s terror and purges of the 1930s discouraged…

Watch Elon Musk Describe Terraforming Mars to Stephen Colbert

Elon Musk has engineered a next-generation rocket and built an electric car empire. But on the Late Show last night Musk seemed very human, nervously chuckling as Stephen Colbert lobbed questions at him. Nerves aside, Musk made an interesting guest for Colbert’s second-ever Late Show—once Colbert got the requisite super-villain joke (to which Musk did…