Book Excerpt: Emily St. John Mandel’s ‘Exit Party’ Imagines a Future Where a Spy Could Disappear
In Emily St. John Mandel’s new novel Exit Party, becoming a “ghost” means running afoul of the state. In this excerpt, a secret agent discovers it doesn’t take much.
Vari Electric Standing Desk Review (2026): Form and Value
The Vari Ergo electric standing desk is compact, easy to assemble, affordable, and gently sloped to fit my natural posture and shape.
Clearview AI Is Testing an AI Tool That Would Let Cops Unearth Your Life Online
InquiryIQ, a previously unreported prototype, tested a model from xAI, maker of Grok, to surface associates, social accounts, and other information about people identified through Clearview.
A Teen Girl’s Death Is Prompting Calls to Ban Choking in Porn
Despite the many health risks, sexual strangulation has become popular among young people—with some experts blaming adult content for normalizing it.
Want to Get Off Your Phone? Mina Kimes Suggests Having a Baby
“I think that’s been the most helpful thing,” says the ESPN journalist. “So there you go, Zoomers. There’s a reason to have children.”
The AI Researcher Who Just Quit Anthropic Says It’s ‘Crunch Time for Humanity’
Jacob Coxon talks to WIRED about the “mini Manhattan project” inside Anthropic, the problem with alignment, and why AI labs have just a few years left to make their systems safe.
San Francisco Orders Meta to Stop ‘Allowing’ AI Child Abuse Ads
The City Attorney’s Office has asked Meta to explain how the harmful ads repeatedly ran on Facebook and Instagram. The company claims the ads are not under the city’s jurisdiction.
A Year After Charlie Kirk’s Death, Turning Point Plans to Spend Big on the Midterms
Turning Point will spend tens of millions on ads and turnout, sources say, with a focus on New Hampshire, Arizona, and Nevada.
Everything Apple Announced: iPhone Duo, iPhone 18 Pro, Apple Watch, AirPods 5
The company’s September event introduced Apple’s first ever foldable iPhone, along with new iPhone 18 Pro models, updates to the Apple Watch, some AirPods, and more advances to Siri AI.
Apple Doesn’t Want You to Worry About the New Apple Watch’s Listening Features
The new Apple Watch includes several “intelligent” listening features that have privacy and security baked in. But the protections can’t change the facts of what the tools do.