Gadget Lab: Weekly Tech News

Apple held its annual WWDC event this week, where it announced a whole bunch of new software features for its mobile and desktop platforms. It was also yet another opportunity for Apple to insist that all you need to do to simplify your life is buy more Apple products.This week on Gadget Lab, WIRED senior associate reviews editor Adrienne So and WIRED reviews editor Julian Chokkattu join us to talk about WWDC and the pros and cons of assimilating into Apple's ecosystem.Show Notes: Read Lauren’s story about Apple’s walled garden of products. Read Julian’s story about the biggest features coming to your iPhone this fall. Check out everything Apple announced at WWDC here.Recommendations: Adrienne recommends Anve Swimwear for this post-pandemic hot mess summer. Julian recommends the Secretlab Magnus Desk. Lauren recommends Tom Simonite’s WIRED profile of ousted Google researcher Timnit Gebru. Mike recommends the browser extension Minimal Twitter built by Thomas Wang.Adrienne So can be found on Twitter @adriennems

So, you want to vaccinate your populace. Sometimes it's not enough to appeal to people's basic sense of self-preservation. You have to find other ways to entice them. Governments in states like Ohio, California, and West Virginia have announced plans to offer vaccine lotteries. The premise is simple: Get vaccinated, and you could win upwards of $1 million. Now, private companies are following suit, offering their own bonuses and sweepstakes to encourage customers to vaccinate—and to open up their wallets.This week, we talk with WIRED senior correspondent Adam Rogers about the behavioral science of vaccine lotteries, and whether even slim odds at a big payout will encourage the holdouts.Show Notes: Read Adam’s story about how vaccine lotteries might actually work.Recommendations: Adam recommends the novel The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker. Mike recommends El Pato sauce. (Also read an LA Eater story about it here.) Lauren recommends sour cream on eggs, and also the Patagonia Fleetwith Romper.Adam Rogers can be

For as long as humans have existed, we've been obsessed with color. Everything from the color of your clothes to the brightly illuminated pixels on your screen is an attempt to recreate—and enhance—the vibrant hues found in the natural world. In fact, the pursuit of pretty colors (and how we understand them) can be seen as a driving force behind some of the biggest technological advancements and societal shifts in human history.This week on Gadget Lab, we talk with WIRED senior correspondent Adam Rogers about his new book Full Spectrum: How the Science of Color Made Us Modern and the wild ways color affects our brains.Show Notes: You can find Adam’s book, Full Spectrum, here. Read an excerpt from Adam’s book about how Pixar uses color to hack your brain on WIRED. Read Adam’s story about the science of The Dress here. Also check out Proof, Adam’s book about the science of booze. Read Lauren’s story about the internet and memories.Recommendations: Adam recommends the show Beforeigners on HBO Max. Lauren recomme

Google made a slew of announcements at its IO developer conference this week. A whole new look for Android! New privacy features! Better smartwatch software! A friggin’ hologram booth! Some of the updates were weird, unfinished prototypes, while others are set to begin seeping into the software millions of people use in the coming weeks.On this episode of Gadget Lab, WIRED senior associate editor Julian Chokkattu joins us to talk about Android 12, the other important Google announcements, and why they matter.Show Notes: Read about everything Google announced here. Read Lauren’s story about Project Starline here. Read Julian’s story about Google’s Wear OS upgrades here. Read Lily’s story about Android’s new privacy features here. Read Lauren’s story about Snap Spectacles here.Recommendations: Julian recommends taking some time to evaluate your desk setup so you can improve your posture. Mike recommends the music history podcast And Introducing and its miniseries on the book Our Band Could Be Your Life by Micha

Few tech companies have charted a more fascinating course than Amazon. It's expanded from its humble beginnings as a bookseller to an absolute juggernaut that spans scores of product categories and service offerings. It's set out to change the way the internet is structured, the way we interact with computers, and the way we shop—online and off.On this episode of Gadget Lab, journalist and author Brad Stone joins us to dish about stories from his new book Amazon Unbound, including Amazon's more aggressive business maneuvers and Jeff Bezos' personal shenanigans.Show Notes: Find Brad’s book Amazon Unbound here. Read an excerpt from the book about the secret origins of Amazon’s Alexa here. Read about how Bezos battled the tabloids here.Recommendations: Brad recommends the book Press Reset by Jason Schreier. Lauren recommends Anne Helen Peterson’s CultureStudy newsletter on Substack. Mike also recommends a Substack: Tom Moon’s music newsletter, EchoLocator.Brad Stone can be found on Twitter @BradStone. Lauren Goo

There's no way the lawmakers who drafted Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act way back in 1996 could have known that it would go on to determine the role user-generated content would play in the explosive growth of the internet. Those Congressmen probably also wouldn’t have guessed that Section 230 would end up, 25 years later, becoming a central sticking point in the debate over free speech online. The complex history of CDA 230 is as full of as many twists and turns as there are differing interpretations of what the law actually says.On this episode of Gadget Lab, WIRED senior politics reporter Gilad Edelman joins us yet again to talk about the particulars of Section 230. He’s the author of this month’s WIRED cover story on this very topic. We also talk about the Facebook Oversight Committee's ruling about the company’s decision to temporarily ban president Trump from the platform.Show Notes: Read Gilad’s cover story about Section 230 here. Read his story about the Facebook Oversight Committee’s de

Facebook, Apple, and Google may have very different approaches to user privacy, but they do have something in common: All three companies are currently being investigated for antitrust violations.Facebook is being accused of allowing its market dominance to erode its data privacy protections. Apple and Google are being investigated, in part, for enforcing their own privacy safeguards at the expense of competitors—Apple because of the changes in iOS 14.5, and Google because of coming updates to its Chrome browser. It's a messy, complicated tangle of events. The situation also reveals the sphere of incredible power these companies operate in, where even tiny software changes can affect the data of billions of users.This week on Gadget Lab, WIRED cybersecurity writer Lily Hay Newman and WIRED politics writer Gilad Edelman join us to talk about how giant tech companies handle your privacy.Show Notes: Read Lily’s story about ad tracking in iOS 14.5 here. Read Gilad’s story about how privacy and antitrust are on a

Facebook doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to keeping user data private. So when it revealed a few weeks ago that it was working on a prototype wearable computer that would interpret neuroelectrical signals, people had questions. The wearable—still very much just a concept—is designed to be worn on the wrist, where it could read a wearer’s nerve signals through their skin and translate them into device commands. It’s an idea straight out of sci-fi, and one that could actually be useful in VR and AR applications. But why is Facebook, with its massive software portfolio, working on hardware like this in earnest? How much more “connected” should we all be to Facebook apps? And should we trust the company to handle our data responsibly?This week on Gadget Lab, we interview Andrew Bosworth, Facebook’s vice president of augmented and virtual reality and the bigwig behind this prototype wearable. We press him on Facebook’s intent in making hardware, how that hardware can shape social interaction, and

This week marks the 500th episode of Gadget Lab. That is an astonishingly huge number; to pay proper tribute to it, we’ve invited some of Gadget Lab’s past co-hosts to come onto this week’s show and share their memories.Our guests Mat Honan, David Pierce, and Arielle Pardes speak in their own words about what it was like to work at WIRED and make a weekly show about personal technology. It’s a fun stroll down memory lane, for sure. But this special episode also serves as a rare look behind the scenes of Gadget Lab, so you can get a sense of how this show is made, and how it has evolved over the years.Show Notes: Read Mat Honan’s fever dream of a guilt-ridden gadget reporter here. Read his story about Slack here. Read Arielle’s cover story about Chris Evans here. Find her story about breast pumps here and her story about tech workplaces in the pandemic here. Read Lauren’s cover story about Simone Giertz here. Subscribe to David Pierce’s Source Code newsletter here and listen to the Source Code podcast here. Re

Tech companies are very good at serving up personalized content based on what they know about you. But they're not very good at picking up on big, sudden changes in your life. For example, Google Photos can show you pictures of a loved one taken three years ago, and Pinterest can suggest wedding-themed photos when your special day is right around the corner. But what if that loved one is no longer in the picture? And what if that wedding's been canceled? Those algorithms that resurface memories aren’t very good at telling which of those previously happy memories might now be upsetting.This week on Gadget Lab, WIRED senior writer Arielle Pardes joins us to talk about how the internet has changed the ways we love and remember. We also talk about the state of dating apps, and how technology has given us new ways to connect with potential loves, especially during the pandemic.Show Notes: Read Lauren’s story about how the internet doesn’t let you forget past relationships here. Read Arielle’s story about the boss

Last week, the cargo ship Ever Given got itself stuck in the Suez Canal for six days. The blockage completely disrupted maritime trade routes, captured worldwide attention, and became the subject of many online lulz. But even though the ship has been freed, the repercussions will be felt for months to come. This week, WIRED transportation writer Aarian Marshall joins us to talk about why the Ever Given got stuck and how the shipping industry might prevent this kind of absurd catastrophe in the future.Show Notes: Read Aarian’s story about the big boat that got stuck in the Suez Canal here. Read her story about the various problems with the shipping industry lately here. Read about how cargo ships could help detect tsunamis here. Watch Lauren’s video about Peloton here. Read one of Nick Thompson’s many running stories here.Recommendations: Aarian recommends the Moft laptop stand. Lauren recommends Peloton’s Marathon training program. Mike recommends the relaxing Environments app.Aarian Marshall can be found on

Vaccines are here, unemployment is down, and the pandemic is nearing its end. These are obviously good things. Still, the idea of returning to "normal" might seem daunting. That's because our brains aren't used to being in crisis mode for so long. All that anxiety and uncertainty that's built up over the past year is going to take a while to go away.This week on Gadget Lab, WIRED science writer Matt Simon joins us to talk about the psychology of reentry anxiety, and WIRED service editor Alan Henry offers some tips on how to manage it.Show Notes: Read Matt Simon’s story about the psychology of returning to “normal” here. Read Adrienne So’s story about vaccine FOMO here.Recommendations: Alan recommends the game Monster Hunter Rise. Matt recommends the show People Just Do Nothing. Mike recommends Hari Kunzru’s podcast Into the Zone. Lauren recommends the film Minari.Alan Henry can be found on Twitter @halophoenix. Matt Simon is @mrMattSimon. Lauren Goode is @LaurenGoode. Michael Calore is @snackfight. Bling the

How will we interact with computers in the future? When we finally evolve beyond keyboards, mice, touchscreens, and voice controls, what’s next? This month, Facebook hinted at how it’s thinking about the future of human-computer interactions. The company unveiled a concept for a wrist-worn wearable that can interpret the nerve impulses in the wearer’s arm to virtually mimic hand movements and finger taps. Also, we witnessed a debate about how facial recognition should be used in the AR glasses Facebook reportedly plans to release later this year.For this episode, we are joined by WIRED editor-at-large Steven Levy, who has written extensively about Facebook for WIRED, and in his book about the company, Facebook: The Inside Story, which is now out in paperback. We discuss Facebook’s vision of future interfaces, possible applications for these wearable devices, and whether Facebook has earned the public trust necessary to tap into people’s brain signals.Show Notes: Steven’s book is now available in paperback. Re

When you think of digital media, you probably think of something like a YouTube video or a meme. Something you can access for free, any time you want. But some relatively new technologies are being used to make pieces of digital media sellable, thereby creating a high-stakes market for them. These NFTs—or non-fungible tokens—are the latest internet buzzword, and they’ve raised a lot of questions about how we determine the value of online goods.This week on Gadget Lab, WIRED senior writer Kate Knibbs and WIRED politics writer Gilad Edelman talk to Lauren Goode about the nascent NFT ecosystem and what it's like to sell one of your tweets.Show Notes: Read Kate’s story about selling her tweet here. Read Gregory Barber’s story about the climate impacts of NFTs here. Steven Levy's newsletter entry about NFTs is here. Read more about NFTs in the art world here.Recommendations: Kate recommends the novel Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. Gilad recommends the yard game Kubb and also a way to make a quick cucumber in

While augmented reality has long been billed as the "next big thing" it hasn't quite arrived. Some pretty basic logistical problems get in the way. The headsets are too clunky, there aren't many decent apps, and the setup process can be a mess. But companies like Microsoft, Google, and (potentially) Apple are working on these problems, with the ultimate goal of creating consumer-level mixed-reality devices. AR is coming, whether people are willing to wait for it or not.This week on Gadget Lab, we talk with WIRED digital director Brian Barrett about the future of mixed reality and when we'll all be wearing AR glasses.Show Notes: Read Lauren’s story about mixed-reality headsets and Microsoft Mesh here. Read more about the HoloLens 2 here. Read about the AR “Mirrorworld” here. Follow all of WIRED’s AR coverage here. Read Lily Hay Newman’s story for Slate about how baths are better than showers here.Recommendations: Brian recommends the novel A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet. Lauren recommends taking a bath. Mi

Hey, did you know that the new Mars rover is really cool? Its eyes see crazy different colors! It shoots out a helicopter drone! It can vaporize rocks with a laser! Plus, Perseverance traveled more than 292 million miles through space, so that makes it just about the best gadget ever.This week on Gadget Lab, WIRED senior correspondent Adam Rogers joins us to talk about all the wild tech built into Perseverance and what the big deal about Mars is anyway. Then a very special guest crashes the show to talk about cheese.Show Notes: Read Adam’s story about the cameras on the Perseverance rover. Watch the video of the landing and read about it here. Read more about the LA musician who helped design the microphones on the rover here. Read Gilad Edelman on the health benefits of cheese. Preorder Adam’s book, Full Spectrum: How the Science of Color Made Us Modern, here.Recommendations: Adam recommends granite tile drill bits for drilling through metal. Lauren recommends Vigorous Innovations massage gun. Mike recommend

Do you have a PlayStation 5? If so, good for you. If not, well, join the club. Sony’s newest game console has been very difficult to purchase since it was released in November—so much so that folks have resorted to using sniper bots, inside sources, and other shady practices to sidestep the scrum and snag that PS5.This week, we’re joined by Alan Henry and Saira Mueller from the WIRED video games team, and Jeffrey Van Camp from WIRED’s reviews team to talk about the issues keeping PS5 supplies low. They’ll also tell us about their own experiences trying to buy a console. At the end of the show, we share some shopping tips you can use on your own quest to get this year’s most scarce gadget.Show Notes: Read some advice about how to (maybe) buy a PS5 here. Read more about the scalper bots buying up all the PS5s here. Recommendations: Saira’s recommendation is to try cryotherapy. Brrr! Alan recommends Discord, which is great for gaming parties. Jeff recommends that you get a snow shovel, because you never know whe

When Bitcoin first appeared out of digital thin air, it was hailed as having the potential to upend the way people spent money. But more than a decade later, cryptocurrency is still only trickling into the mainstream.This week, Tesla bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin and said it plans to start accepting it as a form of payment for its electric vehicles. The price of Bitcoin immediately spiked as the move seemed to signal a shift toward broader acceptance of cryptocurrency in general. But is this just another fleeting Elon Musk stunt, or will it actually be a sustainable way of doing business?This week on Gadget Lab, WIRED staff writer Greg Barber joins us to talk about Tesla's crypto plans, the reemergence of Dogecoin, and why the blockchain hasn't exactly revolutionized currency yet.Show Notes: Read Greg’s story about Tesla and Bitcoin here. Read more about how WIRED lost over $500,000 in Bitcoin here. Don’t miss Greg's CRISPR cow cover story. And here’s a good David Bowie playlist.Recommendations: Greg r

Elon Musk made headlines again this week. As usual, it was something involving Mars, memes, Tesla, and ... monkey brain implants? These topics, among others, were the subject of a conversation Musk had on Clubhouse, the voice chat app that's big with Silicon Valley VC types. But Musk's appearance may have been a turning point for the app that moves it into the mainstream. After Musk's talk, Clubhouse's user base nearly doubled, going from 3 to 5 million almost overnight. It's a powerful, popular format, and one that other social media companies are eager to get muscle their way into.This week on Gadget Lab, former cohost of the show and WIRED senior writer Arielle Pardes joins us to dish about Elon, Clubhouse, and where this kind of social platform goes from here.Show Notes: Read more about Elon Musk’s visit to Clubhouse. Coverage of GameStop and Robinhood is here. You can also listen to audio of Musk’s Clubhouse appearance.Recommendations: Arielle recommends the wine delivery service from Eater Wine Club. La

Vaccines are here, but they’ve had a bit of a bumpy landing. In fact, the US is way behind on the distribution goals set by the federal government, and the longer the rollout drags on, the more complicated things seem to get. There are supply chain issues, confusion over how to get an appointment, and different eligibility requirements for different states. Meanwhile, new variants of the virus have raised concerns about the efficacy of the vaccines that have been approved so far.This week on Gadget Lab, we try to shed some light on these issues. WIRED science writers Maryn McKenna and Megan Molteni join us to talk about the ins and outs of vaccinations, and answer your questions about what exactly is going on.Show Notes: Read Megan’s stories about new virus variants here and here. Read Maryn’s story about vaccine mass clinics here and her story about dual-dose vaccinations here. Read Uri Friedman’s story about Israel’s vaccine strategy in The Atlantic here. Follow all of WIRED’s Covid-19 coverage here.Recomme