Whether you'll be celebrating #MothersDay safely in person or over Zoom, this list is full of good picks on gifts that WIRED reviewers recommend for last minute shoppers: wired.trib.al/Qy2dXNJ
If you buy something using our links, WIRED may earn a commission. 1/
.@Fitbit Charge 4 for $100 ($50 off) - This is the best fitness tracker. It may be affordable, but that doesn't stop the Charge 4 from packing in features you'd typically find in much pricier gadgets. This deal is a match of the best we've seen: wired.trib.al/QAFI3dR 2/
.@1MoreGlobal ColorBuds Wireless Earbuds for $80 ($20 off) - This deal has been running for a couple of weeks, but it's still a good one. These headphones strike a good balance between being affordable, attractive, and sounding great! wired.trib.al/OkQg6bv 3/
.@aura_frames Digital Picture Frame for $169 ($30 off) -This is our favorite digital photo frame. These are especially great for long-distance families. wired.trib.al/ReYDRp5 4/
.@Google Nest Mini for $30 ($20 off) - Unless Mom needs all the bells and whistles, this is the best Google Assistant speaker (and one of our favorite smart speakers). It's available in several colors and takes up very little space: wired.trib.al/NMpvaSp 5/
And if you need more options just click on the link to find more great last-minute tech deals to spoil your mom this weekend: wired.trib.al/gSVqrlU 6/
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In fact, federal workers from at least six agencies tell WIRED that DOGE-style work is escalating in their departments, and Trump himself said in a press conference today that “Elon's really not leaving.” wired.com/story/doge-elo…
Members of Musk’s early DOGE team, including Luke Farritor and Gavin Kliger, have met with a number of departments and agencies in recent days, seemingly continuing business as usual, WIRED has learned.
Over the last week, federal workers have been asked to urgently review contracts across the government, and sources say the pressure to slash contracts has drastically increased in recent weeks. wired.com/story/doge-elo…
NEW: Tulsi Gabbard, now the US director of national intelligence, used the same easily cracked password for different online accounts including a personal Gmail account and Dropbox over a period of years, leaked records reviewed by WIRED reveal. wired.com/story/tulsi-ga…
The password associated includes the word “shraddha,” which appears to have personal significance to Gabbard: This year, WSJ reported that she had been initiated into the Science of Identity Foundation, which ex-members have accused of being a cult. wired.com/story/tulsi-ga…
Security experts advise people to never use the same password on different accounts precisely because people often do so. As director of national intelligence, Gabbard oversees the 18 organizations comprising the US intelligence community.
DOGE is knitting together data from the Department of Homeland Security, Social Security Administration, and IRS that could create a surveillance tool of unprecedented scope. wired.com/story/doge-col…
The scale at which DOGE is seeking to interconnect data, including sensitive biometric data, has never been done before, raising alarms with experts who fear it may lead to disastrous privacy violations. wired.com/story/doge-col…
“They are trying to amass a huge amount of data,” a senior DHS official tells WIRED. “It has nothing to do with finding fraud or wasteful spending … They are already cross-referencing immigration with SSA and IRS as well as voter data.” wired.com/story/doge-col…
American police are spending hundreds of thousands on Massive Blue’s unproven and secretive technology that uses AI-generated online personas designed to interact with and collect intelligence on “college protesters,” “radicalized” political activists, and suspected traffickers.
Massive Blue calls its product Overwatch, which it markets as an “AI-powered force multiplier for public safety” that “deploys lifelike virtual agents, which infiltrate and engage criminal networks across various channels.”
404 Media obtained a presentation showing some of these AI characters. These include a “radicalized AI” “protest persona,” which poses as a 36-year-old divorced woman who is lonely, has no children, is interested in baking, activism, and “body positivity.”
The audit covers DOGE’s handling of data at several Cabinet-level agencies, including:
–the Departments of Labor, Education, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services
–the Treasury
–the Social Security Administration
–the US DOGE Service (USDS) itself wired.com/story/gao-audi…
It's being carried out after congressional leaders’ requests and is centered on DOGE’s adherence to privacy and data protection laws and regulations.
A Congressional aide said the requests followed media reports on DOGE’s incursions into federal systems. wired.com/story/gao-audi…
Dozens of federal employees tell WIRED that Trump's federal return to office order has resulted in chaos (including bad Wi-Fi and no toilet paper), with productivity plummeting and public services suffering. wired.com/story/federal-…
One effect of all this, many federal employees tell WIRED, is that they are travelling long distances in order to spend all of their time in virtual meetings.
A Treasury employee says they spend most of their time at the office on video calls as well. wired.com/story/federal-…
It isn’t just traveling to work to sit on Zoom calls—it’s that there may be no place to take the call, or no working internet to connect to it.
WIRED granted employees anonymity to speak freely about their experiences. wired.com/story/federal-…