We're minutes away from Apple's #WWDC21 developer conference. To stay up to date on what's new, follow this thread or watch it live right here at 10 AM PST: wired.trib.al/Cs8Hcep
Who had "Apple starts off their developer conference with a musical" on their bingo card? #WWDC21
Starting off with iOS 15 FaceTime updates:
✅Now has Spatial Audio and Portrait Mode
✅Ability to send FaceTime invite links
✅A new feature called SharePlay that allows you to watch movies and listen to music together
With iOS 15, Apple unveils a new feature called Share With You—a list of content that friends have recently sent to you so you can catch up on it later.
Apple is bringing identity cards to Apple Wallet. Now your driver's license can be encrypted and stored in your phone. Apple says TSA is preparing to be able to use this feature to get through security checks. wired.trib.al/Cs8Hcep#WWDC21
The next iteration of Apple Maps is significantly more detailed—outlining things like overpasses, tourist attractions, and cross walks in 3D animation. wired.trib.al/Cs8Hcep#WWDC21
As users pivot toward privacy, Apple is making things like emails and Safari browsing even harder to track. wired.trib.al/Cs8Hcep#WWDC21
A new feature called Legacy Contacts will allow trusted loved ones to access your iCloud data if you pass away. wired.trib.al/Cs8Hcep#WWDC21
Apple will now measure your "Walking Steadiness", a feature that tracks how stable you are, and how likely you may be to fall. It also comes with movement exercises to help your strength and balance. wired.trib.al/Cs8Hcep#WWDC21
Your iPhone will soon let you share your health data with your doctor securely. No more making up how much you exercise. wired.trib.al/Cs8Hcep#WWDC21
Apple is bringing a new design to Safari—with tab groups, a redesigned sidebar, seamless integration with your other Apple device, and swipeable tabs and web extensions for your iPhone.
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-…
SCOOP: Elon Musk’s DOGE has plans to stage a “hackathon” next week in Washington, DC. The goal is to create a single “mega API”—a bridge that lets software systems talk to one another—for accessing IRS data, sources tell WIRED. wired.com/story/doge-hac…
DOGE ops have repeatedly referred to the company Palantir as a possible partner in the project, sources tell WIRED.
SCOOP: Shortly after senior Trump officials discussed the bombing of Yemen in a Signal group chat that just happened to include the Atlantic's editor in chief, a subset of the group feasted at a secret dinner featuring Trump where guests were asked to pay $1 million apiece to join. wired.com/story/trump-of…
The date was Saturday, March 15. President Donald Trump was at his Mar-a-Lago estate attending a “candlelight” dinner that wasn’t on his public calendar. On the lawn outside, luxury cars were on display: a Rolls Royce was parked near a Bugatti and Lamborghini.
Earlier that day, the United States had bombed Yemen, targeting Houthi leadership. At least 53 people, including children, were killed.
A Letter from WIRED's Editor: Ever since Elon Musk dove headfirst into backing Donald Trump’s presidential bid last year—to the tune of $280 million in contributions—WIRED has been tracking the billionaire’s political exploits and growing sphere of influence within the GOP and the Trump administration more specifically. We’ve been sourcing up, talking to people within and around federal agencies, as well as experts in disciplines including cybersecurity, AI, medicine, and more, about Musk’s potential impact.
What would Musk do, we wanted to understand, once Trump took back the White House on January 20? How would our government—and our country —change with Trump at the steering wheel and Musk riding shotgun?
Now the world, and WIRED, are finding out. The entire WIRED newsroom, from editors and reporters to fact-checkers and photo editors, has been working relentlessly to unearth new information about what exactly Elon Musk and his allies are doing across federal agencies, and to what end. What is changing, how, and what are the consequences? Amid the findings of our reporting, one overarching fact has become extremely clear: Musk is now in the driver’s seat, and he is implementing sweeping, shocking, and largely unchecked changes across the entirety of our country’s federal apparatus.
If you’ve been wondering what Elon Musk and his lackeys are up to since taking control of the US government, look no further. Our latest story names six 19- to 24-year-olds working with his DOGE organization, which now has access to sensitive federal systems. wired.com/story/elon-mus…
We’ve also been tracking more former Musk employees who have infiltrated the Government Services Administration: wired.com/story/elon-mus…
Workers at GSA and Technology Transformation Services (TTS) have been summoned into what one source called “sneak attack” meetings to discuss their code and projects with total strangers—some quite young: wired.com/story/elon-mus…