Apple’s October “Unleashed” event focused on all things Mac. If you didn't catch the event, here's everything Apple announced: wired.trib.al/vA692s4 1/7
Down with dongles. Apple went all-in with its MacBook Pro redesign, and one of the most exciting upgrades is the return of the ports. It also features slightly larger screen sizes, studio-quality mics and a six-speaker sound system, and much more. 2/7
These chipsets are what on-the-go creators have been waiting for. The M1 Pro and M1 Max are up to 70 percent faster than last year's M1, and graphics-wise, the M1 Pro is two times faster and the M1 Max is four times faster. 📸: Apple 3/7
The third generation of Apple’s standard AirPods have arrived. This new version comes with a lower distortion dynamic driver for better bass, crisper high-end, increased battery life, and the ability to charge with a MagSafe charger wirelessly. 📸: Apple 4/7
It’s like Pandora—but not quite. Apple's new voice-only subscription plan for Apple Music allows subscribers to abandon any visual interface and access their favorite artists and bespoke playlists exclusively via voice control with Siri for $5 per month. 📸: Apple 5/7
Tired of staring at your boring gray HomePod Mini? Apple has some good news for you. It now comes in three fun colors: orange, blue, and yellow. Too bad there aren’t any new features. 📸: Apple 6/7
Subscribe to WIRED for less than $1 per month and get unlimited access to our longform features, buying guides, and tech news wired.trib.al/BMxcvqp 7/7
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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-…
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.