If you still haven’t filled your gift quota but are running low on funds, we’ve got you covered. Here are some magical surprises to delight your nearest and dearest all for under $25. If you buy something using our links, WIRED may earn a commission. wired.trib.al/SYYX656 1/8
It doesn’t matter if you’re buying for a master chef or a culinary novice, anyone who loves food will go bananas for Samin Nosrat's Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. 📸: Amazon wired.trib.al/SYYX656 2/8
Not everyone wants to embrace Bluetooth, ok. For that retro jammer in your life pick up a pair of Panasonic ErgoFit Earbuds. They’re comfortable, with soft ear-hugging tips—what more could you want? 📸: Panasonic wired.trib.al/SYYX656 3/8
Few things say I love you like a cup of coffee, so this year take things to the next level with a Primula Burke Cold Brew Coffee Maker. Your recipient will jump for joy (partially due to the caffeine injection) 📸: Primula wired.trib.al/SYYX656 4/8
We’d never encourage using a selfie stick. But those selfie-takers! So insistent. If they yearn to selfie, they should do it with the Atumtek 40 Inch Selfie Stick. It has a telescoping neck and a Bluetooth shutter trigger remote. 📸: Amazon wired.trib.al/SYYX656 5/8
The Fisher Raw Brass Space Pen is what every budding writer needs in their arsenal. Yes, it is technically 25 cents over budget, but it's worth it. The Space Pen scribbles anywhere—in extreme cold and heat, underwater, and in zero gravity. 📸: Amazon wired.trib.al/SYYX656 6/8
Some like it hot. Spice things up for your favorite hot sauce aficionado with Marie Sharp's Hot Sauce 3-Pack. It includes three 10-ounce bottles of the company's most habanero-forward concoctions.
📸: Amazon wired.trib.al/SYYX656 7/8
Subscribe to WIRED and get unlimited access to our longform features, buying guides, and tech news wired.trib.al/jllDNdC 8/8
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SCOOP: Edward Coristine (“Big Balls”), Luke Farritor, and Ethan Shaotran were part of the original DOGE crew. They were brought in under short-term “special government employee” status. Supposed to be temporary. Spoiler: it’s not. wired.com/story/big-ball…
As of May 31 (Coristine & Farritor) and April 10 (Shaotran), the trio officially became full-time federal employees. Their roles at the General Services Administration (GSA) are now permanent.
According to documentation viewed by WIRED, they each maintain their “senior advisor” titles.
Their pay? GS-15 for Coristine & Farritor, one of the highest government salary grades. Shaotran’s at GS-14—just one step below. wired.com/story/big-ball…
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…