So you’ve left your Christmas gifts to the last minute (again). We’re here to help, not to judge. Here are some deals that have a solid chance of making it to you before Christmas. If you buy something using our links, WIRED may earn a commission. wired.trib.al/d3iB5eF 1/8
★ Best for Most—Google Pixel 5A Phone for $399 ($49 off)
How about a stellar smartphone for $400? The Google Pixel 5A has a crisp OLED display, two-day battery life, and 5G antennas. Oh, and it snagged a 9/10 WIRED Recommends. 📸: Google wired.trib.al/d3iB5eF 2/8
Apple Macbook Air (2020, M1) for $899 ($100 off)
If you’re filled with the holiday spirit (and cash) Apple’s Macbook Air is currently $100 off. It has a 13-inch screen, all-day battery life, and a fanless design that makes it ultra quiet. 📸: Apple wired.trib.al/d3iB5eF 3/8
LG C1 OLED 55-Inch TV for $1,297 ($200 off)
Christmas is both a time for giving and for Netflix binges, making the LG C1 OLED 55-Inch TV the ultimate holiday offering. It has gorgeous black levels, and hyper-fast gaming response times. 📸: LG wired.trib.al/d3iB5eF 4/8
iRobot Roomba 694 for $179 ($70 off)
Is there anything worse than the Christmas day carnage? Wrapping paper, crumbs, tinsel, and pine literally everywhere. Enter: the iRobot Roomba 694. It's quiet, powerful, and the app is easy to use. 📸: iRobot wired.trib.al/d3iB5eF 5/8
★ Nest Cam—Has a Battery—for $150 ($30 off)
This battery-operated Nest Cam is a great security camera. It records 1080p video and can detect motion to alert you when something's happening in or outside your home. Good luck, Santa. 📸: Nest wired.trib.al/d3iB5eF 6/8
Panasonic Lumix S5 Mirrorless Full-Frame Camera for $1,698 ($300 off)
And for the visionary in the family, why not snap up this Lumix S5. It supports V-Log recording, anamorphic 4K, and uncropped 4K at 30 frames per second. 📸: Lumix wired.trib.al/d3iB5eF 7/8The
Subscribe to WIRED and get unlimited access to our longform features, buying guides, and tech news wired.trib.al/2e2wUZd 8/8
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NEW: The alleged shooter is a 57-year-old white male; according to his ministry's website, he “sought out militant Islamists in order to share the gospel and tell them that violence wasn't the answer.” wired.com/story/shooting…
UPDATE: In a 2023 sermon reviewed by WIRED and delivered by the alleged shooter in the Democratic Republic of Congo, he preached against abortion and called for different Christian churches to become “one.” wired.com/story/shooting…
In another sermon in Matadi that year, Boelter railed against the LGBTQ community. “They're confused,” he said. “The enemy has gotten so far into their mind and their soul.”
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.”