The 6 Best Toys at CES 2020: STEM, Robots, AR Board Games

We're living in the golden age of STEM toys. This year's CES floor is host to dozens of companies all hoping their edu-taining STEM-related toys will make it your kids' playroom later this year.One welcome trend we've seen here at CES is a return of tactile toys. Every app-driving toy we saw had some real-world…

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WWIII Memes, Oddly, Prove There’s Hope for the Internet

After a US drone strike killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani last week, the online world saw two nations tumbling toward a war that could consume the globe—the long-prophesied World War III. Some Americans celebrated President Trump taking a stand against an old perceived enemy. Some planned protests. Many, including President Trump and Iranian foreign minister…

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Twitch’s Non-Gamers Are Finally Having Their Moment

Nine years after the launch of the game-streaming platform Twitch, the content that hardcore gamers most vocally reviled has officially become its most watched: just talking.A new report from stream management site StreamElements indicates that in December, Twitch viewers watched 81 million hours of “Just Chatting,” Twitch’s category for streamers who do exactly that, plus…

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Feds Are Content to Let Cars Drive, and Regulate, Themselves

The Trump administration Wednesday reaffirmed its policy to maintain a light touch in regulating self-driving vehicles, with a new document that is long on promoting the industry and silent on rules governing testing or operating the vehicles. “The takeaway from the [new policy] is that the federal government is all in” on automated driving systems,…

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Amazon Takes a Swipe at Paypal’s $4 Billion Acquisition

Days before Christmas, at the height of the last-minute holiday shopping rush, an ominous message appeared on Amazon.com. It warned shoppers who used a popular browser extension called Honey that the service, which promises to track prices and discount codes, was “a security risk.”“Honey tracks your private shopping behavior, collects data like your order history…

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Christian Bale Might Be Joining Thor: Love and Thunder

Hello, and welcome to another edition of The Monitor, WIRED’s culture news roundup. Now that the holiday season is officially behind us, the Hollywood studios are back in action, making deals and making content. And for some extra help with that, it looks like Warner Bros. will start using machine learning and predictive data. Crazy,…

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