USB-C Has Finally Come Into Its Own

The Surface Pro 7. The Kindle Fire HD 10. The PlayStation 5. All major gadgets announced or detailed this week, each with a bevy of enhancements. But more important than any of those flagship products on its own is the fact that together they embraced something their predecessors did not: USB-C.You know USB-C. If you…

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Andy Rubin’s Essential Gem Isn’t Just a New Phone

On Tuesday, Andy Rubin emerged from his nearly year-long Twitter silence to show off a prototype of a mobile device, an elongated product that marries the body of a tiny TV remote with a more modern touchscreen.“GEM Colorshift material,” Rubin tweeted, followed by “...still dialing in the colors.” His third tweet could have been ripped…

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Planting Tiny Spy Chips in Hardware Can Cost as Little as $200

More than a year has passed since Bloomberg Businessweek grabbed the lapels of the cybersecurity world with a bombshell claim: that Supermicro motherboards in servers used by major tech firms, including Apple and Amazon, had been stealthily implanted with a chip the size of a rice grain that allowed Chinese hackers to spy deep into…

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13 Best PS4 Accessories to Up Your Game (2019)

The PS4 and PS4 Pro may be on their way out the door, but before the PlayStation 5 comes out, they’re still capable consoles that have some of the best games you can buy.Whether you're interested in picking up the new console, or sticking with your old PS4, there are still tons of great accessories…

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Brie Larson Says Marvel’s Superheroines Want an All-Female Movie

Happy Thursday, and welcome to another edition of The Monitor, WIRED’s pop-culture news roundup. What’s happening this week? Well, there’s a new Marvel show coming to Hulu. Also, speaking of Marvel, the women of the MCU want an all-female movie. Let’s just dive in, shall we?Brie Larson Says Marvel’s Superheroines Want an All-Female MovieRemember that…

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High Schools Need to Get Over It and Embrace Esports

Do esports belong in high school? In a rapidly growing number of high schools, gamers are the new jocks. School districts are scrambling to approve esports clubs and competitive teams. Breathless articles—sometimes written by tech industry representatives—tout how popular esports has become among Gen Z, how esports drives STEM education, and how much money can…

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Make Your Own Vinyl Records With the $1,100 Phonocut

Better clear out several shelves of storage space, vinylheads, because your record collection is about to expand into infinity. Soon, you’ll be able to get absolutely anything on vinyl. Even better—you’ll be able to make it.The Phonocut is an analog vinyl lathe, the first consumer device capable of making custom records immediately, right there in…

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PFAS ‘Forever Chemicals’ Are in Your Popcorn—and Your Blood

Next time you pick up a pizza from your favorite pizzeria and toss the box in your front seat, think about why the grease doesn’t saturate through the cardboard onto your upholstery. Or when you hear popcorn bursting in a bag in your microwave, consider why the oil doesn’t ooze out and the paper doesn’t…

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Why the PG&E Blackouts Spared California’s Big Tech HQs

Huge swaths of California were without power on Wednesday after the (recently bankrupt) utility Pacific Gas & Electric—whose downed power lines caused last year’s Camp Fire—preemptively pulled the plug on hundreds of thousands of customers. The unprecedented move, intended to reduce the risk of wildfires, plunged more than 500,000 homes in 20 counties (and counting)…

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Apple Arcade’s black box

Apple Arcade is a new kind of App Store. One where eclectic, indie and original content can shine. A place where gamers can play without being hounded by ads or…

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