A mod for The Sims 4 that removed LGBT and Black nonplayable characters (NPCs) from the game and automatically changed them to “straight” and “white,” respectively, has reappeared in spite of EA’s attempts to shut it down. WIRED has found dozens of similar racist, homophobic, and antisemitic mods for other popular games. The Sims mod,…
As someone who lives near a beach and owns five straw and cloth beach bags, the Bogg is enticing—its price tag is not. The bags I have all get the job done just fine until I bring them home and find sand all over my car and the front hallway. Lately, I’ve been thinking that…
SpaceX founder Elon Musk also wants Starship to fly to Mars, which will, likewise, require a mastery of in-space refueling. NASA may also soon rely on Starship and other massive commercial rockets to launch astronauts from Earth. The Trump administration has proposed canceling NASA’s Space Launch System rocket after two more flights in favor of…
If you’ve never used a string trimmer, try out both curved-shaft and straight-shaft models in a home center or hardware store to see which feels better. In general, straight-shaft models have a longer reach. But some users (particularly those shorter than 5 feet, 6 inches or so) may prefer curved-shaft models because they can be…
It measures 5 inches longer and about 2 inches wider than the original, bringing some welcomed interior space gains. That gives it a larger footprint than the Toyota Corolla Cross, although it sits slightly lower. It is based on the e-TNGA electric vehicle platform that has been used throughout a growing roster of battery-powered vehicles,…
The new owners of VPN provider VPNSecure have drawn ire after canceling lifetime subscriptions. The owners told customers that they didn’t know about the lifetime subscriptions when they bought VPNSecure, and they cannot honor the purchases. In March, complaints started appearing online about lifetime subscriptions to VPNSecure no longer working. The first public response Ars…
Worst bagless canister: Atrix Vortex VR25BCVOverall Score: 37 Compared with the other bagless canisters we tested, the Atrix Vortex VR25BCV just doesn’t measure up. It’s lousy at extracting dirt from carpets, and when we tried using it to vacuum up pet hair, the hair got caught up inside the nozzle brush, resulting in a low…
Among our findings: Don’t skimp on quality to save a few dollars, especially because no one wants to spend their riding time dealing with maintenance issues. Most lower-priced models have hub-mounted electric motors, which turn the rear wheel directly, and can be less responsive than a motor mounted at the pedal crank, which can also…
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu The phone’s edges are so thin that it might affect how you hold it for a long period, because there’s just not much for your fingers to grab. Time will tell. But once the wonder of the thinness fades away, you’ll start wondering about battery life. The S25 Edge has a 3,900-mAh…
Ten days from now, 220 crypto investors will sit down to a lavish three-course dinner and enjoy “stunning views of the Potomac river” with US president Donald Trump at his 600-acre golf club in Washington, DC. To earn an invitation, all they had to do was buy a boatload of the president’s personal crypto coin….