In 2024, Fandom Conquered the World

On September 28, Bowen Yang performed one of 2024’s most resonant pieces of political theater while dressed as a pygmy hippo. Yang was behind the desk on Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” segment, dressed like Moo Deng, who at the time the show aired was the internet’s current fave. What he was saying, though, sounded…

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6 Best Car Tires of 2024, Tested by Our Experts

We test them at our track in Connecticut for wet and dry braking and handling, ride comfort and quietness, and resistance to hydroplaning (when water gets between the tire and the pavement). We perform our snow-traction tests at our Auto Test Center and in Michigan. Ice-braking evaluations are performed at a nearby skating rink.  We…

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Computer Crash Reports Are an Untapped Hacker Gold Mine

When a bad software update from the security firm CrowdStrike inadvertently caused digital chaos around the world last month, the first signs were Windows computers showing the Blue Screen of Death. As websites and services went down and people scrambled to understand what was happening, conflicting and inaccurate information was everywhere. Rushing to understand the…

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SpaceX Took a Big Step Toward Reusing Starship’s Super Heavy Booster

SpaceX is having trouble with Starship’s upper stage after back-to-back failures, but engineers are making remarkable progress with the rocket’s enormous booster. The most visible sign of SpaceX making headway with Starship’s first stage—called Super Heavy—came at 9:40 am local time (10:40 am EDT; 14:40 UTC) Thursday at the company’s Starbase launch site in South…

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