Ask About Time-of-Use PlansContact your electricity provider to ask whether it charges different prices for power at different times of the day. If it does, try to avoid using energy-guzzlers such as dishwashers and clothes dryers during peak hours, when the rates may be highest. What you might save will vary by the time of…
OpenAI researcher Jason Wei is joining Meta’s new superintelligence lab, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. Wei worked on OpenAI’s o3 and deep research models, according to his personal website. He joined OpenAI in 2023 after a stint at Google, where he worked on chain-of-thought research, which involves training an AI model to…
New research released this week shows that over the past few years the US Department of Homeland Security has collected DNA data of nearly 2,000 US citizens. The activity raises questions about legality and oversight given that DHS has been putting the information into an FBI crime database. Some of the genetic data is from…
An air fryer works by rapidly circulating hot air and a small amount of oil to fry foods. The oil and air work in tandem, transferring heat via conduction (the direct contact of the hot oil) and convection (the heavy rotation of hot air). The air-fry function works the same way in a wall oven…
Honorable Mentions Photograph: Kat Merck Shark FlexBreeze HydroGo for $100: I love the original Shark FlexBreeze (above), so I was very excited to see Shark had released a rechargeable portable fan in seven colors, including ones not normally seen in fans, like Lilac and Honeydew. Shark says it can run 30 minutes with the mister…
Early Wednesday morning, Poland shot down several Russian drones that had violated its airspace during a massive strike against western Ukraine. The Polish military operation, confirmed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk through a social media message in the early morning hours, marks a turning point in Warsaw’s involvement in the conflict that has affected the…
Jim Sanborn couldn’t believe it. He was weeks away from auctioning off the answer to Kryptos, the sculpture he created for the CIA that had defied solution for 35 years. As always, wannabe solvers kept on paying him a $50 fee to offer their guesses to the remaining unsolved portion of the 1,800-character encrypted message,…
Honorable Mentions As we said, WIRED runners pound hundreds of miles every year. Here are a few of the other shoes we’ve tested that you might want to consider if the above do not work for your foot. If you’re not familiar with a brand, we recommend going to a local running store for a…
Quantum computing is either a distant dream or an imminent reality depending on whom you ask. And while much of this year’s Quantum Village at the Defcon security conference in Las Vegas is focused on emerging research and threat analysis, Village cofounders Victoria Kumaran and Mark Carney are also working to make a currently available…
Things get extremely complicated when it comes to the many iterations of USB 3.0. Because all the branding has become inconsistent and unhelpful, we recommend ignoring these labels altogether and just searching for the actual speed ratings. The good news is that many USB hub and docking station manufacturers have started to give up on…
