*You might want to drop a mournful flower there.
WIRED Ghost Stories
Five hauntings from the other side of technology.
Please Let the Internet Die
Online spaces are captured by oligarchs and saturated with slop—and they’re exacerbating humanity’s worst impulses. It’s time to start over.
Miles Klee
Spend Elon Musk’s Money
What’s it like to be the richest man in the world? Find out for yourself.
Neal Agarwal
Digger Is a Box Office Flop. It Might Be the Most Relevant Film of the Year
Sold by its trailer as a gag reel, Tom Cruise’s strangest movie may be the most unsettling portrait of our tech and climate moment yet.
Carla Sertin
Data Centers Have a New PR Plan: Your Kid’s Field Trip
Amid a wave of backlash, some industry-friendly groups are employing creative and time-tested strategies to woo the youth.
Caroline Haskins
WhatsApp Help Pages Leaked Hidden Instructions for a Meta Chatbot
Around 80 pages on WhatsApp’s website exposed instructions that were designed for its chatbot, including “WHAT NOT TO SAY.” Meta says a bug caused the issue.
Matt Burgess
The Internet Runs on Cats and Porn. It’s About to Get Cattier and Pornier
Soon, hundreds of new top-level domains, including .meow and .fart, could be added to the internet. WIRED goes inside the backroom shenanigans of ICANN, the organization at the helm.
Pete Millspaugh
Wikipedians Believed AI Would Come and Go. They Were Wrong
In a world of AI Overviews, Wikipedia usage declines. But the real loss may be far more existential than website traffic.
Richard Cooke
Bluesky Is Blocking Links to a Major Leak of DHS Employee Records
Bluesky tells WIRED it blocked links to a leaked archive of information on 41,000 ICE, CBP, and other DHS workers because it contains people’s contact information, shared without their authorization.
Dhruv Mehrotra
This Leaf Blower Can Tackle Fall Cleanup and Halloween Shenanigans
Our top Ego pick is discounted, and our resident leaf blower expert demonstrates how to make a TP cannon.
Kat Merck
I Made Terrible Games With Google’s AI Playground
A long day’s haul in the video game slop mines.
Boone Ashworth