Gallery: Meet the Woman Who Launched a Billion Clicks
01Susan Kare Command icon
In the foreword to *Icons*, Steve Silberman notes that the "command" icon, found on nearly every Apple keyboard and described as a stylized castle seen from above, was originally a common symbol used at Swedish campgrounds to denote an interesting sightseeing location.
02Susan Kare Spotted dog from Cairo font
"This icon was originally a dog character in the Cairo 'hieroglyphic' font that shipped with the original Macintosh," Kare writes in *Icons*. "A version of this image was used in Mac software for a time to indicate portrait or landscape mode."
03Susan Kare floppy disk icon
"This icon meant 'save' and was created when saving to a disk was the only option," Kare writes in Icons. "It continued to be a symbol as hard disks became commonplace, but illustrates why a metaphor as a solution would have been better for icon longevity." Circa 1984.
04Susan Kare fill icon
"The pouring paint can was the cursor for 'fill' in the original MacPaint application; the 'hot spot' was the single pixel at the lower edge of the paint," Kare writes in *Icons*.
05Susan Kare MacPaint Pencil icon
"This was the cursor for freehand drawing in MacPaint, angled so the 'hot spot' at the bottom edge of the point could also be used for toggling single pixels from black to white," Kare writes in *Icons*.
06Susan Kare watch cursor
The stopwatch, Kare's effort to modernize the standard hourglass "wait" icon.
07Susan Kare trash icon
Trash, one of Kare's most classic Mac icons.
08Susan Kare SPJ 2011
Steve Jobs, 2011
U.S. Patent number: 81437, Issue date: 1868)09Susan-Kare-Queen-of-hearts-Windows-3-solitaire-card
"A playing card from the windows 3.0 Solitaire deck, which was limited to the VGA 16-color palatte," Kare writes in *Icons*.
10Susan Kare Dog
In *Icons*, Kare states that this 11-pixel-tall dog face icon is described as resembling an Australian shepherd named Becca.
11Cigarette icon
"The cigarette was one of a collection of 'bad habits' icons designed for a bookstore at the Museum of Modern Art in New York," Kare writes in *Icons*.
Spooky New Infostealer Malware Uses AI to ‘Autodox’ Victims
Named “Volta-Autodoxer,” the recently uncovered malware uses AI tools to collect troves of data about victims, from login credentials and credit card numbers to Discord sessions and UberEats receipts.
Lily Hay Newman
There’s a Completely New Type of Whisky. It’s French and Made in Concrete Eggs
The founders of Maison Lineti are, in a world first, making single malt whisky as if it were wine—and the spirit world is mighty impressed.
Jeremy White
Light Up Your Home Like Christmas With These Smart String Lights
Glow up your home indoors or out with these versatile, discounted, full color smart string lights. They’re WIRED-tested and 25 percent off right now.
Simon Hill
Power Outages Are No Match for This Fridge Battery
Backup by BioLite is designed to power your fridge when the grid goes down. It works, but protecting your ice cream doesn’t come cheap.
Christopher Null
Meta’s Muse Could Upend All Kinds of Businesses. It Hasn’t Yet
Companies have spent the past several weeks trying to reassure investors that Muse and other AI agents pose more of an opportunity than a threat.
Paresh Dave
An AI Agent Injected Drugs Into a Live Mouse’s Brain
A biotech startup let an agent choose a gene therapy and successfully inject the treatment, offering a startling glimpse of the future of research labs.
Emily Mullin
Get Bose QC Headphones at Their Lowest Price Ever
They’re a steal at over 40 percent off in multiple colors. Plus, other great Bose deals you should know about ahead of Black Friday.
Harry Rabinowitz
The Keurig Alta Brewer Can Do It All, With No Plastic Pods
This multifaceted home coffee brewer and its new AltaRounds will make you rethink everything you know about Keurig machines.
Louryn Strampe
Are Memories Transferable? Meet the Scientists Replicating an Infamous Study to Find Out
In the 1960’s, an odd experiment showed planarian worms could transfer memories by consuming each other. It was a sensational finding—that is until the worms stopped learning.
Claire L. Evans
Sunrise Alarm Clocks to Help You Adjust to Shorter Days
I’ve never been a morning person. This bedside gadget is the only thing that’s ever changed that.
Nena Farrell
White Dwarfs Aren’t Just White. Scientists Discover Dying Stars Turning Pink and Green
Astronomers find that a white dwarf’s density and the kind of material it absorbed from its surroundings can produce a rainbow of shades in the star’s atmosphere.
Petr Kubala
Wayfair Coupons for November 2026
Get 10% off with Wayfair promo code, up to 80% off furniture, and more top coupons.
Molly Higgins