Author: Elon Mark

In the first three episodes of Andor Season 2, which started streaming on Disney+ on April 22, one of the show’s many interlocking plotlines takes us to Mina-Rau, an agricultural planet on the outer rim of the Star Wars galaxy, where a group of rebel soldiers are posing as freelance mechanics. The group includes Bix (Adria Arjona), a wanted fugitive hiding out on Mina-Rau without the necessary paperwork. So when a cadre of Imperial soldiers arrives to carry out an unannounced “supply census,” Bix is worried.“If they’re checking visas, it’s a problem,” she says.“Look, they need the grain,” a local…

At around two o’clock on Tuesday afternoon, when mild sunshine and a gentle chill wrapped the Baisaran Valley in Kashmir, two newlyweds, Shubham Dwivedi and Aishanya Pandey, rented horses and rode up a gentle hill.They wanted to catch what they had heard was a mesmerizing view: a lush meadow fringed by pine trees, with snow-capped Himalayan peaks gleaming in the distance.Less than an hour later, Mr. Dwivedi was dead.He was among 26 people killed by militants who approached a group of visiting sightseers and then opened fire. Another 17 were injured.The massacre, which occurred near Pahalgam, a town in the…

Earlier this year, Musk told investors that Tesla would launch autonomous driving technology in Austin and California this year, with a robotaxi service launching in the Texas city in June. (The service is slated to launch with Model Y’s rather than Cybercabs.) Tesla has since obtained a permit to operate a driver-ed taxi service in California, though will need to apply for and win several more permits to operate that service without drivers behind the wheel. It has entered talks with the city of Palo Alto, where its engineering teams are headquartered, to eventually offer a ride service there, according…

Many of the 4chan users that called me mid-Battletoad attack left messages. I listened to all of them. A pattern quickly emerged: young men, clearly nervous to even leave a message, trying to harass a stranger for, seemingly, the hell of it. Those voicemails have never left me in the 15 years I’ve spent covering 4chan as a journalist.I had a front-row seat to the way those timid men morphed into the violent, seething underbelly of the internet. The throbbing engine of reactionary hatred that resented everything and everyone simply because resentment was the only language its users knew how…

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit on Monday against the US Social Security Administration (SSA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In its lawsuit, the ACLU accuses the agencies of violating the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by ignoring the ACLU’s requests and subsequent appeals for information concerning the so-called Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) “attempted or actual access” to sensitive federal databases.The ACLU began pursuing documents under the federal transparency law in February, as WIRED first reported, responding to reports that Elon Musk’s DOGE operatives were seeking access to troves of personal information belonging to…

I usually wear a 10 or 12 pant size, and during my initial testing period I gained muscle and lost weight. I wore every piece at least twice, both around the house and out and about running errands or attending events. I made sure to bend over, stretch, squat, use the bathroom, sit down, walk around, take them on and off, attach and adjust any straps, and generally wear the pieces as I would in my daily life. I checked for comfort, stretching, whether the pieces rode up, rolled, or slid down, whether they were easy to breathe in, and…

The Ryzen AI 7 350 is on par with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus or Intel Core Ultra 7 256V, give or take. It’s slightly behind in single-core performance, as measured by Cinebench R24, and a half-step ahead in multi-core. These processors aren’t known for being a powerhouse. Rather, the focus is all on efficiency. Here’s where the AMD chip is solidly in last place. Battery life on the Framework Laptop 13 is improved from prior models, but it’s not as long as what you get on a Snapdragon X or Core Ultra Series 2 PC.The light battery test I…

Blow-dry brushes have changed my life. That’s a little extreme to say, I’m sure, but it’s solved a quest I’ve been on since I was a teenager. I’ve struggled to get my fine hair under control for more years than I care to name, and while my hair is naturally wavy, those waves are delicate and easy to destroy with a simple night of sleep or a grabby toddler hand. Hair straighteners left my hair feeling flat and fried, while my dexterity in controlling a blow dryer left quite a lot to be desired. But lucky for me, the solution…

While capabilities like dancing can be fun and eyecatching, they don’t actually show how useful humanoid robots are in real-world situations, says Fern. Even being able to run a half marathon isn’t a very useful benchmark for their skills—it’s not like there’s market demand for robots that can compete with human runners. The benchmarks that Fern says matter to him are how well they can handle diverse real-world tasks without step-by-step human instructions. “But I would expect to see China shifting this year to focusing more on doing useful things, because people are going to be bored of dancing and…

Other iPads to ConsiderPhotograph: AppleApple no longer sells these iPads, but these slightly older models are still good options, as long as you can find them for the right discount. I recommend checking third-party retailers (like Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H). I also suggest cross-checking the price with the latest models to make sure you’re spending a fair amount less on the older tablet. Older models not mentioned here are increasingly hard to find and might not be worth it.iPad Pro (2022, 6th Gen): These iPad Pro tablets (7/10, WIRED Review) use the same M2 chip that’s inside the MacBook…