Technology News

The troubled company is back from the brink, but will emerge from bankruptcy to a world where coworking's long-term future is much less certain.

Android is announcing new features rolling out now and in the coming weeks.Android is announcing new features rolling out now and in the coming weeks.

Anthropic and other big AI startups are teaching chatbots “tool use,” to make them more useful in the workplace.

Google News Showcase is rolling out in Cyprus. Here’s how we are partnering with publishers.Google News Showcase is rolling out in Cyprus. Here’s how we are partnering with publishers.

This popular bassinet from the United Kingdom has made it to America, and it was worth the journey.

We’ve rounded up our favorites, including third-party devices like the Sonos Era and a voice-enabled Yamaha soundbar.

These Android smartphones often deliver two-day battery life and have lots of storage. But which Moto models are best?

The F1 driver’s Ceralume chronograph is the most luminous watch ever made. Here’s how it was created.

Klipsch’s new soundbar system boasts class-leading sound at a great price.

Sightful’s augmented reality computer now has a pimped design and better specs—and it’s finally available for preorder.

A compact design, capable triple-lens camera, and lovely display are saddled by limited processing power and lackluster software updates.

AI is already being used and abused in elections around the world. From passive income scams to dead men endorsing their successors, fiction is proving stranger than reality.

We are supporting the UK General Election by surfacing high-quality information, safeguarding our platforms and equipping campaigns with best-in-class security tools and…We are supporting the UK General Election by surfacing high-quality information, safeguarding our platforms and equipping campaigns with best-in-class security tools and training.

In seemingly the first case of its kind, the US Justice Department has charged a Chinese national with using a drone to photograph a Virginia shipyard where the US Navy was assembling nuclear submarines.

The internet is a cesspool of misinformation, and the biggest blue-chip brands and their ad agencies are the ones funding it—by stuffing money into a Rube Goldberg machine no one really understands.

More than 60 countries are holding elections in 2024. Throughout the year, WIRED will be tracking every instance of AI’s use in and around those campaigns.

Enlarge / A rendering of the European cargo reentry vehicle proposed by Thales Alenia Space. (credit: Thales Alecia Space)

The European Space Agency has awarded initial contracts to a German-based startup and one of the continent's established aerospace companies to develop spacecraft to ferry cargo to and from space stations in low-Earth orbit.

ESA announced the two 25 million euro ($27 million) contracts May 22. The Exploration Company, co-located in France and Germany, and Thales Alenia Space of Italy beat out four other companies in the competition for ESA funding through the LEO Cargo Return Service program.

These contracts will run for two years, until June 2026. In this first phase of the program, The Exploration Company and Thales Alenia Space will refine their concepts, mature technologies, and focus on requirements for their cargo vehicles. ESA plans to award contracts for the second phase of the LEO Cargo Return Service program in 2026, eyeing a round-trip demonstration flight to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2028.

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Enlarge (credit: 400tmax | iStock Unreleased)

Yesterday, Amazon failed to convince a US district court to dismiss the Federal Trade Commission's lawsuit targeting the tech giant's alleged history of tricking people into signing up for Prime.

The FTC has alleged that Amazon "tricked, coerced, and manipulated consumers into subscribing to Amazon Prime," a court order said, failing to get informed consent by designing a murky sign-up process. And to keep subscriptions high, Amazon also "did not provide simple mechanisms for these subscribers to cancel their Prime memberships," the FTC alleged. Instead, Amazon forced "consumers intending to cancel to navigate a four-page, six-click, fifteen-option cancellation process."

In their motion to dismiss, Amazon outright disputed these characterizations of its business, insisting its enrollment process was clear, its cancellation process was simple, and none of its executives could be held responsible for failing to fix these processes when "accidental" sign-ups became widespread. Amazon defended its current practices, arguing that some of its Prime disclosures "align with practices that the FTC encourages in its guidance documents."

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Enlarge / ICQ in Windows 98. (credit: Samuel Axon)

After nearly 28 years in operation, messaging service ICQ will cease operations on June 26, according to its current owners.

You'd be forgiven for not realizing it still existed; the proto-IM service hasn't been in the mainstream since the 2000s. But in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it simultaneously laid the groundwork for direct messaging and social networking as we came to know it in the post-Facebook era.

28 years of history

ICQ was something of an accident, as popular as it became. Created by four Israeli computer geeks, it wasn't even meant to be the original idea.

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