What's New

In 2007, New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission, in a belated embrace of the 21st century, required that every taxi plying the streets of the five boroughs start taking credit card payments. For cash-weary New Yorkers, the new readers made life easier. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Even though I've spent a lot of time driving electric cars, the acceleration that comes with silent, instant torque can still raise my heart rate and elicit a nervous laugh. But this time, add in the fact that the driver of the new Mercedes EQC SUV looked like he was rocketing on a collision path with one of my colleagues, and my pulse spiked a little higher than normal. https://twitter. Learn mor...

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Whether you’re hacking a Roomba into a home-­security droid or assembling your own robocreation, outfit your workbench with these essentials. 1. Carbide3D Shapeoko 3 When an off-the-shelf part won’t do the trick, carve your own. This CNC router subtracts material­ from a block of wood, plastic, or aluminum with its quarter-inch carbide cutter to precisely shape any widget you design on your PC. Th...

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In the past few years, wirefree earbuds have sprung up in lush profusion, like baby frogs after a spring rain. I have to admit, though, it took me awhile to come around to them. Wirefree earbuds don't always fit securely and they're usually more expensive than many of the best earbuds. I'm constantly knocking earbuds out of my ears while walking, working, or adjusting my hood, and I can't afford t...

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There's a Sonos sale going on right now. We're big fans of Sonos speakers here on the WIRED Gear team. The speakers often have best-in-class audio, and they're designed entirely around the idea of building a network of speakers in different rooms of your home. Sonos has been making connected audio equipment for more than a decade now, and the company supports its products for long stretches of tim...

There’s a ghostwriter in my machine. And it’s no Lee Israel—she’d balk at all the fast-­flying verbal inanities. I speak of Smart Reply, Google’s answer, in the form of a triad of autogenerated responses, to the problem of email. Just the other day, it saw fit to butt-reply to a frenemy of mine, “I’ll be there!” This in response to an invitation I had planned to ignore. Learn more about your ad ch...

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If you’re a new parent, you’ve probably spent an inordinate amount of time Googling baby monitors. It's tempting to invest in a high-tech smart monitor that will track each breath and heartbeat and teach them to sleep through the night. But I must warn you, new parents: You’ll need a monitor for much longer than the first year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You've KonMaried your closet. You've made strides toward Inbox Zero. You've unburdened yourself of your old tweets, and now you feel free as a bird. The one thing left to do: find harmony in your digital work-life by tidying up your Slack. If you’re one of the 8 million people who uses Slack as an intraoffice communication platform, then you're likely well aware of how slovenly the app can be. Sla...

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From swooping landscapes to the most dramatic selfie vids ever, a drone can capture it all. These tips will help make your footage extra fly. Get That Film Look The first setting to adjust is frame rate: 30 frames per second looks like reality TV, while 24 fps looks like a Hollywood feature—set it to 24. You typically want to shoot in 4K, which will capture the tiniest details and give you flexibi...

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Physicist Sean Carroll has served as a science consultant on major studio films such as Tron: Legacy and Thor. And while Hollywood movies may have massive budgets and audiences, the job requirements for a science consultant aren’t exactly stringent. “The two main things are be a scientist and live in Los Angeles,” Carroll says in Episode 344 of the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast. Learn more ab...

When Breville first sent me the Smart Oven Pizzaiolo to review, the company anxiously inquired if I planned to consult my professional pizzaiolo friend. I understood their hesitation. Wood-fired pizza seems like a simple dish, but it’s challenging to get right. If I hadn’t been making wood-fired pizzas for months, it’s easy to imagine all the different ways I could have messed things up. Learn mor...

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Another Thursday, another installment of The Monitor, WIRED's roundup of the latest in the world of culture. But this Thursday is much busier than most. Why? Well, there's a new Ghostbusters movie in the works from Jason Reitman (son of the original's director), Apple is adding some big names to its initiative to make original content, and Steve Carell is working on a Netflix show about Space Forc...

That fluffy white stuff is falling from the sky again, but you can’t go out in there all naked and expect not to die. Here's some of our favorite new gear to maximize your fun in the snow. Franco Snowshapes Custom Snowboard I've demoed a fair number of snowboards from top brands over the last decade, but ridding a board that was custom made for you is incomparable. Learn more about your ad choices...

Drivers of gasoline-powered cars have it easy. Gas stations are everywhere. Fill-ups take just a few minutes. Drivers of electric vehicles, not so much. Public charging stations are far from ubiquitous, and boosting a battery means spending at least half an hour plugged in. So anything that makes an EV easier to use and own helps, and a newly announced goodie aims to make topping off a depleted ba...

Friday nights are usually a time for celebration—the end of the work week and the start of something far better. In Seattle though, this Friday marked the transition into a terrible time, one city officials are calling the period of maximum constraint. At 10 pm, the SR 99 Alaskan Way Viaduct—damaged in a 2001 earthquake and temporarily reinforced—officially closed, for good. Over the next three we...

Have you been inside an Uber? How about a Lyft, or another ride-hailing service? If the answer is duh, rethink your sense of superiority. Because you’re in the minority. According to a new poll conducted by the Pew Research Center, just 36 percent of American adults say they have used ride-hailing services. Sixty-one percent say they have heard of the services but hadn’t taken a ride. The remainin...