What's New

Hello, dear reader, and welcome to another edition of The Monitor, WIRED's look at all that's new and news in the world of pop culture, from casting news to TV show renewals. What’s on the docket today? The Walking Dead is getting (another) new season, Anya Taylor-Joy and Edgar Wright are teaming up, and Disney is going to keep the Deadpool movies R-rated. Deadpool Will Stay R-Rated As you may hav...

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"Do you like Instagram?" Bee Fisher asks her son, Tegan Fisher, a 3-year-old Instagram sensation who specializes in posing next to his family's enormous Newfoundlands. He doesn't seem to understand the question. "Is this yogurt cooled down?" Tegan replies. "Do you like Instagram? Do you like taking pictures?" Bee asks again. Once again, the temperature of yogurt prevails. "He means, 'Has the yogur...

First, I saw the tweet. “I miss having a real connection w/ real people. My Community. From now on you can just text me. I won't be able to respond to everyone but at least we can be real w/ each other & I can share the unedited latest & greatest in my world,” wrote Ashton Kutcher, the celebrity and tech world adjacentist, on Tuesday afternoon. And then he posted his phone number: 10 digits that h...

Once again, it's time for The Monitor, WIRED's look at all that's new and news in the world of pop culture, from casting rumors to the current recipients of Netflix's largesse. This week: Batman gets a release date, Oscar Isaac might be going to Dune, Universal has a new plan for its monster mashup, and Zack Snyder is going back to making zombie flicks. Tune in. The Batman Is Coming in Two Years—W...

Several hours into my tour of Casper Labs, I start to feel sleepy. Casper, the company famous for its internet-sold mattresses, set up this facility in San Francisco to test its products. There are levers that press down to measure the springiness of the mattresses' foam, wire coils that take the temperature beneath the wool-blend duvets, and many nice, pillowy things. Walls are padded with fabric...

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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...