The Wired mission is to tell the world something they've never heard before in a way they've never seen before. It's about turning new ideas into everyday reality. It's about seeding our community of influencers with the ideas that will shape and transform our collective future. Wired readers want to know how technology is changing the world, and they're interested in big, relevant ideas, even if those ideas challenge their assumptions—or blow their minds.
TOTALLY WIRED • DIARIES OF AN UNBRIDLED DIGITOPIAN
“WHAT WAS THE MOST SURPRISING THING YOU LEARNED WHILE WORKING ON THIS ISSUE?”
SYSTEM BREACH
STEMTRAILS • How we learned to love pedagogical vapor
CHARTGEIST
WIRED 25
BY US, FOR US • Why we should think about segregating the web
ARBOR IN THE COURT • Is it time to give nature legal rights—and the power to fight back?
ANGRY NERD
ONE FOR ALL • The first piece of the largest scientific structure ever built powers up in Africa.
Frost Hammer • When you’re trying to ride an electric bike in the icy tundra, it’s good to have both wheels pulling for you.
Four Sticks • Spiked with lab-developed materials, these skis make the most of whatever conditions the mountain serves up.
Into the Woods • Don’t let winter interrupt your hiking routine. Strap on snowshoes and make trudging through drifts feel like a stroll in the park.
Cool Runnings • Leave that old plastic disc in the snowdrift and hop on a sled that suits your size and your powder-carving ambition.
Me Cozy • Baby, it’s cold outside. Stay in tonight—and stay warm—with these nesting accoutrements.
Under Warmers • These base layers use new kinds of fabric that trap warm air next to the skin and omit chafing seams.
THE 5G DATA STORM IS COMING • Blazing-fast speeds! Zero latency! Moar data to moar devices! Unless you’ve been trapped in a tech-news dead zone, you’ve heard that the rollout of the next generation of wireless broadband has begun. Still, smartphone data addicts shouldn’t hold their breath for speeds of 10 gigabits per second. To provide the kind of 5G coverage consumers will expect, carriers will need to install as many as 20 access points per square kilometer, an expensive endeavor that will take years. Until then, we’ll have to accept that 5G is here, but it’s unevenly distributed. Here are some places to watch for it in the (nearish) future.
FEATURES
How the QUEEN OF SHITTY ROBOTS renounced her crown and confronted her fears of imperfection • (while facing her own mortality and making a F*****G AWESOME electric pickup truck)
THE PHONE CALL FROM HELL • Afghanistan combat veteran Jared Johns found out too late that swapping messages with the pretty girl from a dating site would mean serious trouble If only he had known who she really was.
ACCORDING TO MARC BENIOFF • THE SALESFORCE FOUNDER HAS DONATED A FORTUNE TO RIGHT CAPITALISM’S WRONGS, AND HE THINKS HIS FELLOW BILLIONAIRES SHOULD TOO. WHY CAN’T WE JUST BE GRATEFUL?
To Be an Animal • An uncompromising group of activists wants to be put on trial for breaking into factory farms and filming them with 360-degree cameras. Their goal: force jurors to wear virtual reality headsets and immerse them in the suffering of creatures bound for slaughter.
YOU LOOK DRUNK—LET ME DRIVE. • IN SIX WORDS, IMAGINE A ROSY FUTURE FOR FACIAL RECOGNITION