Ever notice how Christopher Nolan’s movies (Interstellar, Inception, The Prestige) feel like an anxiety attack? Well, maybe that’s overstating things a bit. But the director does have a knack for creating an unnerving degree of tension. Turns out he’s using a little bit of musical magic to do it. Read More >>

Here it is, hiding halfway down the company’s latest press release, like a guillotine in a crowded town square: “Adobe is planning to end-of-life Flash.” Boom. That’s the sound of the blade dropping, and Flash, finally, thankfully, mercifully dying. Because Adobe just killed it. Read More >>

When it comes to homebrew projects, Google is actually a pretty cool company. Unlike some of its rivals in Silicon Valley—particularly in Cupertino—the search giant sometimes likes to help people hack into its hardware and make it their own. The latest example of this fine tradition helped one crafty British man turn a vintage intercom into a working version of a Google Home. Read More >>

I’m listening to Lana Del Rey right now. Her first album dropped during an emotional phase of my life, and while I’m sometimes embarrassed to admit it, I really like Born to Die. But, until a week ago, I avoided listening to it because my listening activity flipped a switch with my friends who could see me listening to Lana Del Rey on Spotify. Yes, my friends would see my listening habits, and then, they’d make fun of me. This is what a world without privacy looks like. Read More >>

Let me make one thing brutally clear: I love Eero’s wi-fi routers. I love how the company brought mesh networking into the mainstream. I love how the hardware’s designed. I love how elegant the software is. But Eero’s promise isn’t new any more. So when it came time to test out the company second-generation tech, I wanted one thing. I wanted Eero to impress me again. Read More >>

I’m not scared to say it: I love a good Subway sandwich. My dad used to take me to the only Subway in town after we went food shopping, and I remember tracking my growth based on how much of the toppings I could see over the tall counter. Now, it seems, Subway wants to ruin that experience for future generations. Read More >>

“Ancient” is a very relative term when talking about computer history. By the looks of it, however, Radiohead hid a computer program on the tape that comes with the 20th anniversary edition of OK Computer, and making it work feels like time travel. That’s because you’ll need an ‘80s-era, 8-bit computer, the ZX Spectrum, to run it. Read More >>

Imagine the worst case scenario. Dubious filmmakers use artificially intelligent computers to feed raw audio into a simulated version of Barack Obama. The audio is actually Obama’s voice, and the face really is his face. But the lip movements? Totally fake. The filmmakers publish the video on the internet, and it’s virtually impossible to see that it’s a fake, because the technology is so good. This is not a hypothetical situation any more. Read More >>

Attempting to figure out what’s going on in Julian Assange’s head is a daily struggle. After moving into the Ecuadorean embassy in London five years ago to avoid extradition to Sweden on since-dropped sexual assault allegations, the 46-year-old has remained holed up there with Twitter as his main means of communication. From the embassy’s confines, he’s kept himself busy leaking a slew of hacked DNC emails, CIA exploits, and generally inserting himself into world events in which he plays no part. Now, it looks like Assange is doubling down on his attempt to join the Trump clan. Read More >>

In the same hotel where Alexander Graham Bell once demoed coast-to-coast telephone calls, Microsoft will announce plans for a new white space internet service on Tuesday. This ludicrous technology sends broadband internet wirelessly over the unused channels of the television spectrum. It’s also ingenious. Read More >>

Remember when Tony Blair was Prime Minister, and Amazon was just a website where you could buy books? Those were the halcyon days. Now, the world’s biggest store runs brick-and-mortar shops, builds affordable hardware, operates artificial intelligence, and soon, it will hire out humans to help you set up your gadgets. Why? Because if it’s possible to sell it, then Amazon wants to sell it to you. Read More >>

The ‘90s cyberpunk thriller Hackers is used too often to illustrate the fearful future of cyber security, but it’s popular for a reason. The film’s seemingly fictional scenarios keep coming true. Take this week’s global ransomware attack, for instance. It’s a plot twist that would make Matthew Lillard leer at the camera and cackle. Read More >>

Gaslighting victims around the world blinked on Tuesday when The Washington Post revealed that a fake Time magazine cover with the president’s face is hanging up at Trump golf courses around the world. Donald Trump’s administration would not explain this glaring example of fake news. The facts lead to even weirder questions. Read More >>

Behold: the Jindallae 3. Designed and manufactured locally by North Korea’s Mangyongdae Information Technology Corporation, the new smartphone is “versatile and multifunctional” and comes in white or black, according to state-sponsored news agency DPRK Today. It also looks just like an iPhone. Read More >>

Hackers hit Ukraine’s national bank, the state power provider, an airport, and a number of other agencies and companies with a ransomware attack on Tuesday. This left top-ranking Ukrainian officials unable to access computers and an untold number of citizens unable to access their money. Read More >>