Amazon CEO Andy Jassy speaks during an Amazon Devices launch event in New York City, Feb. 26, 2025. TECH TAKEOVER: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says artificial intelligence will "change the way" work is done and expects the company's total corporate workforce to be reduced as a result. 'GIANT OFFERS': Meta has allegedly tried to recruit employees from competitor OpenAI by offering bonuses as high as 100 million, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman claimed on a podcast that aired Tuesday. ENERGY OUTLOOK: The rise of artificial intelligence and the increasing popularity of cryptocurrency will continue to push electricity consumption to record highs in 2025 and 2026. POWER DRAIN CRISIS: Every time you ask ChatGPT a question, to generate an image or let artificial intelligence summarize your email, something big is happening behind the scenes.

For the past 40 years, Henry and Margaret Tanner have been crafting leather shoes by hand from their small workshop in Boca Raton, Florida. "No shortcuts, no cheap materials, just honest, top notch craftsmanship," Henry says in a YouTube advertisement for his business Tanner Shoes. Henry has been able to do all this despite his mangled, twisted hand. And poor Margaret only has three fingers, as you can see in this photo of the couple from their website. I discovered Tanner Shoes through a series of YouTube video ads. Having written about men's fashion for years, I was curious about these bespoke leather shoemakers.

It's hard to believe, but this year is already halfway over. Since January, a lot has happened in the tech world. It's a fickle, fast-paced industry, and some major products and services haven't survived past the mid-year mark. Some of the entries on our list lived long, fruitful lives and contributed lasting legacies to the ever-evolving space. Others were flash-in-the-pan features or straight-up flops (we're looking at you, Humane AI Pin), destined to meet their inevitable demise.

Jenny Hoyos is just 19 years old, but she has a thing or two to say about how you should spend your money. "I'm a creator, but I'm an entrepreneur first," Hoyos told Mashable at VidCon 2025. "And to sustain a creator career, entrepreneurship is very important. And that, what I mean by that is like understanding business because there's a lot of creators who know how to get views, but they don't know how to monetize the views." She's best known for her ability to educate young audiences on responsible spending, like her YouTube video on making money on arcade games, using AI to make money on YouTube, and letting her dog trade stocks.

Meta just announced a major move in its AI efforts--investing in Scale AI and building a superintelligence AI research lab. While Meta has been trying to keep up with big names in the AI race, such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google, the company's new strategy includes dropping some serious cash to acquire talent and invest in Scale AI. Today on the show, we dive into the deal between Meta and Scale AI, including what Meta aims to get out of investment, and we ask the question we are all wondering: What is superhuman intelligence, anyway? Write to us at uncannyvalley@wired.com. You can always listen to this week's podcast through the audio player on this page, but if you want to subscribe for free to get every episode, here's how: If you're on an iPhone or iPad, open the app called Podcasts, or just tap this link.

When I need to research a topic these days, I often turn to AI, at least as a starting point. But depending on my questions and which chatbot I use, the response may not always be satisfying -- it can be too brief or canned. In that case, I find myself wanting more. As the name implies, Learn About is more than just a way to get a quick answer to a question. Instead, it's a teaching tool that invites you to dive more deeply into your chosen topic.

AI's rapidly expanding capabilities include convincing impersonations--that is, audio and video that sounds and looks like you. Sometimes these deepfakes can be harmless, part of a joke or meme that involves a celebrity, politician, or other public figure. But as you might guess, scammers also use them to steal money from the unsuspecting. Most of the time, this style of scheme–often called a "grandparent scam"–catches people off-guard. Because they don't realize how easy and sophisticated this technology has become.

When I read a tweet about four noted Silicon Valley executives being inducted into a special detachment of the United States Army Reserve, including Meta CTO Andrew "Boz" Bosworth, I questioned its veracity. It's very hard to discern truth from satire in 2025, in part because of social media sites owned by Bosworth's company. But it indeed was true. Boz is now Lieutenant Colonel Bosworth. The other newly commissioned officers include Kevin Weil, OpenAI's head of product; Bob McGrew, a former OpenAI head of research now advising Mira Murati's company Thinking Machines Lab; and Shyam Sankar, the CTO of Palantir.

Apple last week announced its latest update for MacOS 26, codenamed "Tahoe." The theme of all of Apple's updates this year is streamlining both the visual UI and feature sets across Apple devices, while making more apps and features available on them, punctuated by Apple Intelligence. Also: New to MacOS? 8 beginner tips and tricks to try first - and why Following the same trajectory as the last few years, Apple's announcement of MacOS 26 comes during WWDC, with a developer beta opening up now, and a public beta in July. The full release of MacOS 26 won't be out until this fall, however. Let's take a look at the biggest announcements Apple made for MacOS.

Apple Music users have often watched Spotify take the lead when it comes to innovative features and personalized listening experiences. But with the introduction of the new AutoMix feature, Apple Music may finally be closing the gap -- and even setting a new standard of its own. At Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) last week, the company unveiled upgrades to Apple Music, including the ability to pin artists to the top of the display menu, AI-powered lyrics translation, the lyrics pronunciation option, animated cover art on your lock screen, and an AutoMix feature that's taking the internet by storm. As seen in the video above, AutoMix seamlessly transitions between songs, using AI to match the tempo and beat of the upcoming track, which is automatically selected using Autoplay. Apple describes it in Settings as "songs transition at the perfect moment, based on analysis of the key and tempo of the music."