Communications
Crypto Guys Bought the Answer to the CIA's Mysterious Kryptos Sculpture
They swear they haven't peeked at the closely guarded secret and that they'll keep the cryptographic competition going. On a blustery March day, the artist Jim Sanborn received visitors at his studio on an isolated island in the Chesapeake Bay. The visitors sat him down in front of a laptop, and he typed in a secret message. They compressed the message using a unique hash function, sent that to the cloud, and wiped the laptop clean. Sanborn hoped that this action would set him free.
SpaceX to list on US stock market at historic 1.77tn valuation
SpaceX to list on US stock market at $1.77tn valuation in largest ever debut IPO for Elon Musk's company comes in what is predicted to be a banner year for public offerings of AI companies SpaceX will become publicly traded on Friday after nearly two and a half decades as a private company. Executives are slated to ring the bell on Wall Street with the rocket ship maker's historic stock market debut. If all goes to plan, the company's initial public offering (IPO) will mint a valuation of $1.77tn - earning it the designation of the world's largest ever IPO. Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, has a large stake in the company as majority shareholder, so if investors' enthusiasm validates the eye-popping valuation, he would take the title of the world's first-ever trillionaire. Musk is also the CEO of Tesla, which is valued at $1.2tn.
Pokémon Go data trained AI that could assist military drones in war zones
Pokemon Go became a worldwide hit after its launch - but players may not know that their game data trained AI that will potentially help military drones during war. Pokemon Go became a worldwide hit after its launch - but players may not know that their game data trained AI that will potentially help military drones during war. Fri 12 Jun 2026 03.06 EDTLast modified on Fri 12 Jun 2026 03.38 EDT An AI model trained on data collected from users of Pokémon Go will potentially help military drones find their location in war zones. Pokémon Go, a 2016 augmented reality mobile game, allowed players to find and catch Pokémon in the real world using the cameras on their mobile phones, and exploded in popularity. In 2018, the company reported having more than 800m downloads worldwide.
The challenge of being neurodivergent in Japan's culture of conformity
As awareness grows, more Japanese adults are receiving answers to struggles that went unrecognized for years. Social camouflaging can help neurodivergent people navigate social situations, but researchers say the effort often comes with significant emotional and mental strain. The first major crisis in Yosuke's life came when he stood in front of his students. Until then, the 24-year-old had navigated his life with few obstacles. He had done well in school, scored highly on IQ tests and graduated from university without any major issues. But after securing his dream job as a geography and history teacher at a girls' high school two years ago, cracks began to show. "I couldn't read the room," says Yosuke, who recalls struggling to organize course materials and wrap up classes on time.
Apple's Camera Chief Thinks AI Can Give You Superpowers
Apple's Camera Chief Thinks AI Can Give You Superpowers The generative features in iOS 27's new Photos app will add fake pixels to some of your shots, but Apple's Jon McCormack says the company isn't using AI "for the sake of AI." What even is a photograph these days? As tech giants pack generative AI capabilities into our phones and their camera software, the line between what is a real image and what isn't continues to blur. Phones from Google and Samsung, for example, now come with features that let you drastically alter a photo by erasing people, moving people around in the shot, and even adding new objects to the scene. Apple is getting in on the action by adding new generative features to its Photos app, though the company's iPhone camera chief, Jon McCormack, stresses that Apple is taking a more measured approach than its competitors and isn't "doing AI for the sake of AI."
Why You Might Already Own SpaceX Shares, Siri's AI Makeover, and Knicks Owner's Surveillance Machine
Today on, we take an early look at the SpaceX IPO and why you might find yourself among the investors without even realizing it. This week on, our hosts discuss SpaceX officially going public and who will benefit the most from it, as well as Apple's WWDC and the brand-new release of Siri AI. They also get into how Meta removed a face-recognition feature after a WIRED report exposed it--and later in the show: an investigation into how New York Knicks' owner James Dolan created an extensive surveillance system inside all of his Madison Square Garden properties. Write to us at [email protected] . 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 . Before we start, two quick things. If you've been enjoying listening to the show, would appreciate it if you took a second to rate it in your app of choice. It really helps us reach more people. Second, if you have any questions related to tech, privacy, or politics that you would like me, Zoë, and Leah to take on, now is the time to submit them to [email protected] . It doesn't matter how big or how small, we want to hear from you and get you answers. I'm a little tired, but it's because I got to see Lionel Messi play soccer last night and score a goal on a penalty kick. It was a friendly of Argentina versus Iceland. You'll never guess who won. Is that an obvious thing? It's far from their first attempt, but it's going to stick this time. We're also taking an early look at the SpaceX IPO this week, which is slated to become the world's largest IPO of all time. We'll get into who is slated to benefit the most. Elon Musk, who is already the world's richest man, but on track to become even richer and why you might find yourself among the investors without even realizing it. And in case you missed it, WIRED reporters recently uncovered that Meta had silently embedded code that would power a face-recognition system for its smart classes in the Meta AI app on millions of people's phones.
Embodied Web Agents: Bridging Physical-Digital Realms for Integrated Agent Intelligence
AI agents today are mostly siloed -- they either retrieve and reason over vast amount of digital information and knowledge obtained online; or interact with the physical world through embodied perception, planning and action -- but rarely both. This separation limits their ability to solve tasks that require integrated physical and digital intelligence, such as cooking from online recipes, navigating with dynamic map data, or interpreting real-world landmarks using web knowledge. We introduce \textsc{Embodied Web Agents}, a novel paradigm for AI agents that fluidly bridge embodiment and web-scale reasoning. To operationalize this concept, we first develop the \textsc{Embodied Web Agents} task environments, a unified simulation platform that integrates realistic 3D indoor and outdoor environments with functional web interfaces. Building upon this platform, we construct and release the \textsc{Embodied Web Agents} Benchmark, which encompasses a diverse suite of tasks including cooking, navigation, shopping, tourism, and geolocation -- all requiring coordinated reasoning across physical and digital realms for systematic assessment of cross-domain intelligence. Experimental results reveal significant performance gaps between state-of-the-art AI systems and human capabilities, establishing both challenges and opportunities at the intersection of embodied cognition and web-scale knowledge access.
There's a new skydiving Rubik's Cube-solving champ in town, but there's one big problem with this feat
Jemele Hill says she feels'terribly sad' for Karmelo Anthony because his lawyer was white Five of the most unhinged fan theories that make'The Sopranos' a re-watchable masterpiece'Whalefall' trailer is here to add getting swallowed by a sperm whale while SCUBA diving to your list of fears Christopher Nolan's'The Odyssey' uncorks a Trojan Horse popcorn bucket that stores the goods in its crotch New trailer released for upcoming post-apocalyptic thriller'The Dog Stars' with Jacob Elordi'House of the Dragon' Season 3 premiere runtime and details revealed for hit HBO series You're not getting away with watering your grass with your'crank' out on Sheriff Grady Judd's watch Taylor Sheridan's hit CIA/military series'Lioness' gets official season release date on Paramount+ It wasn't on his shopping list, but a man managed to accidentally shoot himself in the groin at Walmart anyway Trump's Iran deal announcement sends markets skyrocketing, oil prices tumble Trump's Iran deal will not change regime's terror behavior, expert warns Paul Mauro: Crockett's weapon argument lacks'basic algebraic logic' Trump says Iran agreement documents are in'final shape,' signing soon Former Navy lieutenant commander says Iran doesn't'have a whole lot to work with' Massive national sporting events fuel market of'illicit trafficking,' says ex-DOJ prosector Doug Burgum praises Trump's leadership on rolling back regulations Iranian oil operations face'nuclear option' as US blockade traps ships Mike Pompeo: A piece of paper is'largely worthless' to the Iranian regime Trump says Iran will sign a deal'by this weekend' A solid WEEK after election night, progressive Nithya Raman has suddenly surged into the lead in LA--leaving voters completely flabbergasted. Few things amaze me like people who can solve a Rubik's Cube. Sure, lots of things amaze me more -- mountains, elaborate water features, how my dog sits on the couch and watches like he's super into it -- but it's a very specific kind of amazement that's like, Man, that's wild; I could never do that... nor do I really care to. But I like that other people are super into it to the point that there's now a Guinness World Record cottage industry of people solving them under different circumstances, and we've got a new top dog when it comes to solving a bunch of them while skydiving. A Rubik's Cube, the ultimate test of dexterity and spinning colored blocks.
Elon Musk's SpaceX valued at nearly 1.8tn ahead of record share sale
Elon Musk's SpaceX valued at nearly $1.8tn ahead of record share sale SpaceX has raised $75bn (£56bn) from financial firms ahead of it becoming a publicly traded company on Friday, in what is expected to be the highest-value stock listing in history. In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the space exploration and artificial intelligence (AI) company said it had sold $75bn in shares priced at $135 each. The share price matches the estimate SpaceX gave last week, leaving the firm's expected initial stock market value to be nearly $1.8tn. At that value, chief executive Elon Musk - already the richest man in the world - is set to become the world's first trillionaire. Once shares start trading, their value could rise or fall depending on how many shares are made available for sale, and how strong the demand is for those shares.
Waymo's monthly membership seems like a bad deal
Waymo's monthly membership seems like a bad deal Waymo's monthly membership seems like a bad deal You'll pay way mo' for a lot less compared to the competition. Waymo -- the Alphabet-owned driverless taxi service which has seen a rapid expansion in recent years -- is rolling out a new rewards program today. The service is called Waymo Premier, and it promises priority pickups along with a 10 percent in-app rebate applied to future rides. Subscribers will also get fee-free cancellations, though only up to five a month. Lastly, Premier gives subscribers the chance to be among the first to use Waymo in new cities as the service expands, which is certainly one way to reframe the concept of paying to beta test those new coverage areas.