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24 Best Father's Day Gifts for Dads (2026)

WIRED

Dads are traditionally tough to shop for--let me help with these handpicked gift ideas for fathers with great taste. The only Father's Day gift I can recall my own dad getting was a plate of fried sardines. It was prepared by my mother, his ex-wife, who knew how gratefully he'd receive a dish he grew up with in the Italian neighborhood of a steel town dying with such theatrical flair that Bruce Springsteen named a song after it. We lived in a nearby city that had plenty of red-sauce restaurants, but they weren't serving tinned fish in those days. As my father had only the most limited of food preparation skills and didn't date the kind of women who could cook, this was the only way he'd ever taste that flavor again. As Father's Day gifts go, being united with a long-lost recipe from childhood is pretty good.


Hands-On With Gemini Spark: I Gave It Access to My Life and It Friend-Zoned My Boyfriend

WIRED

I Gave Gemini Spark Access to My Life. Google's new AI agent combed through my emails, documents, and calendar to plan a birthday party and still didn't clock the person most important to me. At its recent I/O developer conference, Google introduced Gemini Spark as an always-on agent that connects to your personal data, completes online tasks, and automates aspects of your daily interactions. It's Google's take on the viral OpenClaw agent that rocked Silicon Valley at the start of 2026. OpenClaw's early adopters handed their entire lives over to an AI agent for messaging and scheduling automation--sometimes with bot-induced mishaps causing embarrassing results.


Here Comes Ojai, Waymo's New Chinese-Made Robotaxi

WIRED

The pale-blue Ojai vehicles will start picking up members of the public in California and Arizona today. Starting today, Alphabet self-driving vehicle developer Waymo will start picking up members of the public in its new Ojai vehicles (pronounced "oh hai")--pale blue boxy minivans studded with sensors and complete with steering wheels, even though they're designed to travel without drivers. For now, the rides in these new cars, which can be summoned through Waymo's app, will be free. It's been a long road for the vehicle, first announced by Waymo in 2021 and tested on public streets since 2024. It's also a weird time for Waymo: The self-driving-vehicle company, which is trying to expand quickly across the US and the world, shut down service in six US cities last week due to issues with how its vehicles react to flooding.


Oura's New Ring 5 Is Smaller and Lighter--and Adds an AI Health Coach

WIRED

Oura's New Ring 5 Is Smaller and Lighter--and Adds an AI Health Coach But the real upgrade is Oura's push into AI-powered health insights and proactive monitoring. Two years on since the Oura Ring 4, Finnish health tech company Oura is back with a new smart ring --right in time to compete with the other screenless fitness tracker of the moment, the Fitbit Air . The Oura Ring 5 doubles down on the company's minimalist ethos with a smaller ring design, upgraded durability, and--unsurprisingly--a suite of AI-powered wellness features . The Ring 5 is available for preorder today and begins shipping June 4. It starts at $399 in silver and black, while premium finishes--Stealth, Brushed Silver, an updated Gold, and a new Deep Rose color--cost $499.


Amazon Thinks the Future of Data Centers Depends on a Technical Problem It Just Solved

WIRED

The tech giant says a breakthrough in data-center networking has dramatically accelerated the flow of information through its massive cloud infrastructure. Amazon says it recently achieved a major breakthrough in networking design--and has been quietly deploying the new technology in its data centers since late last year. The company claims it has significantly increased data speeds while reducing energy use, potentially giving the tech giant an edge as companies race to build ever-faster systems in the cloud. The new technology hinges on a "quasi-random" design that combines elements of traditional, structured data networks with the performance advantages of more random architectures. Researchers have explored random networks for decades, but the technology has never been successfully scaled.


Vertu Is Back With a Folding Phone Powered by--Surprise--an AI Agent

WIRED

Best Power Banks Best Smart Rings Routers vs. Modems Choose the Right Laptop Smart Sprinklers Deals Delivered The beleaguered luxury phone maker is pushing the AlphaFold, which has decent specs and comes with Vertu's new Hermes Agent on board, to wealthy would-be buyers. Vertu is a company known for making extraordinarily gaudy smartphones with outdated technology, luxe materials, and eye-watering prices . Now the brand is here to meet the AI moment with its first-ever book-like folding phone, complete with an AI agent on board. The company announced the AlphaFold smartphone on Thursday--targeting business executives--which comes outfitted with the Hermes Agent. This agent can purportedly handle schedules and tasks on a user's behalf and "connect to enterprise systems."


I Like Ferrari's Luce EV. But This Is Why It's Heartbreaking

WIRED

Best Power Banks Best Smart Rings Routers vs. Modems Choose the Right Laptop Smart Sprinklers Deals Delivered But This Is Why It's Heartbreaking Designed by Jony Ive and a host of ex-Cupertino colleagues, the Luce shows us what might have been had Apple made good on its $10 billion bet. You know things are bad when the Pope gets involved . No doubt reeling from a launch that somehow went down even worse than Ferrari itself anticipated, the Italian carmaker sought to get the endorsement of none other than His Holiness Pope Leo XIV for its first EV, the Luce. Guided by Ferrari chairman John Elkann and senior Ferrari executives, in a hillside town about 15 miles southeast of Rome, the pontiff sat in the driver's seat and listened patiently as test driver Raffaele De Simone explained the vehicle's controls and driving modes as if he really was speaking to a man clearly in the market for a 1,000-horsepower electric car capable of hitting 62 mph in 2.5 seconds. Meanwhile, as Pope Leo was no doubt pondering how the Luce could boast one of the largest batteries in any production EV yet still only manage a maximum 329 miles, or how an accelerometer on the rear axle somehow worked like a guitar pickup to create in-cabin sound like an "instrument," the market was speaking.


NASA Details Its Plan to Build a Lunar Base at the Moon's South Pole

WIRED

The project's first mission could arrive as soon as this year, with a little help from Blue Origin. NASA's concept for a lunar base that it plans to build over the next few years. NASA finally presented the details of its phased plan to create the first lunar base at the moon's south pole. Although the construction of a space research center that will allow a sustained human presence will take at least a decade, the missions that will lay its technological and symbolic foundations will start in the next few years. Among them is the test of Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark 1 Endurance lander, scheduled for the end of 2026.


Memorial Day Tech Deals: Sony, Apple, Anker, and More

WIRED

Lots of our most-recommended headphones, power banks, and other gadgets are on sale for Memorial Day. When you think of Memorial Day sales, you probably think of mattresses and other home goods. And while those items are definitely discounted, now is also a good time to purchase tech. Personally, I'm not buying anything right now unless it's discounted--and fortunately many of our top picks are. Whether you're shopping for a power bank, a new pair of headphones, or some other gadget, I've rounded up the best Memorial Day deals for your perusal.


Memorial Day Dyson Vacuum Deals: V15 Detect, Gen5Detect, PencilVac On Sale

WIRED

Don't miss these vacuum deals happening over the holiday weekend. Shopping for a Dyson vacuum is an experience. There are many models to navigate and serious price tags on most of them. As someone who tests vacuums for a living, I have to admit that a Dyson blows most other vacuums away. There are a few cheaper models I'll still grab (check out my full guide to cordless and robot vacuums for more recommendations), but if you're dreaming of a Dyson, this weekend is a great time to buy.