Verity Burns

The Trump Phone Is Already a Lot Different From Last Week WIRED had many questions last week about the Gold T1 Smartphone. Now we have even more—like where that "made in America" pledge went.

MORPHING MOBILE: The initial info said the T1 would be “designed and built in the US”. Now it'll be “brought to life” in the US, with “American values in mind” and with “American hands behind every device"... whatever that means. @verityburns.bsky.social for @wired.com www.wired.com/story/the-tr...

Such a crazy (and frankly terrifying) story.

Bluesky's Blue Check Is Finally Here Bluesky’s new verification process launches today. It mixes the old-school, Twitter-style blue check bestowed by the platform with a more decentralized option for trusted organizations.

Bluesky's blue check is *finally* here!

The new verification process launches today, WIRED has learned. Here's what that means:

BYD Launches Denza in Europe—Another Mighty Impressive EV Brand the US Won’t Get BYD's premium sub-brand is all set to take on Audi, BMW and Mercedes, with its crab-walking, blowout-beating Z9GT leading the charge.

AUTO FOCUS: Denza is another BYD brand coming west. BYD had record rev of $107bn for 2024. Tesla’s was $97.7bn. Plus most of BYD shipments were domestic. It's no surprise analysts are bullish on BYD’s growth potential. @wired.com @verityburns.bsky.social has the story www.wired.com/story/byd-la...

Hahaha, love this 😂

This Crazy Instrument Lets Us Hear How Dinosaurs Might Have Sounded Using 3D models of ancient skulls, Dinosaur Choir gets us closer than ever to understanding the noises that dinosaurs made.

What did dinosaurs *really* sound like? If you’ve ever found yourself asking that question, a musical project that uses 3D models of dinosaur skulls could be getting closer to answering it. And, note to Hollywood, they probably didn’t roar.

OpenAI’s Sora Is Plagued by Sexist, Racist, and Ableist Biases WIRED tested the popular AI video generator from OpenAI and found that it amplifies sexist stereotypes and ableist tropes, perpetuating the same biases already present in AI image tools.

You probably already know that generative AI amplifies stereotypes and bias, but how bad is it? For months at @wired.com we’ve been interviewing experts and testing OpenAI’s Sora.

www.wired.com/story/openai...

Nothing's New Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro Are the Budget Phones to Beat Nothing's latest budget phones prove that you don't need to spend $600 to get a powerful, feature-packed phone.

Say hello to the new Nothing Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro. Pretty *and* great budget phones from Nothing. Here's my review. www.wired.com/review/nothi...

All the Top New Gadgets at MWC 2025 At the annual trade show in Barcelona, we saw an ultra-slim smartphone, a solar-powered laptop, and Google's Astra technology baked into its Gemini assistant, coming to Android phones soon.

No MWC for me this year, but @julianchokkattu.bsky.social and @simon-hill.bsky.social were there to dig out the very best from the show.

Hi Eason, please drop me an email with more details! I’m on verity_burns@wired.com 🙂

The Humane Ai Pin Has Already Been Brought Back to Life Humane bricked its pricey gadget on Friday afternoon. A short time later, a hacker got the codes to unlock it and potentially turn it into the true smartphone replacement it was meant to be.

The day the Humane Ai Pin died, it was also reborn. Or at least, there was hope.

Minutes after Humane shut down the servers supporting its doomed device, a dedicated band of hackers had the code that could allow it to live on. @boone.bsky.social was there for its resurrection.

Your Boss Wants You Back in the Office. This Surveillance Tech Could Be Waiting for You Warehouse-style employee tracking tech has expanded into job after job. Now, as millions are called back to the workplace, it’s finally coming for the American office worker.

Five years on from the start of the pandemic, and the shift of many to remote working, the return-to-office mandates from big business are now coming in thick and fast—and the tech to enforce them is waiting. An excellent (and terrifying) piece by @sophiecharara.bsky.social

TikTok Is Already Back Online Less than 24 hours after the app went dark, TikTok says President-elect Donald Trump has given it the reassurance it needs to resume service in the US.

What a rollercoaster… less than 24 hours after going dark in the US, TikTok is back.

www.wired.com/story/tiktok...

Sonos Redesigned Its App and Made a Subscription Model Possible With revenue down for the second year in a row, Sonos needs to balance its books. Could a move that’s become familiar in the hardware industry help?

With revenue down for the second year in a row, could Sonos make the increasingly familiar move of turning to a subscription model to offer premium features for a monthly fee? The bungled app update now makes that a technical possibility.

www.wired.com/story/sonos-...

Welcome to The WIRED 101: The Best Products in the World Right Now Our team of writers and editors has thoroughly tested thousands of products. This selection of 101 items represents our current top picks across every category we cover.

Introducing the WIRED 101. Our list of the 101 best consumer products available right now. Will be updated when there are new things to add. Have a look! www.wired.com/wired-101-to...

The WIRED World in 2025 WIRED's annual trends briefing, featuring contributions from academics, executives, scientists, and scholars.

So much good stuff in the WIRED World 2025 magazine, which is out now in the UK. Some of the pieces are already live on WIRED's website too. Check them out here.

www.wired.com/wired-world/

Bold design in hi-fi… I am HERE FOR IT. So great to hear more about the three years of development this speaker has taken to come to market.

Join Us for the WIRED Big Interview Event On December 3, WIRED will be sitting down with some of the biggest names in technology, business, science, and beyond for a full day packed with in-depth conversations.

I am thrilled to announce a *late edition* to the @wired.com Big Interview event on December 3rd.

In addition to Mira Murati, Jensen Huang, Mark Cuban, and many more, we're also very lucky to host Bluesky CEO @jay.bsky.team in conversation with @knibbs.bsky.social !!

www.wired.com/story/thebig...

Excited for this!

A picture taken in the mirror of me with my face painted by my 6 year old daughter. It’s supposed to be a butterfly. It doesn’t look like one.

When I bought these face paints for my kids, I really thought *I* would be doing the face painting on them… 🙃

(I’m supposed to be a butterfly, apparently.)

Donald Trump Taps Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy to Lead Nonexistent Department of Government Efficiency “These two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies,” said...

www.wired.com/story/donald...

Ok, here we go again 👋