Michael Calore

Senior Correspondent, Politics WIRED is where a better future is imagined. For three decades, we have been the indispensable guide to a world in constant transformation. We cover humanity’s biggest challenges, from climate change t...

Journalism job alert: @wired.com is hiring an experienced politics writer. I might be biased, but WIRED is doing some of the best political coverage out there. This is your chance to join our amazing newsroom! condenast.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/CondeC...

Everyone Speaks Incel Now After migrating from misogynist forums to social media feeds, terms like “looksmaxxing” and “mogged” are now impossible to avoid.

this week alone, I got several pitches about "proteinmaxxing." Read @milesklee.bsky.social on the widespread adoption of incel speak: www.wired.com/story/everyo...

Nope, that's a scammer. Please report the account and do not engage!

Gentoo penguin...

#birdbot

what the fuck

And here's FunkItBlog's recording of the first of two sets MM&W played together. It's ridiculously good:
archive.org/details/mmw2...

The Glorious Return of Medeski Martin & Wood (And Their First Interview in Eight Years) The great trio played two very different sets—their first and second in four years—on a cruise ship in the Atlantic this week. And then they told me about their new album, their first in 17 years.

So, my favorite musical ensemble played together this week for the first time in year. It was on a wooked out cruise ship so I didn't go (LOL) but some friends did.

Here's Grayson Haver Currin's interview with Medeski, Martin & Wood
currincy.substack.com/p/the-glorio...

#birdbot

pretty gorgeous soundboard of solo acoustic marc ribot. spacious clang, extended technique disruptions, noise pedal freakouts, a john zorn etude from “book of heads,” & a few slices of beautiful inside playing.

hahaha. You have to wake up pretty early in the morning to scoop The Beano

Ida Blankenship was a hellcat? Burt has no testicles?

Inside Bad Bunny’s Historic Super Bowl Halftime Show Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance required 9,852 theatrical pyrotechnics, nearly 400 costumed extras, and a lot of ingenuity. And yes, that was a real couple featured in the wedding.

It’s been really fun to watch Bad Bunny’s “plant people” go viral. That was by design. The team behind Left Shark also came up with the idea to have the grasses be people. Production designer Bruce Rodgers had a feeling they’d get memed. He just knows these things.

www.wired.com/story/bad-bu...

Seals Baseball! So much better than a Togo's and a PetSmart

Ferrari’s New Jony Ive–Designed EV Is Swathed in Glass and Aluminum We got a peek at the interior of Ferrari’s new Luce electric car, which was dreamed up by famed ex-Apple designer and his firm, LoveFrom. It looks and feels a whole lot like an Apple product.

Jony Ive and his firm LoveFrom designed the interior of the new Ferrari EV. Of course, it's almost entirely aluminum and glass and leather

www.wired.com/story/ferrar...

Turning Point USA’s Halftime Show Was Exactly What You’d Expect “The All-American Halftime Show," born out of outrage over Bad Bunny's Super Bowl performance, fell short of the hype. From Kid Rock’s poor lip synching to Erika Kirk being MIA, it was simply dull.

“For all the ideological outrage behind this challenge to globally popular Latin music, TPUSA’s star-spangled jamboree wasn’t particularly message-driven nor even provocative.” @milesklee.bsky.social watched that other halftime show so you don’t have to:

I keep hearing that wokeness is dead but if that’s true how come there’s a TV show about a romance between two gay men who play hockey but no TV shows about a romance between two straight men who play hockey??

Curl Friday

Sports Betting Is Skyrocketing. Will It Take Over the Olympics? Typically, the Olympics aren’t a hotbed of gambling. For the 2026 Winter Games, sportsbooks and betting platforms are watching for illicit activity while testing new ways to get people to bet.

For all their prestige, the Olympics tend to be a hotbed for scandals.

With sports betting more accessible than ever, is a gambling controversy inevitable?

I dove into how the IOC and other entities try to avoid betting scams. Will it be enough?

For @wired.com: www.wired.com/story/sports...

don't shake the beehives!

Art!

Wait, Polymarket's not a dating website? huh.

A truly dope episode of the "Sounds of the Caribbean" podcast this week. Nearly 5 hours of tunes featuring Sly Dunbar, who passed away last week. Big up Selecta Jerry especially for the riddim rides in the second half @soundsofthecaribbean.com #reggaesky

www.soundsofthecaribbean.com/e/sounds-of-...

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Gift, Mr. and Mrs. Alan H. Pollack, 1984 © Victor Vasarely

Lacerta by Victor Vasarely, 1955
https://botfrens.com/collections/212/contents/137325

I did not know Dan, but this piece he wrote about Pitchfork music reviews and their place in 21st century criticism is just so fucking good. I shared it with easily a dozen people when it first published. RIP, dude. 10.0
defector.com/a-notorious-...

text on a web page has been selected, then right-clicked on, bringing up a contextual menu. The selection is for the "speech" command to have the highlighted text read aloud by the computer.

Why does this feature still sound like 1989? (Try it out.) Computers are pretty good at talking these days

CALORE MENS Classic Japanese-inspired design featuring premium leather construction and finger channels for the discerning winter sports enthusiast.Features Performance leather construction delivers superior dura...

did you know that if you're extra special they name gloves after you
swanyamerica.com/collections/...

Google’s New Chrome ‘Auto Browse’ Agent Attempts to Roam the Web Without You Google’s latest addition to its Chrome browser puts generative AI behind the wheel and you in the passenger seat.

NEW: Google’s “Auto Browse” AI tool includes a warning that attributes responsibility to users for the bot’s actions.

“Use Gemini carefully and take control if needed,” reads a disclaimer on the demo version. “You are responsible for Gemini’s actions during tasks.”

www.wired.com/story/google...

Oh I didn't write that book! But I'm glad you are enjoying it :)