Tech

Original title: How to Make Light Roast Espresso, According to Chemists (2025) “You need to realize you’ve already rejected tradition by not getting a dark roast coffee. You’ve embraced modernism,” Hedrick says. “And if you’re going to embrace modernism and reject traditionalism, you must always also reject traditional shot parameters.” But terrific light roast is possible. There are two ways to go. You can go traditional—changing your dose and ratios a bit but aiming for a cup with intensity and balance. That’s what I’ve been honing for the past year. But there’s also a wilder, weirder path: The turbo shot, also called a gusher. Hedrick, following the results of new scientific research from University of Oregon biochemistry professor Christopher Hendon and others, has gone all in on throwing out the entire traditional espresso rulebook in his pursuit of light roast espresso that’s neither sour nor bitter. Here are two ways of making light roast espresso, and the results. How to Make a “Traditional” Light Espresso Shot AccordionItemContainerButton LargeChevron So ...

Original title: Sony WH-1000XM5 Deal: $100 Off Sony’s Last-Gen Flagships Some people always want the newest version, but if you’re willing to compromise a little, you can have Sony’s noise-canceling WH-1000XM5 (9/10, WIRED Recommends) for just $300 from Amazon, a steep discount on their usual price. Even though their successor is available, they still offer an extremely good value and number among our favorite active noise-canceling headphones, particularly when you can save $100. For years now, Sony has been pumping out generation after generation of the WH-1000XM Series headphones with active noise-canceling. Depending on the year, and the most recently released Bose headset, they typically land at or near the top of our roundup of the best noise-canceling headphones. Not only do they have excellent noise-canceling performance, they also sound amazing. Our reviewer described them as “spacious and well defined, and consequently each and every individual strand of a recording is simple to identify and isolate.” They work well with a variety of different mus ...

Original title: The 50 Best Shows on HBO Max Right Now (September 2025) HBO Max may not have the shine it once did, but the streaming service (previously just Max) is still home to some of the best TV shows of the past 25 years, from The Sopranos and The Wire to Game of Thrones and The Leftovers. Whether you’re a longtime fan of the “it’s not TV” cable network or a HBO Max newbie trying to figure out where to start, the shows below should give you plenty upon which to feast your eyes. Looking for more recommendations? Head to WIRED’s guide to the best TV shows on Netflix, the best TV shows on Amazon Prime, the best TV shows on Disney+, and the best TV shows on Hulu. If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Peacemaker John Cena reprises his role as Chris Smith, aka Peacemaker, a violence-prone vigilante who is willing to do whatever it takes in order to achieve peace—even if that means killing dozens of people. Ironic? Yes. It’s also deeply funny, with Cena seeming to relish th ...

Original title: The Concept C Is the All-Electric Sports Car Kick-Starting Audi’s Design Future Car companies love a mission statement. With the arrival of the Concept C, Audi’s new one is crystal clear: “radical simplicity.” An all-electric two-seater with a retractable folding hard top, the Concept C is a “progressive interpretation” of the company’s legacy, says Audi—and it’s not hard to see that the TT has factored pretty heavily in that. But as you pick your way through the messaging—key words here are precision and clarity, as well as a reemphasis on our old friend “Vorsprung durch Technik”—this feels like a substantial reset after a period of aesthetic drift. This isn’t just a piece of conceptual eye candy, then: It’s Audi engaging combat mode in an industry currently beset with challenges. “Our vision is a call to action for the whole company—and is essential for making our brand truly distinctive once again,” Audi chief creative officer Massimo Frascella explains. “It is the philosophy behind every decision we make, and we aim to apply its principles across the entire or ...

Original title: Join Us for WIRED’s “Uncanny Valley” Live With original reporting and sharp analysis, WIRED’s Uncanny Valley podcast covers today’s biggest stories in tech. We demystify companies like Palantir, trends like vibe coding, and figures like Sam Altman; we break down our essential coverage of DOGE and ICE; we guide listeners through breakthrough innovations like generative AI and sweeping policy changes like the Trump administration’s tariffs. On September 9, at 7 pm PDT, WIRED is partnering with KQED for Uncanny Valley’s first live show of the podcast. The first part of the event will feature WIRED editor in chief Katie Drummond in conversation with Jack Conte, CEO of Patreon. As a founder and musician, Conte has been at the forefront of adapting and harnessing the power of changing technological landscapes to the advantage of creatives. This summer, Patreon reached a milestone of $10 billion in payments to creators since the company was founded in 2013. The roundtable conversation with our cohosts Michael Calore and Lauren Goode ...

Original title: Top 10 AI Content Generator & Writer Tools in 2022 Are you looking for a way to create content that is both effective and efficient? If so, then you should consider using an AI content generator. AI content generators are a great way to create content that is both engaging and relevant to your audience. There are a number of different AI content generator tools available on the market, and it can be difficult to know which one is right for you. To help you make the best decision, we have compiled a list of the top 10 AI content generator tools that you should use in 2022. So, without further ado, let’s get started! Jasper is a content writing and content generation tool that uses artificial intelligence to identify the best words and sentences for your writing style and medium in the most efficient, quick, and accessible way. Features It’s trusted by 50,000+ marketers for creating engaging marketing campaigns, ad copy, blog posts, and articles within minutes which would traditionally take hours or days. Special Features: Blog posts hav ...

Original title: Apple Loses Robotics AI Researcher to Meta Apple’s lead artificial intelligence researcher for robotics is leaving the company for Meta, reports Bloomberg. Jian Zhang joined the Meta Robotics Studio on Tuesday. Three additional AI researchers are also leaving Apple’s Foundation Models AI team for OpenAI and Anthropic, continuing an exodus that began in July. At least a dozen AI experts have left Apple for Meta, OpenAI, and other companies since January. Meta has been offering AI engineers massive pay packages that other AI companies are not able to compete with. Meta was able to lure Apple’s Foundational Models team lead Ruoming Pang with a $200 million pay package. Zhang was developing automation technology and exploring the role of AI in tech products, but his team was separate from the group that is working on creating a robot virtual companion. According to a recent report from Financial Times, industry recruiters see the mass departures from Apple as a “crisis of confidence” around the company’s AI future. Apple is continu ...

Original title: How the Democrats keep copying the MAGA influencer playbook (and failing) Hello and welcome to Regulator. Today, I will attempt to regulate my own apoplexy. Recently, Wired published an article revealing the existence of a secret Democrat influencer incubator that trained liberal and progressive content creators to push coordinated messaging across their shared social media platforms and paid them handsomely to do so. The fallout has been chaotic, at least in the left-wing influencer world: creators are shanking their rivals for participating in the program, and the paid influencers are trying to defend themselves for taking the money. But the controversy around the Chorus Creator Incubator Program stems from the fact that it was so secret: participants had to sign contracts that gave Chorus control of their interview bookings, limit what they said about other creators or non-approved political figures, and were forbidden from even acknowledging they were part of the program. In response, Chorus — a group funded by the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a liberal 501(c)(4 ...

Original title: Silksong: all of the updates about the Hollow Knight sequel After years of development and pent-up anticipation from fans, Hollow Knight: Silksong, the full sequel to the indie classic Hollow Knight, will finally be released on September 4th . It will cost $19.99 and include new zones, more than 200 enemies, over 40 bosses, and an orchestral score from the composer of the first game. Silksong was first announced in 2019, two years after the release of Hollow Knight, but developers Team Cherry have stayed pretty quiet about the sequel in the years since — even after a planned launch window was announced in 2022, which was followed by a delay months later. In an interview with Bloomberg, Team Cherry co-founders Ari Gibson and William Pellen said that the game was “never stuck”; instead, the small team working on Silksong was just taking its time. ...

Original title: Dolby Vision 2 Debuts With Solution for HDR Content That’s ‘Too Dark’ Dolby today unveiled Dolby Vision 2, a next-generation version of the popular Dolby Vision HDR format. Dolby Vision 2 features a more powerful image engine that Dolby says “unlocks even more out of your TV,” plus it supports new Content Intelligence tools to optimize TV sets for a “captivating picture” based on the content that’s being watched. Specifically, Dolby says that Content Intelligence will gain the following benefits: Precision Black reduces consumer frustration that the image is “too dark” by making it crystal clear and improving clarity in any viewing environment without compromising artistic intent. Light Sense fine-tunes picture quality through advanced ambient light detection and new reference lighting data from the content source to optimize your TV for the ideal viewing experience. Sports and Gaming Optimization introduce new enhancements such as white point adjustments and motion control designed specifically to address the unique needs of live sports and gaming. New ...