Technology News

One of the biggest bummers about the modern Internet has been the decline of Google Search. Once an essential part of using the web, it's now a shadow of its former self, full of SEO-fueled junk and AI-generated spam.

On Thursday, OpenAI announced a new feature of ChatGPT that could potentially replace Google Search for some people: an upgraded web search capability for its AI assistant that provides answers with source attribution during conversations. The feature, officially called "ChatGPT with Search," makes web search automatic based on user questions, with an option to manually trigger searches through a new web search icon.

OpenAI hopes the new capability will streamline web searching by eliminating the need for multiple searches and link exploration that traditional search engines sometimes require. Users can ask follow-up questions, with ChatGPT considering the context of the entire conversation to provide answers.

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Most Windows 10 PCs will stop getting new security updates in October 2025, less than a year from today. For businesses and schools, the company is offering up to three years of extended security updates, with prices that increase steadily year by year to incentivize switching to Windows 11.

But Microsoft announced today that end users would only be able to buy a single year of extended security updates for their Windows 10 PCs at the price of $30 per PC. The company confirmed to us that the second and third years of security updates would be exclusive to businesses and schools.

Microsoft says consumers will be able to enroll in the Windows 10 Extended Security Update (ESU) program "closer to the end of support in 2025."

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Our new online platform and summit will help students learn more about product inclusion and equity.Our new online platform and summit will help students learn more about product inclusion and equity.

We’re testing gadgets that keep showing up in our feeds. Here are the ones that deserve the hype—and would make awesome presents.

It’s dangerous to go alone! Take these headsets, keyboards, and mice and give them to your favorite PC gamer.

Last night, Nintendo pulled off a surprise launch of a new Nintendo Music smartphone app, offering many of the company's staple soundtrack songs as a perk to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. But the new subscription freebie could give Nintendo additional motivation to once again crack down on Internet users who have been collecting and posting Nintendo music online for years now.

The Nintendo Music app includes hundreds of songs from titles to download or stream, ranging from 1985's Super Mario Bros. to last year's Pikmin 4. The current music selection is far from comprehensive, but it at least touches on many of Nintendo's most popular series, including Zelda, Pokemon, Kirby, Fire Emblem, Metroid, and Animal Crossing (plus some popular background music from various Wii Channels). Nintendo promises that more tracks will be "added over time," mirroring the process Nintendo has used to add to its Nintendo Switch Online classic game downloads.

A new trailer introduces some of the features of the Nintendo Music app.

Nintendo Music users can build their own playlists, of course, or choose from a number of pre-arranged playlists to suit different moods or character themes. The app also syncs with your Nintendo account to highlight music from games you play and offers options to avoid "spoilers" from certain game music or extend songs in lengthy loops.

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Google revealed today how it plans to use generative AI to enhance its mapping activities. It's the latest application of Gemini, the company's in-house rival to GPT-4, which the company wants to use to improve the experience when searching for something. Google Maps, Google Earth, and Waze will all get feature upgrades thanks to Gemini, although in some cases only with Google's "trusted testers" at first.

Google Maps

More than 2 billion people use Google Maps every month, according to the company, and in fact, AI is nothing new to Google Maps. "A lot of those features that we've introduced over the years have been thanks to AI," said Chris Phillips,VP and general manager of Geo at Google. "Think of features like Lens and maps. When you're on a street corner, you can lift up your phone and look, and through your camera view, you can actually see we laid places on top of your view. So you can see a business. Is it open? What are the ratings for it? Is it busy? You can even see businesses that are out of your line of sight," he explained.

At some point this week, if you use the Android or iOS Google Maps app here in the US, you should start seeing more detailed and contextual search results. Maps will now respond to conversational requests—during a demo, Google asked it what to do on a night out with friends in Boston, with the app returning a set of results curated by Gemini. These included categories of places—speakeasies, for example—with review summaries and answers from users.

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As the Popo Agie River wends its way down from the glaciers atop Wyoming’s Wind River Mountains toward the city of Lander, it flows into a limestone cave and disappears. The formation, known as the Sinks, spits the river back out at another feature called the Rise a quarter of a mile east, a little more voluminous and a little warmer, with brown and rainbow trout weighing as much as 10 pounds mingling in its now smooth pools. The quarter-mile journey from the Sinks to the Rise takes the river two hours.

Scientists first discovered this quirk of the middle fork of the Popo Agie (pronounced puh-po zuh) in 1983 by pouring red dye into the river upstream and waiting for it to resurface. Geologists attribute the river’s mysterious delay to the water passing through exceedingly small crevasses in the rock that slow its flow.

Like many rivers in the arid West, the Popo Agie is an important aquifer. Ranchers, farmers, businesses, and recreationists rely on detailed data about it—especially day-to-day streamflow measurements. That’s exactly the type of empirical information collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

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This hyper-robust deck from Technics takes classic design to the audiophile tier.

Here are all the latest updates for Google Maps, Earth, Waze and our developer platforms.

Here are all the latest updates for Google Maps, Earth, Waze and our developer platforms.

From helping you explore even more with Immersive View to taking the stress out of your drive, here are updates on Google Maps you won’t want to miss.From helping you explore even more with Immersive View to taking the stress out of your drive, here are updates on Google Maps you won’t want to miss.

Check out Waze’s latest updates, including Conversational Reporting.Check out Waze’s latest updates, including Conversational Reporting.

Check out the latest developer updates for Google Earth and Google Maps Platform, including grounding with Maps.Check out the latest developer updates for Google Earth and Google Maps Platform, including grounding with Maps.

Sitting at a desk for hours? Upgrade your WFH setup and work in style with these comfy WIRED-tested seats.

This Gothic cat tree, ghostly drinking fountain, and spectral litter mat are purrfect for Halloween fans.

Whether you seek spooky chills, jump scares, or creeping dread, we have horror show recommendations to sate your thirst.

Here are four AI voice models from Google Arts & Culture that offer a new way to experience and engage with art, history and culture.Here are four AI voice models from Google Arts & Culture that offer a new way to experience and engage with art, history and culture.

Sophos went so far as to plant surveillance “implants” on its own devices to catch the hackers at work—and in doing so, revealed a glimpse into China's R&D pipeline of intrusion techniques.

Toys, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics are suspected to be among the noncompliant products available to the Chinese shopping platform’s 90 million European users.

Toys, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics are suspected to be among the noncompliant products available to the Chinese shopping platform’s 90 million European users.