Tag Archive : CULTURE

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Robots & Us: A Brief History of Our Robotic Future

Artificial intelligence and automation stand to upend nearly every aspect of modern life, from transportation to health care and even work. So how did we get here and where are we going?

You want the real windows into someone's soul? Look at their Reddit subscriptions. It's all there: their passions, their hobbies, their ideological leanings, their love of terrible haircuts and sublime anonymized cringe. And if they're anything like me, those subscriptions also tell the tale of a life spent diving down rabbit holes.

Origami. Board games. Trail running. Pens. Cycling. Mechanical keyboards. Scrabble. (I know. God, I know. There are jokes to be made here. Trust that I've already made them all myself.) Whenever my interest attaches itself to a new thing—which has happened my entire life, cyclically and all-encompassingly—I tend to develop a singular, insatiable appetite for information about that thing. Hey, you know what the internet is really good at? Enabling singular, insatiable appetites.

Especially since 2005. That's the year Reddit and YouTube launched within months of each other, and obsession became centralized. You had options before that, blogs and message boards and Usenet forums, but they weren't exactly magnets of cross-pollination. They didn't fully open the floodgates to minute details and the masses yearning to pore over them. Then, on opposite sides of the country, two different small groups of twentysomething dudes created twin engines of infatuation. Between their massive tents and their ease of use, Reddit and YouTube tore away the guardrail that had always stood between serial hobbyists and oblivion.

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For all the hand-wringing about both sites—YouTube's gameable recommendation algorithm that can radicalize dummies at the drop of a meme, Reddit's chelonian foot speed when dealing with bad actors and hate speech in the more noisome subreddits—both are incredible resources for the participatory realm. Watching more experienced people do what you're trying to do, sharing setups and techniques, even getting support and commiseration from those who are similarly, rapturously afloat in the same thing you can't stop reading and thinking about: It's not just a recipe for intellectual indulgence, but for improvement as well. (On YouTube, that value comes from the creator; on Reddit, it comes from the comments. Swap the two at your own peril.)

Rabbit holes are what make Beauty YouTube such a colossus, why the Ask Science subreddit has 16 million subscribers. But they also hold a secret: The deeper you go, the tighter it gets. That's because a rabbit hole is a filter bubble of sorts, albeit one that's labeled as such and explicitly opted into—you're there because you're interested in this Thing, as is everyone else, and under such celebratory scrutiny that Thing distends, its perceived stature far outweighing its real-life impact. Just because there are a million opinions about something doesn't make it important to anyone outside the bubble, let alone crucial.

And before long, orthodoxy rears its head. Want to make coffee? Oh, you're going to need to spend hours dialing in the grind on your $1,000 Mazzer Mini E before pouring 205-degree water over it from your gooseneck kettle. Don't forget to account for the bloom! Want to get a new keyboard that feels better and looks nicer than your laptop's? Great, but Topre switches or GTFO. Oh, and don't stop at one. Or two. Or 17.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a collector. I love the right tool for the right job, and I love research even more. (I'm really fucking weird about my pens.) But more than once I've become consumed by the idea that my experience with a Thing will be utterly transformed if I just treat myself to the right running vest. Or digital temperature regulator for an espresso machine. Or, yes, Scrabble-themed keycaps. That's not the joy of collecting; it's the expectation of fulfillment. I watch video reviews, or read people waxing rhapsodic, and it changes my Thing from a learning process, an intrinsic enjoyment, to a preamble. There's an "endgame"; there are "grails." Get the grail, and you're in the endgame.

But there's no endgame, and there's no grail. There's no bottom to the rabbit hole.

What there is is learning more about a thing you like to do, and maybe getting better at it. Running longer. Enjoying the feel of your pen on paper. Playing a game with friends. Everything else is just a commercial. So jump into all the rabbit holes you want—just don't expect to find Wonderland.

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Inside the YouTube-Fueled, Teenage Extravaganza That Is Beautycon

A look at the industry-shaking in real life meet up of beauty world influencers, their fans and the brands that compete for their attention.

It's time once again to turn on The Monitor, WIRED's roundup of the latest in the world of culture, from box-office news to announcements about hot new trailers. In today's installment: Captain Marvel readies for lift-off; Stephen King signs up for HBO; and Marvel breaks new ground.

She Is the Captain Now

Marvel will debut the next and perhaps final, full trailer for Captain Marvel tonight during ESPN's Monday Night Football game between the San Junipero Jawas and the Trouble City Tribbles (those are actual sports teams, right?) The movie, which stars Brie Larson as the titular good-doer, arrives next year. Watch for the trailer on WIRED later today. And speaking of all things Marvel…

'Master' Plan

…the studio has announced a big-screen stand-alone film following Shang-Chi, the Asian-American superhero (and occasional Avenger) who was introduced in the 1970s, and hailed as "The Master of Kung Fu." The Shang-Chi script will be written by Dave Callaham, who wrote next year's Wonder Woman 1984, and is basically working on every movie you'll be watching in the next two years. No release date or plot details for Shang-Chi are known yet, but Marvel is reportedly fast-tracking the film so expect more updates soon.

Because the Internet

It wasn't quite a slaughter race at the box office last weekend, with Disney's Ralph Breaks the Internet easily topping the chart once again, earning more than $25 million. The hit animated film was followed by such weeks-old hits as The Grinch, Creed II, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, and Bohemian Rhapsody, the latter of which has now made half a billion worldwide. But the perch wasn't Ralph's only weekend victory: It was also nominated in the Best Animated Feature category for the year's Annie Awards, alongside such films as Isle of Dogs and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

King's Things

HBO is turning Stephen King's recent horror-procedural hit The Outsider into a series. The author's 7,863rd bestseller—about a Midwest murder investigation that bleeds into the realm of the supernatural—is being overseen for the small screen by Jason Bateman, who will direct two episodes and produce. Emmy winner (and WIRED favorite) Ben Mendelsohn will star, adding to his roster of dark-hearted tales, which includes everything from Animal Kingdom to Netflix's Bloodline to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, in which he stared down a deadly Darth Vader pun.

Welp, 2018 is going out with a bang. In the last week, America got a reminder that Russia hacked the 2016 US election by hijacking social media; acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker rejected legal advice to recuse himself from overseeing Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe; drones attacked British airports; and California dealt with potential UFOs. Actually, considering how the rest of the year has gone, that's not much of a bang at all—just a standard week in 2018. But what else are people talking about on this wreck that is the internet? Let's find out, shall we?

Trump's Big Move

What Happened: President Trump announced the US would be pulling troops out of Syria, leading to some instability, to say the least.

What Really Happened: Trump's surprise holiday gift to the Middle East arrived early Wednesday, as reports surfaced suggesting that the United States was about to withdraw troops from Syria. Those reports were soon confirmed via Twitter, because of course.

No, wait; I mean these tweets—but please remember that Trump announced that the US has defeated ISIS all the same.

It was, to put things mildly, not a popular decision, even within Trump's own, traditionally kowtowing-no-matter-what party.

The decision came as a surprise to many, with a lot of people unsure how, exactly, the decision had been reached, especially considering the president’s own national security team was apparently against it. Others believed that he had a pretty good idea.

So, if his own defense secretary had no say, who exactly was consulted?

OK, sure; for any other administration, that would seem like a wild conspiracy theory. However, when you look at who benefits from this decision, you do start to wonder just a little…

Funny thing about those actually arguing in favor of this move: the president doesn’t seem to be aware that it's happening, judging by his public statements.

Wait. They have to fight ISIS? Wasn't ISIS defeated, according to a tweet made by exactly the same person just a day before? Man, international politics moves so quickly these days.

The Takeaway: An unexpected casualty of the decision might point to larger problems with Trump's attitude towards geopolitics: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigned Thursday over the matter, penning a letter that makes his feelings on the matter clear.

The Incomplete Sentencing of Michael Flynn

What Happened: Just in case anyone forgot: There's still an investigation into potentially illegal activity surrounding the presidential campaign of the man currently in the White House, and it's continuing to bear strange, surreal fruit.

What Really Happened: As if anyone could forget the ongoing legal trouble surrounding the Trump administration, this week saw a sentencing hearing for one of the president's former advisors—in this case, former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. If it seems like it was just last week that one of Trump's former advisors had a sentencing hearing, that's because it was. But like the seasoned pro he is, the president was eager to get out in front of the story.

Still, it's just a sentencing. How exciting or surprising could that be, unless you’re Michael Cohen making statements about being free once you get three years in jail? Turns out, the answer was "very surprising."

These would be the circumstances alleged by Flynn’s lawyers that he was, essentially, hoodwinked into confessing because no one at the FBI told him that lying to the FBI was a crime. Things only continued from there.

Well, yeah; that sounds pretty wild, especially the whole not hiding disgust thing. But that was just the start.

So, that was a surreal event. Who saw an abrupt postponement coming? Definitely not Flynn’s attorneys, who were judged to have badly miscalculated by the media. But, at least it ended well, at least in regards to the irony of the whole thing.

Roll on, March, I guess?

The Takeaway: When it comes to the surreal developments in a legal case like this, there’s a sensible response and a non-boring response. Guess which one this is.

Paul Ryan's Retirement Party

What Happened: Paul Ryan is just days away from retiring as Speaker of the House, so clearly it's time for a farewell tour that perhaps doesn't get the response he'd like.

What Really Happened: We're not saying that some politicians have an exaggerated sense of their own importance, but outgoing Speaker of the House Paul Ryan had a "farewell address" at the Library of Congress last week, and the invitation looked like this:

Actually, never mind the invitations, the actual speech didn't look too much better—

—but let's not think about the optics. Let's focus on the substance, shall we? Ryan complained about the "broken politics" of Washington, while congratulating himself on a tax bill that hurts the poor. So, you know, pretty much what you might expect, all things considered.

Let’s just say that not everyone was impressed with Ryan's speech—or, for that matter, his legacy as a political figure. Headlines like "Good Riddance, Paul Ryan," "So Long, Paul Ryan, You Won’t Be Missed," "Paul Ryan Is the Biggest Fake I've Ever Seen in Politics," and "Paul Ryan Was a Villain and No One Will Miss Him"—all of which are actually real, and from a 24-hour period, amazingly—might give that away.

In fact, we'd go so far as to say that some were particularly unimpressed.

So, uh, happy retirement…? (We'll always have your creepy workout photoshoot, Paul. Nothing will ever take that away from you. Sadly.)

The Takeaway: Meanwhile, the woman who is likely to replace Ryan had perhaps the greatest response to the entire thing.

Shaft the Messenger

What Happened: You weren't being paranoid after all; someone else really was able to get access to all your messages on Facebook. Doesn't that make you feel better?

What Really Happened: In case you thought that things couldn't get much worse for Facebook considering its recent public relation woes, guess what: It could get much worse. Take it away, New York Times.

Yes, you read that right, as unbelievable as it may sound.

Not enough yikes for you just yet? Oh, just keep going, because it gets worse.

Many people were wondering what the solution was. A recurring theme kept popping up.

Meanwhile, the media took a different, and far less surprising, tack, with everyone talking about deleting Facebook a lot.

How serious was this as a threat? Well, Facebook released two different responses to try and clear up rumors … by pretty much confirming the reporting. That's almost a start, kind of?

The Takeaway: On the plus side, at least this was the only PR disaster for Facebook this week related to other people having access to private information on the platform.

The Shutdown Looms

What Happened: It's been teased throughout 2018, but as the year draws to a close, perhaps the US has finally reached the point where the government is going to shut down. Just in time!

What Really Happened: The US government has been wavering around a shutdown for some time now. There have been short-term fixes and last-minute deals for months in an attempt to ensure that there isn't what Rep. Nancy Pelosi memorably called a Trump Shutdown. Last week, for example, with just days to go before funding ran out, there was a move towards one more before-the-buzzer save—not that anyone seemed to think it would work.

Funny story; it never even got a chance to fail in the Senate.

Yes, it’s Paul Ryan again, a day after bemoaning "broken politics," helping politics be that little bit more broken.

So … maybe the shutdown is back on?

Well, perhaps not…

President Trump, at least, spent Friday morning doing what he could. Which is to say, he tweeted about the subject a lot.

People were not incredibly impressed.

At the time of this writing, it's not been voted on by the Senate. But here's a funny story: the president is refusing to sign a bill that doesn't fund the border wall that was, originally, going to be paid for by Mexico (hey, remember those days?), but … what if there was an alternative? What if someone else wanted to pay for the wall so that the government could stay open?

Well, that seems entirely legit.

It's surely a sign of 2018 that it's actually impossible to reject this plan entirely out of hand. Maybe we should just run a GoFundMe to keep the government open? Oh, no, wait; that's called paying taxes.

The Takeaway: Assuming that we are almost certainly going to have a shutdown for the holidays—everyone's favorite gift—let's just take a moment to appreciate what's happening, shall we?

See you all in 2019!

Waking up. Working out. Riding the bus. Music is an ever-present companion for many of us, and its impact is undeniable. You know music makes you move and triggers emotional responses, but how and why? What changes when you play music, rather than simply listen? In the latest episode of Tech Effects, we tried to find out. Our first stop was USC's Brain & Creativity Institute, where I headed into the fMRI to see how my brain responded to musical cues—and how my body did, too. (If you're someone who experiences frisson, that spine-tingling, hair-raising reaction to music, you know what I'm talking about.) We also talked to researchers who have studied how learning to play music can help kids become better problem-solvers, and to author Dan Levitin, who helped break down how the entire brain gets involved when you hear music.

From there, we dove into music's potential as a therapeutic tool—something Gabrielle Giffords can attest to. When the onetime congresswoman was shot in 2011, her brain injuries led to aphasia, a neurological condition that affects speech. Through the use of treatments that include melodic intonation therapy, music helped retrain her brain's pathways to access language again. "I compare it to being in traffic," says music therapist Maegan Morrow, who worked with Giffords. "Music is basically like [taking a] feeder road to the new destination."

But singing or playing something you know is different from composing on the fly. We also wanted to get to the bottom of improvisation and creativity, so we linked up with Xavier Dephrepaulezz—who you might know as two-time Grammy winner Fantastic Negrito. At UCSF, he went into an fMRI machine as well, though he brought a (plastic) keyboard so he could riff along and sing to a backing track. Neuroscientist Charles Limb, who studies musical creativity, helped take us through the results and explain why the prefrontal cortex shuts down during improvisation. "It's not just something that happens in clubs and jazz bars," he says. "It's actually maybe the most fundamental form of what it means to be human to come up with a new idea."

If you're interested in digging into the research from the experts in the video, here you go:

• Matthew Sachs’ research on music and frisson

• Assal Habibi, “Music training and child development: a review of recent findings from a longitudinal study.”

• Daniel Levitin’s research on music and the brain’s internal opioid system, and on music and stress

• Levitin's book, This is Your Brain on Music

• Charles Limb, “Your Brain on Improv” (TED Talk) and “Neural Substrates of Spontaneous Musical Performance: An fMRI Study of Jazz Improvisation”

• ABC News' report on Gabrielle Giffords' music therapy

Let’s get this out of the way: Lady Gaga's greatest performance is her portrayal of Lady Gaga. Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta has always treated music, and her place in it, like performance art, a Warhol-ian tribute to every creature of the zeitgeist who came before. And her depiction of the turn-of-the-millennium pop star known as Lady Gaga will always be some of her best work.

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That's not to say she's inauthentic, but as anyone who read the recent New York Times Magazine profile of the singer knows, Gaga is an evolving being, constantly consuming and repurposing culture to make a statement. It's hard work, and while the person of Gaga and the persona of Gaga may be similar, at least some of it is a character.

But what about Gaga's other roles? The ones that don't involve a spending 72 hours in a giant egg? Most of them have been in genre work—but with A Star Is Born, which features her most prominent screen role to date, opening tomorrow, we thought we'd comb through them to establish just what are Lady Gaga's best performances, ranked from maybe-not-so-best to best.

6. La Camaleón, Machete Kills

How do I say this? Machete Kills is not a good movie. Danny Trejo could not save it, no matter how many sleeveless leather vests he wears. Lady Gaga's killer-in-disguise isn't in it that much (possibly a blessing, for her), but she's a sight for sore eyes when she shows up—even if just makes you wish you were watching the "Telephone" video instead.

5. Bertha, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Gaga's part as diner server Bertha in Robert Rodriguez's Sin City sequel is fairly small. She wears a great wig and big eyebrows, but only has about four lines, including "times are tough all over," which is how a lot of people feel about this movie. That said, she's charming, and gets to turn her New York accent up to 11.

4. Scáthach, American Horror Story: Roanoke

Gaga may not have had that much to do in Roanoke—probably for the best, considering she was recording an album, prepping for a Super Bowl halftime performance, and dealing with chronic pain—but she excelled at all of it, mentally manipulating Kathy Bates (who played The Butcher in Season 6 of AHS) into doing unspeakable acts and turning Cuba Gooding Jr. into her zombified sex slave. There's also the possibility that Gaga could get to bring her back: Scáthach was the original Supreme (the No. 1 Witch in the AHS world), and since the other Coven witches are returning for the currently-airing AHS: Apocalypse, there's a chance she will too.

3. The Countess, American Horror Story: Hotel

Lady Gaga—like Sarah Paulson, like Angela Bassett, like Darren Criss, like Evan Peters and Kate Mara—is a core member of the Ryan Murphy Collective. Murphy may be one of TV's busiest writers, but he knows how to do great things with Gaga—like turning her into The Countess, vampiric proprietor of the Hotel Cortez. The character gave Gaga the opportunity to hit every campy note she was capable of (as well as the chance to wear approximately 10,001 great looks). Full disclosure: I switched this role and her part in AHS: Roanoke in the ranking many times, and while it feels precarious to deny top billing to a super-powerful witch of the woods, the Countess stole the show and cinched Gaga a Golden Globe, so…

2. Herself, Gaga: Five Foot Two

In this documentary, about the chaotic period leading up to the release of Gaga's fifth studio album Joanne and her now-iconic Super Bowl performance (remember the drones?), Germanotta is, theoretically, not acting at all. But it's still riveting to watch the artist work, like seeing the Wizard of Oz before getting a full face of makeup. Going through a break-up, recording an album, dealing with fibromyalgia—it's a testament to the sheer perseverance pop stardom takes. It also contains her brilliant exegesis on the reasoning behind her many personas: They are, she reveals, each funhouse-mirror visions of what the music industry wants female performers to be, grotesque and "bleeding" symbols of what fame did to many women before her. (Be sure to stick around for the mid-credits scene where she jokingly tells producer Mark Ronson about her fear that she's always giving Beyoncé panic attacks with her antics.)

1. Ally, A Star Is Born

Unlike many of the other roles on this list, which in one way or another riff on Lady Gaga’s persona, this role—if anything—pulls from her life pre-Gaga, or from her life if Gaga had never taken off. At the beginning of director/star Bradley Cooper's remake, her Ally is already performer, but she’s doing a drag performance of "La Vie En Rose," not singing her own songs; she’s an artist who hasn't had the opportunity to build herself into a juggernaut yet. A lot has already been made of her role in A Star Is Born, and a lot more will undoubtedly be made in the future (practice the phrase "Oscar-winner Lady Gaga" just in case), and all of it is deserved. The possibility that Lady Gaga could play an aspiring musician was never a stretch, but the depths of power and vulnerability she reaches as Ally are remarkable. So is the music, much of which she co-wrote and all of which she (and Cooper) sang live during filming. It's Gaga at her best, raw and fearless—and there’s nothing more all-consuming than watching her rise.

It's the end of summer, which means things are quiet, but not that quiet. This week, we've got Xbox rentals, the ongoing problem of sexy games on Steam, and some card-swiping royalty gameplay in the Game of Thrones universe. ? Come with me, and you'll be in a world of pure gamification …. ?

We've Got More Details on Microsoft's Xbox Subscription Service

Like everyone in the games industry, Microsoft has been working to figure out most successful ways to distribute their games and systems to the masses. Does the traditional model still work in 2018? Or is there a better way? Game streaming is one option a lot of people have tried, or are interested in—Microsoft included—but a recent report by The Verge suggests they're opting for another route, too: console subscriptions.

Remember when you could rent, like, a whole Dreamcast from Blockbuster for a week? It seems like it'll work like that: according to early sources, the subscription from Microsoft Stores will include an Xbox One (either the S or the fancy X version), Xbox Live Gold, and the Xbox Game Pass, which offers various games for download on a subscription basis, for $34.99 a month. It's an interesting deal, though I'm not sure how many people want to go to a physical location to rent a console. Still, alternatives to the current method—i.e., buying another big videogame-running brick every five years—are always welcome.

The Situation for Sexy Steam Games is Supremely Sticky

Steam's problems with content regulation are old hat to anyone who is familiar with games by now, but this story still is pretty jarring: with a new content moderation system in progress, Steam has seemingly halted the approval process for some adult games until the new system is finished. According to a report by Kotaku, several developers have found themselves stuck in release purgatory for months, with no clear answers and no end in sight.

It's understandable for Steam to not want certain content on its platform—that's its prerogative. But withholding both approval and clarity from developers isn't particularly good for anyone.

The Mobile Hit Reigns is Coming to Westeros

Reigns is an immensely clever game, a mash-up of the mind-numbing minutiae of ruling a kingdom with the mind-numbing habit of swiping right or left to run your dating life. Sassy and artistic, Reigns and its sequel have been a mobile smash hit;—and now their creators, alongside publisher Devolver Digital, have done the natural thing, and teamed up with the folks who made Game of Thrones. Introducing, uh, Reigns: Game of Thrones, due out in October in Android, iOS, and PC.

When it comes out, you'll be able to take on the roles of various royal types from the universe, beginning as Daenerys and unlocking more as you go along, die, and try again. Can you get to the Iron Throne? Or at least survive the winter? I probably can't; I'm terrible at these sorts of games.

Recommendation of the Week: Shenmue 1 & 2

In this current age of the remaster, this is no doubt one of the big ones. The Shenmue games, first released for the Dreamcast in 1999 and 2001, respectively, were epochal in so many ways. Their DNA is all over modern-day open-world games, slice-of-life role-playing games, and the entire genre of modern, peaceful indies. A fascinating soap operatic story of seeking a father's killer mixed with bits of brawling, romance, and regular life simulation make Shenmue and its sequel two of the most distinct, and fondly remembered, games of their time. Now, they're on modern consoles and PC. Check 'em out.

Over the weekend, someone I kind of know posted something from someone I don’t know at all on Facebook. “Wow,” it read. “I can’t believe this is why Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson split up.” It included a picture of the couple as well as a link—to the registration form on Vote.org. I shared it. It quickly became one of my most popular posts.

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The post didn't originate with Grande, but it could have. Grande, along with uncountable scores of celebrities, brands, and apps, were working overtime to encourage people to vote, or at least insert themselves in the political conversation on Tuesday as people in the US headed to the polls. Google, of course, got in on the action, turning the day’s doodle into a “Go Vote” message rendered in the company’s signature colors and font. So, naturally, did Facebook, posting “It’s Election Day!” messages and giving users the ability to share that they voted.

If the 2016 election taught us anything, it’s that a celebrity endorsement doesn’t necessarily clinch an election for one candidate or another. But the overall hum of voices saying “Go vote!” can motivate—or at least remind—people to get to the polls. (Peer pressure!) And as these midterms loomed, it seemed the cacophony of digital Get Out the Vote efforts was getting out of hand. Here are some of the best and worst we saw—from Tinder to Torchy’s Tacos.

22. Tinder

Before I’d even finished my first cup of coffee this morning, I got a message from Tinder. (Not exactly the East Coast's prime time for Tinder notifications.) “It’s time to get your vote on, because every single vote counts!” Yes, the app that has been encouraging us to make bad decisions and judge folks on the least valuable information available would like you to decide the future of America. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

21. James Woods

Fresh out of Twitter Jail for a misleading tweet about the midterms, actor and butt of Entourage jokes James Woods posted the above message asking people to not just vote, but to #VoteRed.

20. Tomi Lahren

…And now a word from conservative commentator Tomi Lahren.

19. Torchy’s Tacos

Honestly, this one is a bit confusing. Is salsa Republican? Is guac a Democrat thing? (Yes, we know, those are types of tacos at Torchy's.) Regardless, get munchies after the polls.

18. Twitter

Never one to miss out on a Moment or an opportunity to get involved in democracy, the official Twitter account on Twitter posted “thank you, vote.” The message was a riff on Grande’s new single “Thank u, next,” which…

17. Ariana Grande, Retweeting Twitter

For those who missed the tweetstorm about it, pop’s premiere shade-thrower Ariana Grande dropped her latest single late Saturday night—about 30 minutes before her ex-fianc´e Pete Davidson’s show, Saturday Night Live, hit the air. The song, in which Grande thanks her former lovers (including Davidson) for their service, was, in the singer’s own words, “a smash,” and quickly took over streaming services and Twitter. Not too long after the social media service used her song to encourage folks to hit the polls, Grande herself did the same.

16. Lucky Charms

Seriously? Have we not learned that luck has nothing to do with who wins elections??

15. The Rock

While many celebs just used words to encourage voting, Dwayne Johnson opted for a thirst trap. Well, a thirst trap that also doubled as a dig at his buddy Kevin Hart, but a trap nonetheless.

14. Kevin Hart

Speaking of Kevin Hart, he also voted (very early, from the looks of it), and would like you all to do the same.

13. Idris Elba

Speaking of thirst traps, People’s new Sexiest Man Alive, Idris Elba, also used the announcement of his new title to motivate the masses—an especially civic-minded overture, considering he's a Brit. Always a class act, that Idris.

12. Isiah Whitlock Jr.

The Wire star Isiah Whitlock Jr. wasn’t about to let Elba’s tweet stand, though. In addition to his famous Clay Davis rejoinder, he also had this to say: #GoVote.

11. The Milwaukee Bucks

Yes, even NBA teams are asking that you participate in something besides your fantasy league. Small forward Khris Middleton, at least, seems to be on board; his teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo may not be, but his Greek citizenship gives him a pass.

10. Kate Walsh

Lots of folks did some variation on the “Me Voting in 2016 vs. Me Voting in 2018” meme. Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice star Kate Walsh’s just happens to be our personal fave. (Though WIRED contributer Jenn Wood had a doozy too.)

9. Will Ferrell, via Funny or Die

You know what this election cycle hasn’t had enough of? Dance routines. Thank the East Lake High Spartan cheer squad, then, that Will Ferrell and Funny or Die are here to rectify that.

8. Ice Cube

There are worse ways to announce you’re about to drop new music.

7. William Barton

Ice Cube not enough of a motivator? Maybe this rallying cry from pro Hearthstone player William Barton will work?

6. Every Outfit on Sex and the City

The Instagram account Every Outfit on Sex and the City, which, yes, posts about all of the fashion on HBO’s iconic single ladies show, became something of an unofficial get-out-the-vote campaign during SATC star Cynthia Nixon’s gubernatorial run in New York earlier this year. Miranda didn’t make the ballot, but the folks behind the feed would still like you not to be a Samantha and instead vote for someone. (You’re welcome to be a Sam in other ways, though, of course.)

5. Frank Ocean, via Beats 1 Radio

It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything from R&B wunderkind Frank Ocean’s Blonded Radio on Beats 1. But he brought it back Tuesday morning with an only-kinda-cryptic image of a voting booth—and then promised merch to fans in select cities who could prove they'd voted. Thanks, Frank.

4. Demi Lovato

Singer and actress Demi Lovato has been nearly radio silent on social media since July when she entered rehab following an overdose. But she got on Instagram today to say she's "so grateful to be home in time to vote!" She went on to say "One vote can make a difference, so make sure your voice is heard!"

3. RuPaul

Much like the fine crew behind Every Outfit on Sex and the City, RuPaul would like you to get a squirrel friend to the polls. SISSY THAT VOTE.

2. Beyoncé

Beyoncé, who sent out a plea to her fans to vote via email in the 24 hours before the midterms, took to Instagram to announce support for Beto O’Rourke, who is challenging Republican Senator Ted Cruz in her home state of Texas. If anyone can get people to the polls, it’s Beyoncé. The queen has spoken.

1. Steak-umm

We’ll leave you with this—just in case you do need a frozen meat company to tell you what to do.

Mixing technology and romance can create a dangerous cocktail. Few people know that better than we do here at WIRED. Not only do we report on the chaos, but as a tech-curious bunch, we’ve had more than our fair share of mishaps and dud apps deleted after just a few days. (Ever wondered what it’s like being on dating apps in San Francisco? “People think it’s interesting that I work for WIRED,” says editorial assistant Lydia Horne. “But sometimes they just want to pitch me their startup’s latest products.”) Still, we’ve persevered. And some of us have found ways to weave technology into our romantic lives in genuinely useful ways.

The key is to mostly steer clear of apps directly marketed at couples. No one really needs a new messaging service—or calendar, or photo album, or shared list generator—preloaded with extra-cutesy emojis.

As a throng of proud, self-described nerds, we’ve discovered that many of the most practical apps and devices for streamlining relationship matters are the same ones you use in your social life, and even at your office. Here are some of the unlikely relationship heroes WIRED staffers swear by.

The Business (Apps) of Love

Kimberly Chua, Senior Digital Producer: “I’ve been a bridesmaid in three weddings, and any method of communication was always woefully inadequate. To plan my own wedding, I’ve been using Slack for messaging and the spreadsheet app Airtable. Slack lets me organize conversations with my bridesmaids by topic: Here’s where we talk logistics, here’s where we talk about dresses—I even gave them a private channel where they can talk about me. Airtable lets you sort tasks into separate views so my fiancé and I could easily divide the work. It felt silly at first to use the tools I was using at work, but it became very obvious we needed a way to create as little stress as possible, and that this was it.”

Emily Dreyfuss, Senior Writer: “We used an Excel spreadsheet to name our son. We had 72 name choices and we couldn’t agree, so we put them all into a spreadsheet. My husband wrote an algorithm to let us do blind voting and narrow it down by half. The algorithm let us rank each name and got rid of the bottom ones, and it let us save one so that the other person couldn’t vote it out. It was all very complicated! When we were left with four names, we left technology behind, headed to the hospital with all four choices, and picked based on the baby’s face.”

Joanna Pearlstein, Deputy Editor, Newsroom Standards: “I married a fellow geek, and as is evident to anyone who knows me, I love spreadsheets. For our wedding, we used Google Sheets to track costs, guests, seating arrangements, the dates on which thank-you notes were written and sent. Using Google allows me to make sure the spreadsheet is available on every computer, which is important."

Saraswati Rathod, Researcher: “I moved to San Francisco after the last lesbian bar closed down, so I didn’t really get to participate in that community until I found Meetup. On Meetup anyone with an interest can easily get a group of queer women together and basically take over a bar for the night. To me, these Meetup groups have become a staple of San Francisco’s queer community and it’s how I met the woman I’m currently dating—so it really is kind of like a digital-age bar that way.”

Logistics

Chua: “My fiancé does all the shopping because he does all the cooking, but we needed a place where we could easily keep one shopping list. The Google Home app makes it really easy, even though he’s on Android and I’m on iOS. It’s perfect: The second one of us opens the fridge and realizes we’re out of milk, they can just shout “Hey Google, add milk to the shopping list.” I can even add last-minute things while he’s shopping. We never forget anything anymore.”

Emma Grey Ellis: “So this is a good example of a tech application that would be stalky in a casual relationship, but is supremely useful in a marriage. Neither my partner nor I are particularly good at keeping an eye on our texts while we’re moving about the city. To make things worse, neither of us has any chill. So to avoid hassling each other while we’re driving and sending texts, like “Where are you? Did you die?” (or less dramatically, “Are you still at the store?”) we constantly share our locations through Google Maps.”

Anonymous: “There is an app called Private Photo Vault for those things you don’t want uploading to the cloud. It’s password-protected, and more importantly, as soon as you upload an image to the vault, it disappears from your Photos app. That way you don’t have to worry about anyone running into something racy (or just weird) if they scroll too far.”

Rebecca Heilweil, Reporting Fellow: “I’m in an old relationship that’s new to long distance. Besides always existing in each other’s lives through text messages, we’ve been prescheduling surprise meals for each other with Caviar. The trick is to put the other person’s phone number in the delivery contact information, and to not ask what they want first.”

Alex Baker-Whitcomb, Manager of Audience Development: “When we were at a distance and feeling terrible that we couldn’t celebrate together, we’d send each other bottles of alcohol with Saucey. It was the perfect way to say ‘Sorry I can’t be there with you, but here’s some champs.’ ”

Peter Rubin, Platforms Editor: “Beyond the obvious three words—Kindle Shared Library—my wife and I carved out a little piece of the cloud for ourselves. We got a home server, and set up various devices to auto-backup. Now, if our phones or Dropboxes fill up with photos or other docs, we just keep the essentials and nuke the rest, knowing they're nestled in the sweet embrace of our NAS.”

How We Love: Read More

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According to Google's "Frightgeist" map of trending costumes, there's no way around it: it's gonna be a very Fortnite Halloween. From Miami up to Boston and Anchorage down to LA, the Epic Games title is dominating people's searches for holiday getups. (At least, mostly; New England seems to be really into unicorns and fairies, and Glendive, Montana inexplicably is into "The ’50s" as a costume idea.) You, though, are a free thinker. Just because you can put on some cargo pants or an orange shirt and do the "Shoot" dance doesn't mean you want to look like every other yob out there getting pushed around in a shopping cart.

But at the same time, Halloween is on a Wednesday this year, which means that the parties start tonight—and you, my friend, have likely not gone farther than Googling how to turn "The ’50s" into a costume. (The answer is Brylcreem and taffeta. However, the ’50s was not a better time. Please do not dress up like it.) You need a fix, and fast. What, you're going to drag out that Sexy Pizza Rat costume for yet another year? The madness ends, and it ends here. Thanks to the ceaseless churn of the internet, Fornite is far from the only easy solution to life's sartorial conundra. So take a cue from us, and take a cue from current events and meme culture. Most of these costumes are already lurking in your home, just waiting to be thrown together hastily before you leave the house to dodge the shopping carts.

Spot Mini, the Boston Dynamics Robot

Of course robots aren't going to take over world. So what if they can open doors? Or fight through human resistance to open more doors? Or do parkour? The only thing that would truly strike fear is if they could robo-twerk to Bruno Mars, which is obviously never gonna hap—sorry, what's that? Ah. I see. So then putting on knee-high black compression socks and a yellow tracksuit and doing a herky-jerky Running Man is less of a Halloween costume than a last-ditch effort to blend in. Got it. —Peter Rubin

The American Chopper Argument

This meme, derived from an episode of the reality show American Chopper where Paul Teutul Sr. fired his son Paul Teutal Jr., is actually a great way to lay out the simple facets of a debate. (Just like Plato used to do!) As the argument escalates, each frame of the meme lays out a different point from each side of the debate. For this reason, it probbably lends itself most readily to a duo or couple's costume. To execute it, one person needs to wear jeans, a black T-shirt with the sleeves cut off and a grey handlebar moustache (also platinum hair and some fake arm tattoos, if you can swing it). The other person needs to wear jeans, a black T-shirt (with sleeves), and a black baseball cap. As for the debate itself, it's possible to pick a debate laid out in one of the many examples of the meme or create your own. Put the points of the debate on signs that you both can walk around with to act out the argument. Also, if you want to encourage interactivity, wear the costumes while carrying dry-erase boards so that your fellow celebrants can use you as props to lay out arguments of their own. —Angela Watercutter

Yanny—or Is It Laurel?

"Who are you supposed to be?"
"Larnef."
"Who?"
"Yannel."
"Wait, what?"
"Sorry, did you not understand me? Laruvel." Yes, simply by printing this out and hanging it around your neck (or just buying a t-shirt from its creator), you too can be as annoying as the many, many news stories about the senseless auditory illusion, none of which actually found the opera singer who recorded the snippet more than a decade ago. Well, none that weren't the one by our own Louise Matsakis, anyway. Nice one, Louise! —P.R.

The A Star Is Born Meme

No doubt Halloween parties this year will have more than a few variations on Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's characters from A Star Is Born. But the meme, that four-panel "I just wanted to take another look at you" bit, that one is not likely to be left in the shallow, either. So how do you do it? A couple of ways: You could make a couple T-shirts, like these superfans. If you have a spare car door lying around—or are handy enough to fashion one by hand—you could roll down the window, get a greasy mop like Jackson Maine's, and just walk around all night saying "hey!" and seeing who turns around to take a look at you. Bonus points if you can get a companion to play Ally/Gaga and find you charming all night long. —A.W.

An Absolute Unit

While the meme officially got its start in 2017, the spring is when the internet's love of majestic rotundity really took root. But here's the thing: you can't just be an absolute unit and expect people to know that's what you're doing. The key here is wordplay. So maybe carry a bottle of vodka in one hand and two plums in the other; now you're an Absolut eunuch! If you're heading somewhere with a lot of programmers, go as an Absolute Unix Terminal. (If you're not going somewhere with a lot of programmers, though, do not do this. Please.)

Gritty

OK, so full disclosure: you might actually need a lion mask to be able to pull off professional hockey's terrifying new mascot. And an Ernie mask to paste it on top of, just to give you the perfect slavering murder-rictus. Oh, and giant googly eyes. And a Philadelphia Flyers jersey. But you've got black sweatpants somewhere, right? I mean, who doesn't have black sweatpants? What, you've never dressed up like someone who skates around during commercial breaks and then lurks in the bowels of sports arenas, waiting to prey on innocents? I'm beginning to question whether you even want this. —P.R.

The "Him Too" Kid

You gotta hand it to Pieter Hanson. After his mom tweeted a (since deleted) picture of him in his Navy uniform and saying he "won’t go on solo dates due to the current climate of false sexual accusations by radical feminists with an axe to grind” and the #HimToo hashtag, Hanson followed it up by creating his own Twitter account denoucing what his mom said, and #HimToo as well. This costume, then, is pretty easy. If you have Navy whites, complete with cap, just wear those. And maybe carry a sign with a big red slash through "#HimToo" for people who may not know the meme and just think your a sailor. Also, be ready to strike Hanson's now-famous pose. —A.W.

Is This a Pigeon?

You may not recognize the name, but you've definitely seen the meme. Derived from a scene in the anime The Brave Fighter of Sun Fighbird in which a humanoid thinks a butterfly is a pigeon, this year it became the go-to way to demonstrate any person or group's misunderstanding of some concept or topic. To make this a costume, you'll need a pair of black-rimmed glasses, a short black haircut (or wig), a red button-up shirt and grey trenchcoat, a thick hardcover book, and a fake butterfly that you can attach to your shoulder with some kind of spring-y wire. As for how you interpret the meme, that's up to you. Either consult Know Your Meme for some well-known examples, or be a smarty-pants and come up with one on your own. Once you have it, render it in bold type and attach it to your face, chest, and butterfly in the appropriate places. Then, flutter away. —A.W.

Blunt-Hitting Elon Musk

Live in Canada? Or District of Columbia, or one of the eight states that has fully legalized the recreational use of cannabis? Just grab an OCCUPY t-shirt and a pack of backwoods, and you can take it from here. Just don't threaten to take Tesla private and drive, if you know what we're saying. —P.R.

Lime Scooter

Not all memes live on Twitter. Some of them live strewn in the bushes in front of that church down your block, or clustered more than 20 deep in front of your subway station. They're great memes, and they provide a real service to people, they're just a little … annoying sometimes. Why not be a little annoying yourself? All it takes is a QR code slapped on your forehead, a black t-shirt/white shorts/green sneakers combo, and a willingness to fall over in front of people at the worst possible moment. Or, if you've got a friend of high-school age, just give them piggyback rides all night—as long as those rides involve you sprinting into traffic or down crowded sidewalks, with no helmets involved whatsoever. "Last-mile solution" never sounded so spooky! —P.R.

Redpilled Kanye West

MAGA hat? Check. Trump photo? Check. Now just call the photo "dad," call for overturning the 13th Amendment, and watch everyone's face crumple with grief and pity. Don't worry, you're still a genius—it's just that we're trying to bring you down. Yeah, that's it. —P.R.