The 9 Most-Read WIRED Stories in June

http://ift.tt/2ute7S9

The 9 Most-Read WIRED Stories in June

http://ift.tt/2utdqIE

June was quite a month for our WIRED world. It started the day after President Donald Trump tweeted about 'covfefe' (whatever that means) and ended with the spread of Petya, a ransomware outbreak many believe to be an act of cyberwar against Ukraine, a nation that has become a sort of testing lab for Russia's cyberwar strategy.

In between, Travis Kalanick resigned from his position as Uber's CEO; Apple announced all of the things at its developer conference (and the iPhone turned 10!); Amazon acquired Whole Foods in a bid to transform grocery shopping; and the European Union slapped Google with a $2.7 billion antitrust fine (and that may not be the end of the company's woes).

Along the way, WIRED covered all of these issues—and more. As your steward of our online coverage, I've compiled our nine most-read stories, as calculated by how much time you, dear reader, spent perusing these pieces.

Apple’s new HQ is a retrograde, literally inward-looking building with contempt for the city where it lives and cities in general. People rightly credit Apple for defining the look and feel of the future; its computers and phones seem like science fiction. But by building a mega-headquarters straight out of the middle of the last century, Apple has exacerbated the already serious problems endemic to 21st-century suburbs like Cupertino—transportation, housing, and economics. Apple Park is an anachronism wrapped in glass, tucked into a neighborhood. — Adam Rogers

It’s the career of Aaron Zebley, a dogged FBI agent turned prosecutor turned confidant, that perhaps best points to how Robert Mueller intends to run his new investigation into the Trump campaigns ties to Russia: With absolute tenacity and strong central leadership from Mueller himself. It’s a team that’s not just a paper office tiger but one with deep experience investigating crime around the world. — Garrett M. Graff

One bite from the lone star tick—which gets its name from the Texas-shaped splash of white on its back—is enough to reprogram your immune system to forever reject even the smallest nibble of perfectly crisped bacon. — Megan Molteni

The overpriced, overcomplicated F-35 program may seem ill-conceived, particularly when today's drones and satellites can do much of the work of a ’90s-era fighter jet. But it's too big and too far along to be abandoned now. Plus, the jet has finally started to prove itself in the skies. — Jack Stewart

Before you can understand how it can be too hot to fly, you have to understand how airplanes fly. — Rhett Allain

Eighty-nine-year-old Max Schlienger looks nothing like your typical tech visionary, but he shares the Silicon Valley ethos that says if there's a better solution, use it. — Alex Davies

Today, Apple showed that it still cares about PCs. The iMac Pro can have processors up to 22 teraflops, memory up to 128 gigs, and as much as 4 terabytes of storage. There’s also a new thermal cooling system with two fans that seems like it has its work cut out for it. — David Pierce

Poppy is built to be mesmerizing. Hers is a new brand of celebrity at the nexus of one-off meme maker, legitimate pop star, and avant-garde artist. The more you learn about her, the harder it is to tear your eyes from your screen as she pushes you to follow, to comment, to subscribe. And so you do, hoping that maybe it will bring you one step closer to understanding her. This is the magic of Poppy, a star for today’s internet, exquisitely designed to dig her pink fingernails into your brain. — Lexi Pandell

As long as Netlflix's subscriber numbers kept rising, the streaming service could use its piles of cash to make all the shows it wanted, from big hits to niche programming. But even the longest tail has an end. — Angela Watercutter

Digital Trends

via Wired https://www.wired.com

June 30, 2017 at 07:39PM