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Artificial Synapses Could Lead to Brainier, Super-Efficient Computers

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Brains, beyond their signature achievements in thinking and problem solving, are paragons of energy efficiency. The human brain’s power consumption resembles that of a 20-watt incandescent lightbulb. In contrast, one of the world’s largest and fastest supercomputers, the K computer in Kobe, Japan, consumes as much as 9.89 megawatts of energy—an amount roughly equivalent to […]

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Twitter Is Devouring Jeff Bezos' National Enquirer Fight

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Deep breath. OK, here goes. It would be hard to miss the news, but in case you did, here's the short version: Late Thursday, Jeff Bezos took to (of all places) Medium to detail what he called blackmail by The National Enquirer. In the post, the Amazon CEO alleges that he received threatening messages from […]

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Netflix Raises Prices to Stockpile for the Streaming Wars

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On Tuesday, Netflix announced that it would raise prices across all of its plans in the US. For most people, that means their $11 monthly rate will hop to $13 over the next few months. New customers will pay the higher price starting today. No one likes a price hike, especially given that Netflix just […]

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This Robot Tractor Is Ready to Disrupt Construction

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Zipping around like a bumblebee, the little black-and-yellow tractor claws its bucket into one of San Francisco’s few vacant lots, kicking up a puff of dust. Payload secured, it backs up—beep, beep, beep—whips around, and speeds to its dirt pile, stopping so quickly that it tips forward on two wheels. It drops its quarry and […]

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The YouTube King of Useless Machines

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Joseph Herscher's YouTube videos get millions of views. They’d better—Herscher spends a lot of time on them. That’s because Herscher’s channel, Joseph's Machines, isn't just an ongoing vlog or series of simple tutorials (not that there's anything wrong with that). Instead, it's a series of videos in which the comedian demonstrates the overly complex Rube […]

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Soft Robots Acquire Origami Skeletons for Super-Strength

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I can’t sit here and promise you that the robot apocalypse isn’t coming, that the machines won’t eventually rise up and overthrow their makers. But what I can promise you is that not all of them will be able to punch you out. Because robots are going soft. Like, literally soft, controlled with liquid or […]

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So Is Hulu Just Trolling Netflix Now, or What?

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Happy Thursday, and welcome once again to The Monitor, WIRED's roundup of the latest in the world of pop culture, from music to movies to Momoa. Today, we've got updates on new tunes from Weezer and Ariana Grande, as well as details on a new Riverdale spinoff and the latest battle in the streaming wars. […]