/Top Stories/ Last Updated: Fri, Jan 17th, 2025 @ 8:25am EST

Wired Top Stories

Rachael Elward, Lauren Ford

The Real Cognitive Neuroscience Behind ‘Severance’

The “severance procedure” isn't real—but some of Severance’s ideas aren’t as out-there as you may think.

BuzzFeed - Latest

26 Products Under $30 To Make Your Home Look A Bit More Put-Together

Looking like you have your life together can be as simple as having actual placemats on your kitchen table.

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BuzzFeed - Latest

Kyle MacLachlan Called David Lynch “The Most Authentically Alive Person” He’d Ever Met In An Emotional Tribute After His Death

“I will miss him more than the limits of my language can tell and my heart can bear. My world is that much fuller because I knew him and that much emptier now that he’s gone.”

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BuzzFeed - Latest

Microwaves, Irons, And 15 Other "Devil Technologies" People Had To Explain To Their Grandparents

"After ironing, she would insist on leaving it plugged in and placed on a high shelf 'so the leftover electricity would drain back out.' Apparently, it took a long time to convince her that electricity did not work like water."

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BuzzFeed - Latest

34 “Travel” Versions Of Products You’ll Wanna Buy And Then Keep In Your Suitcase For Your Next Trip

Packing for your next getaway is going to be *so* much easier.

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BuzzFeed - Latest

32 Products For Savvy Thirtysomethings Who Love Getting Their Money's Worth

These gems are so reliable, they're def worth every penny (and then some).

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The Verge

Mia Sato

6 TikTok creators on where they’ll go if the app is banned

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Brendan Hoffman, Getty Images

It’s been more than four years since Donald Trump first moved to expel TikTok from the US — and now, just days before a second Trump presidency begins, it just might happen.

President Joe Biden signed legislation last April that officially began the countdown that would force TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to divest from the US business. But even afterward, the atmosphere on the video powerhouse was mostly...

NYT > Home Page

Tracy Mumford, Kellen Browning, Raymond Zhong, Ian Stewart and Jessica Metzger

Cease-Fire Expected to Move Forward, and a Last-Ditch Pitch to Save TikTok

Plus, remembering David Lynch’s weirdness.

Mashable

If TikTok is banned in the U.S., this is what it will look like for everyone else

In just a matter of days, the lights will switch off on the app that has almost dominated, and certainly defined, the United States in the last five years. TikTok — the second most downloaded app in the country in 2024, and with 170 million active American users — is going to shut down in the U.S. following a law passed last year that requires Bytedance, TikTok’s parent company, to either sell the app to a U.S. company or shut down operations. 

Despite several attempts to stall this,...

Mashable

Jimmy Kimmel responds to Trumps plan to save Hollywood

If you were worried at all about the state of the movie industry, then fear not: Donald Trump has a plan to make Hollywood great again.

In the Jimmy Kimmel Live! clip above, the host shares the incoming president's recent Truth Social post announcing that Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone will serve as his "special envoys" to the industry. All three men have previously endorsed or supported Trump. Gibson has faced a litany of allegations over his career, including anti-semitism,...

Mashable

Apple pulls AI news summaries after blatantly false headlines

Following a series of blatantly false summaries of headlines and severe backlash from journalists and newsrooms, Apple has paused its AI-generated news summary push notifications...for now.

"With the latest beta software releases of iOS 18.3, iPadOS 18.3, and macOS Sequoia 15.3, Notification summaries for the News & Entertainment category will be temporarily unavailable," an Apple spokesperson told Mashable via email.

SEE ALSO: How to identify AI-generated text: 7...

SBNation.com

Noa Dalzell

Unrivaled’s 1-on-1 tourney could transform basketball culture — and help determine the WNBA’s best player

Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images

Everyone thinks they’re going to win Unrivaled’s groundbreaking 1-on-1 tournament. Here’s why that’s so exciting.

Basketball fans have long clamored for 1-on-1 tournaments at NBA and WNBA All-Star weekends — but it seemed unlikely that they would ever take place. Different stars play different positions, and players and their brands could be exposed in a 1-on-1 environment.

Unrivaled is set to change all that dramatically. The new...

SBNation.com

Matt Warren

NFL free agent rankings: Safeties

Chris Pedota / USA TODAY NETWORK

Take a look at the free agents at the safety position.

While we won’t see a first-round safety in the 2025 NFL Draft, the position is still a key piece of any defense, just not as important as pass rush and cornerback. There are plenty of solid options available in free agency, too, and several of the names are familiar.

We polled a group of writers from around SB Nation to gather consensus rankings about the available players.

We will remove...

Fast Company

Chris Stokel-Walker

Makers of autonomous vehicles want to change the world—but first they want to change regulations

Aurora Innovation’s controversial court case to change driving regulations hints at a challenging few years ahead on America’s roads.

When a truck breaks down, its driver knows what to do. They pull over to the side of the road, put on their hazard warning lights, and lay out safety triangles to warn other drivers about the risk of the parked vehicle. Except that might not be the case much longer if autonomous trucking company Aurora Innovation has its way.

Fast Company

Patrick Sisson

L.A. was already behind on its Olympics prep. The wildfires will make it so much worse

Can Los Angeles balance the massive wildfire recovery while also preparing to host the 2028 Olympic Games?

The massive organizational, infrastructure, and transportation challenges of hosting the Olympics Games is truly a marathon. For Los Angeles, host of the forthcoming 2028 Summer Games, that long logistical race just became significantly harder. 

Fast Company

Rob Walker

Starbucks proves it was never really a ‘third place’

Starbucks surprised many with its new code of conduct for customers. Turns out, it was a luxury brand all along.

Branded is a weekly column devoted to the intersection of marketing, business, design, and culture.

Fast Company

Mark Sullivan

‘There’s no stone left unturned’: Alejandro Mayorkas on bringing AI into the DHS

During a politically turbulent term, the homeland security secretary and his tech team deployed almost 160 AI applications across the department.

Alejandro Mayorkas held what’s been called “the hardest job in Washington” during a particularly turbulent time in U.S. politics. As Biden’s Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, he endured an impeachment by House Republicans, a fentanyl crisis, a string of natural disasters, and a number of terror attacks on home soil. But he...

Fast Company

Associated Press

TikTok ban will not be enforced by Biden

The app’s fate will now be left to President-elect Trump.

President Joe Biden won’t enforce a ban on the social media app TikTok that is set to take effect a day before he leaves office on Monday, a U.S. official said Thursday, leaving its fate in the hands of President-elect Donald Trump.

Congress last year, in a law signed by Biden, required that TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance divest the company by Jan. 19, a day before the presidential inauguration. The official said...

Wired Top Stories

Kat Merck

7 Best Dry Shampoos, Editor Tested and Reviewed (2025)

I spent months testing 25-plus dry shampoos on day-two hair and beyond—these are the most effective formulas you can buy.

Wired Top Stories

Carlton Reid

Polestar Has a Bold Plan—Get Better at Selling Cars

The China-controled EV brand has been losing tens of thousands of dollars on every car sold. With a US ban on Chinese car sales looming, the company needs to quickly turn things around.

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