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Cats as Horror Movie Villains

Do people like watching cats because of neoteny? I doubt it, because adult cats don’t look at all like babies. But then why do we have this odd fascination with every ordinary action of a cat and treating them as instances of a Platonic Cat? I speculate that there may be an evolutionary psychology reason: cats in Africa prey on primates to a degree I suspect few people appreciate, and this seems to have been true for millions of years, making them our apex predator. So perhaps we are still sligh

WhatsApp streamlines in-app support process

If you’ve ever tried to get in-app support on WhatsApp, you know the process used to start with filling out a form, possibly attaching a few files, and waiting for a support rep to eventually get in touch. Now, that form is on its way out, and the screening process is, you guessed it, becoming AI-based. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Out with the form, in with AI Unless you’re Stephen Hackett, support knowledge bases are never fun to navigate, especially if you are in a hurry and alr

WhatsApp should prepare to stop operating in Russia, official says

A Russian lawmaker who regulates the IT industry said WhatsApp should prepare to stop offering its services in the country. Anton Gorelkin, the deputy head of the lower house of parliament's IT committee, said that it's very likely that WhatsApp will be placed on a list of restricted software, as Reuters reports. WhatsApp owner Meta is designated as an extremist organisation in Russia, which has banned Facebook and Instagram since 2022. This week, President Vladimir Putin issued a directive for

Call of Duty cheaters complain after Activision launches new wave of mass-bans

Several players of the popular first-person shooter Call of Duty complained last week that they were permanently banned from the game for using a well-known cheat. Video game streamer ItsHapa wrote on X last week that Call of Duty players using ArtificialAiming, a cheat provider of more than 19 years, were the targets of a “massive wave of permabans,” referring to bans that cannot be reversed, which prevents cheaters from creating new accounts. The streamer also posted a series of screenshots f

Most Cats Sleep on Their Left Side, and Scientists Think They Know Why

If you’re a cat owner, chances are you spend an unhealthy amount of time scrolling through your photo gallery, reviewing adorable photos of your cats for the thousandth time. While doing so, perhaps you’ve noticed that your cats appear to favor a certain side while sleeping. And if that happens to be the left side, new scientific research suggests you’re right. This could be a survival strategy for cats, according to a recent study published in Current Biology. In the paper, the researchers exp

Forget AirPods - these Beats headphones work just as well with iOS and Android

ZDNET's key takeaways The Beats Solo 4 headphones are available for $200 in Matte Black, Slate Blue, and Cloud Pink. Beats' best-selling headphones return with up-to-date features, signaling that the company used the product's long hiatus wisely. A tight fit and small ear cups may cut your listening experience shorter than you'd like. $129.95 at B&H Photo-Video I've spent a lot of time testing headphones, and I find a new favorite with every fresh release. But one pair of headphones will

I replaced my Apple Watch with these heart-rate-monitoring earbuds from Beats (and they did some things better)

ZDNET's key takeaways The Powerbeats Pro 2 retail for $250 in vibrant Black, Quick Sand, Hyper Purple, and Electric Orange colorways. The earbuds can replace your smartwatch or fitness tracker, offering exercise and activity data via companion apps. The sound isn't very robust, delivering weak bass and hollow mids. View now at Apple I've tested dozens of earbuds over the past year, and even new releases can feel monotonous after a while. Most brands make product upgrades in small strides, kee

18 Best Prime Day Pet Deals on Amazon (2025)

Amazon Prime Day is arguably the best time of the year to upgrade your pet's setup for way less dough. As the pet tech writer here at WIRED, I have strong opinions about which (often pricey) pet gear is worth the money. From automatic litter boxes to feeders and fountains, and even DNA testing kits and pet cameras, I've pulled together the best Prime Day pet deals on WIRED-tested gear for this event, which runs through July 11. I'll be updating with more deals as I find them, so make sure you're

Don’t wait: Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 earbuds are 28% off for a few more hours

Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority If you’re looking to upgrade your workout gear, you have a few more hours of Prime Day to catch this record deal on the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 earbuds. The wireless buds are on offer for just $179.99, which is a full $20 lower than we’ve ever previously tracked their price. Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 for $179.99 (28% off) Designed for fitness enthusiasts, the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 features secure-fit ear hooks made from lightweight nickel-titanium alloy, 20% ligh

The price of these workout earbuds from Beats just dropped even lower. Get them while the deal still aplies

ZDNET's key takeaways The Powerbeats Pro 2 retail for $250 in vibrant Black, Quick Sand, Hyper Purple, and Electric Orange colorways. The earbuds can replace your smartwatch or fitness tracker, offering exercise and activity data via companion apps. The sound isn't very robust, delivering weak bass and hollow mids. View now at Apple The Powerbeats Pro 2 are $80 off right now on Amazon, during Amazon's last day of Prime Day. This is $30 more savings compared to the first two days of Prime Day.

The price of these workout earbuds from Beats just dropped even lower

ZDNET's key takeaways The Powerbeats Pro 2 retail for $250 in vibrant Black, Quick Sand, Hyper Purple, and Electric Orange colorways. The earbuds can replace your smartwatch or fitness tracker, offering exercise and activity data via companion apps. The sound isn't very robust, delivering weak bass and hollow mids. View now at Apple The Powerbeats Pro 2 are $80 off right now on Amazon, during Amazon's third day of Prime Day. This is $30 more savings compared to the past two days of Prime Day.

Prime Day Deal: Everyone Should Have Exactly Three Pairs of Headphones. Two of My Picks Are on Sale Today

Amazon Prime Day deal: The OnePlus Buds 3, my top choice for everyday earbuds, are 12% off for Prime Day, dropping the price to $88 from their usual list price of $100. The Beats Powerbeats Pro 2, my go-to for running, are seeing a whopping 28% discount on Amazon. That brings them down to an all-time low price of $180. When most people ask you what your "big three" are, they're likely inquiring about your sun, moon and rising signs. But when I ask you the same question, I'm not trying to determ

The Powerbeats Pro 2 are down to their best price yet for Prime Day

The Powerbeats Pro 2 are only a few months old, but they’re already on sale for an all-time low of around $179.95 ($70 off) at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy. We’ve seen the wireless earbuds drop in price here and there since launching in February, but Amazon is currently one-upping the previous low by a cool $20 for Prime Day. The earbuds aren’t quite as cheap as Apple’s second-gen AirPods Pro, which are down to $149 ($100 off) at Amazon, but if you want a pair specifically for working out, the

Get the Beats Studio Pro headphones at $180 off in this non-Prime deal

Adam Molina Beats fans and audio enthusiasts, there’s a significant opportunity to grab the Beats Studio Pro headphones at a great price. As part of the Prime Day event, you can purchase them for $169.99, down from their $349.99 retail price. This impressive 51% markdown matches their lowest price point this year. Beats Studio Pro for $169.99 (51% off) The Beats Studio Pro headphones offer a compelling set of features. With active noise cancelation, transparency mode, and personalized spatial

Kim Kardashian Will Be Shocked, Amazon Offers Her Co-Branded Beats Pill for Almost Free

Amazon is pulling out all the stops for Prime Day this year, and it offers massive discounts on nearly every major portable Bluetooth speaker brand. Whether you’re eyeing models from Bose, Marshall, Sonos or Beats, there’s never been a better time to upgrade your audio setup. If you’re after the iconic Beats Pill, including the co-branded Kim Kardashian edition or any of the classic colors (the red one is a personal favorite), now is the moment to act. For instance, the Beats Pill x Kim Kardash

How to Save a Dog

The first time I glimpsed the city of New Orleans, I was a small boy in the wheelhouse of a tugboat. My father pushed barges up and down the Mississippi River, and sometimes he let me tag along. The city seemed so luminous at night—so different from tiny Convent, Louisiana, where I was from—that it felt otherworldly and inaccessible. In 2020, I moved there during a painful divorce. Because of that childhood memory, my relocation felt somehow transgressive. I was going where I did not belong. Sh

From Point Clouds to Photorealism: How PRoGS Advances the State of Neural Rendering

What if a real-time automated decision-making process needs a computer vision system to produce photorealistic visuals in a mere fraction of a second? In many cases, this requires too much computational power — if it’s even possible at all. When computer vision uses 3D Gaussian splatting (3DGS), it provides a photorealistic image, but the process takes far too long. For more on this topic, see our article on computer vision for disaster responses. This article discusses a new approach, Progress

Experts Clear Up This Summer's Confusing Dehydration Myths

It's no secret how important it is to stay hydrated, especially this summer. If you don't properly replenish liquids and nutrients and spend lots of time in the sun, you're more prone to sweating and dehydration. There are various ways to stay hydrated that you may not have considered, but -- as is common with online wellness advice -- there's a lot of misinformation out there on hydration. We are clarifying these fallacies once and for all with the help of experts. These are the hydration myth

Android malware Anatsa infiltrates Google Play to target US banks

The Anatsa banking trojan has sneaked into Google Play once more via an app posing as a PDF viewer that counted more than 50,000 downloads. The malware becomes active on the device immediately after installing the app, tracking users launching North American banking apps and serving them an overlay that allows accessing the account, keylogging, or automating transactions. According to Threat Fabric researchers who spotted the latest campaign and reported it to Google, Anatsa shows users a fake

Beats Studio Pro Headphones Are Dirt Cheap, Amazon Wants to Get Rid of Them at Prime Day

There are more than enough wireless headphones with active noise cancellation (ANC) available on the market but they are not all created equal or as comfortable. Even within the same brand, there will be various models available to suit different needs and price points, as with Beats’ Solo 4 and Studio Pro headphones. If you would prefer a premium model at a ridiculously low cost, Amazon is making it happen with the Beats Studio Pro during this Prime Day sale. This deal is exclusive to Prime me

I Tried Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp, and This Is the One I'd Recommend

Key points: Most widely used messaging app Uses the same encryption protocol as Signal Collects heaps of your data Free, but owned and operated by Meta WhatsApp is the most popular private messaging app on this list, with about 2 billion monthly users, according to Exploding Topics. Because it's so popular, there's a higher chance that other people you might be chatting with have WhatsApp, and therefore your chats can be encrypted. And if the person you're chatting with doesn't have WhatsAp

These workout earbuds from Beats measured my heart rate - and they're on sale

ZDNET's key takeaways The Powerbeats Pro 2 retail for $250 in vibrant Black, Quick Sand, Hyper Purple, and Electric Orange colorways. The earbuds can replace your smartwatch or fitness tracker, offering exercise and activity data via companion apps. The sound isn't very robust, delivering weak bass and hollow mids. View now at Apple The Powerbeats Pro 2 are $50 off right now on Amazon, ahead of Amazon's four-day Prime Day event that kicks off tomorrow. They're great exercise earbuds for iPhon

I prefer Signal but use WhatsApp for this simple reason

Robert Triggs / Android Authority When WhatsApp changed its terms in 2021, I was one of the many users who looked for alternative messaging apps for Android. While I had heard about Signal before, the controversial move by WhatsApp prompted me to actually try the app out. I loved it then and I still love it now. But over all these years, I barely use Signal even though I prefer it greatly over WhatsApp. And that’s because of a major advantage WhatsApp has over the privacy-focused messaging app

Beats Headphones With 50-Hour Battery Life Are Almost Free, Amazon Sells Them at Cost to Clear Stock

Prime Day has become the biggest shopping moment of the year, far outpacing Black Friday, thanks to Amazon’s willingness to slash prices to levels you simply won’t find anywhere else. For this event, Amazon often drops its margins to zero or even sells at a loss, all to attract shoppers with deals that are too good to pass up. One of the best offers right now in the Electronics category is on the Beats Solo 4 wireless headphones and the best part is that this deal is open to everyone—Prime memb

The Verge’s summer ‘in’ and ‘out’ list

Here at this website, my colleagues and I follow our beats closely, from wearable tech and laptops to influencer culture and federal policy. Last year, I asked a bunch of staff at The Verge to pretend to be trend forecasters for a lighthearted collection of what’s hot and what’s not. Some of the predictions really held up: many would say the US Supreme Court continues to be out, congestion pricing in New York is decidedly in despite attempts to kill it, and cats are, as ever, a bit of both.

The Titanic’s Best Lifeboat

Everyone grows up learning the same story about the RMS Titanic, that when the ship set out on its maiden voyage in 1912, the owners and authorities, confident that the ship was unsinkable, did not require it to carry a full complement of lifeboats. So when the Titanic sank in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic, more than half of the people on board died for lack of lifeboat space. But the more you learn about the history of lifeboats and how they worked, the more you realize that the stand

The Titanic's Best Lifeboat

Everyone grows up learning the same story about the RMS Titanic, that when the ship set out on its maiden voyage in 1912, the owners and authorities, confident that the ship was unsinkable, did not require it to carry a full complement of lifeboats. So when the Titanic sank in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic, more than half of the people on board died for lack of lifeboat space. But the more you learn about the history of lifeboats and how they worked, the more you realize that the stand

Meta adds business voice calling to WhatsApp, explores AI-powered product recommendations

WhatsApp is adding more AI features to its business suite. The company on Tuesday announced it’s introducing the ability for large businesses to reach customers through voice calls, which will allow the app to explore the use of AI-powered voice agents. The company is also looking into using AI to recommend products to users. WhatsApp Business, which has over 200 million monthly users, has been a notable revenue driver for Meta, as its executives noted in the last few quarterly earnings calls.

Gemini could soon rival ChatGPT with its new privacy feature (Update: A closer look)

Ryan Haines / Android Authority TL;DR Google is working on a temporary chat feature for Gemini. This feature could be similar to ChatGPT’s Temporary Chats, which give users a blank slate for conversation and doesn’t save any memory. We were able to subsequently take a closer look at this feature via more screenshots. Update: July 1, 2025 (8:30 AM ET): We uncovered evidence of a temporary chat feature in Gemini earlier this month (see the original article below). We were only able to provide

This thumb-sized accessory gave my old PC an instant speed boost (and double the storage)

ZDNET's key takeaways PNY 1TB CS3150 M.2 storage drive, available for around $170. Overall, it's a fast M.2 drive with active cooling to keep running temperatures below the maximum rated temperature. The heatsink makes the drive rather bulky, and you will need a 4-pin fan header on the motherboard to power the fans. $169.99 at B&H Photo-Video In the not-so-distant past, the solution for speed-boosting an aging and sluggish PC was to add more RAM or upgrade the processor. Now, the way to sail