The Stripe offices in San Francisco. Ariel Zambelich/WIRED I just met Greg Brockman a few minutes ago, but I’m already showing him my credit card number. Brockman is the chief technology officer at Stripe, the billion-dollar online payments startup backed by some of the biggest names in Silicon…

The massive female celebrity nudes leak scandal of 2014 was presaged just days earlier by a smaller tremor. Calum Hood, the bassist in the newly popular boy band 5 Seconds of Summer, admitted that a fully frontal nude Snapchat was, in fact, him. Although his face was obscured in the image, other…

Just a little under 31 years ago, I played a key role in a conspiracy theory that grew up around a passenger plane downed by a Russian missile.  Trust me, I did not mean to be involved.  On September 1, 1983, Korean Airlines flight 007, a Boeing 747 with 269 passengers, was shot down over the Sea…

Grantland: The End of an 'Empire': HBO's Onetime Hope for the Future Sputters to Its Conclusion, by @andygreenwald http://t.co/rVumxhNlhD

Grantland: Idiot Ruins Game? Brief Interviews With Not-So-Hideous Pitch Invaders, by @A_W_Gordon http://t.co/TDe9xcVAwX

I was born on the other side Of a town ripped in two I made it over the great divide Well now I’m coming for you.” —“Tear Me Down” Thematically, Hedwig And The Angry Inch is a story of division and reconciliation. This is spelled out explicitly in many of the musical’s songs, particularly “Origin Of…

There’s a public-relations maneuver common among campaigning politicians and disgraced celebrities that involves the deployment of self-awareness as defense mechanism. The idea is that if you acknowledge the public’s perception of you (“I recognize that I frequently appear to be insincere”), then…

All images from Everett Collection, except illustration (second from right) from Photofest. This year, Quentin Tarantino ’s Christmas present to the world is “Django Unchained,” the violent story of a slave ( Jamie Foxx ) on a mission to free his wife ( Kerry Washington ) from the plantation of the…

When people see my iPhone they’re like, “My God, man, do you have some kind of crazy phone virus?” It’s got no web browser. No email. No Twitter, no Instagram, no Facebook. It looks like this: But no, the phone isn’t broken. I actually did it on purpose. It was supposed to be a one week experiment,…

One of Sir Quentin Blake's illustrations from the previously unpublished chapter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Photograph: Sir Quentin Blake A lost chapter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, deemed too wild, subversive and insufficiently moral for the tender minds of British children…

Grantland: A Look at the Films, Characters, and Ideas That Might Shape the New Quentin Tarantino Western, by @switzke http://t.co/ZOoygqQNi6

33 1/3 Books: Danger Mouse Week – Day 2: Can You Be a Rebel Without a Clue? http://t.co/DOw3S4w0qK

Patton Oswalt: Here's my TIME column about why I took my Twitter hiatus: http://t.co/tzzofSFIKw

The best—though still fuzzy—global estimates say as much as $1.5 trillion in criminal proceeds is laundered each year. The United Nations figures that as little as one-fifth of one percent of that is ever recovered. Levin has proposed legislation to extend the Patriot Act’s regulations to…

A struggling Korean baseball team have invented a novel way to improve atmosphere at their matches - by bringing in a crowd of robot fans. Hanwha Eagles supporters not able to get to the stadium can control the robot over the internet. The bots can cheer, chant and perform a Mexican wave - but…

Illustration by Christian Gralingen One looked like a woman but was too tall, or maybe it was just that the other one was so small, like a little boy. I saw them around Portland all the time that summer. Were they young or old? Couldn’t tell. Were they from the present, or another era; i.e.,…

From Seeing Through the Illusion: Understanding Apple’s Mastery of the Media , a profile examining Apple’s PR strategy: Pogue, Baig, former Newsweek columnist Steven Levy, and Mossberg (left to right) Product Reviews, Briefings, & Reviewer’s Guides The attention that Apple’s PR and Communications…

From Seeing Through the Illusion: Understanding Apple’s Mastery of the Media , a profile examining Apple’s PR strategy: The number of major controversies in Apple’s recent history could be counted on a single hand, but because of the company’s size and history of PR dominance, each one has attracted…

Jennifer Lawrence's agent has confirmed the photos are real and a complete violation of the star's privacy. Photo: Mike Marsland Nude photos leaked online Backlash against outlets who published photos How to keep your photos safe from hackers In what's being called the biggest celebrity hacking…

In 2012, I realized I had a problem. My iPhone made me twitchy. I could feel it in my pocket, calling me, like the Ring called Bilbo Baggins. It distracted me from my kids. It distracted me from my wife. It distracted me anytime, anywhere. I just didn’t have the willpower to ignore email and Twitter…

Uber is arming teams of independent contractors with burner phones and credit cards as part of its sophisticated effort to undermine Lyft and other competitors. Interviews with current and former contractors, along with internal documents obtained by The Verge , outline the company’s evolving…

Uber, Lyft, and other ridesharing apps are often described—or describe themselves—in terms of technological inevitability. Taxi drivers and regulators can keep crying about these forces of "sharing," but what's the use? This is just what a connected society is. It's natural. But the true sharing…

In the app economy, it's painfully common to come across a new app that's only as ridiculous in its content as it is in its apparent success. Just think back to Yo, which launched a few months ago to much fanfare and with a million-dollar investment. Wouldn't it be just great to invent an entirely…

We've all heard of cops gone bad, cops on the take. But the tale that's come out of New York lately is of an entirely different order: Louis Scarcella, a star detective now accused of putting away innocent people, over decades, on false charges, by whatever means necessary—forced confessions,…

On an unseasonably cold Saturday afternoon in March 2012, Jeremy Hammond , one of the most destructive hackers in American history, logged into his computer in his squalid Chicago duplex for the second-to-last time. His friend Sabu , a notorious hacker who had often encouraged him to attack more…

LOS ANGELES — American moviegoers sent a clear message to Hollywood over the summer: We are tired of more of the same. But don’t entirely blame the sequels and superheroes. The film industry had its worst summer in North America, still the world’s No. 1 movie market, since at least 1997, after…

It’s easy, and so very tempting, to dismiss Lars von Trier as a joke — the shallow, grinning prankster of international cinema. He’s the post-adolescent brat who got banned from Cannes for calling himself a Nazi, who hires Hollywood stars and makes them do horrible things, who dumped on America in…

What is the best place to sit in a movie theater? Cinephiles have debated this topic for decades. Most people tend to prefer the middle; as close to the the center of the screen—and the center of the auditorium—as possible. But at one Canadian theater chain, those prime seats may soon become a lot…

Grantland: Summer Box Office Report: How Screwed Is Hollywood? (Very Screwed), by @jedgarlopez http://t.co/axTIqSRpDh

Academic Music & Sound Studies African American Music Classical Music Electronic Music Experimental Music Folk Music History of Jazz Latin American Music Music and Culture Music and Media Music and Sound Studies - Other Music Biographies Music Industry Noise Popular Music Rap and Hip-Hop Songwriting…

SPIN: Q&A: @KillerMikeGTO and @therealelp (@runjewels) talk tragedy in #Ferguson and racist idiots http://t.co/thxsQpGWXQ http://t.co/kpNKMD2RBj

Connor Ennis: "Is this really a thing?" @carr2n examines the lucrative draw of http://t.co/nbt166JVYJ http://t.co/9CezfsmKko

33 1/3 Books: Danger Mouse Week – Day 1: The New Music Industry http://t.co/vHQt5IMIsY

Grantland: The 1994 Rap Album Matrix: Is This Hip-Hop's Greatest Year? by @SheaSerrano http://t.co/8tuwWHhkIt

The Guardian: Something incredible is happening in Scotland. And the shock to the UK will be extreme, says @paulmasonnews http://t.co/BWo4OStOVt

Take almonds and just…wait, why add water? Lecic/Shutterstock Looking for news you can trust? Subscribe to our free newsletters. Almonds are a precious foodstuff: a crunchy jolt of complete protein, healthful fats, vitamins and minerals, and deliciousness. Given their rather intense ecological…