Yahoo to Buy Tumblr and ‘Not Screw It Up’

At eight o’clock this morning — eastern time, before most of its West Coast-centric workforce even woke up — Yahoo announced it is going to buy Tumblr for $1.1 billion in cash. There was a press release, and company CEO ...

Hardware | At Google I/O, Glass and Android Get All the Love, if Not All the Money

Google was built on services and software, but the stars of Google I/O this year had close connections to hardware. Developers could not get enough of Android and Glass.

10 Questions | Beyond Surveillance: Envisioning the Future Drone Workforce

Jonathan Downey is the kind of guy you want flying you around. The 29-year-old MIT-educated engineer not only has a commercial pilot’s license, but he also helped set the record for longest unmanned helicopter flight (18.7 hours) and pulled off ...

Big Tech | Hangouts Feature Emerges as a Big Bright Spot for Google+

In many ways, Google+ is still struggling to define itself. But there's been one clear success story inside the Google social network: Video "Hangouts," which have proven popular in group communications, from academia to large corporations to startups.

Big Tech | With I/O Speech, Larry Page Reminds Us Why Google Rules Tech

As Google CEO Larry Page spoke Wednesday, his froggy voice not only grew stronger, the impression grew stronger that this is the man, and Google the company, that is leading technology today.

New Cash Registers Are Sexy, But What’s Beneath the Counter Matters More

Beneath the checkout counter, down in the tubes that contain the ancient electronic infrastructure of the global financial system, the sap is rising.

Startups | These Aren’t Your Little Brother’s Drones — Or Big Brother’s Either

The drones are coming, but rather than hovering over our homes in some big-brother scenario, they’ll be checking farmer’s crops, inspecting power lines, fighting forest fires and delivering medicines and vaccines in rural Africa. Those are just some of the ...

Mobile | Why Google’s Big Conference Will Be Quieter This Year

Generally speaking, Google I/O has been bad luck for products launched there. So now the developer conference is turning into mellower, lower-profile affair, starting today.

Health Science | Larry Page’s Vocal Cords Are Partially Paralyzed

Google CEO Larry Page says both his vocal chords are partially paralyzed, a "very rare" condition. He'll be speaking softly and funding research.

Startups | Company Spends Real Money — $350,000 Worth — On Bitcoin Startups

Bitcoin took another step toward the mainstream Tuesday with the announcement of at least $350,000 available for Bitcoin-focused startups in the next class of Silicon Valley-based accelerator Boost VC.

Mobile | Facebook Home Will Be ‘a Huge Flop’ Until It’s Not

Critics are calling Facebook Home "a disaster" and worse, but the aggressive Facebook shell has been out for less than two months. Software takes time.

Why Renting Cars Could Soon Be Easier Than Hailing a Taxi

San Francisco-based RelayRides just announced a deal that puts new corporate and technological weight behind its vision of ubiquitous mobility.

Why $45M in Stolen Cash Still Won’t Get Rid of Hackable ATM Cards

Even a group of bandits hauling backpacks stuffed with millions likely won't speed the U.S. conversion to more secure card tech.

10 Questions | Bringing Social-Network Superpowers to the Real World

Highlight CEO Paul Davison imagines ushering in a new form of publishing information about ourselves leveraging the increasingly powerful phones in our pockets, and the increasing number of connections we are making between each other. But rather than existing on ...

Big Tech | New Android Boss Finally Reveals Plans for World’s Most Popular Mobile OS

In his first interview since taking over as the head of Android, Sundar Pichar talks about his plans for the world's most popular mobile operating system and how it can play nice with Chrome.

Mobile | How Facebook Might Buy Your Location for $1 Billion

If it acquires the crowdsourced traffic map Waze, Facebook will get a wellspring of user location data, something it's had trouble acquiring. With those check-ins would come huge advertising opportunities and a competitive advantage over rival Foursquare.

Social | Why E-Mail Newsletters Won’t Die

E-mail newsletters are very good at forming habits and getting readers to take action, like buy a product or click on a news story. That's why they've proven to be the cockroach of internet media: fragile individually but basically indestructible ...

How One of Google’s Best Customers Could Steal Away Search

Google is where you search for information and Amazon is where you buy stuff, right? Two different businesses, right? Hardly.

Beyond Scorekeeping: Klout’s New Plan to Become a Social Network

Five years ago, Joe Fernandez, at 30, had jaw surgery. His mouth was wired shut for three months and he couldn’t carry on a conversation. He immersed himself in the online world, and realized that unlike every other form of ...

Digital Content | The Publishing Industry’s Secret Sauce Is You

Personalization is as much a buzzword nowadays as disruption, big data, or the cloud. It might also be part of the solution to pull the publishing industry out of the downward revenue spiral it’s been stuck in for years.

The Meat of the Future Is an Impostor

Starting with its faux "chicken" strips, Maryland-based Beyond Meat is going after 90 million flexitarians, a new breed of environmentally conscious eaters who are as happy munching on pork roast as on tofu stir fry.

How Warby Parker Plans to Take Down the Man, One Pair of Glasses at a Time

At Warby Parker, co-founder Neil Blumenthal is trying to translate a nonprofit approach to vertical integration into a for-profit business that serves the middle-income masses.

Live Video: Take a Seat at the WIRED Business Conference

Follow all the action from the 2013 WIRED Business Conference with our live video stream.

Markets | Why Tech’s Finance Wizards Are Tearing Out Their Hair

Already overdue, SEC rules implementing the "crowdfunding" provisions of the JOBS Act aren't expected to take effect until the middle of next year. In the meantime, some startups are already burning through capital.

Internet Sales Tax Passes — Tax Lawyers Get Ready to Go Boat Shopping

The internet sales tax will be a huge new experiment in regulating interstate commerce. Small businesses could wind up playing the guinea pigs as they wrestle with the tax laws of up to 46 different states.

Liveblog: Giants of Industry Converge on the 2013 WIRED Business Conference

The WIRED Business Conference is live from NYC today.

iPads as Cash Registers Are About to Go From Novelty to Norm

I just paid for coffee on the same kind of device I use at home to watch _Mad Men_. But such moments are becoming increasingly unremarkable.

A Non-Economist’s Take on Bitcoin

Bitcoin. Everybody’s talking about it. What’s true, and what’s hype? Perhaps the only thing that’s clear about Bitcoin is that it’s not going away anytime soon. Who am I to say? I’m not an economist; I’m a hacker, who has ...

Big Tech | RIP, Hotmail, and Thanks for All the Spam

A remembrance of the first webmail service for millions of people: Hotmail. RIP buddy.

Social | When You Log In to Facebook Wrong, Scammers Can Profit

Searching for terms like "facebook login" can expose you to a host of scam sites that try and get you to click on advertising links or install shady toolbars and questionable apps. Login scammers probably aren't making much money, but ...