IoT harmony? What Matter and Thread really mean for your smart home

Enlarge / Matter promises to make smart home devices work with any control system you want to use, securely. This marketing image also seems to promise an intriguing future involving smart mid-century modern chairs and smart statement globes. (credit: CSA) The specification for Matter 1.0 was released on Tuesday—all 899 pages of it. More importantly,…

“Data in the Desert” hints at the future of autonomous vehicles

Enlarge / A cluster of sensors atop the roof of the DLIVEREE. (credit: Gregory Leporati) PAHRUMP, NEVADA—You could hear Porsches, Ferraris, and Lamborghinis roaring across the desert—or, more specifically, Spring Mountain Motor Resort, a scorching-hot racetrack about 60 miles west of Las Vegas. I was driving a Porsche GT3 RS with Jamie Wall, a professional…

Mind-controlling ‘zombie’ parasites are real

Crickets like this one are susceptible to mind control by various parasites. Emanuel Rodríguez, Pexels What’s the weirdest thing you learned this week? Well, whatever it is, we promise you’ll have an even weirder answer if you listen to PopSci’s hit podcast. The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week hits Apple, Anchor, and everywhere else you listen to podcasts every-other Wednesday…