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In this moment, there is only one thing I wish to know, and those are the words coming out of Sylvester Stallone’s mouth—if indeed they are words. I’m watching Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Incomprehensibly, Stallone has a small part in it, speaking, as he often does, incomprehensibly. But, gosh, he looks very important. Therefore he must be saying something important. Probably the whole of this film depends on it. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This may seem obvious given my profession, but I think technology is...fine? Even for kids? It’s hard to believe that it’s safe for your kid to get anywhere near a Wi-Fi-enabled device when you read stories about tech addiction, hacked toys and horrible YouTube videos. It’s also possible that my opinion might change as my kids get older. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The next shipment headed to the International Space Station packs nearly three tons of research and resupply materials. You know, the typical stuff: sediment studies, a plant thermometer, a replacement hand for the giant robotic Canadarm. Oh, and also a floating robot designed as a helpmeet for astronauts—scientifically, logistically, and emotionally. The bot’s full name is Crew Interactive Mobile Companion: Cimon. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

There's a point when I make sauerkraut where it feels like the whole thing is going off the rails. Mine has the traditional cabbage and caraway seeds, but I like to throw an onion in there and something about the latter steers the whole thing into off-putting deep-funk territory at about the six-day mark: it smells vaguely of stinky shoe and has a taste that's equally prohibitive. Amazingly, these are not bad signs. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Back in 1999, when the mobile internet first flickered to life on Japan’s i-mode, email was confined to a snug 250 characters. Email! So when designer Shigetaka Kurita centered pixels on his potter’s wheel and spun them into sunshine and rain, he was both supplying a jolt of atmospherics to the early smog-screened smartphone and frugally conserving space. Kurita’s horizontal rain and naval-ensign sun were among the first 176 emoji. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Tesla is in a pinch. It’s supposed to be producing lots of cars. Model 3 sedans, specifically. At least 5,000 a week, and, ideally, making money while doing it. But nearly a year after starting production of the car, it has yet to meet that goal, which CEO Elon Musk originally said Tesla would hit before the end of 2017. Now, the second quarter of 2018 is winding down and investors are asking questions: The need to crank out more cars has gotten even more dire. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

What do games do for us—and what do we owe them for that? It's an odd question, but it seems to come up, in one form or another, whenever a gaming controversy hits the news. Gaming is no longer a young medium, but it's still somewhat opaque from the outside, which makes games an easy target for crusades from those wont to crusade: most recently, with local-news insistences that Fortnite is rotting your children's brains. It's not. (Probably. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Shopping for a 4K TV is like trying to find a single wave in the ocean. Most TVs are indistinguishable from each other at a glance—unless your eyes happen to lock onto an OLED. When you look at an OLED TV, you tend to keep looking. You may not even know why at first, but it looks better. Even next to the best LCD TVs, an OLED, with its vivid colors and inky blacks will entrance you. It's simple actually: OLED TVs don't need a backlight. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Beauty, to borrow a cliché, is in the eye of the beholder. But what if your beholder’s eyes could be hacked? What if yours could? In Reality+, they can be. The short film—from Revenge writer-director Coralie Fargeat—imagines a future where people can buy an implant that allows them to live in an alternative reality where they can be seen as they want to be seen. Reality+, which you can watch in full above, is set in Paris in the future. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In the past, other WIRED writers have loved real wireless buds, but I’ve been skeptical. In fact, I viscerally dislike them. They hit a specific Uncanny Valley of technology that threatens to cross the line between implant and implement. I'm not the only one. While testing the Bose SoundSport Free, my toddler daughter repeatedly asked me to take them out. And I can’t blame her. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices