What's New

At the world's biggest gadget show, everything is always amazing. Every year, more than a hundred thousand CES attendees pour into Las Vegas to convince each other and the world that everything before was crap and everything to come will change that. They go to see the biggest and thinnest new TVs, the fastest and lightest new laptops, the headphones and the phone cases and the drones and the refrigerators. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Shortly after we installed the Nest home security cameras, my spouse arrived home from work scowling. He opened the Nest app and started scrolling through the day’s footage. “What’s going on?” I asked, certain that a package had been stolen or some other grave injustice had been done. “Did those [unprintables] forget to pick up the garbage?” he asked. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Every human who gets down with the Gregorian calendar can celebrate New Year’s Day, that rare 24-hour stretch when soldiering through a hangover is expected, and precious little work gets done. Too bad that this year, they only got one day before it was back to work. Good thing WIRED's transportation team was here to cover it all. Jack provided context for Tesla’s (disappointing, but unsurprising) new production numbers. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

McLaren built its reputation on high-tech, high-spec, top priced racing cars. Borrowing engineering acumen from its (historically great, currently weak) Formula One team, the British company has produced some truly wondrous road cars, starting with the three-seater F1 in the nineties—the world's fastest production car for a decade—up to the all-new, million-dollar Senna, with a 789-horsepower engine in a vehicle that weighs just 2,461 pounds. But McLaren has larger aspirations. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Last year was the first one in a while that made Americans stop, pause, and ask themselves if they could survive the end of the world. Whether you're a Silicon Valley billionaire or a regular schmo making minimum wage, it's worth considering a bug out bag in 2018—some insurance against the apocalypse. If you're an entire American city, however, your prepper sack needs more than batteries and a good knife. Things are shifting quickly in the world of urban mobility. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

UPDATE: On Wednesday, January 3, Tesla revealed it has pushed back its production targets for the Model 3 sedan, yet again. In its latest Vehicle Production and Deliveries report, Tesla says it is focussing on quality and efficiency, rather than just pushing for the max volume in the shortest time, and so is aiming for a production speed of 2,500 Model 3s per week by March, and double that by the end of June. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In bag-loving circles, GoRuck’s origin story has become the stuff of legend. In 2008, founder Jason McCarthy left the Special Forces, had his heart broken, and out of the rubble of his life built a bag based on his experiences overseas that could tackle both urban commutes and battles against insurgents. Their flagship bag is the GR1, which I have been using as my everyday bag for the past two weeks. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Three decades after Watchmen's release, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' dark, cerebral graphic novel remains one of most critically celebrated works of the superhero genre. On the commercial side, the comics world of the Justice League (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc.) contains some of the most well-known superhero stories of all time. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

If Baby Driver taught folks anything this year, it's that finding just the right song at just the right moment is like kismet. You can't predict it, but when it happens you have to let it wash over you. Typically these jolts of joy occur to individuals listening alone, but every so often they happen to the public at large. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The first sighting of the dancing hot dog in the wild happened in June. By the Fourth of July, it had made its way around the world, breakdancing at bars and barbecues, at weddings and bar mitzvahs. It turned otherwise banal videos of the grocery store into cinematic masterpieces starring the hot dog, surmounting the refrigerated Oscar Mayers like a pile of carnage. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices