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Found an old copy of Wired from, oh, must be ’98 or ’99, tucked away in a box just last week. Dust on the cover. Bit crumpled. Sitting right there next to some ancient Macworld issues, a proper relic. Made me think, you know, about all the chat these days, the noise, about “digital transformations” and “the future of media” and all that rot. Makes me want to just sigh, sometimes.
Funny, seeing that magazine, brought me back a bit. People ask me, still do, “Is Wired even relevant anymore?” or “Who even reads magazines, mate, when you’ve got TikTok?” And I just… I look at ’em. With a straight face, too. Because it’s not some academic question. It’s about staying sharp. Always has been. The whole world’s gone bonkers for quick hits, for soundbites, for ten-second explainers. But some things, some bits of understanding, they need more than that. They just do.
The Persistent Glare of 2025
So, 2025, right? We’re heading into it like a runaway train. Wired magazine, for all its supposed gray hairs, it’s still there. Proper chugging along. You see it on newsstands, you see it online. It ain’t what it was, no magazine is, not really. But it’s got this stubborn refusal to just fade out. Like that old dog down the lane, still barking at the postman, come rain or shine. And I respect that, I truly do.
A lot of the gloss, maybe that’s gone. The “future is now” shimmer. Because, well, the future’s kinda here, isn’t it? Or it’s a messy jumble of here and gone and about-to-be. All that talk about virtual reality headsets being on every head by now, remember that? Aye, we’ve got ’em. But they ain’t exactly taking over the world, are they? Not in the way some folk predicted. More of a niche thing, still. And Wired, they’ve had to navigate that whole thing. That’s a trick, I tell you.
The AI Gold Rush, or Just More Shovels?
Everyone’s banging on about AI these days, aren’t they? Every Tom, Dick, and Harry with a podcast or a tech newsletter. It’s the new gold rush. Problem is, most folks are just selling shovels. Or, worse, selling stories about how they might sell shovels.
But Wired, they’ve been on this for ages. Not just jumping on the bandwagon when it became trendy to whisper “large language models” in hushed tones. They were talking about artificial intelligence when it was still mostly just researchers in labs, before it was plastered on every billboard. This ain’t some sudden pivot for them. This is their patch.
Look at some of the players in this AI arena. You’ve got your big guns, obviously.
Google DeepMind
They’ve been at the forefront, pushing the boundaries of what these things can actually do. Proper smart people there, doing proper complicated stuff. It’s not just about chatbots, is it? It’s about science, about understanding how complex systems learn. And Wired’s been reporting on their breakthroughs, their challenges, their ethical dilemmas, for years. Before it was cool to fret about sentience or job losses.
OpenAI
Everyone knows them now, don’t they? They’re the ones who really pushed this whole generative AI thing into the mainstream. ChatGPT, DALL-E. They put it in everyone’s hands, didn’t they? Made it real for the average bloke. And that’s where the rubber meets the road. What happens when these tools get out there, when people start using them for everything from writing essays to making dodgy deepfakes? Wired’s been right there, questioning, observing. They’re not just cheerleaders. They ask the uncomfortable questions. You need that. You really do. Otherwise, it’s just a PR brochure, isn’t it?
What About the Hype Cycle?
We’ve seen this before, haven’t we? Dot-com boom, crypto craze, now AI. It’s all a bit of a pattern, isn’t it? A big swell of excitement, silly money flying around, then a bit of a bust. Or a lot of a bust. Wired, I believe, they’re savvy enough to see through a lot of that. They’ve seen plenty of cycles come and go.
Remember when everyone was going on about Web3? All the NFTs and the metaverse? Some still are, bless ’em. Wired certainly covered it. They didn’t ignore it. But they also put it under the microscope, didn’t they? Asked the hard questions about utility and actual adoption. It’s important to have someone doing that. Someone willing to say, “Hold on a minute, is this proper or just a load of old cobblers?” My take, anyway.
People often ask me, is Wired still a good source for new tech? It’s a fair question, right? Because news breaks so fast now. Instant. My answer? For the why and the how, yes. For the instant tweet about the latest gadget release, maybe not. That’s not their game. Never has been, really. They dig deeper. That’s the point. Or it should be.
Bio-Tech and the Long Game
Beyond the screens and the algorithms, there’s all this other stuff going on. The proper mind-bending stuff. Biotech, for one. Gene editing, personalised medicine, things that would’ve sounded like science fiction a decade ago.
CRISPR Therapeutics
These folks are doing some seriously groundbreaking work with gene editing. Wired has been keeping tabs on them, on the promises, the ethical minefield. They’ll tell you about the potential to cure diseases, but they’ll also bring up the worries. The designer babies and all that. It’s not just a puff piece. They give you the whole picture, or at least they try to.
Moderna
Think about the pandemic. Remember all that? Moderna, they were suddenly a household name, weren’t they? mRNA technology. Wired was onto that even before it hit the big time. They’ve followed the story of how these scientific breakthroughs move from the lab to the real world, how they get funded, how they get distributed. They understand the entire ecosystem. It’s not just the flashy tech; it’s the gritty reality of getting it out there.
Are They Too US-Centric?
A question I get sometimes: Is Wired too focused on Silicon Valley, too American, for a global audience? Well, yeah, they started there, didn’t they? That’s where a lot of the initial tech buzz came from. But they’ve broadened out. You see features on startups in Berlin, on tech trends in Seoul, on digital rights movements in Africa. It’s not just california anymore. It’s not just one postcode. They’ve had to adapt. Or they would’ve been left behind, wouldn’t they? That’s just common sense.
You look at the sheer amount of content being spewed out every second of every day. Podcasts, newsletters, YouTube channels, LinkedIn gurus. It’s a proper deluge. How does anyone cut through that noise? Wired tries, by picking their spots. By focusing on the longer read, the deep dive. That takes effort. Both to write and to consume, if we’re honest. It’s not for the faint of heart, or for someone just wanting a quick headline.
The Big Boys Still Setting the Pace
For all the talk of disruption, you still have the massive tech companies. The ones that just keep getting bigger, it seems.
Meta Platforms
They’re still out there pushing the metaverse dream, aren’t they? And VR, even if it’s a slow burn. Wired pays close attention to what they’re up to, what their next big bet is. They’ve seen Facebook grow from a dorm room idea to this leviathan. They’ve chronicled the privacy scandals, the antitrust probes. They pull no punches, in my experience. They’ll tell you how these companies are shaping our lives, for good and ill. Mostly ill, if you ask some folk.
Apple Inc.
And Apple, of course. Still the king of the walled garden. Every new gadget, every software update, it gets dissected. Wired’s been there for every iPhone launch, every Apple Watch iteration. They’re watching how Apple continues to influence design, privacy, and the whole consumer tech landscape. It’s not just about the shiny new thing; it’s about the entire ecosystem Apple builds, and how it locks you in. They dig into that. Always have.
What’s Their Business Model, Anyway?
Another one. How do they actually make money these days? Good question. Advertising is still a chunk, I reckon. Subscriptions, sure. Events, too, I’ve seen them put on some pretty big shindigs. It’s a mix, like most media companies these days. They’ve tried different things. Video, podcasts, more digital-only content. They’re a business, aren’t they? They’ve got to keep the lights on. It’s a tough gig, running a proper publication in this day and age. Very tough.
I remember when they first launched. It was all about the cyberpunks and the digital frontier. Now, it’s more about the digital colonizers. A bit depressing, that. The same old arguments keep coming round. Surveillance, privacy, the power of big tech. It just gets rehashed, doesn’t it? But you still need someone chronicling it, someone explaining it. Someone who actually knows what they’re talking about, rather than just repeating talking points.
Cybersecurity Firms Fighting the Good Fight
On the darker side of all this tech, there’s the constant battle against the bad actors. Cyber security. It’s a never-ending war, that. And it’s getting more complex by the minute.
CrowdStrike
These guys are proper heavy hitters in the cybersecurity world. They’re on the front lines, dealing with state-sponsored attacks, ransomware gangs, all the nasty stuff. Wired often reports on the latest threats, the breaches, and how firms like CrowdStrike are trying to keep us safe. It’s not just abstract; it’s about real companies, real money, real data getting nicked.
Palo Alto Networks
Another one that pops up a lot. They’re providing the infrastructure, the firewalls, the cloud security. Wired covers the advancements, the new strategies. It’s an arms race, honestly. The bad guys get smarter, the good guys have to catch up. And then it starts all over again. Wired doesn’t just tell you about the hacks; they try to explain how they happened, and what the fallout means for everyone. They explain the tech that helps or hinders. You need that kind of granular knowledge. You really do.
Do They Have a Political Bias?
Some folks reckon they lean one way or another. I don’t know, honestly. They’re about technology, and technology touches everything. Politics, society, economics. So, it’s bound to feel like it’s stepping on some toes. They’ll talk about government regulation of AI, or the impact of social media on elections. That’s not bias; that’s just talking about the world as it is. Or as it’s becoming. You can’t avoid it, can you? It’s all intertwined now.
My feeling? They’re trying to figure it out, just like the rest of us. They don’t always get it right, who does? Plenty of stories I’ve read in Wired over the years that, with hindsight, were a bit off the mark. But that’s the nature of trying to predict the future, isn’t it? It’s a mug’s game, most of the time. But someone’s got to try. Otherwise, we’re all just stumbling around in the dark.
Is Print Dead for Wired?
Well, the physical magazine, the paper thing. Is it going to disappear? A lot of people think so. I reckon it’ll stick around, for a while anyway. More of a luxury item, maybe. A collector’s piece. The real action, the immediate stuff, that’s all online, isn’t it? Their website, their newsletters. That’s where they put most of their effort now, I imagine. The print edition is a bit like a keepsake. Or a coffee table prop, if we’re being honest. Still, there’s something about holding a proper magazine in your hands, isn’t there? Something about the weight of it. Hard to explain. But it’s there.
So, Wired magazine in 2025. It’s not the only game in town, far from it. But it’s still in the game. It’s a survivor. It adapted. Changed its skin a few times. Still got its eye on the ball, even if the ball is moving faster than ever. That’s what matters, doesn’t it? Not the fancy words or the slick designs, but whether they’re still asking the right questions. Whether they’re still making you think. That’s the main thing. The absolute main thing.