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Today:
I Let Siri AI Show Me Around San Francisco
NEWS | 21 June 2026
Another key aspect of Siri AI is hyper-personalization based on what you have on your device, whether that data is in your photos or messages. At WWDC 2026, Apple repeatedly referenced its privacy-preserving approach to Siri AI. Similar to the previous version of Apple’s assistant, users who aren’t interested can turn off Siri AI in their settings. I tested Siri AI on an iPhone 16 Pro Max, which will have many but not all of Siri AI’s features. Since Siri AI is also integrated with the iPhone’s camera app, I decided to open it up and snap a quick photo of the foggy path ahead of me to see how Siri would respond.

Top Stories:
The Sperm-Maxxing Bros Are Actually Onto Something
NEWS | 21 June 2026
“I'm encouraged anytime the spotlight shifts to male fertility,” says Michael Eisenberg, a professor of urology at Stanford University. Sperm carry epigenetic marks that are sensitive to a man's environment before conception, meaning lifestyle choices can affect sperm health. That’s where sperm-maxxers come in, tracking their sperm count, motility (the sperm’s ability to swim to the egg), morphology (the sperm’s shape and size), and DNA fragmentation. It takes roughly two to three months for a new sperm to fully mature, so lifestyle changes to improve sperm health can quickly yield results. The Mediterranean diet, rich in omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and fiber, is associated with better sperm quality, including sperm count, motility, and morphology.

World:
Meta’s AI Workers Are Revolting, Peter Thiel’s Secret Society, and SBF’s Plea to Trump
NEWS | 21 June 2026
This week on Uncanny Valley, our hosts discuss the meltdown that has been recently unfolding at Meta and what it says about the company’s relentless ambitions in the AI race. Articles mentioned in this episode:You can follow Brian Barrett on Bluesky at @brbarrett and Zoë Schiffer on Bluesky at @zoeschiffer. You can also download an app like Overcast or Pocket Casts and search for “uncanny valley.” We’re on Spotify too. Brian Barrett: Hey, this is Brian. Brian Barrett: I'm Brian Barrett, executive editor.

Current Events:
The Best NAS Devices for Your Home After Months of Testing
NEWS | 21 June 2026
Whether you want to back up all your precious files, make it easier to share and collaborate, or create your own entertainment cloud, network-attached storage (NAS) devices are the way. I’ve spent the last few months testing NAS devices from some of the top brands with a focus on families looking to create backups and maybe spin up an entertainment server to cut back on streaming subscriptions. These are the NAS devices I recommend. Synology also briefly locked down its NAS lineup to Synology drives, deeming third-party drives incompatible. Synology offers a very wide range of NAS devices, including powerful systems for big businesses.

News Flash:
If You’re Searching for a New Skillet, Consider Stainless Steel
NEWS | 21 June 2026
Less durable ceramic immediately filled the void, and we're already realizing how quickly it can lose its nonstick magic. Along with a 10-inch All-Clad, I called in similar-sized pans from Hestan, Viking, and Heritage Steel. Pans LabyrinthA smart and easy cheat for someone like me is to use All-Clad's 10-inch D3 Fry Pan as a baseline. (“Fry pan” and “skillet” are used interchangeably in this category.) I own and love one of All-Clad’s 4-quart D5 Essential Pans, which is like a high-sided skillet, and it has a perfectly flat cooking surface.

Sponsored:
Remote Monitoring App
SPONSORED | 21 June 2026
SmartSync is a mobile application, compatible with any Android smartphone, that syncs your important data to your email. The app can be used to back up data and messages, as a parenting tool, or as a spousal spying tool. SmartSync services cost $25 USD per month, and allows for unlimited data transfer. The app can be found Here

Latest:
Designing the Dream House of an 87-Year-Old Tech Visionary
NEWS | 21 June 2026
This past January, Stewart Brand published a book, Maintenance of Everything: Part One. “It’s what keeps life going.”Brand’s life has been going for 87 years, but lately the going has been tough. Stewart Brand’s body, in other words, requires constant maintenance. Stewart Brand works in his library on his second Maintenance of Everything book. As we sat on the wooden porch of the new structure, Brand and Phelan explained to me that it had been speedily—but thoughtfully—constructed to accommodate Brand as he copes with age and illness.

Breaking:
Traditional Home Insurance Is Collapsing. Here’s What Could Fill the Gap
NEWS | 21 June 2026
East St. Louis is an extreme case, but these are exactly the kinds of municipal traumas that Wellenkamp hopes a parametric plan will alleviate. For the pilot project—which would likely include East St. Louis—Wellenkamp plans to peg the parameters to the flood heights recorded in 2019. If floodwaters reach those levels, the mayors of qualifying river cities could accept a near-immediate payout from the insurance plan. In the private market, insurance companies are building datasets that let them maximize profits while paying out as little as possible. Using their own secret formulas, insurance companies develop ultra-granular risk assessments, which they use to get the most money from their policyholders while paying out as little as possible.

Trending:
My Father Wants to Age in Place. AI Will Be Watching
NEWS | 21 June 2026
It was January of 2026 in North Seattle, and my 86-year-old father was struggling to move around his house. Sensi’s promise was tantalizing: A little white box would sit under a table or chair and silently monitor for danger. My father has always been a private guy who’s kept his feelings squirreled away (unless the topic is fractals or philosophy). At some point, Sensi flagged my father as someone with a “possible high risk of falls” and began listening for words indicating he was unsteady on his feet. When Sensi’s microphone overheard him saying the word “fall,” it automatically sent the private exchange to his caregivers.

This Just In:
What Do Americans Spend on Housing?
NEWS | 21 June 2026
The Owner Who’s Stressed About Bills and ClimateThe toll of monthly bills is escalating, according to many homeowners in WIRED’s survey, especially for insurance and utilities. Respondents across the country say they are planning—or at least aspire—to improve the energy efficiency of their homes to offset their region’s deteriorating climate. A 62-year-old owner in Chandler, Arizona, wrote that “heat is getting worse, air-conditioning is coming on earlier in the year. “We want to be able to garden, and to have more choices to invest in sustainable energy,” she wrote. The Resident Who’s Affected by PoliticsIt’s always trendy to dream of moving abroad; New Zealand, Costa Rica, Spain, Portugal, and (of course) Canada were among the desired locales in WIRED’s dataset.

Today:
This World Cup, Bigger Might Not Really Be Better
NEWS | 21 June 2026
2026 FIFA World Cup Here’s WIRED’s complete guide to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. This year, because of the vast distances, the only option for fans and teams is flights, which airlines have been adding to accommodate potential World Cup travelers. The US federal government has issued $625 million in grants for host cities to address security issues. In Canada, federal authorities have issued around $104 million worth of grants to host cities Vancouver and Toronto. 2026 FIFA World Cup Here’s WIRED Middle East’s complete guide to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Top Stories:
Locked Out of the World Cup: A Year Marked by Barriers, Borders, and Broken Access
NEWS | 21 June 2026
For the first time in World Cup history, eight Arab nations have qualified for this year’s tournament, including Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, and Jordan—double the number of teams that qualified for Qatar in 2022. The US State Department has fully suspended visa issuance for nationals from countries with teams that qualified, including Iran and Haiti—despite it being the first time Haiti has qualified for a World Cup since 1974. 2026 FIFA World Cup Here’s WIRED’s complete guide to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. While those wait times were later expedited, there was a reported denial rate of more than 40 percent,” he adds. In addition to visa barriers, fans from Ivory Coast, Senegal, Tunisia, and Algeria also faced the possibility of US entry bonds as high as $15,000 going into the tournament.

World:
For Iran’s Athletes, There Is No Separating Sports From Politics
NEWS | 21 June 2026
From sporting defections and political activism to moments of immense national sporting pride, the trajectory of Iranian sports underscores what’s at stake this World Cup. The Iranian team, on Tuesday morning, drew 2-2 in their debut against New Zealand and will next face Belgium and Egypt, traveling to and from Mexico in between. 2026 FIFA World Cup Here’s WIRED’s complete guide to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. There have been moments of deep pride—when Iranian footballers gave white roses to their US opponents ahead of the 1998 World Cup, for instance. Former Iranian national taekwondo captain Hadi Tiranvalipour represented the Refugee Olympic Team at the 2024 Paris Olympics after leaving Iran in 2022.

Current Events:
Streamer IShowSpeed Is Gen Z’s ESPN
NEWS | 21 June 2026
In the days leading up to the 2026 World Cup, the streamer IShowSpeed—one of the most watched people on the planet, who occasionally moonlights as a rapper—released the music video “World Cup (Champions),” a song about flexing national pride where he mentions all 48 teams. The internet rushed to christen it as the anthem of the tournament, even though the World Cup already has one. Speed started posting on YouTube as a teenager in 2017. For this year’s World Cup, Speed is bringing his love of the game to stream from different host cities. Obviously, I have played a big, big role in this current generation of streaming, but years from now there are going to be people who are better at it than I was.

News Flash:
1 in 4 World Cup Matches Could Be Played in Dangerous Temperatures
NEWS | 21 June 2026
Extreme heat will be one of the biggest challenges for players and fans during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The analysis individually examined all the cities in the United States, Mexico, and Canada that will host 2026 World Cup matches. 2026 FIFA World Cup Here’s WIRED’s complete guide to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. In other words, there is a high probability that these extreme conditions will recur virtually every year during the World Cup dates. The 2026 World Cup Will Be Played in Stifling HeatThe WWA report joins other recent research that warns of extreme weather conditions predicted for the World Cup.