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Today:
Robin Byrd, the Sex Godmother of Millennials, Says the Internet Ruined Porn
NEWS | 30 June 2026
Featuring a garish heart-shaped set and decades-old phone sex ads, The Robin Byrd Show featured Byrd interviewing a porn star or exotic dancer, who would then perform a striptease complete with unnecessarily lingering close-up shots. As beloved as Byrd is in New York City, a new HBO documentary makes it clear her impact was much wider. WIRED spoke to Byrd about the documentary, internet porn, her advocacy, and, of course, how she wore boobs as a hat. EJ DICKSON: When Stephanie and Jyllian approached you with the idea of making a documentary, what was your initial response? ROBIN BYRD: I had many offers before, but it didn't feel right.

Top Stories:
Usernames Are Coming to WhatsApp Soon. Here's How to Reserve Yours
NEWS | 30 June 2026
It’s an additional (and more privacy-friendly) way for WhatsApp users to connect without sharing phone numbers. But that means the race to grab the best WhatsApp usernames is about to begin. WhatsApp says username reservations open up this week on the platform, and you’ll see a notification in the app when it’s available. “This will work in a very similar way.” Signal rolled out usernames on its platform in 2024. Many messaging apps are still experimenting with different ways for users to connect without sharing numbers.

World:
Why Amazon Dropped Its OpenAI Movie, Data Center Workers Fight Back, and Meta Leaks Employee Data
NEWS | 30 June 2026
The movie features a star-studded cast with Andrew Garfield as Sam Altman and Monica Barbaro as the former OpenAI CTO, Mira Murati. Brian Barrett: I think too, there's some context here too, which is that Amazon has $50 billion invested in OpenAI, right? So all these tech billionaires are now sort of totally intertwined with the movie industry, which is really going to determine what movies get made and what don't. I do think the film was, everything we heard was that it was going to be unflattering for Sam Altman. And in the film, it really seems like Ilya Sutskever, who is the former chief scientist of OpenAI, really comes off as the hero.

Current Events:
Buying a Mattress in 2026? We Tested 100+ and These Were the Standouts
NEWS | 30 June 2026
If you love that soft memory foam feel but hate the heat absorption, you will probably love Purple. $1,099 to $2,598Thuma Luxury Hybrid Mattress for $1,795: Thuma’s hybrid mattress is interesting because it blends together a smorgasbord of mattress materials: a Tencel cover, organic wool, memory foam, organic latex, and recycled-steel coils. $1,499 to $2,399The Boring Hybrid Mattress for $799: Boring Mattress is a new company founded by two alums from Tuft & Needle. There is just one option: the Boring Hybrid Mattress. But I’ve slept on the hybrid mattress for months now and have yet to feel any pain at all.

News Flash:
What to Do in Houston If You're Here for Business (2026)
NEWS | 30 June 2026
Houston, TX, USA - September 10, 2018: The Marriott Marquis is a Four Diamond hotel located in downtown Houston and features a Texas shaped pool, five restaurants and beautiful views from all angles. Often mentioned as the top hotel in town, it caters to business travelers and pleasure seekers alike, famously featuring the world’s largest Texas-shaped lazy river on its roof. If you don’t think that’s something anyone would brag about then you haven’t spent enough time in the state. Despite its small size, it still has room for a small event space, private pool, and a slick lobby lounge. Where to WorkHouston has hundreds of coworking spaces, so chances are you’ll be able to find something close to where you’re staying.

Sponsored:
Remote Monitoring App
SPONSORED | 30 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:
Everyone’s Mad at the World Cup’s New ‘Hydration Breaks’—Except Mr. Moneybags Over Here
NEWS | 30 June 2026
For the first time ever, FIFA has introduced three-minute hydration breaks, which are officially framed as a player welfare measure to combat extreme heat. 2026 FIFA World Cup Here’s WIRED’s complete guide to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. “I think you do see a definite Americanization in this particular World Cup,” says Mark Dyreson, professor of kinesiology and sports history at Penn State. Broadcast rights brought in roughly $2.96 billion in 2022 alone, compared with the nearly $3.9 billion FIFA is projecting for 2026. Still, some experts to argue the hydration breaks are less about money and more about adapting the World Cup to a changing media landscape.

Breaking:
How Qatar Became FIFA’s Technology Test Lab
NEWS | 30 June 2026
“Since the FIFA Arab Cup 2021, we have done more than host football’s biggest matches; we have helped shape how the game is played, officiated and experienced.”2026 FIFA World Cup Here’s WIRED’s complete guide to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Connected Ball TechnologyA 2026 FIFA World Cup official ball embedded with sensor technology. Adidas first trialed connected-ball technology during the FIFA Arab Cup before introducing the Al Rihla at the Qatar World Cup in 2022. The FIFA Player AppThat same year also saw the early rollout of a new digital layer for players. VAR and Goal-Line TechnologyBy the time the 2022 FIFA World Cup began, many of these systems had moved beyond the trial stage.

Trending:
World Cup Teams Are in a Race for AI Dominance
NEWS | 30 June 2026
The sheer scale of data being recorded at this summer’s World Cup is unprecedented. Lucey is chief scientist at Stats Perform, the data and AI company whose work underpins almost the entire global soccer ecosystem. At the World Cup, swathes of information will be manipulated and analysed, by humans and AI, to find a cutting edge. 2026 FIFA World Cup Here’s WIRED's complete guide to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Teams at this year’s Cup will also have access to a bespoke AI agent powered by Lenovo.

This Just In:
Every Time Norway Scores at the World Cup the City of Bergen Trembles
NEWS | 30 June 2026
But because the Norwegian national team scored a goal during the 2026 World Cup. Generally, geophysicists use seismometers to measure movements and ground vibrations like the seismic waves generated by earthquakes. But during this year’s World Cup, researchers at the University of Bergen have noticed that the seismometer they have in a basement on the campus record anomalous signals during Norway’s matches. The instrument, they note, is capable of detecting ground vibrations with an accuracy of one-millionth of a millimeter. 2026 FIFA World Cup Here’s WIRED’s complete guide to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Today:
World Cup Scams Are Getting Harder to Spot
NEWS | 30 June 2026
You got a World Cup ticket. But at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, those old warning signs are disappearing. With the United States, Canada, and Mexico cohosting 104 matches across 16 cities, the largest World Cup in history has created an unprecedented opportunity for cybercriminals. 2026 FIFA World Cup Here’s WIRED's complete guide to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. “The World Cup is the perfect opportunity for scammers—you couldn’t create a better one,” says David Holtzman, chief strategy officer at Naoris Protocol, a cybersecurity and blockchain company.

Top Stories:
This World Cup, Bigger Might Not Really Be Better
NEWS | 30 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.

World:
Locked Out of the World Cup: A Year Marked by Barriers, Borders, and Broken Access
NEWS | 30 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.

Current Events:
For Iran’s Athletes, There Is No Separating Sports From Politics
NEWS | 30 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.

News Flash:
Streamer IShowSpeed Is Gen Z’s ESPN
NEWS | 30 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.