Wired Culture Stories

Government agencies and nonprofits figure games can do more than rot kids' brains. Joystick jockeys compete to boost America's image abroad or raise awarness of genocide in Sudan. By John Gaudiosi.

Instead of ransoming domain names, owners find other ways to make a buck from websites bearing celebrity monikers. By Jacob Ogles.

Can a new generation of mind-training games actually make you smarter? Commentary by Clive Thompson.

When a party turns violent, detectives find the suspects in the crime by using the victim's friends' list on MySpace.

Creative coders figure out ways to bring XM and Sirius to mobile devices. The satellite radio companies are none too pleased.

More on Apple vs. France, and the "N" word. In Rants 'n' Raves.

After three years of looking forward, our sex columnist pauses a moment to look back at sex tech's rapid evolution. Commentary by Regina Lynn. This column is also available as a .

A frustrated London entrepreneur flees to a small island to find out how villagers communicate without technology. Now he's rolling his research into a collaboration tool he thinks will make cubicle slaves a lot happier. By Quinn Norton.

Remember the computer that wore tennis shoes? Well, now your tennis shoes are the computer. And things are only going to get more interesting. From Forbes.com.

Government-funded drag racing moves to the desert in the United Arab Emirates in the name of saving lives. By Michael Spinelli from Wired magazine.

Bryan Zilar discusses digital music performance with the musician and remixer, and Preve offers advice for budding laptop composers. Also available as a Johann Sebastian PowerBook

Leander Kahney bags some fan mail but Lore Sjöberg goes one better and gets asked out to dinner. On a more serious note, environmentalist Lester Brown gets a roasting. In Rants 'n' Raves.

Universal Pictures tests the digital-distribution waters with a plan to sell copy-protected movie files -- along with DVDs.

A giant tortoise believed to have been born around 1750 and once the pet of a famous British colonial general dies of liver failure at an Indian zoo. If the claims are accurate, "Addwaitya" was the oldest tortoise in the world.

Users flock to Platial, a map-sharing site where "neogeographers" share their personal knowledge of the terrain, from the best indie bookstores to spots where they've enjoyed intimate encounters. By Annalee Newitz.

Will the French parliament's bid to open the iPod and iTunes to competitors bear fruit? Or will it end up with applesauce on its face? Readers have their say in Rants 'n' Raves.

Environmentalist Lester R. Brown offers his revised prescription for combating global warming. The first challenge: unmasking ecological costs that for the most part go uncounted in the marketplace. Second in a two-part series. By Mark Anderson.

Environmentalist Lester R. Brown offers his revised prescription for combating global warming. The first challenge: unmasking ecological costs that for the most part go uncounted in the marketplace. By Mark Anderson.

A behind-the-scenes glimpse at an imaginary web tool's road to software excellence. Commentary by Lore Sjöberg.

A company sells enough Duck Brand tape in just one year to wrap around the Earth nearly 20 times. A look at one of the most versatile inventions ever. From Forbes.com.