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Meghan Herbst

@megherbst.bsky.social
15K followers 683 following 63 posts

senior research editor @ WIRED, USAF vet and former weather forecaster, sf/f geek, mom of three humans and two cats, future hedge witch

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Meghan Herbst
Matt Burgess (WIRED) @mattburgess1.bsky.social · 15/10/2026
NEW: Yeah, not good
wired.com
‘Nightmare Scenario’: Zero-Click Spyware Is Infecting Phones via Targeted Ads
Researchers at The Citizen Lab have for the first time released technical evidence of sophisticated mercenary spyware being distributed via online advertising.
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 12h
Freaking yikes.
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
This was such a fun piece to check, and like.. the art.
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Reposted by Meghan Herbst
Dhruv Mehrotra @dmehro.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
NEW: Footage from Thursdays shooting shows an ICE agent in a construction vest brandishing a rifle. His name is Brenden Cuni. Federal judges have found multiple arrests involving Cuni unlawful. He has been accused of repeatedly Tasing a handcuffed man and tackling a pregnant woman in Minneapolis.
wired.com
ICE Agent at NYC Shooting Has History of Alleged Violence and Illegal Arrests
Brenden Cuni, an ICE supervisor, has been accused of excessive force and tackling a pregnant woman to the ground. Several of his arrests were later found to be unlawful in federal court.
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Reposted by Meghan Herbst
Reece @thiccreese.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
“Surveillance pricing is a technique that's at the intersection of two things Americans hate: getting preyed on and being ripped off.” Check out my interview with consumer advocate @lindsayowens.bsky.social today in @wired.com! www.wired.com/story/how-to...
wired.com
How to Beat Surveillance Pricing Before It Bleeds You Dry
Consumer advocate Lindsay Owen’s new book, Gouged, traces how corporations use software—from ever-changing prices to opaque algorithms—to squeeze every penny from you.
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Reposted by Meghan Herbst
Pookleblinky @pookleblinky.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
It's funny that for years now people have been saying that using generative AI very obviously deskills you, and people kept going no no you're wrong you Luddite And now all the genAI CEO's keep coming out in public to announce they forgot how to read and do math and can't remember their address etc
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Equating surgery to sacrificing a couple billion people for your tech deity is certainly something.
theverge.com
Jensen Huang talks about AI and climate change like a supervillain
It’s giving Thanos energy.
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Student journalists for the win, once again.
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
HA Freaking let em' know ladies. Also so happy to see this authored by fellow Berkeley j-school vet Sonner Kehrt.
thewarhorse.org
Hegseth Made the Fitness Test Harder for Women in Combat Roles. Most Female Marines Are Passing
Data shows almost all Marine females serving in combat roles have met or exceeded Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's new physical fitness standard.
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Reposted by Meghan Herbst
Micah Lee @micahflee.com · 16/09/2026
I've got a lot of work to do today but I'm getting absolutely nerdsniped by the new Flock dataset. You can download it here. It's all of the Android partitions extracted from a Flock device ddosecrets.org/article/floc...
ddosecrets.org
Flock ALPR camera - Distributed Denial of Secrets
Filesystem images of the partitions on an in-use Flock ALPR camera, including custom Android APK files installed on the device, as well as its recorded media. The data reveals how the devices track bo...
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Reposted by Meghan Herbst
James Franklin @franklinjamesl.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Remembering Tim Curry...
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Reposted by Meghan Herbst
Matt Burgess (WIRED) @mattburgess1.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
NEW: Over the last few months, Meta has run dozens of paid ads that included AI-generated CSAM. The ads, some of which were linking out to “nudify” apps, targeted men in the US, UK, and a dozen European countries. Some were running in the last few days
wired.com
Meta Ran Ads That Contained AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Imagery
More than 50 offending image and video ads were published across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, or Threads, according to Meta’s ad library data. Some ran as recently as this week.
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
As for methodology, I didn't set out to write a scientific paper. There's plenty of solid research already out there. That said, I agree with Angie Holan in many ways, and have been experimenting with using these tools more in my process. We're still nowhere near replacing human fact checkers.
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
I'll also point out that my article on fact checking went through a fact check, by someone other than myself, who double checked all of these points (that GPT wouldn't necessarily have access to since they didn't live on the public web).
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Hey there! GPT kind of proves my point for this particular fact ("more than 40 countries"). That information was gleaned from an interview with Full Fact, and is also corroborated by their latest report (fullfact.org/policy/repor...).
fullfact.org
Full Fact Report 2025 – Full Fact
Fact checking organisations around the world—which seek to amplify accurate information amidst a deluge of false, misleading or artificially generated junk—are under pressure as never before. Many may...
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Phew I get that. Same thing happens to me unfortunately.
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Reposted by Meghan Herbst
Reyhan Harmanci @harmancipants.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
🎇New package! We know you are confused, angry, invigorated or maybe paralyzed by corporate America's embrace of AI. So we wrote a bunch of stories, made a bunch of videos, added quizzes and made a whole mandatory AI training www.wired.com/story/ai-or-...
wired.com
Take This Mandatory AI Workplace Training Right Now—or Else
AI could make you redundant. Here’s what you need to know.
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
In which I give AI chatbots a fact checking test and find them sorely wanting. My latest for WIRED.
wired.com
AI Just Isn’t Right
Can AI do fact-checking? A WIRED fact-checker fact-checks.
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
The Associated Press is pivoting away from… journalism. We’re well and truly cooked folks.
apnews.com
AP says it will offer buyouts as part of pivot away from newspaper journalism
The Associated Press says it will offer buyouts to an unspecified number of its U.S.-based journalists as part of an acceleration away from the focus on newspaper journalism that sustained the company...
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Are you like me? Do you have to put this song on every time you edit in one of these cheeky little punctuation marks?
youtube.com
Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma
YouTube video by XL Recordings
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey at presser: "To ICE: Get the fuck out of Minneapolis." www.youtube.com/live/QABt2PL...
youtube.com
January 7, 2026 City leaders hold briefing on federal shooting in Minneapolis press conference
YouTube video by cityofminneapolis
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Reposted by Meghan Herbst
Condé Union @condeunion.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
A statement from Wired's Conde Union Members
WIRED is doing some of the most impactful political reporting of this administration. That’s made possible by our subscribers, who signal to our employer, Conde Nast, that this work is worth protecting. Conde has never told us what to report and has stood behind our work, but it is also true that how a company treats its workers is political. The Conde Union has been working tirelessly to bring that same spirit of accountability to all of Conde Nast and must continue to do so. —WIRED’s Conde Union Members
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Leah Feiger @leahfeiger.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Jake is one of the best and I’ll really miss working with him — whoever gets to work with him next is very lucky!
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Reposted by Meghan Herbst
Manisha Krishnan @manishakrishnan.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Actual Tolkien nerd @johnsemley3000.bsky.social went deep on how poorly Elon Musk, MAGA, and other right-wing tech bros understand the Lord of the Rings. And can we all just admire this art by @anjalinair.bsky.social: www.wired.com/story/elon-m...
wired.com
Elon Musk Really Doesn't Get 'The Lord of the Rings'
Musk has recently used Tolkien references to push anti-immigration messaging, as has the Department of Homeland security. They've got it all backwards.
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Reposted by Meghan Herbst
Ben Dowsett @bendowsett.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Next week, 5 teens from Palestine will head to Panama to compete in one of the world’s largest youth robotics competitions. The goal? To win—and teach STEM to their peers displaced by Israel's war and occupation of Palestine. A special oral history for @wired.com: www.wired.com/story/meet-t...
wired.com
Meet the Palestinian Teens Trying to Win Robotics Gold
Next week, five teens from Palestine will head to Panama to compete in one of the world’s largest youth robotics competitions. The goal? To win—and then teach STEM to their peers displaced by the Isra...
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Reposted by Meghan Herbst
The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
ICYMI: “And now, a response from the leader of the frog resistance...” 🐸 🎵 #Colbert
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
Just want to note that 70 percent of soy and 40 percent of corn grown in the US is used for animal feed, so maybe we could think about possibly cutting back on eating animals? Just throwing that out there. www.usda.gov/sites/defaul... www.ers.usda.gov/topics/crops....
usda.gov
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Reposted by Meghan Herbst
ACLU @aclu.org · 02/10/2025
BREAKING: Our client Mario Guevara, an Emmy-winning journalist detained by ICE in retaliation for livestreaming law enforcement activity, will be deported tomorrow to El Salvador. Mario and his family are being punished for his reporting. This cruelty is meant to stifle our free press.
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
Not Jane!! 😢
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Reposted by Meghan Herbst
NPR @npr.org · 01/10/2025
Today marks the first day in public media’s history without federal funding. And we’re not going anywhere. Listeners like you keep our mission alive. Protect one of the last places where America comes together to hear itself. Stand with us today. Donate at this link: n.pr/46wamAj
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
Saw Hegseth, and as a former service member, here's my two cents. He sounded exactly like a dude who has a chip on his shoulder because of a few unsavory reports made against him during his time in. Now he has the reins, and he's trying to make it easier to fail up rather than facing consequences.
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
You can hear them being called to attention at the end there. No one is going to clap while standing at attention, but possibly after they were told 'at ease.'
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
Nothing in the parenting books prepared me for having my Sims' intricate little worlds devastated by the lawless vampire families my 14-year-old moved into MULTIPLE neighborhoods.
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Reposted by Meghan Herbst
Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
How to wash yr hands
A 12-step illustrated guide to hand washing with text taken from Dune’s “fear is the mind killer” riff
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Honestly wishing hell was more hellfire and homies, less technofascism
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Reposted by Meghan Herbst
Katie Drummond @katie-drummond.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Something beautiful is happening in Brooklyn, New York this week.
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Anxiety flavor: pumpkin spice
A blue Muppet mouse in a pumpkin costume
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WIRED @wired.com · 23/09/2025
26-year-old @katmabu.bsky.social made her name swatting down right-wing talking points on social media. Now she’s hoping internet fame can propel her to Congress. “I just couldn’t watch it anymore. I thought, fuck it, I’m going to run.” From our politics issue:
wired.com
She Fought the Far Right Online for Years. Now She Wants to Do It in Congress
Kat Abughazaleh, 26, made her name swatting down right-wing talking points on social media. Now she’s hoping internet fame can propel her to Congress.
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Reposted by Meghan Herbst
Angela Watercutter @waterslicer.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
Huge week here @wired.com as we're rolling out our Politics Issue. First up, check out this cover, which we're also posting all over cities across the US.
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Reposted by Meghan Herbst
ACLU of Northern California @aclu-norcal.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Reporting members of the UC Berkeley community to the government is reminiscent of the McCarthy era, when lives and careers were ruined merely because a person’s name showed up on a list.
sfchronicle.com
UC Berkeley gives Trump administration 160 names in antisemitism probe
UC Berkeley gave the Trump administration the names of 160 students, faculty and staff and details on their “potential connection to reports of alleged antisemitism” — sparking due-process...
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
It's so easy to get lost in despair right now. Big plug for angry exertion. Walking, running, lifting, punching the air. All fair game.
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
Screenshot since it won't embed. You can follow this Palestinian journalist on Instagram @nahed_hajjaj99. This is a baby, whose leg was nearly severed in an explosion. There is a graphic video to this too. It's also horrific. It's also shocking and tragic. We're living in a fucking nightmare.
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Reposted by Meghan Herbst
Leah Feiger @leahfeiger.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
NEW: Right-wing extremists and an anonymously run website are targeting people for allegedly celebrating Charlie Kirk’s murder - and posting identifying details about people accused online. Some of those targeted are now getting death threats. read @davidgilbert.bsky.social:
wired.com
Right-Wing Activists Are Targeting People for Allegedly Celebrating Charlie Kirk's Death
Extremists and an anonymously run website are posting identifying details about people accused of celebrating Charlie Kirk's murder online. Some of those targeted are now getting death threats.
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Vittoria Elliott @telliotter.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
www.wired.com/story/charli...
wired.com
Charlie Kirk Shot at Utah Valley University Event
Turning Point USA cofounder Charlie Kirk was shot at an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. The suspect is in custody.
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Reposted by Meghan Herbst
Reece @thiccreese.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Every time the Apple event cut back to Tim Cook, I couldn’t help but think about his recent visit to the White House and the utter sycophancy of his demeanor, as well as all the other tech CEOs. www.wired.com/story/tech-c...
wired.com
All the President’s Tech CEOs
At a White House dinner Thursday night, America’s tech executives put on an uncanny display of fealty to Donald Trump.
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
Sometimes you're just having a Monday morning and then Sam Cooke comes on and you're having a religious experience instead.
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Meghan Herbst @megherbst.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
Tried ChatGPT for the first time. Went in guns blazing with questions about energy usage and ethics. Came out with a new vegan cream cheese recipe to try. We're probably all doomed.
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Reece @thiccreese.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
going live on @wired.com in 45 minutes! come hang out and ask questions as we discuss the future of wellness 🩸 www.wired.com
wired.com
WIRED - The Latest in Technology, Science, Culture and Business
We bring you the future as it happens. From the latest in science and technology to the big stories in business and culture, we've got you covered.
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Katie Drummond @katie-drummond.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
Today, we're launching a new, improved subscription to give our fans more of the @wired.com they love. It includes: - Five exclusive, subscriber-only newsletters - Livestreams to connect with our journalists - A new commenting experience + more It's been a remarkable year so far. A look back: 🧵
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