Wired News is an online technology news website

Website

A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...

, formerly known as HotWired

HotWired

Hotwired was the first commercial web magazine, launched on October 27, 1994. Although it was part of Wired Ventures, Hotwired was a separate entity from Wired, the print magazine, and had original content....

, that split off from Wired

Wired (magazine)

Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...

magazine when the magazine was purchased by Condé Nast Publishing in the 1990s. Wired News was owned by Lycos

Lycos

Lycos, Inc. is a search engine and web portal established in 1994. Lycos also encompasses a network of email, webhosting, social networking, and entertainment websites.-Corporate history:...

 not long after the split, until Condé Nast purchased Wired News on July 11, 2006. Competition from sites like The Drudge Report

Drudge Report

The Drudge Report is a news aggregation website. Run by Matt Drudge with the help of Joseph Curl and Charles Hurt, the site consists mainly of links to stories from the United States and international mainstream media about politics, entertainment, and current events as well as links to many...

and The Political Simpleton slightly decreased after the 2006 purchase, due to the increase in advertising revenue. Long separate, the site once again features content from the magazine.

Blogs

In addition to featuring content from Wired

Wired (magazine)

Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...

magazine, Wired.com hosts a collection of blog

Blog

A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...

s focused on technology:

• "Autopia" - Explore the world of transportation 2.0, alternative fuels and the future of travel.
• "Danger Room" - Reporting from the edge of the military, law enforcement and national security.
• "Epicenter" - Wired's take on technology business news and the Silicon Valley scene.
• "Gadget Lab" - Get first looks at dozens of products, plus in-depth reviews of the newest, the best and the essential.
• "Game|Life" - What's really going on in the world of videogames? Find out here.
• "GeekDad
  GeekDad
  GeekDad is a website covering multiple topics targeting fathers who categorize themselves as a "geek." Popular post categories include Lego, Star Wars & Star Trek, video games, books, and field trips. GeekDad also publishes a regular podcast covering items of interest to the website's readers...
  
  " - Tips on tech toys, science projects and other nerdy things to do with your kids.
• "Monkey Bites" - Find tutorials, tips and advice for designing and building websites and programming web applications.
• "Raw File" - Wired photo editors' unfiltered take on cameras, technique, photojournalism and the art of it all in the digital age.
• "This Day in Tech" - If Wired.com had been there then, we would have covered it.
• "Threat Level" - Your daily briefing on security, freedom and privacy in the Wired world.
• "The Underwire" - Working the Wired culture beat, from movies and music to comics and the web.
• "Wired Science" - What's new from the frontlines of science, from deep space to DNA sequencing.

Vaporware Awards

Wired News publishes the Vaporware Awards, awarded to products they consider vaporware

Vaporware

Vaporware is a term in the computer industry that describes a product, typically computer hardware or software, that is announced to the general public but is never actually released nor officially canceled. Vaporware is also a term sometimes used to describe events that are announced or predicted,...

. One example is the video game Duke Nukem Forever

Duke Nukem Forever

Duke Nukem Forever is a 2011 first-person shooter video game for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 developed by 3D Realms and Triptych Games and finished by Gearbox Software and Piranha Games...

, which began development in 1997. The game had won Wired News's Vaporware Awards numerous times. It placed second in 2000 and topped the list in 2001 and 2002. Wired News created the Vaporware Lifetime Achievement Award exclusively for Duke Nukem Forever and awarded it in 2003. George Broussard accepted the award, stating simply, "We're undeniably late and we know it." It did not make the list in 2004, but Leander Kahney noted that they had received a lot of nominations for the game. By popular demand, it topped the list again in 2005. In 2006, Duke Nukem Forever was announced (again) to be in full production, still however without a specified release date. Wired once again awarded Duke Nukem Forever the first place in 2006, 2007, and 2008. After thirteen years in development, 3D Realms halted production of the game after closing on May 6, 2009, and all employees who worked on DNF had been let go, though 3D Realms continues to state that the game is not dead. StarCraft II has also been nominated to receive a Vaporware Award in the past, though in February 2010 the closed beta of the game was released for select people to test on the newly revamped Battle.net

Battle.net

Battle.net is a gaming service provided by Blizzard Entertainment. Battle.net was launched in November 30, 1996 with the release of Blizzard's action-RPG Diablo. Battle.net was the first online gaming service incorporated directly into the games that make use of it, in contrast to the external...

. The Indrema

Indrema

Indrema was an electronics company infamous for the vaporware Indrema L600 Entertainment System.Founded in early 2000 by John Gildred, Indrema's goal was to create a video game console based on common PC hardware and the Linux operating system...

 and Phantom video game consoles won Wired News's top "award" in 2004, and second place in 2005.

Ethics issues and role in Wikileaks affair

Wired News has been widely criticized for its handling of the Adrian Lamo

Adrian Lamo

Adrian Lamo is a threat analyst and "grey hat" hacker. He first gained media attention for breaking into several high-profile computer networks, including those of The New York Times, Yahoo!, and Microsoft, culminating in his 2003 arrest...

/Bradley Manning logs. Due to access to Adrian Lamo, Wired contributor Kevin Poulsen

Kevin Poulsen

Kevin Lee Poulsen is a former black hat hacker. He is currently News Editor at Wired.com.-Biography:...

 was able to obtain complete transcripts of the communications between Lamo and Bradley that lead to Manning's arrest over the Wikileaks leaks in 2010. Kevin Poulsen has released approximately one third of the logs, but has faced pressure to release more information after Lamo made various allegations that could only be confirmed by viewing the logs. Poulsen and Wired News editor in chief Evan Hansen refused to do so, protesting that a release of the entire logs would endanger the privacy of unspecified parties. Wired News has not explained why they cannot release only redacted portions that answer the questions about Lamo's allegations

The issue has become a subject of major controversy, especially after a response was made by Poulsen and Hansen that attacked Wired News critic Glenn Greenwald

Glenn Greenwald

Glenn Greenwald is an American lawyer, columnist, blogger, and author. Greenwald worked as a constitutional and civil rights litigator before becoming a contributor to Salon.com, where he focuses on political and legal topics...

while apparently not satisfying those who were asking the questions that lead to the controversy

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