Now the courts will decide whether Uber drivers are all employees

PLUS: Great music, new devices, and mean people. View this email in your browser  01.04.19   FUTURE TENSE Here's What the World Will Look Like in 2030 ... Right? BY WIRED STAFF These six visions from humans today span space colonies, a genetic panopticon, and straight-up apocalypse.   AS THE WORLD BURNS Australia Is Blazing Into the Pyrocene—the Age of Fire BY MATT SIMON Australia's bushfires have scorched millions of acres, putting millions of people at risk. Welcome to the hellish future of life on Earth.   DECADE IN REVIEW The 10 Best Artists of a Decade That Atomized Music BY JASON PARHAM Social media platforms toppled the reign of the album. The 2010s were all about singles—rewriting how we metabolize music and the culture that surrounds it.   GIG WORKERS Now the Courts Will Decide Whether Uber Drivers Are Employees BY AARIAN MARSHALL A California law aimed at requiring gig economy companies to classify workers as employees took effect January 1. That hardly settled the matter. GET WIRED   Get exclusive access to our extended New Year's Sale   For a limited time, get a full year of the print magazine + digital access to wired.com for just $5.   Subscribe Today   HOW TO The Master Guide to Setting Up All Your New Devices BY WIRED STAFF You have a new thing. Now let's put it together.   BOOK EXCERPT Why Are Rich People So Mean? BY CHRISTOPHER RYAN Call it Rich Asshole Syndrome—the tendency to distance yourself from people with whom you have a large wealth differential.   ARBOR Nature Deserves Legal Rights—and the Power to Fight Back BY CLIVE THOMPSON If we want to forestall the worst of climate change, we need innovation not just in tech but in law, the rule sets that guide our behavior.   YEAR IN REVIEW The 25 Most-Read Longreads of 2019 BY MARK ROBINSON Long-form stories are more popular than ever. Here are the baker's two dozen WIRED readers spent the most time on this year.   Get Our Longreads Newsletter Investigations? We have those. Deep dives? Check. Things that turn you into the smartest of all your friends? Bingo. And all you have to do is sign up.     This e-mail was sent to you by WIRED. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, wired@newsletters.wired.com, to your address book.   View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe or Manage your newsletter subscriptions