I used to be a fan of Wired but I found it a little too breathless and credulous.
I’ll put up another vote for MAKE Magazine, though. It’s my favourite by far. It sucks that it only comes out 4 times a year.
Vanity Fair. Great general interest stories. I read it cover to cover every month. It’s had excellent stories on the financial collapse, both in the US and abroad.
Science News: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/page/id/43/title/Subscribe
Short to med length science articles based on current research, but written for the public. I read it to keep up with other disciplines and bring articles into my lectures.
Discover Magazine (science)
History Magazine (history)
If you have any interest in classic movies, then Turner Classic Movies guide is very helpful.
Another vote for Wired. I read it cover-to-cover almost every month (sometimes some of the topics of the longer articles bore me).
Yeah often breathless, just gotta remember that when they say something is the next big thing, it probably isn’t. But even if it’s not the next big thing it’s still interesting.
Mental floss
Still a lot of picture stories about exotic places and people, but there’s a lot of stories now on the environment and ecology and biology and such, plus a lot of good stuff on archaeology and history.
It’s not so easy to find in the UK but I like American Scientist (as opposed to Scientific American!)
And it may be a bit too music-biased for you (esp. the current issue) but The Believer has some great off-the-wall obscure culture stuff…
Before I opened it, I assumed that Texas Monthly would be full of pictures of hats and horses etc. I was wrong. It’s really well written, hard nosed journalism (with the occasional puff piece). About Texas, for sure, but it’s still a great read.
I’d suggest Barron’s, especially if you live in an area where it is delivered by the newspaper carrier rather than mailed.
You can usually find deals for $1 an issue, so $52 for a year. Pretty good wrap up of the week, and no far right editorials like you’ll get in the Wall Street Journal these days.
2600
The Week
Other folks have mentioned The New Yorker and I agree. Wide-ranging cultural, political and science/intellectual topics with excellent insights and writing.
Mother Jones. The last bastion of investigative reporting. Plus a lot of stuff that’s just interesting or entertaining.
New Scientist. I like it much better than Scientific American. It is more accurate, more balanced, and has a better sense of humour.