Technology

America Lost the Plot With TikTok

Congress is bungling tech regulation yet again.

Will Americans Ever Get Sick of Cheap Junk?

We’re nowhere near peak stuff.

Why We Still Use Postage Stamps

The enduring necessity (and importance) of a nearly 200-year-old technology

Sphere Is the Mind-Killer

What it’s like to groove on Earth’s only LED moon

Welcome to the TikTok Meltdown

The ban is a disaster, even if you support it.

Columbia Has Resorted to Pedagogy Theater

Holding classes over Zoom just pretends to solve a problem.

Tesla Is Not the Next Ford. It’s the Next Con Ed.

Elon Musk’s EV empire is crumbling.

It’s the End of the Web as We Know It

A great public resource is at risk of being destroyed.

A Chess Formula Is Taking Over the World

What’s your Elo rating?

Your Fast Food Is Already Automated

The founder of Chipotle wants to reinvent lunch using robots. Is that really a reinvention at all?

The New Empress of Self-Help Is a TikTok Star

Keila Shaheen outsold Oprah Winfrey with a journaling book marketed through TikTok. Now what?

The Most Hated Sound on Television

For half a century, viewers scorned the laugh track while adoring shows that used it. Now it has all but disappeared.

The AI Revolution Is Crushing Thousands of Languages

English is the internet’s primary tongue—a fact that may have unexpected consequences as generative AI becomes central to daily life.

Tupperware Is in Trouble

We’re in a golden age for food storage. So why is America’s paradigmatic container brand failing?

Welcome to the Golden Age of User Hostility

They don’t make ’em like they used to!

America Is Sick of Swiping

Dating apps are falling back to Earth.

You Don’t Have to Type Anymore

Welcome to the golden age of voice dictation.

The Web Became a Strip Mall

Domain names once gave the internet a sense of place. Now they are meaningless.

What Neuralink Is Missing

It turns out that connecting brains with computers is the easy part.

Did You Feel That?

The earthquake internet actually works.