The City of the Future Is a Data-Collection Machine
In Toronto, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, hopes to create the sensor-filled metropolis of tomorrow.
The App at the Heart of the Movement to End Affirmative Action
“WeChat is a monster. There’s nothing like it on Earth.”
The Fax Is Not Yet Obsolete
Law and medicine still rely on the device. Maybe they shouldn’t. An Object Lesson.
How to Almost Learn Italian
Language apps like Duolingo are addictive—but not particularly effective.
The Next Data Mine Is Your Bedroom
Google wants to scan your clothing and listen to you brush your teeth. Welcome home.
How Sheryl Sandberg Lost Her Feminist Street Cred
The latest news about Facebook is a wake-up call that “leaning in” doesn’t mean doing right.
How Hackers Are Stealing High-Profile Instagram Accounts
In the Wild West of “influencer” marketing, there are few protections and plenty of easy marks.
When the Tech Mythology Collapses
The industry’s fall from grace may feel unprecedented, but we have a model for what happens when a beloved industry fails us.
When Elon Musk Tunnels Under Your Home
The billionaire is drilling for futuristic transit under Los Angeles. He didn’t have to ask the neighbors first.
Kim Kardashian’s Private Firefighters Expose America’s Fault Lines
“Rich people don’t get their own ‘better’ firefighters, or at least they aren’t supposed to.”
Gadgets for the Climate Hellscape
What will climate adaptation look like? A million individual products, each precisely targeted on social media to the intersection of a consumer culture and a catastrophe.
Amazon’s HQ2 Will Only Worsen America’s ‘Great Divergence’
In today’s economy, well-off people live in big cities, while everyone else gets pushed out. Bringing new Amazon offices to Virginia and New York could hasten the process.
Custom Photo Filters Are the New Instagram Gold Mine
How selling Adobe Lightroom presets took the “influencer” world by storm
The Homeless Can’t Escape San Francisco’s Smoke-Ridden Air
As wildfires burn out of control, they are impacting the state’s other crisis—the growing number of people living on the streets.
What Vets Think of ‘23andMe for Dogs’
More and more companies are selling DNA-test kits for pets.
The Problem With Feedback
Companies and apps constantly ask for ratings, but all that data may just be noise in the system. An Object Lesson.
Video Doesn’t Capture Truth
Like text and audio, it can be manipulated and interpreted for political ends.
Every City Should Have a Toy Library
The “toyery” once made play a part of civic infrastructure. It’s time to bring it back.
How YouTube’s Algorithm Really Works
… if you’re not the average YouTube user
The Striking Way Trump Changed Election Night
After 2016’s twitching needles and seemingly voter-proof forecasts, media companies are doing the unthinkable: waiting on the election returns.