Why Normal People Want to Work in Silicon Valley
Anna Wiener’s new memoir, Uncanny Valley, tells the story of a regular person under the spell of disruption.
The Early Internet, Explained by One Weird Celine Dion Fan Site
A man loved the singer so much, he spent a decade collecting dreams about her.
The Overwhelming Visibility of the Iran Plane Crash
A cellphone video. An international dispute. The world is more confusing—and more exposed—than ever.
Facebook’s Id Is Showing
An executive’s leaked memo suggests that the company wants to return to the pre-Trump world.
The Sneaky Genius of Facebook's New Preventive Health Tool
The feature looks likely to fill gaps in care—and to further draw users into Facebook’s ecosystem.
Bots Are Destroying Political Discourse As We Know It
They’re mouthpieces for foreign actors, domestic political groups, even the candidates themselves. And soon you won’t be able to tell they’re bots.
A New, Meme-Fueled Nostalgia for War
On TikTok and Twitter, anxious posts about World War III recall a simpler era of global conflict.
The Schism at the Heart of the Open-Source Movement
Developers are protesting after revelations that the source-code repository GitHub contracted with ICE. But if you restrict access to open-source code, is it still open?
Tweeting the Talmud
The ancient text was never intended for Twitter. Then again, it was never intended for women either.
What the Death of iTunes Says About Our Digital Habits
We started the 2010s obsessed with our electronic hygiene—and ended them a nation of digital hoarders. Eleven ideas about the decade that killed iTunes.
The Purest Fandom Is Telling Celebrities They’re Stupid
What’s the counterpoint to toxic fandom? Rude fandom.
Why Kids Online Are Chasing ‘Clout’
How did a word once reserved for union bosses get co-opted by anybody with a viral tweet?
Inside Tech’s Fever Dream
Drawn into the tech world, a 20-something wonders why she—and the rest of us—didn’t wise up to the grandiose myopia sooner.
America Killed Lunch
Fast-casual chains like Sweetgreen and order-ahead apps like MealPal are optimizing lunchtime to death.
The New Payday Lender Looks a Lot Like the Old Payday Lender
Apps promising to “advance” a user’s wages say they aren’t payday lenders. So what are they?
The Rise and Fall of an All-Star Crew of Jewel Thieves
They were highly sophisticated. The local police seemed helpless. Then a retired septuagenarian detective stepped in.
The Real Trouble With Silicon Valley
The toxicity of the web is peanuts compared with Big Tech’s failure to remake the physical world.
What Happens After Prisoners Learn to Code?
Slack, one of Silicon Valley’s more diverse companies, has hired three formerly incarcerated coders.
The Drunk-Text Decade
Americans with cellphones went into a recession and came out the other side with a new communication style.
Our Predictions About the Internet Are Probably Wrong
It’s easy to forget how unforeseeable the “unforeseeable” really is.