America Is Drowning in Packages
UPS workers have an impossible job in the Amazon age.
All Soda Is Lemon-Lime Soda
It’s not a flavor; it’s a vibe.
Tech Companies’ Friendly New Strategy to Destroy One Another
Meta has decided that it’s time to open up the internet’s walled gardens. Be wary.
TikTok Is Doing Something Very Un-TikTok
The famously discreet platform is making a clear pivot to shopping.
So Maybe Facebook Didn’t Ruin Politics
Large-scale experiments on social media, run behind the scenes during the 2020 election, suggest there is no simple fix for American democracy.
America Already Has an AI Underclass
Search engines, ChatGPT, and other AI tools wouldn’t function without an army of contractors. Now those workers say they’re underpaid and mistreated.
Oppenheimer’s Cry of Despair in The Atlantic
At the dawn of America’s arms race with the Soviet Union, all the great scientist could do was plead for hope.
Why Elon Killed the Bird
Three theories about Twitter’s seemingly nonsensical rebrand to X
The Perfect Service to Make Everyone at the Airport Hate You
The identification company Clear allows travelers to pay to cut in line. But you can’t buy your way out of inconvenience at America’s airports.
Does Sam Altman Know What He’s Creating?
The OpenAI CEO’s ambitious, ingenious, terrifying quest to create a new form of intelligence
The Great PowerPoint Panic of 2003
Twenty years ago, corporate-presentation software was called “the end of reason.” Why?
The Real Lesson From The Making of the Atomic Bomb
A generation of AI researchers treat Richard Rhodes’s seminal book like a Bible as they develop technology with the potential to remake—or ruin—our world.
EVs Are Sending Toxic Tire Particles Into the Water, Soil, and Air
Electric cars fix one pollution problem—and worsen another.
In Praise of Phone Numbers
The internet offers many new ways to communicate, but nothing eclipses the 10-digit phone number.
A Voicebot Just Left Me Speechless
Generative AI has solved a problem that has plagued my voice assistants for years.
Delivery Apps Just Did the Impossible
Silicon Valley is beating Domino’s at its own game.
FOMO Has Never Been Worse on the Internet
We’re all early adopters now.
New Mark Zuckerberg Dropped
The tech CEO is trolling Elon Musk and posing shirtless with UFC champions. Why?
Google’s New Search Tool Could Eat the Internet Alive
Will searchbots put me out of a job?
How Handwriting Lost Its Personality
Penmanship was once considered a window to the soul. The digital age has closed it.