Technology

J. D. Vance Has a Point About Mountain Dew

The soft drink has long been associated with the joy and despair of white America.

MAGA Cries ‘Coup’

The right’s playbook against Kamala Harris is already clear.

AI Can’t Make Music

But that doesn’t mean it poses an empty threat to musicians.

Twitter Won’t Die

The platform has always been in the doomscrolling business, and business is booming.

Trump Versus the Coconut-Pilled

Kamala Harris and the Democrats finally have a chance to attract positive attention.

Whoops! The Internet Broke.

Massive outages caused by a cloud-computing bug are the new normal.

The Biden Campaign Just Can’t Stop Meme-ing

The president is relentlessly trolling Trump—on Trump’s own social-media site.

Silicon Valley Got Their Guy

J. D. Vance has solidified tech’s MAGA moment.

A New Development in the Debate About Instagram and Teens

Meta, infamous for kicking researchers off its platform, flirts with slightly more transparency.

The Secret Meaning of Prime Day

A day of reflection on the delight and absurdity of the online-shopping age

The Flattening Machine

The chaotic aftermath of the assassination attempt shows a toxic information system working as designed.

The Trump Shooting Conspiracies Outpaced Reality

It took mere minutes for unsubstantiated theories to take over.

AI Has Become a Technology of Faith

Sam Altman and Arianna Huffington told me that they believe generative AI can help millions of suffering people. I’m not so sure.

America Finally Has an Answer to the Biggest Problem With EVs

Used electric cars are not just cheap—they are cheaper than similar gas cars.

Every Time You Post to Instagram, You’re Turning on a Light Bulb Forever

Even simple actions online can take a toll on the environment.

Do Navigation Apps Think We’re Stupid?

Why Apple and Google can’t stop map-splaining to their users

We Need to Control AI Agents Now

Automated bots are about to be everywhere, with potentially devastating consequences.

A Fancy Card Is Becoming the Only Way to Get a Restaurant Reservation

The game is rigged.

Amazon Decides Speed Isn’t Everything

Americans like two-day delivery. But they like cheap stuff even more.

America Is Still Stuck on Prius vs. Pickup

Everything about the climate is changing—except the politics.