Technology

I’m Scared of the Person TikTok Thinks I Am

TikTok’s recommendation algorithm is known for its accuracy and even its “magic.” What does it mean if the videos it picks for you are totally disgusting?

Kill the Five-Day Workweek

Reducing hours without reducing pay would reignite an essential but long-forgotten moral project: making American life less about work.

The Rise and Fall of an American Tech Giant

Kodak changed the way Americans saw themselves and their country. But it struggled to reinvent itself for the digital age.

You Can’t Escape the Attention Economy

That’s not just a tweet; that’s your original idea and your intellectual property, and maybe you can sell it.

Facebook Won’t Talk About the Insurrection

And Trump is allowed back on the platform in 2023.

The App That Monetized Doing Nothing

Inside the meteoric, chilled-out, totally paradoxical rise of Calm

Putting Microchips in Vaccines Is a Terrible Idea, When You Think About It

Let me explain.

Screenshots Are the Gremlins of the Internet

First of all, keep them out of the light.

America Offline

We’ve just lived through the most online period in history. What comes next?

Stop Worrying and Love the F-150 Lightning

Here are seven ways Ford’s first electric pickup truck signals that decarbonization has entered a new era.

The Next Big Gasoline Shortage Is Coming

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we cannot ignore the warning signs for future catastrophes.

No One Actually Knows If You’re Vaccinated

America has always been on the vaccine honor system.

The Blue Check Mark’s Evil Cousin

On Clubhouse, a black badge was meant to identify trolls. It’s become an emblem of the app’s dysfunctional moderation system.

Elon Musk Is Maybe, Actually, Strangely, Going to Do This Mars Thing

From his private Cape Canaveral, the billionaire is manifesting his own interplanetary reality—whatever the cost.

The Trump Decision Turned Content Moderation Into Shark Week

This is new, and this is bizarre.

The Original Kings of Esports

Black players pioneered what we now call esports. The industry hasn’t paid them back.

The Hot-Person Vaccine

The internet has decided that Pfizer is significantly cooler than Moderna—but why?

Artificial Intelligence Is Misreading Human Emotion

There is no good evidence that facial expressions reveal a person’s feelings. But Big Tech companies want you to believe otherwise.

Yahoo, the Destroyer

How the historic company became known as a bumbling villain of internet culture

Fish Sticks Make No Sense

How a weird 1950s finger food made it big