Can This Tech Company’s Digital Border Wall Secure it More Government Defense Contracts? By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight Looking inside the new tech company who is building a cost-effective digital wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
How Amazon Exploits Chinese Workers to Crank Out Its Products By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight How Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, exploits Chinese workers to manufacture Kindles and smart speakers.
The Difference Between Being Broke and Being Poor By Erynn Brook Feature It’s a recognition that comes in the aisle of a grocery store.
The Menace and the Promise of Autonomous Vehicles By Jacob Silverman Feature What does it mean to experiment with technology that we know will kill people, even if it could save lives?
Has India’s Booming IT Industry Finally Plateaued? By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight India’s once lucrative IT sector now fears it’s glory years are ending as one of its biggest companie starts downsizing.
Reporting on Bolivia’s Coca Rebirth: An Interview with Jessica Camille Aguirre By Aaron Gilbreath Commentary After a profound shift in thinking about an unfairly stigmatized plant, Bolivia is ready to spread the gospel of coca.
The Startup Stampede to Warby Parker Everything By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight Venture capitalists are helping launch a number of direct to consumer startups, or DTCs. But do sofas, toothbrushes, and suitcases need the Warby Parker business model?
It Turns Out No One’s in Kansas Anymore By Michelle Weber Highlight Kansas is great at growing wheat, but growing wheat hasn’t been great for Kansas.
Do These Pants Make Me Look Like Everyone Else? Be Honest, Alexa. By Michelle Weber Highlight What happens to taste when machines become the tastemakers? Kyle Chayka meditates on style, algorithms, and our generic yet lullingly unobjectionable future.
Digital Media and the Case of the Missing Archives By Danielle Tcholakian Commentary The more work that journalists create for the internet, the more work is rendered obsolete.
Before We All Teach Someone a Lesson By Catherine Cusick Highlight Online harassment gets out of hand constantly. Can prosocial bots help turn the tide of anonymous interactions before people become abusive?
Hoffnung um jeden Preis By Lindsay Gellman Feature Privatkliniken in Deutschland verkaufen Krebspatienten Hoffnung zu Höchstpreisen — mit durchwachsenem Erfolg.
The Last Resort By Lindsay Gellman Feature Private clinics in Germany sell cancer patients hope — and mixed results — at exorbitant prices. Some, like the Hallwang Clinic, cater primarily to foreigners.
Seeking a Roadmap for the New American Middle Class By Livia Gershon Feature Could Starbucks become the new General Motors? Or could the American worker make it even better?
Welcome to the Center of the Universe By Shannon Stirone Feature For the men and women who use the Deep Space Network to talk to the heavens, failure is not an option.
What Is New York City Without Its Historic Buildings? By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight A city loses its life-force when it loses its historic buildings.
The Billionaire Philanthropist By Jacob Silverman Feature It’s American tradition for CEOs to stockpile their wealth, avoid taxes, and participate in the theater of giving. Will Jeff Bezos make it scale?
Move Slow and Break Less By Catherine Cusick Highlight Mike Monteiro thinks more designers should refuse to move fast and break things.
It’s a Wonderful World: The Remaking of California Agriculture By Aaron Gilbreath Feature An interview with Mark Arax about the two decades he spent writing about the San Joaquin Valley empire of Lynda and Stuart Resnick.
To Live and Die in Utopian New Zealand By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight How the super rich like Peter Thiel are buying land in New Zealand to survive the apocalypse.
The Internet Isn’t Forever By Maria Bustillos Feature When an online news outlet goes out of business, its archives can disappear as well. The new battle over journalism’s digital legacy.
Blockchain Just Isn’t As Radical As You Want It To Be By Longreads Feature On how a new administrative technology is being conflated with radical politics.
The Stock Market Doesn’t Matter By Bryce Covert Commentary Trump confuses stock performance with economic well-being. We don’t have to make the same mistake.
The Dark Side of Amazon’s Job Creation By Mike Dang Highlight Is any new job a good job? A look at Amazon’s warehouse jobs, where workers struggle to keep up.
The Couple Who Turned a California Desert Into a Multi-Billion Dollar Snack Empire By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight Taxpayers have helped Stewart and Lynda Resnick turn an irrigated desert into a dangerous and lucrative agricultural gamble.
Translation is Messy, Which is Why Google Translate Will Never Be Very Good at It By Ben Huberman Highlight The popular online tool is great at rapid decoding. Extracting meaning? Not so much.
Distraction is the New Censorship By Catherine Cusick Highlight Ideas don’t need to be deleted or redacted to be silenced. They can just be drowned out.
Silicon Valley’s Spin Master By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight After helping shape the public image of numerous tech companies, Margit Wennmachers is now helping shape the story of Silicon Valley itself.
