Search Results for: wired

It had taken a while for the world to realize what an amazing treasure Steve Jobs was. But Jobs knew it all along. That was part of what was so unusual about him. From at least the time he was a teenager, Jobs had a freakish chutzpah. At age 13, he called up the head of HP and cajoled him into giving Jobs free computer chips. It was part of a lifelong pattern of setting and fulfilling astronomical standards. Throughout his career, he was fearless in his demands. He kicked aside the hoops that everyone else had to negotiate and straightforwardly and brazenly pursued what he wanted. When he got what he wanted — something that occurred with astonishing frequency — he accepted it as his birthright.

“Steve Jobs, 1955 – 2011.” — Steven Levy, Wired

See also: “Steve Jobs Was Always Kind To Me (Or, Regrets of An Asshole).” Brian Lam, The Wirecutter

“Shortwave radio aficionados developed various hypotheses about the role of the station in Russia’s sprawling, military-communications network. It was a forgotten node, one theory ran, set up to serve some function now lost deep in the bureaucracy. It was a top-secret signal, others believed, that transmitted messages to Russian spies in foreign countries. More ominously, countered another theory, UVB-76 served as nothing less than the epicenter of the former Soviet Union’s ‘Dead Hand’ doomsday device, which had been programmed to launch a wave of nuclear missiles at the US in the event the Kremlin was flattened by a sneak attack. (The least sexy theory, which posited that the Buzzer was testing the thickness of the ionosphere, has never enjoyed much support.)”

“Inside the Russian Short Wave Radio Enigma.” — Peter Savodnik, Wired magazine

See more #longreads from Wired magazine

Unlocking the Mystery of Paris’ Secret Underground Society

Longreads Pick

On August 23, 2004, they discovered a cinema 60 feet beneath Paris. The sun was shining on the Trocadéro, the Eiffel Tower gleamed across the Seine, and deep belowground, police came across a sign. The officers were on a training mission, exploring the 4.3 miles of catacombs that twist beneath the 16 th arrondissement. The former quarries are centuries-old, illegal to enter, and the sign at the mouth of the tunnel read, “No public entry.” Police are not the public; they entered. … They found 3,000 square feet of subterranean galleries, strung with lights, wired for phones, live with pirated electricity. The officers uncovered a bar, lounge, workshop, dining corner and small screening area. The cinema’s seats had been carved into the stone itself, with room for 20 people to sit in the cool and chomp on popcorn.

Source: Brick
Published: Apr 25, 2011
Length: 32 minutes (8,194 words)

How Egypt's Leaders Found 'Off' Switch for the Internet

How Egypt’s Leaders Found ‘Off’ Switch for the Internet

How Egypt’s Leaders Found the ‘Off’ Switch for the Internet

Longreads Pick

Epitaphs for the Mubarak government all note that the mobilizing power of the Internet was one of the Egyptian opposition’s most potent weapons. But quickly lost in the swirl of revolution was the government’s ferocious counterattack, a dark achievement that many had thought impossible in the age of global connectedness. In a span of minutes just after midnight on Jan. 28, a technologically advanced, densely wired country with more than 20 million people online was essentially severed from the global Internet.

Published: Feb 16, 2011
Length: 9 minutes (2,372 words)

Cracking the Scratch Lottery Code

Cracking the Scratch Lottery Code

pegb: Longreads: new and old favorites

pegb:

Pirate’s Booty by Dave Gardetta

Technosexual: One Man’s Tale of Robot Love by Addy Dugdale

Et Tu, Brooklyn? by Allison Silverman

The Golden Suicides by Nancy Jo Sales

Addiction Files: Recovering From Drug Addiction, Without Abstinence by Maia Szalavitz

Addiction Files: How Do We Define Recovery? by Maia Szalavitz

Secret of AA: After 75 Years, We Don’t Know How It Works by Brendan Koerner

The Incredible True Story of the Collar Bomb Heist

The Incredible True Story of the Collar Bomb Heist

Wake Up, Geek Culture. Time to Die.

Wake Up, Geek Culture. Time to Die.

Peter Smith: The Best Food Longreads of the Year

Peter Smith: The Best Food Longreads of the Year