“The members of Longevity House are united by two things: a willingness to hand over $100,000 and a burning desire to live forever. Inside the weird world of cryotherapy, biocharging and fecal transplants.”
business
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Twisted Life of Clippy
In the 1990s, Microsoft created a virtual assistant in Microsoft Office that users found annoying — so it was swiftly retired. For Seattle Met, Benjamin Cassidy recounts the history of an unloved and doomed office assistant that has lived on in pop and nerd culture. These days, an annoying Word creature might seem eminently tolerable […]
Posted inCuration, Nonfiction, Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, our editors recommend longreads by Benjamin Wofford, Josh Dzieza, Evan Osnos, Alice Wong & Ed Yong, and Dan Kois.
Posted inEditor's Pick
When Baking and Real Estate Collide
For The New Yorker, Anna Wiener explores the cuisine-real-estate business model and traces the rise of Tartine, the artisanal San Francisco bakery known for its delicious breads and pastries and hip, airy spaces. How did this beloved spot in the Mission become a world-renowned brand? And is this food empire really what it seems? Certain […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Korean Immigrant and Michigan Farm Boy Who Taught Americans How to Cook Chow Mein
In 1922, two college classmates in Detroit — a Korean immigrant named Ilhan New and an American named Wally Smith — founded La Choy, a company that mass-produced Chinese food products. One hundred years later, to Chinese Americans the brand is “synonymous with cultural inauthenticity, even appropriation.” But, as Cathy Erway explores for Taste, the […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
How Barnes & Noble Went From Villain to Hero
For many years, Barnes & Noble was the Walmart of bookstores, crushing independent sellers through economy of scale. Then a new big bad entered the arena. As it turns out, though, neither pandemic nor Bezos could crush B&N — and now, armed with renewed focus, it’s staging one hell of a comeback. (Still shop independent […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Online Shopping in the Middle of the Ocean
There’s no Amazon same-day delivery service for people living on the remote islands of French Polynesia, so locals launched their own e-commerce business and courier service to fill the gap. HM Coursier Express initially delivered anywhere: within Tahiti, to other islands, and also abroad. In the first year, Henriou built up a client base of […]
Posted inEditor's Pick
Ikea’s Race for the Last of Europe’s Old-Growth Forest
More than half of Romania’s timber is illegally harvested. Since 2015, IKEA has been the company’s largest private landowner.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Is the ‘Future of Food’ the Future We Want?
“The draw of a virtual restaurant is that of online shopping: The same products no matter where you are, or sometimes products exclusive to the virtual world. It’s fast food on an even grander scale.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
“Take Her Down”: Inside eBay’s Stalking Campaign Against a Natick Couple
“Amazon. Etsy. eBay. Lots of companies appeared in David and Ina Steiner’s E-commerce newsletter. Only one tried to take them out.”