[ad_1] Iowa might have screwed up the whole nomination processNate Silver,FiveThirtyEight By now you probably know the story. The Iowa Democratic Party decided to use an app to report results from its caucuses this week. These events were the first primary-type votes cast in the 2020 Democratic presidential race, and would’ve set the tone for […]
Category: recommendedreading
Recommended Reading: Facial recognition, police and privacy
[ad_1] The secretive company that might end privacy as we know itKashmir Hill,The New York Times Clearview is a startup that developed a facial recognition system that matches a photo of a person to publicly available images. Those can be from Facebook, YouTube or even Venmo. It’s powerful technology, and law enforcement is using it […]
Recommended Reading: The internet sleuths who caught the Astros cheating
[ad_1] How the internet helped crack the Astros’ sign-stealing caseJoon Lee,ESPN One of the biggest sports stories of the year has already broke, and it’s barely mid-January. If you haven’t heard, Major League Baseball determined the Houston Astros used various methods, including video feeds, to steal signs from the opposition during the team’s 2017 championship […]
Recommended Reading: The science fiction of William Gibson
[ad_1] How William Gibson keeps his science fiction realJoshua Rothman,The New Yorker While a lot of sci-fi is obsessed with the distant future, one of the best authors of the genre takes a different approach. The New Yorker explains how William Gibson “has imagined the near future more convincingly than anyone else” to create his […]
Recommended Reading: A year later, the CRISPR babies are still a mystery
[ad_1] Why the paper on the CRISPR babies stayed secret for so longAntonio Regalado,MIT Technology Review A year has passed since Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui presented work on editing the DNA of two girls while they were still embryos. Ethical issues with his actions abound, and even after all this time, there’s still missing details […]
Recommended Reading: The making of Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge
[ad_1] A journey to Galaxy’s Edge, the nerdiest place on EarthAdam Rogers,Wired By now, even people who aren’t Star Wars fans have heard something about Galaxy’s Edge: the massive and detailed new attraction at Disneyland. Wired spoke to “Imagineers” who created the 14-acre expansion at the park to offer a glimpse at the work that […]
Recommended Reading: The 15th anniversary of ‘Halo 2’
[ad_1] When ‘Halo 2’ invaded planet earthAnthony John Agnello,The Ringer In the latest installment of “things that will make you feel old,” Halo 2 was released on November 9, 2004 — which makes it 15 years old. The Ringer takes an in-depth look at the game’s legacy, including how it made video games a shared […]
Recommended Reading: The ‘fingerprints’ of bourbon
[ad_1] Whiskey webs: Microscale “fingerprints” of bourbon whiskeyStuart J. Williams, Martin J. Brown, VI and Adam D. Carrithers,Physical Review Fluids (PDF) Finish up your weekend with glass of your favorite bourbon. And while you imbibe, these findings from researchers at the University of Louisville (because of course) will keep you company. A team from the […]
Recommended Reading: How memes became political weapons
[ad_1] How memes got weaponized: A short historyJoan Donovan,MIT Technology Review Memes are entertaining, but they’ve also become key weapons in politics and the spread of misinformation. This piece starts with just one of many insane stories: “In October 2016, a friend of mine learned that one of his wedding photos had made its way […]
The Google Stadia controller prototypes
[ad_1] An exclusive look at how Google designed its Stadia game controllerStan Horaczek,Popular Science We’ve known for months that Google built its own controller for the upcoming Stadia game streaming service. But Popular Science recently got a behind-the-scenes look at the design process, including a glimpse of the “hundreds” of prototypes for the device. “We […]