beyond-the-internet

  • A Little Lesson in Knowledge, Courtesy of an Island that Disappeared (If It Ever Even Existed)

    Can a place be "undiscovered"? Wrap your brain around this: for the past few days geographers, Internet speculators and conspiracy theorists have been making much ado about a place that scientists exists according to Google, even if scientists who have...

  • Happy Birthday, Stock Ticker: You Made Buying and Selling Inhuman

    Right now in the space of a few clicks, I as just some jerkoff with a checking account and poor judgement, could purchase shares in the likelihood that the US or Israel will attack Iran before the end of the year on InTrade. After another cup of coffee...

  • You Can Now Rent O.J. Simpson's White Bronco for Your Party

    Throwing an "art party"? Looking for a real challenging, jaw-dropper installation to greet your hordes of relevant guests? Yeah? Why not rent the tragic sport-utility vehicle from the slowest, most anticlimactic celebrity car chase in history?

  • Angry Celebrities Aside, Facebook's Promoted Posts Are Its Path to Redemption

    Facebook has been getting a lot of flack lately over EdgeRank, its algorithm that decides who will see your latest post show up in their Newsfeed. After the formula was rejiggered in September, some have seen their reach plummet as much as 50 percent...

  • Dear Musicians, More Apps Please

    Here's a quick, somewhat obvious thought: musicians as a body (imagine it exists) let technology dictate itself. Not like production and sound technology, but all of the other stuff -- the websites and blogs and streaming services. All of this other...

  • A Morning At the Museum With Teddy Roosevelt

    In the lower level of the American Museum of Natural History, I was having trouble paying attention to the First Deputy Mayor Patti Harris. My mind wandered to the press conference-y backdrop behind her, which covered the entrance to the “Hall of...

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  • Trust Me, I'm Cool (An App)

    Here's the thing with regard to relative coolness: it's good to be cool and it's hip to be square; no one likes to party with losers and if you'd like to have a say, it's important to stay on top of trends. Being cool is different than being "popular...

  • In Defense of Ai Weiwei's Terrible "Gangnam Style" Video

    Ai Weiwei, the dissident artist, comes in for lots of criticism, from the government and from many of his fellow artists. Now he's taking flak from everyone, not for his politics but for his weak parody of Gangnam Style, a video he calls 草泥马 Style, or...

  • With Booming Profits, Facebook Tells Doubters to Eat Crow

    From zero to hero, the freshly minted public company just had its best day ever, beating estimates with its third quarter earnings report sending its stock price soaring over 20 percent to heights not reached since July. Much of the hoopla hung on the...

  • With the iPad Mini, Tim Cook Has Rebuilt Apple in His Image

    “Make no mistake about it. This is the year for Windows,” Steve Ballmer "said in New York in September":http://www.forbes.com/sites/connieguglielmo/2012/09/05/microsofts-ballmer-touts-the-year-for-windows-says-its-greatest-opportunity-for-developers...

  • Real-Life Confessional Boards Are Just As Awkward and Gross As Reddit

    Walking through an urban college campus can be an extremely claustrophobic experience. With ever-increasing enrollment are one factor, there are the young and eagerly participatory students, destined to have you join a club or support a cause. "Buy a...

  • Should Trolling Be Illegal?

    Nobody likes Internet trolls. These faceless bullies get a kick out of lurking around forums or comment threads waiting for some unsuspecting user to say the wrong thing only so they can pounce on them and rain down insults. The topics been in the news...