Remember those days when design was all about the open floor plan? Everyone wanted "open concept" spaces so that the kitchen, dining, and living rooms were more communally contrived.Then came 2020, and it made for a whole lot of togethernesstoo much togetherness. Since then, homeowners have circled back to craving tucked-in nooks and cranniesso much so that the word "cozy" is trending in 2025 real estate listings. It seems every "of the moment" interior spacefirst the scullery, then the party pantry, then the dirty kitchen (think a smaller "back of house" working kitchen), and lately the bedroom snugis simply some new excuse to sneak away for a bit.Xavier Bejot, Courtesy of Timothy CorriganA bloom room designed by Timothy Corrigan features a collection of pretty pots and plantersAnnie SchlechterBunny Williams bloom room features a skirted sink and assortment of vintage vessels.The latest addition to the conversationand just in time for spring gardening seasonis the Bloom Room. Think of it as a hybrid of a potting station and a mudroom, but at least thirty percent prettier. Inspired by the garden-adjacent cutting rooms of the English countrysideand the storied interiors of famed horticulturalist Bunny Mellonit's a space dedicated to any and all tasks tied to the cutting garden (see: watering, clipping, arranging...). It's also a look that aligns with the trending "garden girl" aesthetic and enduring cottagecore inclinations.Laurey W. GlennDesigned by Lizzie Cox Interiors, this bloom room is rich with color and pattern.Ideally, a bloom room is outfitted with a roomy open basin sink (preferably skirted) and a high-set faucet (preferably unlacquered brass) that allows for large buckets (preferably enamel or galvanized) to be positioned underneath. It also calls for ample open shelvingfor vases, pots, pitchers, julep cupsand a bevy of baskets at the ready (hung from the ceiling, perhaps?). You'll also find pretty, inspired-by-the-garden paint colors, plenty of antique flower frogs, and rolls upon rolls of twine. A bloom room's flooringoften brick or stoneis frequently topped with weathered, slightly unraveling woven rugs and a just-slipped-off pair of garden wellies or surprisingly chic Crocs.Pascal ChevallierDesigner Liz Langes basket-filled bloom room in East Hampton, New YorkRicardo LabougleLauren Santo Domingos potting area features pretty pleated skirting and ample texture courtesy of baskets.Even if you don't have the luxury of devoting a whole space to the art of flower arranging, it may be worth considering creating a hybrid scenario within an existing mudroom, butler's pantry, or laundry room. You can also infuse a little more bloom room-inspired beautypretty pastel paint colors, whimsical floral wallcoverings, texture-rich basketsinto your harder working spaces. After all, the bloom room is as much of a lifestyle as it is a physical spaceit's about prioritizing time to tinker.Beatriz da CostaDesigner Brooke Crew infused this mudroom with the breezy beauty of a bloom room.Related StoriesRachel Hardage BarrettRachel Hardage Barrett has written for and edited lifestyle publications for more than 20 years. As the editor-in-chief of Country Living, she has covered all things related to country lifeincluding design, gardening, food, travel, antiques, crafts, and country pop culturefor more than a decade. Before Country Living, Rachel spent several years at Southern Living, where she served as Executive Editor covering travel, food, style, and features. Before Southern Living, Rachel was the Special Projects Director of Real Simple, where she wrote and oversaw books and special issues about food, travel, weddings, organizing, and parenting in addition to working on international editions and licensed products. Before working at lifestyle brands, Rachel started her magazine career at Glamour, where she wrote and edited relationship articles, celebrity interviews, as well as fashion and features content. When shes not working on the magazine, she can likely be found poking around an antiques shop, perusing country real estate listings, or dreaming of opening a general store.

It's been a rough start to the year for Tesla.The EV giant kicked off 2025 with the announcement of its first recorded annual sales decline, a staggering 71 percent drop in profitchaotic yet inexorable decline in the company's stock price, as recalls and quality issues compounded with CEO Elon Musk's disturbing political stunts and sharply falling sales worldwide.That's without getting into president Donald Trump's seemingly ever-impending tariffs on Mexico and Canada, which threaten to send the price of a vast range of goods sky high though their execution has been comically messy, quickly devolving into a seemingly endless series of deadlines and delays that have kicked the stock market into a decline.If the whole thing's given you whiplash, just imagine what bigwigs at carmakers like Tesla are feeling. Faced with a combination of slumping sales and tariff see-sawing, Tesla execs just sent a panicked letter to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) expressing concern over "disproportionate impacts" to their bottom line.The letter said that Tesla was trying to make as many components as possible in the United States, but that "even with aggressive localization of the supply chain, certain parts and components are difficult or impossible to source within the US."It also warned that "past trade actions by the United States have resulted in immediate reactions by the targeted countries, including increased tariffs on EVs imported into those countries."Of course, that's all perfectly true tariffs tend to be horrible for the economy, putting the crunchon automakers like Tesla, which rely on a huge variety of specialized parts that can be sourced worldwide.But it also runs smackdab into Musk and Trump's bromance, in which the latter has empowered the former to tear through the federal government, laying off workers and slashing spending.The letter was sent anonymously, in a likely bid to avoid retaliation from Musk. It's unclear if he was aware of the note as it was being sent, or if he's aware of it now, as he has yet to comment. It follows a 15 percent drop-off in Tesla stock over the week, with investors big and small expressing their disgust at the company's performance.For Tesla execs, the biggest issue is the threat of retaliatory tariffs, which could auger in an even more hostile trade environment for companies like Tesla worldwide. Trade bickering with countries like China is pretty commonplace, but it's safe to say that no one expected Trump to kick off a shooting match with longstanding trade allies like Mexico, Canada, and the European Union.That's on top of Trump's desire to cut EV tax incentives a major issue for Tesla, which was saved from bankruptcy long ago thanks to generous government subsidies.The letter feels like a feeble gesture, though. As Musk hooks up his new gaming PC and Trump ricochets around the Oval Office from one economic extreme to the next, Tesla's bleeding doesn't look close to stopping anytime soon.Share This Article

Image by Getty / FuturismNo, it's not just you people really are less smart than they used to be.Asthe Financial Times reports, assessments show that people across age groups are having trouble concentrating and losing reasoning, problem-solving, and information-processing skills all facets of the hard-to-measure metric that "intelligence" is supposed to measure.These results,the FT reports, are gleaned from benchmarking tests that track cognitive skills in teens and young adults. From the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future study documenting concentration difficulties of 18-year-old Americans to the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) that measures the learning skills of 15-year-olds around the world, years of research suggest that young people are struggling with reduced attention spans and weakening critical thinking skills.Though there has been a demonstrably steep decline in cognitive skills since the COVID-19 pandemic due to the educational disruption it presented, these trends have been in evidence since at least the mid-2010s, suggesting that whatever is going on runs much deeper and has lasted far longer than the pandemic.Obviously, there's no single answer as to why people seem to be struggling with cognitive skills, but one key indicator is the sharp decline in reading and the world's changing relationship to the way we consume information and media. In 2022, for example, the National Endowment for the Arts found that just 37.6 percent of Americans said they'd read a novel or short story in the year prior a share down from 41.5 percent in 2017 and 45.2 percent in 2012.It would be easy enough to blame this decline on people reading less (and, presumably, scrolling online brainrot more). But according to 2023 results from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the same international consortium that puts out the PISA survey, 34 percent of adults in the United States scored at the lowest levels of numeracy, which essentially means that they lack the ability to work with numbers. A year prior, that share was just 29 percent.Beyond changes in media consumption and the mediums in which we take it, it appears, as the FT notes, our relationship to information generally is shifting too. While there certainly are ways to use tech that don't cause harm to cognition, studies show that "screen time" as we know it today hurts verbal functioning in children and makes it harder for college-age adults to concentrate and retain information.There isn't any reason to suggest that humanintellect has been harmed, the publication counters but in "both potential and execution," our intelligence is definitely on the downturn.More on intelligence: People With This Level of Education Use AI the Most at WorkShare This Article

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"S9 Architecture approaches projects not just as buildings and spaces, but as opportunities to enhance neighborhoods and communities. Their work at Neuhoff is a prime example of putting this philosophy into practice. Once a meat-packing complex in Nashvilles historic Germantown district, Neuhoff is now poised to become an exciting new neighborhood, contributing to the areas ongoing resurgence. The architects began by taking a holistic approach, carefully analyzing the factors that shaped Neuhoffs history before embarking on the design process.Examining the economic, environmental, and contextual elements, they were able to tailor spaces that meet both the clients requirements and their end user's pragmatic and aesthetic needs. S9 Architecture, one of three architectural firms including HKS (specializing in the new building scope) and Smith Gee (specializing in adaptive reuse scope), has defined a network of spaces articulated through the existing buildings. Then, selective demolition and stabilization of the existing network of buildings allowed for the new office buildings and an industrial village to be established. Articulated as stacked office masses and an assembly of buildings defining the residential program of the project, Neuhoff boasts a 1.3-million-square-foot project that houses a mix of office, cultural spaces, residential units, and retail/dining establishments. The project features a connective network of pedestrian pathways, courtyards, public roof terraces, and cantilevered catwalks that create a series of experiences for visitors to the new neighborhood.The renovated slaughterhouse stands as the focal point of the project, with a porous ground floor that leads to a stunning river bluff overlook. This transformation creates a striking contrast between the old and the new, blending public and private spaces, as well as interior and exterior elements. The buildings structure and architectural features have not only been preserved but are also showcased as historical artifacts. The projects understated restoration allows visitors to connect with the early history of the buildings while also experiencing the raw, once-abandoned spaces with their ruin-like character. Surrounding the historic meat-packing complex, new buildings form a modern industrial village that prioritizes pedestrian-friendly environments, with shared streets and structured parking placed on the sites periphery.With Neuhoffs re-introduction to Nashvilles urban fabric, the waterfront of this neighborhood can now be described as authentic, additive, and transformative, while also fitting into the local urban context. Neuhoff is not only a testament to the architects carefully calculated and executed design but also to their ability to build a vibrant urban neighborhood where people want to work and live.Project factsClient:New City PropertiesArchitect:S9 ArchitectureArea:1300000 ft (120773 m2)Location: NashvilleDevelopers: New City PropertiesMEP: I.C. Thomasson AssociatesStructural Engineer: Uzun + CaseLandscape Engineer: Future Green StudioSustainability & Lighting: Atelier Ten, USA LLCCivil Engineer: Kimley Horn AssociatesCompletion year:2025Top image Seth Parker, courtesy - S9 Architecture.All images Seth Parker.Diagram Drawing S9 Architecture.> viaS9 ArchitectureS9 Architecture

BIG Envisions Bhutan International Airport With Diagrid Structure Adorned With Painted Carvingshtml PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"Global architecture practice BIG has envisioned Bhutan's new international airport with a diagrid structure adorned with painted carvings, blending Bhutans traditional craftsmanship with modern innovation.Dubbed Gelephu International Airport, the 68,000-square-metre terminal will be strategically built near the Bhutan-Indian border and the Paitha River, surrounded by Bhutans lush subtropical forests, mountains, and rivers.Set to open in 2029, once complete, it will be Bhutans second international airport.Concept AerialThe design will also be displayed at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, Ancient Future in May and exhibited until September.With its modular diagrid structure composed of glulam timber and painted carvings, Gelephu International Airport is intended for both mindful travel and potential expansion.The airport is a key component of the Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC) project created by BIG, Arup, and Cistri and was developed in partnership with the aviation engineering firm NACO.Airport Departure Lounge White CeilingThe airport can accommodate 123 aircraft per day and is expected to handle 1.3 million passengers annually by 2040, rising to 5.5 million by 2065.BIG stated that a timber diamond piece that reflects the airport's faade will form part of an installation at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2025. The display, which is half machine-made and half created by a Bhutanese artist, celebrates the country's history of wood carving while examining how technology may help to preserve and develop the art form.Apron View"An airport is the first and last impression you get of a place you visit. For the Gelephu International Airport, we have tried to embody the nature and culture of the country and the Mindfulness City," said Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Creative Director, BIG."The forests that cover the highlands are allowed to flow from the arrival plaza through the airport all the way to the tarmac. Tropical trees provide shade for travelers, and the forest courtyard lines the main functions of immigration, security, and luggage," he continued. Arrival Corridor White Ceiling"The airport architecture is composed of modular mass timber frames providing flexibility and expandability, resembling a stylized mountain range at a distance. Upon closer inspection, all the mass timber members are carved and colored according to traditional craft, adorned with three types of dragons representing the past, present, and future of Bhutan. The result is traditional yet avant-garde, forward-reaching and rooted.""For me personally, this unusual embrace of traditional craft and color is a true testament to how affected I have been by my encounter with Bhutan - the country, its culture, and its people," Ingels added.Arrival Corridor Render White CeilingThe airport's diagrid construction, which is surrounded by the Himalayas, is made of ethically and locally sourced wood and is embellished with traditional Bhutanese wood carvings created by regional artists.The Kachen, a wooden pillar valued for its elaborate design and structural significance that embodies Bhutanese architectural heritage and spiritual connotation, serves as the inspiration for the painted faade.Arrival Hall View White CeilingThe airport's structurally independent timber frameworks, which are intended to support GMC's anticipated growth, enable easy extension and disassembly. In keeping with Bhutan's goal of becoming a carbon-negative country, the airport's roof is equipped with photovoltaic panels.The arrival plaza, which blends harmoniously with the surrounding natural topography, is divided into four zones, each of which is devoted to a particular plant found in Gelephu's forests. A gathering area has seating areas and paving composed of natural stone from the area, and it is protected from the weather by a canopy and lots of plants.Check In White CeilingThe airport and its internal courtyard are connected to Bhutan's wildlife corridors. The courtyard, which separates the terminal into two sectionsdomestic flights on the west side and international flights on the eastis aptly termed the Forest Spine.With its peaceful green areas, treetop walkway, and native wildlife, the Forest Spine, which is visually accessible from anywhere in the airport, gives visitors a sense of being in nature even while they are there.Checkin Staff Facilities White CeilingBhutanese culture is celebrated in every part of the Gelephu International Airport, which features local skills like as Tshar-Zo (traditional weaving techniques), Par-Zo (carving), Lha-Zo (painting), and Shing-Zo (carpentry). The faade and interior are covered in traditional Bhutanese sculptures.With a majestic triple-height lobby, large floor-to-ceiling windows, and skylights, the airport is flooded with natural light and was designed to bring awareness to the frequently stressful experience of traveling. In keeping with Bhutan's ideals of happiness and mental health, indoor and outdoor lounges offer peaceful areas for yoga, gong baths, and meditation for visitors to unwind and revitalize.Commercial view White CeilingThe layout of Gelephu International Airport is influenced by both operational effectiveness and passenger experience. A seamless trip from arrival to gate is ensured by intuitive wayfinding through well-considered circulation patterns and clear visual cues.Large views of the apron and the breathtaking Himalayan scenery may be seen from the gates, retail spaces, and food and beverage places located on the top level.The airport uses passive, climate-responsive principles seen in traditional Bhutanese architecture to adapt to the subtropical climate of Southern Bhutan.Emigration view White CeilingWhile ventilated roofs and courtyards provide natural airflow, the building's wooden construction absorbs moisture from the air to assist control inside humidity.Extended eaves outside offer protection from intense rain and shade.With conveniently accessible trackless trams and buses that connect to the rest of the nation and Gelephu's rebuilt town center, the airport will also serve as Bhutan's first in-land mobility hub, encouraging the usage of public transportation.Entrance Night White Ceiling"For the Gelephu International Airport, we wanted to create an experience that feels deeply Bhutanese - calm, welcoming, and connected to nature," said Frederik Lyng, Partner, BIG."The airport will provide an outstanding passenger experience, where generous daylit spaces, elements of the Bhutanese landscape, and the intricate carvings of the Bhutanese craftsmen go hand in hand to gently guide the passenger through the terminal.""The design not only honors Bhutans rich culture but also sets a new standard for mindful, adaptable architecture that will grow with the countrys future while being rooted in its past," Lyng added.Entrance Plaza White CeilingThe aim of the Gelephu International Airport, which is rooted in Bhutanese culture, is to become a global entry point into GMC that respects the past while looking to the future, fostering a friendly environment that embodies GMC's values throughout the entire voyage.Forest Spine by BIGGreen Mindfulness Lounge White CeilingMindfullness Relaxation Lounge White CeilingStaff Facilities apron view White CeilingStaff Logistics Entrance by BIGTreetops Bridge by BIGDiagram, Forest TerminalDiagram, Forest Terminal 3Diagram, Forest Terminal 4Diagram Section 1Diagram Section 2BIG recently completed its new headquarters around a single column and a large staircase on the Copenhagen harbor in Denmark. In addition, the firm unveiled design to transform a former supermarket building into the new Museum for Paper Art in the North Jutland region of Denmark. Moreover, the firm unveiled design for a group of holiday villas on Japans Sagi Island called NOT A HOTEL Setouchi.Project factsName:Gelephu International AirportSize:731,946 sq ft / 68,000 m2Location:Gelephu, The Kingdom of BhutanClient:The Kingdom of BhutanCollaborators:Netherlands Airport Consultants (NACO), Magnolia Quality Development Corporation Limited (MQDC), Changi Airport Planners and Engineers, Influit, WT PartnershipProject teamPartner in Charge: Bjarke Ingels, Frederik Lyng, Giulia FrittoliProject Manager:Per Bo MadsenDesign Lead:Sorcha Burke, Dace GureckaTeam: Andrea Megan Hektor, Chiara Gargiulo, Dalma Ujvari, Jan Magasanik, Mantas Povilaika, Nanna Gyldholm Mller, Nathan Angelo Osena, Nikol Maraj, Will Chuanrui Yu, Dace Gurecka, Xinyu Zhao, Matthew Goodwill.All renderings & drawings are courtesy of BIG.> via BIG

Robotics company 1X recently revealed its NEO Gamma robot, a humanoid clothed in soft 3D-printed nylon fabric and designed for use in the home.

As the Origin System careens toward a new war, Warframe players need a reminder of what they're fighting for.

The owner of this small 430-square-foot apartment, who works in events, truly gave me a free hand, says Anthony Authi, the head of Zyva Studio. As any architect will tell you, its not often that they are given so much room to create. But why hire Authi, if not for a chance to enter his inimitable universe? As the building didnt have any history that was especially remarkable, Authi chose to create one from scratch. He decided to immerse himself in the late 1980s and 1990s and the animated films from the time, including Roger Rabbit and Space Jam, which included cartoon characters moving through the real world. In interior design, it generates a kind of crazy contrast that makes you feel like youre watching a film. Suddenly, completely fantastic elements become part of the real world. Its great fun.In this triplex apartment, the ultra-thin metal staircase (Atelier Variable) has a cartoon-like banister that complements the glass bricks that form the bedroom wall. Painted in a swimming pool blue, the banister has a bold look alongside the Sander sofa in fluorescent orange Kvadrat x Raf Simons fabric (Objekte Unserrer Tage). Chairtoon chair, PLA print, and moulded Plexiglas seat (Zyva Studio).In this former loft space, Zyva Studio has recreated a neutral shell made of concrete, plastered walls, and a polished concrete floor. The kitchen, which is where one would enter the unit, is made of stainless steel. All the walls are painted in greige. This backdrop balances the many cartoon-like elements integrated into this three-level home, where the living room can be seen from the kitchen and the bedroom from the living room, which is protected by a glass-block wall. The staircase is the focal point of the project and the first element designed by the architect. This metal element is the bridge between two parts of the flat. Thin and light, it seems to float in space. Authi painted it in an intense swimming pool blue and added a curved banister, exaggerating the curve. We are in a cartoon world, specifically the cartoons of the 1950s, with an aesthetic that the glass-block wall emphasizes. The shape of these brickssquares with circular centers, brings to mind Pierre Chareaus glass houseas in many films, there are often multiple references in the same shot.An oversized, custom bookcase fits in with the proportions of the room and its orange matches that of the sofa. The geometry of the bookcase, staircase, and glass blocks is paired with the freer forms of the Spike n Roses coffee table, PLA print, and the galvanized steel table top (Zyva Studio).Opposite the staircase, an oversized bookcase with a strict geometric structure is painted a fluorescent orange. The color which is also used for the sofa helps define the living room as a separate space. The bookcase is the centerpiece of the living room. It lets us know where we are and the bubble-shaped sofa interacts with it, also helping to indicate that this is a distinct space. The fluorescent orange interacts with the equally intense blue of the staircase and, further on, with the kitchen table and wooden stools that look like they were carved from cartoon rocks. They are combined with the architects Mario Bros cabinet pulls, which contrast sharply with the cold, metallic appearance of the kitchens stainless-steel elements. Back in the living room and the bedroom, theres a coffee table, a floor lamp, and bedside tables all designed by Zyva and which will be familiar to fans of the studios work. This project allowed me to use my furniture designs and then think about the setting that surrounds them in a somewhat theoretical vision of cartoons and their fantastic, exaggerated worlds, which I can make coexist with our real world that is more rigid and serious.With its self-proclaimed cartoon-core style, the apartment follows a rigorous geometry of lines and curves, perfect for displaying objects in bright colors, Artoys, characters, and animated figurines. The Sander sofa is upholstered in fluorescent orange Kvadrat x Raf Simons fabric (Objekte Unserrer Tage).The owner is a fan of Artoyz, as is Anthony Authi, who has displayed many figurines and Bearbricks. This is with the intention of creating a theater set wherein these mini actors, alongside the furniture, and even the inhabitants of the apartment, become characters. They coexist particularly well with some of my furniture, which is itself personified as small animals or cartoon characters. This has created a large Toy Storystyle scene in which all these little characters could very well come to life once the door is closed.In the bathroom, rectangular tiles cover the entire space, including the ceiling, in contrast to the cartoon-core universe in the rest of the apartment. The owners had a specific material in mind with the goal of simplifying the aesthetic some. Namely they looked to the facades of Loewe shops, with their slender tiles in a uniform color. Here, the color is green, to create the feeling of a small indoor jungle. Working within this constraint, Zyva Studio has created an immersive monochrome cocoon that it has linked to its world with two lighting features, the round orange mirror, and the stainless-steel basin. Its something Ive been trying to develop for a while now and I really like it. Its surprising for those who know my work, but it works well. By using a material in the same way as one uses paint, the effect can be striking. I have become much more flexible when it comes to using a single material for a space. That free approach is exciting in a small room like this one and the effect is playful and rigorous at once.This 430-square-foot apartment was originally published in AD France.The three open levels of the flat make the most of the natural light it receives. The austere simplicity of the polished concrete floors and walls finished in greige paint is combined with playful touches like the Spike n Roses cabinet pulls (Zyva Studio) on the stainless-steel base units (Atelier Variable). The Meyer table is made of solid ash stained a sky blue and Fels stools are placed around it (Objekte Unserrer Tage). Tubo ceiling lights (O/M).The kitchens ambience is created with a palette of gray, blue, and stainless-steel elements. The Meyer table in solid ash with a sky-blue stain is surrounded by Fels stools (both Objekte Unserrer Tage). The glass front door opens onto a courtyard. The triplex is an apartment but it feels like a small house with an abundance of natural light.Lines, curves, tubes, rectangles, and a fan-shaped staircase form the basis of a rigorous and graphic geometry.The colors are bold and playful, bringing contrasts and life to the apartment.On the Spike n Roses coffee table (Zyva Studio), sculptures and cartoon figurines (Artoyz).The large glass-brick wall diffuses the light from the living room while maintaining a level of privacy that is always valuable in a small space. Bright bed linens and figurines punctuate the space with their colors and help to create a cartoon-like universe. Chairtoon bedside tables (Zyva Studio).The Spike n Roses pulls from the kitchen are also used in the bedroom (Zyva Studio). The wall lights are from the Tjoep collection (Fatboy).In the bathroom, rectangular tiles cover the space in an all-over pattern, including the ceiling. It creates a feeling like an indoor jungle with cartoon-like elements introduced with the Lorenz mirror in solid ash thats stained red (Objekte Unserrer Tage), a stainless-steel basin (Atelier Variable), and two Tjoep wall lights (Fatboy).

3D Modeling Shrek's Swamp in Blender By Pietro Chiovaro on March 16, 2025 Timelapse Pietro Chiovaro writes:A short project I worked on, trying to bring back the Shrek we all know and love. Let me know your thoughts and dont miss the short animation at the end! :DSoftware: Blender 4.4 (Beta)Render Engine: EeveeTotal Time: 2 hours

Theres nothing more satisfying than watching a corporate giant make a stupid mistake. The behemoth in question is Meta, and when Careless People, a whistleblowing book by a former senior employee, Sarah Wynn-Williams, came out last week, its panic-stricken lawyers immediately tried to have it suppressed by the Emergency International Arbitral Tribunal. This strange institution obligingly (and sternly) enjoined Wynn-Williams from making orally, in writing, or otherwise any disparaging, critical or otherwise detrimental comments to any person or entity concerning [Meta], its officers, directors, or employees. To which her publisher, Macmillan, issued a statement that could succinctly be summarised thus: Get stuffed.Clearly, nobody in Meta has heard of the Streisand effect, an unintended consequence of attempts to hide, remove or censor information, where the effort instead increases public awareness of the information. The company has now ensured that Wynn-Williamss devastating critique of it [see our review inthe New Review] will become a world bestseller.Among the many delicious ironies here is that Mark Zuckerberg, Metas Supreme Ruler, who has recently become a loud advocate of free speech or at least free speech as understood by the Trump regime is trying to suppress Wynn-Williamss troublesome speech. The old-fashioned term for this is hypocrisy. But then her six years spent in the Supreme Leaders inner circle will have inured her to that.Shes also a canny operator. Meta clearly had no idea this was coming. She adapted the playbook used by Frances Haugen, an earlier Facebook whistleblower, lodging a complaint in advance of publication with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and briefing the Washington Post on its contents; recording a compelling interview with Emily Maitlis two weeks before publication; and adding a real coup de grace an appearance on Steve Bannons hilarious podcast.What really infuriated him was that there was one huge area of the world China that was closed to himWhat comes across most forcibly from Wynn-Williamss account is the extent to which Meta is really just a corporate extension of its Supreme Rulers personality, reminiscent of what Microsoft was like when Bill Gates ran it. Zucks special shareholding means that he has complete control of the company. In its regular SEC filings, there is always a paragraph that makes it clear that he could even sell the company against the views of all shareholders and its board.The result is that Meta, as a corporation, always follows Zucks obsessions. For many years, that was about ensuring exponential growth in user numbers. Zuck viewed the world much as board-game fanatics view games of conquest. And what really infuriated him was that there was one huge area of the world China that was closed to him. In the 78-page document that Wynn-Williams filed to the SEC (and which the Washington Post claims to have seen), it was alleged that Meta had for years been making numerous efforts to get into the biggest market in the world.These efforts included: developing a censorship system for China in 2015 that would allow a chief editor to decide what content to remove, and the ability to shut down the entire site during social unrest; assembling a China team in 2014 for a project to develop China-compliant versions of Metas services; considering the weakening of privacy protections for Hong Kong users; building a specialised censorship system for China with automatic detection of restricted terms; and restricting the account of Guo Wengui, a Chinese government critic, after a Chinese internet regulator suggested it would improve cooperation. These corporate efforts only stopped after it became clear that both Donald Trump and Joe Biden viewed China as a strategic threat to the US.The time has come for Starmer & Co to grow some backbone and stop drinking the Kool Aid about AIIn her time at Meta, Wynn-Williams observed many of these activities at close range. In that sense, perhaps the most useful thing about her whistleblowing is that it provides an intimate picture of what a major tech company is really like. What strikes the reader is that Meta and its counterparts are merely the digital equivalents of the oil, mining and tobacco conglomerates of the analogue era. And theyre all US companies that have cosied up to Trump, which means that their interests are now inextricably intertwined with those of the American state.skip past newsletter promotionSign up to ObservedFree weekly newsletterAnalysis and opinion on the week's news and culture brought to you by the best Observer writers Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionThis has major implications for the UK. It means, for example, that any attempt by the government to regulate Meta, X (ne Twitter), Amazon et al will be regarded by Trump as an act of economic warfare. The time has come for Starmer & Co to grow some backbone and stop drinking the Kool Aid about AI so liberally dispensed by the Tony Blair Institute. And to recognise that the servile cringing of the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, when in the presence of US tech bros has become a national security issue. John Naughton is professor of the public understanding of technology at the Open UniversityDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk