An hour agoNathan EdwardsThe surprisingly deep history of a ubiquitous font.Marcin Wichary, the author of Shift Happens an exhaustively researched, beautifully designed and photographed history of the keyboard is back with a deep dive into Gorton, a font found on keyboards, intercoms, camera lenses, and engraved signs across the world, with a special focus on Manhattan. The article is classic Wichary: it goes very deep and is full of beautiful photographs and interactive elements. Its a real delight after the week weve had.The hardest working font in Manhattan[aresluna.org]Feb 7Ash ParrishWarner Bros. Games suffered $300 million in losses last year.Thats according to a report from Jason Schreier in Bloomberg that highlights the struggles WBs games division has had trying to turn out another hit. Though the company had success with Hogwarts Legacy in 2023, its since suffered multiple failures with the twin flops of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and Multiversus, while its forthcoming Wonder Woman game struggles to coalesce.Warner Bros. Video-Game Division Faces Thin Slate, Leadership Uncertainty and Wonder Woman Issues[bloomberg.com]Jan 3Jay PetersThe Supreme Court case that could eliminate longstanding free speech protections for sexual content.Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton will be heard on January 15th. Vox explains whats at stake in this battle over a Texas law requiring age verification to access sites with pornographyThe huge stakes in a new Supreme Court case about pornography[Vox]Dec 31, 2024Elizabeth LopattoFrom the means of production to a meme in production: Its one kind of American dream.If the phrase Hawk Tuah girl means nothing to you, I urge you to continue in blissful ignorance. If Hawk Tuah shitcoin scam resonates, youll enjoy Katie Bakers rundown of what, exactly, happened.One Kind of American Dream: The Year in Hawk Tuah and Crypto Memecoin[www.theringer.com]Nov 30, 2024Mia SatoAn 1891 recording is country music history.A recently discovered performance of Thompsons Old Gray Mule is now the oldest country recording in existence. The performer is Louis Vasnier, a Black artist from New Orleans.The recording highlights how Black musicians have shaped the genre, despite the erasure of their contributions:Black artists by and large, who were the ones who performed and recorded, get wiped out of the picture because they say, Well, its not really country, Martin says. So ours is partly a project of reclamation.The earliest known country recording has been found. The singer? A Black man.[The Washington Post]Nov 15, 2024Victoria SongPedometers tracked philandering spouses and sleepy employees back in the 1800s.If you thought step counting and activity tracking was a new-ish thing, apparently not! This excerpt from Numbered Lives: Life and Death in Quantum Media goes into how wealthy people in the 1800s used pedometers as a form of surveillance tracking naughty spouses, and checking to see if soldiers were properly patrolling... or just taking a nap during the night shift.Surveillance and the Secret History of 19th-Century Wearable Tech[The MIT Press Reader]Nov 13, 2024Victoria SongAmazon just axed a secret fertility tracker project.The goal was a product that could predict a users fertility by collecting saliva. Users wouldve then been able to log period symptoms, sexual activity, and other fertility data via a mobile app. CNBC says Amazon has laid off the entire team behind the project. Initially, it was set to launch later this year before technical issues resulted in delays.Amazon shuts down secret project to develop fertility tracker[CNBC]Nov 1, 2024Mia SatoThe whitewashing of the National Archives.Top US archivist Colleen Shogan has quietly been changing educational material and exhibits at the Archives museum including removing references to dark periods in US history, The Wall Street Journal reports.Current and former staff say Shogan engaged in censorship by removing mention of events like Japanese American incarceration, displacement of indigenous peoples, and the Civil Rights Movement.Exclusive | Americas Top Archivist Puts a Rosy Spin on U.S. HistoryPruning the Thorny Parts[WSJ]Oct 25, 2024Sean HollisterGo read how the US governments big bet on Intel is in jeopardy.Intel stands to receive $8.5 billion in CHIPS Act funding, ostensibly to make America lead in silicon again, but Intels not looking like much of a leader right now. Among other things, Anna Swanson and Tripp Mickle at The New York Times found out Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has asked Big Tech to order chips from Intel fabs and most of them said no.The White House Bet Big on Intel. Will It Backfire?[The New York Times]Oct 24, 2024Sarah JeongHow many people are donating to Trump in your neighborhood?Or Harris, for that matter. Its not easy to make campaign finance data interesting, but The Washington Post has created this very cool interactive map showing the number of donors and total amount raised for either candidate by zip code.See how your neighborhood is giving to Trump and Harris[Washington Post]Oct 17, 2024Alex HeathSnapchat to the Trump campaign: Well take your money but not your posts.An interesting look at how Snap has diverted from other platforms in its handling of former President Trump:Unlike other major tech platforms, Snap has not lifted the ban on Mr. Trumps personal account, which has drawn angry pushback from his campaign. Despite not allowing Mr. Trump to post personally, the company has said it would sell his campaign political advertisements, which must all go through an internal fact-check.Trump Wants Young Voters, but Hes Nowhere to Be Seen on Snapchat[The New York Times]Oct 15, 2024Emma RothThe problem with custom AI chatbots.While it might be fun to interact with Character.AIs user-created chatbots, a report from Wired shows the challenges of taking down chatbots that impersonate people without their consent, including a teen who was murdered in 2006:Given that Character.AI can sometimes take a week to investigate and remove a persona that violates the platforms terms, a bot can still operate for long enough to upset someone whose likeness is being used. But it might not be enough for a person to claim real harm from a legal perspective, experts say.Anyone Can Turn You Into an AI Chatbot. There's Little You Can Do to Stop Them[WIRED]Oct 11, 2024Kylie RobisonAnthropics CEO has many, many, many thoughts about AGI.In a long blog post, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei considers the upside of artificial general intelligence (AGI, or as he prefers to call it, powerful AI). He pushed back on the idea that hes a pessimist or doomer by outlining some grandiose claims for the future of AI:I think that most people are underestimating just how radical the upside of AI could be, just as I think most people are underestimating how bad the risks could be.Id like to point out that the company is reportedly in talks to raise money at a $40 billion valuation.Machines of Loving Grace[Dario Amodei]Oct 11, 2024Mia SatoUber and Lyft blocked drivers from working to save money.Ride share drivers in New York are guaranteed a minimum wage but Uber and Lyft gamed the law by locking drivers out of the app, making it impossible for them to earn more, a Bloomberg investigation found.Bloomberg collected more than 7,000 screenshots of lockouts and estimated how much the companies could save using the lockout tactic.How Uber and Lyft Used a Loophole to Deny NYC Drivers Millions in Pay[Bloomberg]Sep 27, 2024Jay PetersHeres the scoop on why the Annapurna Interactive staff resigned.Bloombergs Jason Schreier, who broke the original story, just published a detailed account of what went down. Settle in with some popcorn its pretty wild.Sep 17, 2024Jennifer Pattison TuohyKitchenAids new walnut stand mixer is indeed as impractical as it is beautiful.The $700 Evergreen edition of the iconic kitchen appliance is apparently not recommended for whipping eggs, as Ellen Cushing discovered in this delightful takedown of the gadget where she compares it to an engagement ring:Both are expensive status symbols generally acquired in the spring of ones life; both are of limited use and enduring popularity; both are signifiers of domestic attainment; both are things people excitedly post to Instagram.The new KitchenAid adds a gorgeous wooden bowl to the classic appliance, cementing its role as more status symbol than stand mixer. Image: KitchenAidSep 15, 2024Wes DavisA reminder about marketing.Before you buy something like Ankers new MagGo SD card reader to take advantage of that high-fps video capture on the iPhone 16 Pro, go read PetaPixels warning about product marketing and the limits of SD cards.PetaPixel today confirmed that the iPhone can technically shoot 4K at 30 frames per second (FPS) in ProRes Log to a UHS-II SD card, but attempting to choose a higher frame rate would guarantee dropped frames.Before You Use an SD Card as an External Drive for iPhone, Know the Limitations[PetaPixel]Sep 13, 2024Justine CalmaMicrosoft pitches generative AI to oil and gas companies.Fossil fuel giants have used AI for years to increase production. Now, Microsoft sees the generative AI boom as an opportunity to boost profits for itself and oil and gas companies it wants to strike deals with, Karen Hao reports for The Atlantic. Microsofts own greenhouse gas emissions are growing with its focus on AI, taking the company further away from its climate goals.Microsofts Hypocrisy on AI[The Atlantic]Sep 9, 2024Kevin NguyenThe extraordinary Prince documentary we might never see.Ezra Edelman, who directed the Oscar-winning masterpiece O.J.: Made in America, has been working on an expansive nine-hour film about Prince. But as the New York Times Magazine reports, the artists estate is attempting to block its release, which they worry will tarnish the reputation of Paisley Park.We might not have a doc to watch, but in the meantime, Sasha Weisss story has many details from the film and incredible material about Edelmans editing process.The Prince We Never Knew[The New York Times Magazine]Sep 9, 2024Mia SatoThe battle of the Bobs.The New York Times meticulously pieced together the bitter power struggle inside Disney between CEO Bob Iger and his successor, Bob Chapek, who was fired in 2022. The piece, which follows up a 2023 report from CNBC, chronicles Chapeks rise and fall, and Igers quest to return to power.The Palace Coup at the Magic Kingdom[The New York Times]Sep 5, 2024David PierceWhy is comedy TikTok seemingly all crowd work clips?Ive always wondered, and Lucas Zelnik has a shockingly simple and good answer:I think the biggest thing is to stay in front of peoples faces. You just have to put out so much content. Jokes take so long to write. I will put out chunks of material but very selectively, and, frankly, I probably wont put out any more material until Im ready to release an hourlong special, which I think I want to give that a few more years.Comedian Lucas Zelnick Is Huge on TikTokBut Dont Hold That Against Him[GQ]Aug 31, 2024Wes DavisAI search shouldnt be this easy to manipulate.Kevin Roose, whose New York Times story about horny Bing chats went viral last year, writes that chatbots are at times very negative about him since, having seemingly picked up on criticism of his piece.Now, he writes about how he used techniques that could be considered an AI-focused version of SEO to influence how they respond when asked about him and what that portends.Aug 28, 2024Sarah JeongThe Titanic was an insurance scam is my new favorite conspiracy theory.The claim that the Titanic was swapped with a sister ship and intentionally sunk for an insurance payout is, according to Reuters, a long-running and meritless rumor.But its entirely new to me! And extremely hilarious! You should treat this (and anything else on that cursed site) with the gravity and weight of fanfiction, but lets be real, fanfiction is fun.Titanic Conspiracy: The Ship that Never Sank[The Unredacted]Aug 27, 2024David PierceThe people who worry about killer AI are still worried about killer AI.And theyre worried that everybody else got really worried for a minute, too, and then just kind of moved on. And so maybe the worriers missed their only chance:There was almost a dog-that-caught-the-car effect, she said. This community had been trying so long to get people to take these ideas seriously, and suddenly people took them seriously, and it was like, Okay, now what?AI Doomers Had Their Big Moment[The Atlantic]Aug 22, 2024David PierceWhistleblowin from 9 to 5.Im gonna go out on a limb and say US whistleblower laws werent intended to be used by people like Richard Overum, who has turned himself into a super spy one whistleblower reward at a time. But hes making it work! And hes recruiting.I cant decide if this is a Robin Hood story or kind of scammy or both, but I cant get enough.How To Make Millions As a Professional Whistleblower[GQ]