The Proper Media Diet

Two articles this week give perspectives on consuming news—how and if it should be done. In The New York Times, Farhad Manjoo recounts his two-month, print-only cleanse: Basically, I was trying to slow-jam the news — I still wanted to be informed, but was looking to formats that prized depth and accuracy over speed. It … Continue reading The Proper Media Diet

Facebook To Join the Film Foray

Joe Flint and Deepa Seetharaman in The Wall Street Journal today reported that Facebook plans to begin producing original, "TV-quality shows" by as soon as late summer 2017. In meetings with major talent agencies including Creative Artists Agency, United Talent Agency, William Morris Endeavor and ICM Partners, Facebook has indicated it is willing to commit to production … Continue reading Facebook To Join the Film Foray

Pocket’s Trending News on Google

I opened Google today and saw something new: Trending Stories by Pocket. Pocket is a popular "save-for-later service" that allows users to save stories from the web to read on their devices offline at a later time. I use the service frequently, and indeed clicking the ? icon displays this message: The best of the … Continue reading Pocket’s Trending News on Google

The F.B.I.’s Many Hurdles

It's now been widely reported that Omar Mateen, the gunman who massacred 49 people at an LGBT nightclub in Orlando last Sunday, had been investigated twice by the F.B.I. How Mateen somehow slipped through the cracks has aroused concern among many and conspiracy theories among a few. The real explanations are, of course, more nuanced … Continue reading The F.B.I.’s Many Hurdles

Net Neutrality Wins Big

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sided with the F.C.C. today, ruling that high-speed broadband is a utility. Tom Wheeler, Chairman of the F.C.C., celebrated what Jon Brodkin called a "total victory": “Today’s ruling is a victory for consumers and innovators who deserve unfettered access to the entire Web, and it … Continue reading Net Neutrality Wins Big

How Hackers Manipulate Waze (and Other Apps)

Kashmir Hill at Fusion shares the findings from a research team at University of California-Santa Barbara: Here’s how the exploit works. Waze’s servers communicate with phones using an SSL encrypted connection, a security precaution meant to ensure that Waze’s computers are really talking to a Waze app on someone’s smartphone. Zhao and his graduate students discovered they … Continue reading How Hackers Manipulate Waze (and Other Apps)

Curious About Apple Watch?

Andrew Cunningham at Ars Technica has you covered. He's spent a year wearing the device, and he breaks down its successes, its failures and its potential in layman's terms (i.e. he talks about battery life, the fitness components and wristband design instead of trying to wow the reader with his technical knowledge of the product). I … Continue reading Curious About Apple Watch?