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Recommended Reading: The lasting effect of the Iowa Caucuses
Iowa might have screwed up the whole nomination process Nate 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 New Hampshire and the states to follow. Except the app failed, phone lines were jammed and it took the better part of the week for the full numbers to come out. So just how badly didn't Iowa screw up the whole process? FiveThrityEight's Nate Silver explains the candidate(s) who "won" didn't get the massive bump they would have and the field is still way too crowded.
Recommended Reading: Facial recognition, police and privacy
The secretive company that might end privacy as we know it Kashmir 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 to solve crimes like shoplifting, murder and child sexual exploitation. The code in Clearview's app references the ability to pair the software with AR glasses, giving the person wearing them the ability to identify whoever they see. And the company is monitoring who law enforcement is looking for, which makes an already massive privacy issue sound like something out of a dystopian novel.
Recommended Reading: The internet sleuths who caught the Astros cheating
How the internet helped crack the Astros' sign-stealing case Joon 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 season -- including the World Series. MLB found that it continued to do so during the 2018 season, too. So far, three managers have lost their jobs due to their involvement. ESPN explains how internet detectives examined footage for clues over the last several months, and how that work helped blow the case wide open.
Recommended Reading: The science fiction of William Gibson
How William Gibson keeps his science fiction real Joshua 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 stories. That includes his concept of "cyberspace" that first appeared in his work in the early 1980s.
Recommended Reading: A year later, the CRISPR babies are still a mystery
Why the paper on the CRISPR babies stayed secret for so long Antonio 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 on exactly what did/didn't happen. MIT Technology Review has several pieces on the story this week. Those include unpublished portions of the research manuscript and an explanation of why it hasn't been published by either of the two influential scientific journals He sent it to.
Recommended Reading: The making of Star Wars Galaxy's Edge
A journey to Galaxy's Edge, the nerdiest place on Earth Adam 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 went into making it a reality.
Recommended Reading: The 15th anniversary of 'Halo 2'
When 'Halo 2' invaded planet earth Anthony 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 experience and its lasting influence on things like streaming culture. Oh yeah, it was also the best-selling entertainment (not just gaming) release of all time when it debuted. Insane.
Recommended Reading: The 'fingerprints' of bourbon
Whiskey webs: Microscale "fingerprints" of bourbon whiskey Stuart 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 school's department of mechanical engineering observed web-like patterns or "fingerprints" when a drop of American whiskey evaporated. The same characteristic isn't present in Scotch whisky or other liquors. What's more, each pattern was a unique indicator of both whiskey type and age.
Recommended Reading: How memes became political weapons
How memes got weaponized: A short history Joan 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 into a post on a right-wing message board," Donovan writes. "The picture had been doctored to look like an ad for Hillary Clinton's campaign, and appeared to endorse the idea of drafting women into the military."
Recommended Reading: The Google Stadia controller prototypes
An exclusive look at how Google designed its Stadia game controller Stan 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 put out rigs of cameras and filmed roughly 6,000 hours of gaming time to observe how people were holding different controllers," Google design director Isabelle Olsson explains.
Recommended Reading: Your AirPods are going to die
Everyone's AirPods will die. We've got the trick to replacing them. Geoffrey A. Fowler, The Washington Post If you hopped on the AirPod bandwagon early, your earbuds are likely near the end of their life. The Washington Post details what happens when your true wireless audio accessory stops working, including the fact that "battery service" really just means giving you a new pair and tossing your old ones in the recycling bin.
Recommended Reading: The ICE surveillance playbook
How ICE picks its targets in the surveillance age McKenzie Funk, The New York Times Through the lens of officers operating in the Pacific Northwest, The New York Times explains how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) collects information on possible targets. That includes monitoring social media accounts and tapping into "the world's largest privately run database of license-plate scans."
Recommended Reading: Uber wants to be the 'operating system' for city life
Inside Uber's plan to take over city life with CEO Dara Khosrowshahi Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge This week, ride-sharing giant Uber announced a test that puts both its car and food services in the same app. It's part of a larger plan CEO Dara Khosrowshahi describes as becoming the "operating system for your everyday life in a city." The Verge details the challenges to doing so in an interview with the chief executive.
Recommended Reading: The redesigned WWE Network
WWE Network 2.0: How WWE rebuilt its streaming service after a split with Disney Chris Welch, The Verge After a flashy reveal at CES a few years ago, the WWE Network is by all accounts a success, amassing well over a million subscribers by early 2019. Disney threw a wrench in the plans when it bought BAMTech, the company that had successfully constructed streaming services for the likes of Major League Baseball and HBO Now. It was also what WWE relied on for its 24/7 buffet of choke slams and live events. WWE saw the writing on the wall, and rebuilt its streaming library from the ground up.
Recommended Reading: Behind the scenes of Netflix's 'Dark Crystal' prequel
The creators of 'The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance' just loved throwing puppets Liz Shannon Miller, The Verge Netflix's Dark Crystal prequel series debuted this week, offering fans another look at the world created by Jim Henson and Frank Oz. The Verge caught up with executive producers Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews for a behind-the-scenes interview ahead of the streaming debut. There's plenty of detail on the cast, the crew, the tech and "Olympic-level puppet-throwing."
Recommended Reading: Taylor Swift and Spotify are... best friends?
Taylor Swift is getting friendly with Spotify ahead of her new album, 'Lover.' Times have changed. Tim Ingham, Music Business Worldwide Not too long ago, Taylor Swift shook off Spotify, pulling her entire catalog from the service and slamming music streaming as "a grand experiment." Nearly five years later, amid a huge blow up with her former label, she's mighty cozy with the Sweden-based company that went public in 2018. It looks like the two sides have put aside their bad blood -- for now.
Recommended Reading: Replacing crops with solar panels
California farmers are planting solar panels as water supplies dry up Sammy Roth, Los Angeles Times In parts of California, water is becoming scarce, and that's not great news for farmers. There is an alternative though: solar panels. Los Angeles Times explains how the renewable energy source might help replace jobs and revenue that are lost as over half a million acres are taken out of production in the San Joaquin Valley alone.
Recommended Reading: The race back to the Moon
Dueling superpowers, rival billionaires. Inside the new race to the Moon Jeffrey Kluger, Time SpaceX, Blue Origin and others are in a heated battle to help NASA return the US to the Moon. Time takes an in-depth look at the new space race and the key players fighting for a piece of the prize.
Recommended Reading: The legacy of female players in 'FIFA'
How female characters in FIFA led to a diversity movement at EA Dean Takahashi, VentureBeat Discussions on diversity and equal pay have taken over in the week following the 2019 Women's World Cup, especially in the US. EA game designer Katie Scott explains how her work on FIFA's "The Journey" story mode lead to improving representation of female characters -- work that eventually kickstarted company-wide change.
Recommended Reading: Apple's ambitious TV plan
Can Apple hack it in Hollywood? We talk to the man behind Apple TV+ Stuart McGurk, GQ UK Apple officially revealed it's TV streaming service in March, but it won't debut for the masses until this fall. There have been all kinds of reports swirling about content, including reports that Apple executives were micromanaging creative direction. GQ sat down with senior vice president of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue to find out more about TV+, and get some clarity on a few of those rumors.
