longread
Latest
The guy at CES who just wants to talk premature ejaculation
Jeff Bennett keeps referring to "P.E." As in, some 30 percent of men have been afflicted with P.E; the causes of P.E. are not exactly known; P.E. is defined by a male orgasm within a minute of penetration. Just to be clear, he's talking about premature ejaculation. But Bennett's company, Morari, thinks there's a solution. It involves electrodes. He's at CES to promote the technology, even if it draws the occasional snicker. And even if he has to resort to euphemisms. "We want to be seen as leaders in male sexual health," he said.
YouTube's burnout generation
Jacques Slade is a 43-year-old father of three who lives an hour north of LA. He has worked in real estate, taught at a charter school and written music; he also spent nine years at Washington Mutual bank before its collapse. But it was his YouTube channel, which he started in 2013, that's given him a career. He now has more than a million subscribers and recently showed Jeff Goldblum how to unbox a pair of Nikes, on the actor's new Disney+ show. On a Wednesday in October, Slade stood on a pedestrian bridge in suburban southern California's over-90 degree sun, held a brand-new Puma sneaker in his outstretched palm and tossed it in the air. In his other hand he held his camera, trying to snap the shutter to get the perfect floating shot. A couple times the shoe tumbled to the floor. Slade swore. He reviewed his shots. "Trash!" he said.
The best edibles don't taste like weed
When I think about how many milligrams of cannabis I've consumed on my quest for a good-tasting edible, I imagine their little strings of THC DNA orbiting Earth at least two or three times, flipping me the finger as they whiz by. I didn't realize this would be such a massive endeavor a few years ago when, as a food writer focused on craft chocolate, I wondered if anyone was combining quality cocoa beans with marijuana. Since then, I've sampled dozens upon dozens of products, each figuratively dashing my taste buds' hopes against a rock -- along with my few remaining brain cells.
How GOP-linked PR firms use Google’s ad platform to harvest email addresses
This article was produced in partnership with Point, a YouTube channel for investigative journalism. What's the seventh largest purchaser of US political ads on Google right now? After the Republican Senate and Congressional Leadership Funds and the Trump campaign, comes a group called DedicatedEmails.com –- a limited-liability company specializing in digital marketing for clients looking to attract new customers via "opt-in email lists".
How a Harvard class project changed barbecue
"A hundred inches of snow that winter, it was really quite terrible." There are several factors to overcome when trying to cook a 14-pound slab of brisket during the winter. Not only do you have to contend with freezing temperatures but you also have to keep your grill or smoker from getting too wet with moisture from the snow. On top of that, you have to keep the fire going for several hours, or you've just wasted a pricey cut of beef.
You might want a centrifuge to make this cocktail
After a long morning of sweating through the first glimpse of New York City's 90-degree summer, I found myself inside a West Village bar called Existing Conditions. Its shiny leather banquettes, expensive art and mood lighting proved that the area now belonged not to the writerly bohemians of old but the Instagram influencers of new. Fortunately, as a microinfluencer, I fit right in. But I hadn't arrived two and a half hours before the bar opened out of mere enthusiasm. After following a trend of bartenders (excuse me, mixologists) using centrifuges to craft cocktails, I wanted to taste one for myself. As well as -- let's be honest -- steal the recipe to make at home.
Inside Cirque du Soleil's technology lab
We hear about disruption all the time -- to transport, to media, to manufacturers. What happens when it comes for the circus? The centuries-old entertainment form used to be the place to see incredible, death-defying feats. Now, we see that kind of wonder on our smartphone screens all the time.
The forgotten pioneers of computer animation
Everyone remembers ReBoot. It's hard to forget the show's lead character -- a bright blue 'guardian' named Bob -- and his fight to protect a city inside a computer. The computer-animated series premiered in September 1994, months before Pixar stunned theatergoers with Toy Story. It was a groundbreaking show that allowed its creator, Mainframe Entertainment, to pursue similar projects like Shadow Raiders and Transformers spin-off Beast Wars. Today, many believe that Mainframe was the only company to debut a computer-animated TV show in 1994. But that's incorrect. The Canadian studio had a European peer called Fantôme ("ghost" in French), which developed an equally important and pioneering series called Insektors.
Aspirational action: How GoPro makes you want a GoPro
"We'll get about 10 feet from the beach, and it's an easy swim to the shore," the captain of our small boat chirps confidently. It looks more like 60 feet to me. My handler dives right in, so I flop belly-first behind her. I flail against the waves for what feels like a breathless eternity until I finally sense land underfoot. And then a wave crashes over me while the rest of the group -- all bronzed GoPro employees -- watch me get rolled over. And then a second one, until someone takes pity and peels me out of the shame-soup onto dry land. This is categorically not a GoPro moment, but it's about to be.
In search of upcycled food that actually tastes good
I wish I could say that I only recently encountered the trend of transforming used grain into something edible, but then I'd be ignoring evidence of me eating dog treats made at a microbrewery a few years back. The worst part is that I tell Zagat on camera that "these are some of the best I've had," full-on admitting that I've consumed pet food before. My tastes don't usually run so beastly. But those treats didn't contain much more than grains, oats, honey, peanut butter, and the like, so no judgment, please. When Hops & Grain started making these things a few years ago, it was called recycling food waste. Because no one wants to eat anything deemed waste, another term is now in vogue: upcycling.
Big tobacco keeps starting 'grassroots' Facebook campaigns
This article was produced in partnership with Point, a YouTube channel for investigative journalism. Facebook groups like 'Oregonians Against Tax Hikes' and 'No Blank Checks for Colorado' look like citizen groups concerned about taxes. But after a few months running extensive Facebook ad campaigns, they recede with members' petition signatures and personal data. They also happen to be owned and operated by tobacco companies. "[Tobacco companies] create these groups to oppose efforts to pass laws either through legislatures or especially through ballot measures," explains Vince Willmore, Vice President of Communications for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "Every time there's a ballot measure to increase a tobacco tax or pass a smoke-free air law, they'll come up with a front group with a great sounding name when it's entirely funded and run by the tobacco companies."
The Light Phone II's new idea of phone minimalism
Every now and then, a designer decides we all need to spend less time on our phones and sets out to fix that by making us a second phone. Except not a full bells-and-whistles smartphone. A minimalist phone that lets you disconnect without feeling totally rudderless. For most people, it's a simpler device to use on weekends and vacations; if you can pull it off, it might replace your Apple or Android handset completely. So far, there have been two main approaches.
The bitcoin Ponzi scam that won't go away
This article was produced in partnership with Point, a YouTube channel for investigative journalism. In an industry rife with scams, one cryptocurrency trading startup -- USI Tech -- was paying real dividends on its customers' investments. At least, it appeared to be. In reality, USI Tech was a classic Ponzi scheme. It offered outrageous rates of return and encouraged investors to boost their earnings by introducing more people to the USI Tech family, with the fees from new investors then used to pay off existing customers. It wasn't long before authorities in the United States, Canada and New Zealand caught up with the company and issued cease and desist orders. Just a few months later, an estimated tens of millions of dollars had vanished from investors' accounts. But that wasn't the end of USI Tech's story. The model soon reappeared with a new name: Eyeline Trading. The former USI Tech website was redirected to Eyeline, but when authorities caught on to the seemingly rehashed scam, Eyeline rebranded to its current form: WealthBoss.
Impossible Foods’ rising empire of almost-meat
This April Fools' Day, Impossible Foods was behind a prank video. Customers in a St Louis branch of Burger King were surreptitiously filmed eating the restaurant's flagship Whopper. First they rhapsodized about their love for beef. Then they were told they'd just eaten a plant-based Impossible Burger."It's made of fucking beef right here, you see that?" one customer told the camera -- expletive bleeped out -- peeling back his sandwich to reveal the monochrome disc beneath. "That's impossible. It tasted just like a Whopper should taste," said another. Cue close-ups of flames, blackened grills and fat-spitting patties.The minute-long video announced Impossible's biggest partnership yet: a Burger King Whopper made of plant-based meat that sells for $1 more than a regular one. The deal is a stamp of approval from fast food royalty that will eventually insert Impossible's vegan patty right into mainstream America's daily dietary choices.
Making a pickle-infused cake, for science
Although I haven't had any formal training as a chef, I consider myself an above-average eater. So when I was presented with a whipping siphon -- the ruffian responsible for the foam craze that once plagued high-end restaurants and now appears in trendy cocktail bars -- I was confident my taste buds would make up for my lack of what you might call skills. It all started earlier that week when I'd learned how to use the siphon from James Beard Award-winning pastry chef Michael Laiskonis. At Manhattan's Institute of Culinary Education, he'd demonstrated how to make his famous three-component pre-dessert from Le Bernardin called the Egg.
Burned alive for using a smartphone
This article was produced in partnership with Point, a YouTube channel for investigative journalism. Mosul, Iraq -- Before the camera rolls, 34-year-old Fatima pulls her head scarf over her face and ushers her young daughter out of frame. It can be hard to get people on camera in this city. They're happy to talk off the record, but as soon as a recorder comes out, they become skittish -- and with good reason. They're terrified that ISIS will eventually return and that they'll be first on the chopping block for talking to journalists about the brutality of the occupation.
The Shed and the art of the flex
The Shed's concept is simple: It's the 120-foot tall building that moves. This idea is both its architectural hallmark and its metaphor for the future of culture. Opening on Friday, New York City's half-billion dollar, hybrid museum-meets-performance space can shapeshift to double its indoor perimeter in five minutes.
The kings of artisanal cheese wear lab coats
Forget France. In the 21st-century artisanal cheese world, all roads lead to the tiny town of Greensboro, Vermont, home to the Cellars at Jasper Hill. There, brothers Mateo and Andy Kehler craft some of the best cheeses in the world: Jasper Hill has won at least one award from the American Cheese Society every year since 2013, as well as global recognition at the World Cheese Awards. Their ability to raise dairy cows, create cheeses and age other companies' products in their $5 million, 22,000-square-foot facility has made them role models for the 500 or so indie cheesemakers in the US.
How US Soccer develops the superstars of tomorrow using tech
Evangelo Spartiatis, 18, still remembers seeing professional soccer players on Facebook and Instagram wearing "some vest" during training. "What is that?" he recalls thinking. "Why are they wearing it?" Well, as it turns out, what was once a curiosity for him three years ago is, now, something he's all too familiar with. That "vest" Spartiatis talks about is part of a GPS-tracking system he has to wear every day he trains at the Atlanta United Academy, where he plays for the Under-19 development team of the current Major League Soccer (MLS) champion. He's one of Atlanta United's 155 youth players training with the Apex GPS, a wearable designed to measure their distance covered, acceleration, deceleration, speed and work rate. Developed by STATSports, a company founded in 2008 in Northern Ireland, the Apex Athlete Monitoring system consists of a vest that goes between a player's shoulder blades and a small, lightweight GPS device that attaches to it. During a typical training session, its system will collect millions of data points from players, which, STATSports says, can be streamed to a laptop, smartphone, tablet or smartwatch in real time. This allows coaches and training staff to monitor a player's performance live, both in training or in an actual match. If a player isn't covering ground they're supposed to, or if they're not running as fast as they could, the team's staff will know immediately.
The superfans behind the Instant Pot hype
It's beef night at Instant Pot superfan Susan Fox's house. Earlier today she loaded five pounds of chuck, beef broth and spices into one of her six-quart Canadian pressure cookers and pushed a few buttons so that shredded beef would be ready when she returned from picking up her two young kids from viola and violin lessons. "Monday is meatless, Tuesday is chicken, Wednesday is beef, Thursday is fish, Friday is chicken, Saturdays we go out and Sundays we roast!" the 40-year-old ball of energy explained to Engadget in one of her effusive emails. "I know my six-quart Instant Pots like I know my own children."
