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Recommended Reading: Designing a roller coaster that'll make you weep
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. How to Design a Roller Coaster That'll Make You Beg For Mercy by Jeff Wise Bloomberg Business When it comes to designing a roller coaster, there are any number of tools that can achieve that maximum thrill. At Carowinds, a theme park that borders North and South Carolina, the Fury 325 debuted this spring. The ride packs a 325-foot drop and top speeds of 95MPH. How does something like this come about? Bloomberg's Jeff Wise will take you for a ride to find out.
Recommended Reading: The internet can't handle streaming big TV events
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. The Internet's Clearly Not Ready to Stream Big TV Events by Brian Barrett Wired Last weekend's NCAA Final Four provided some of the most-watched college basketball matchups in years -- unless, of course, your Sling TV stream didn't work. The newfangled internet TV service buckled under the weight of a wave of new subscribers looking to opt in for the big games. It was just the latest in a line of live-event-related issues web streamers encountered, and it shows that maybe major television events aren't ready to be viewed on the web. So, Sunday's Game of Thrones premiere should be... interesting.
Recommended Reading: The record-breaking all-electric '68 Mustang
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. Dark Horse by Michael Zelenko The Verge Converting one of the most beloved American muscle cars to an all-electric machine sounds crazy enough, but Mitch Medford wanted much more than that. After putting 800 horsepower's worth of batteries, converters and motors in a 1968 Mustang, he eyed the record for that model: the 170MPH mark set by Carroll Shelby himself -- a man that's synonymous with these classic cars in the States. In fact, some models of Ford's iconic two-door still bear his name. The Verge chronicles the story of the Zombie 222's (as it's called) origins and Medford's quest for history at the Texas Mile.
Recommended Reading: Marvel's 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' hits its stride
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Used to be Terrible. Now it's Terrific. by Todd VanDerWerff Vox I've watched all of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and at the beginning, it was pretty awful. The show, now well into its second season, has improved drastically and it became some of my favorite weekly viewing. As Vox's Todd VanDerWerff notes, the series "seems designed to turn every single negative on the show into a positive through sheer force of will."
Recommend Reading: The extra special Pi Day edition
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. What better way to celebrate Pi Day than with Darren Aronofsky's 1998 film. If you haven't seen it, it's really quite good. The movie chronicles a number theorist who obsesses over numbers in an attempt to decode a pattern behind the stock market. I won't divulge any more info, but if you're looking for some weekend viewing, give this a shot. Oh, and here are a million digits of Pi. Amazon Google Play iTunes Netflix Hulu
Recommended Reading: Exploring the vastness of 'No Man's Sky'
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. 'No Man's Sky' is so Big, the Developers Built Space Probes to Explore it for Them by Dave Tach Polygon Our own Ben Gilbert was quite smitten with No Man's Sky back at E3 2014, and Hello Games delivered more info on the PS4 title at this week's GDC. One of the most interesting bits? The game is so big that devs had to build space probes to examine its landscape. Only the game's designers will ever see the machines, but they're tasked with zooming around the title's 18 quintillion worlds shooting video footage of what they encounter.
Recommended Reading: The secrets behind 'Madden's' player ratings
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. How Madden Ratings are Made by Neil Paine FiveThirtyEight If you've ever played a Madden title, at some point, you've questioned how player ratings are compiled. Heck, players are even critical of their own scores. Well, the stats experts over at FiveThirtyEight dive deep on the matter, offering a load of background information and a method for compiling and grading your own abilities... or lack thereof.
Recommended Reading: The life and death and life of Google Glass
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. Sorry, but Google Glass isn't Anywhere Close to Dead Cade Metz, Wired Reports claim Google Glass is on its last leg after the folks in Mountain View shuttered the Explorer program last month. Not so fast. The wearable still has a truckload of uses, and making it an enterprise device could be the right move.
Recommended Reading: The life of a professional dumpster diver
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. The Pro Dumpster Diver Who's Making Thousands Off America's Biggest Retailers Randall Sullivan, Wired Dumpster diving sounds pretty gross, right? Well, what if I told you there are thousands of dollars to be made rummaging through trash? That's exactly what Matt Malone is doing, and if he did it full-time, he claims he could rake in around $250,000 from his exploits.
Recommended Reading: Reliving virtual reality in the '90s
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. A Look Back at the Doomed Virtual Reality Boom of the 90s Kyle Fowle, Kill Screen With the revival of VR, it's important that we take a look back to the last big push for virtual reality. Kill Screen recently dedicated an entire issue to the topic, including a piece that recalls what VR was like in the '90s, when it was all circle pods, massive headsets and plastic guns. Ah... the good ol' days.
Recommended Reading: The most advanced coffee lab in the world
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. Inside the World's Most Advanced Coffee Laboratory Jason Koebler, Motherboard If you're at least somewhat interested in coffee, you've likely researched a bit about where your favorite spot gets its beans and who roasts them. Thanks to Motherboard, we can take a look inside the walls of Cenicafé: a government-backed facility dedicated to analyzing Colombia's coffee varieties.
Recommended Reading: A closer look at the 2015 Oscar nominations
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. Breaking Down the Oscar Nominations: What the Hell Happened to 'Selma'? by Mark Harris Unless you took a week off from the internet, you're well aware that this year's Oscar nominations were announced a few days ago. While Selma did earn nominations for Best Picture and Best Song, the film that depicts Martin Luther King Jr.'s marches from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery in 1965 was mentioned only twice. Grantland's Mark Harris takes a closer look at the full list to see what other categories should've included Ava DuVernay's picture.
Recommended Reading: The life and death of 'The Colbert Report'
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. Stephen Colbert Is Dead. Long Live Stephen Colbert by Will Leitch, Bloomberg Thursday night's episode marked the end of a nine-year run for the The Colbert Report. Don't worry though, the show's namesake is taking over for David Letterman in 2015, but until then, take a look back at what made Stephen Colbert's overly conservative hijinks so darn compelling. As Bloomberg's Will Leitch puts it, "The politics were (sometimes, though less and less as the show aged) the canvas, but the comedy was always the paint."
Recommended Reading: The Orion capsule's great radiation test
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. How a Spacecraft Like Orion Survives the Harsh Radiation of Orbit by Matthew Braga, Motherboard Radiation isn't a new issue facing the range of things NASA blasts into space, but it's of particular importance to study how the recently launched Orion capsule handles it. There's a lot of new tech on board the spacecraft rather than the usual proven components, so NASA needs to pay even closer attention to how the whole thing holds up in orbit. Motherboard takes a look at how it's done.
Recommended Reading: NYC's new subway hub is an architectural marvel
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. How James Carpenter Gave NYC Subway Riders a Portal to the Sky by Shaunacy Ferro, Fast Company New York City's latest subway station is a really big deal. Fulton Center recalls an age when public transit stations packed in architectural prowess, and this hub does just that. The main element is the so-called Sky Reflector Net that not only bathes the atrium in natural light, but also reflects that light two stories underground thanks to a cable structure suspended way up above.
Recommended Reading: a brief history of female superheroes
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. Suffering Sappho! The Tortured History of Female Superheroes by Molly Lambert, Grantland With the truckload of recent comic book movie announcements, female superheroes are poised to make a big splash at the box office in the years to come -- including Gal Gadot (above) as Wonder Woman. However, previous female-led efforts in the genre haven't done well, and the biggest films continue to have dudes as the lead actors. Grantland takes a look at the troubled history of female superheroes as both Marvel and DC Comics prep to give the ladies another shot at Hollywood glory.
Recommended Reading: Hollywood's love affair with Christopher Nolan
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. Why Hollywood Loves 'Interstellar' Director Christopher Nolan by Ben Fritz, The Wall Street Journal Folks in Hollywood seem to trust director Christopher Nolan to crank out films that'll grab box office bucks. His latest effort, Interstellar, hits movie theaters next week, and it cost a whopping $165 million to make. According to The Wall Street Journal's Ben Fritz, the last non-franchise film to shell out that much was Nolan's 2010 film Inception. The filmmaker seems to get whatever he needs to craft his movies, with the trust that he'll keep his streak of success going.
Recommended Reading: Winning (and losing) big on a video poker bug
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. Finding a Video Poker Bug Made These Guys Rich -- Then Vegas Made Them Pay by Kevin Poulsen, Wired In 2009, John Kane discovered a glitch in video poker machines that allowed him to hit multiple jackpots in a single sitting. Then one night, Kane hit seven in an hour and half, earning over $10,000 and setting off some major red flags with the casino's security. That sum was actually quite modest compared to other days. Wired has the story of how finding a bug in the gambling machines lead to earning a load of cash for a pair of men, until the workaround was discovered.
Recommended Reading: Apple's Jony Ive talks design and the timepiece
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. A Rare Look at Design Genius Jony Ive: The Man Behind the Apple Watch by Robert Sullivan, Vogue The man behind much of Apple's design doesn't often open up for interviews, but following Cupertino's Watch reveal, much of the focus has been on the fashion-minded. That said, Jony Ive offered Vogue a bit more on the upcoming wrist-worn device and his aesthetic mindset as a whole -- right down to things like the sound a watch band makes as it closes.
Recommended Reading: André 3000 chats 'Jimi: All Is by My Side'
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. Billboard Cover: Andre 3000 Talks Playing Jimi Hendrix, His Seven-Year Disappearing Act and Outkast's Future by Lang Whitaker, Billboard It has been an eventful for year for André Benjamin. Perhaps better known as half of the hip-hop duo Outkast, Benjamin -- or André 3000 -- rejoined Big Boi on a globe-trotting festival tour this year for the pair's 20th anniversary performances. If that weren't enough, Jimi: All Is by My Side, the film where he stars as Jimi Hendrix, is set to hit theaters this weekend. The artist and actor opened up to Billboard on the role, life and rumored new album.
