Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
In 1966, as the investigative journalist Wayne Barrett detailed in “Trump: The Greatest Show on Earth,” a New York legislative committee accused Fred Trump of using state money earmarked for middle-income housing to build a shopping center instead. One lawmaker called Mr. Trump “greedy and grasping.” By this point, the Trump organization’s business practices were…
Imagine a private, global super court that empowers corporations to bend countries to their will. Say a nation tries to prosecute a corrupt CEO or ban dangerous pollution. Imagine that a company could turn to this super court and sue the whole country for daring to interfere with its profits, demanding hundreds of millions or even billions…
In March of last year, Fusion published an article detailing the ways in which Nextdoor, a social network for neighbors, had become a home for racial profiling. In the “Crime and Safety” forum of many Nextdoor communities, users were reporting people as “suspicious” seemingly based primarily on the color of their skin. Nextdoor CEO Nirav…
The NYC real estate market continues to squeeze both renters and buyers, yet vacant storefronts still plague even so-called “trendy” neighborhoods. There are several frustrating reasons for all of this conspicuous urban blight, which is one of the reasons why freelance developer Justin Levinson has assembled a comprehensive map of all the vacancies around Manhattan,…
There’s much debate over just what “native advertising” means. Talk to enough publishers, however, you’ll find agreement on one thing: it isn’t banner ads. The banner ad is now 18 years old. It has become a symbol of all that’s wrong with online advertising. It is more often than not devoid of creativity; it stands…
Peter Thiel‘s funding of Hulk Hogan‘s lawsuit against Gawker showed many Americans, apparently for the first time, that civil lawsuits are sometimes heavily backed by people who aren’t personally involved in the cases. It’s actually grown into a $3 billion “industry” that Legalist, a startup in Y Combinator’s summer batch, is taking aim at. It isn’t…
Having Blackbox ship your stuff to customers is cheaper than doing it yourself. Blackbox works like a co-op of indie artists. If everyone pays for postage, warehouse space, and packaging themselves, the cost is very high. But if we all pool our resources, we’re as big as any company purchasing at volume. This gives us…
A “death put” on a certificate of deposit means that the bond matures immediately upon the bearer’s death, rather than when its term runs out: they’re used as a form of life-insurance, cushioning the blow to loved ones from unexpected death, and they can be held jointly, so that the bearer’s heirs and a third…
In Google Search, our goal is to help users quickly find the best answers to their questions, regardless of the device they’re using. Today, we’re announcing two upcoming changes to mobile search results that make finding content easier for users. Simplifying mobile search results Two years ago, we added a mobile-friendly label to help users…
Hedge fund manager Todd Newman’s successful career was upended when he was prosecuted for insider trading. After his conviction was thrown out on appeal, the case became a landmark in Wall Street regulation. An inside look at what it’s like to be stalked by the feds—and not back down. The phone call that changed…