Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
t’s early summer, and I’m in Dupont Circle. Something’s off. People, I notice, seem to be suddenly tweeting much less lately. But I’ve got a book to finish, so I file the observation away to carefully inspect later. It’s late summer, and I’m standing in Madison Square, frowning. Something’s wrong. Twitter feels like a deserted…
London-based design studio Marshmallow Laser Feast isn’t just about pushing creative boundaries; it’s about encouraging people to see things from a different perspective. Using custom software to combine footage from lidar (remote sensing technology) and CT scanning, photogrammetry and a 360º aerial camera, their latest project is a virtual reality experience that lets viewers rediscover the Grizedale Forest…
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio took aim at Uber this summer, trying (and failing) to set a cap on the number of its for-hire cars operating in the city. The ride-share service has drawn criticism on a number of issues — including its labor practices — but the mayor said his main concern…
Facebook blocked the phrase “everyone will know” for more than a day, but users are now once again able to post the seemingly innocuous three words. “This was a mistake with our spam filter and our engineers have resolved the issue,” Melanie Ensign of Facebook security communications told The Huffington Post. HuffPost also independently confirmed that the phrase…
Donald Trump’s 4chan fans were driven into a frenzy on Tuesday when Trump retweeted one of the site’s most popular memes: An image of an anthropomorphic frog decked out as the presidential contender. He posted the pic alongside “You Can’t Stump The Trump,” a video compilation of clips from the last Republican primary debate that highlighted some of his more outrageous moments from the evening. 4chan…
Last November, I befriended four male techies I met at a club in San Francisco. Call it youth, call it impulsivity – the night was young and they seemed friendly enough. Back at the SOMA apartment we would crash at, we spoke about everything from dubstep to their internships (Firefox, Apple, Facebook, HP) and my…
Underscoring the complicated relationship between the tech world and traditional entertainment, Snapchat has done a course correction on its original content strategy, opting to shut down its Snap Channel permanently, leading to the departure of a number of employees, including Marcus Wiley, Head of Program Planning and Development. Launched in January, Snap Channel had marked Snapchat’s foray into self-generated original content. The…
Begin: WordPress Article Content Today, Twitter announced an 8% layoff, and Wall Street is responding to the news. Its stock is up over 5%, signaling that investors also felt that it was time for the social networking company to slim down. Former members of the flock who were affected are starting to share their stories…
We asked for your worst stories about working in a massive tech bureaucracy. From inept management to insane rules to meetings that lead to more meetings, you’ve been through a lot. Let’s clock in. OB1 wrote: Your company ID badge was also your attendance keeper. That’s right, if you were on a set 9-5pm schedule…
NG Converter v4.0.2.6 Exhibit 99.1 From: Jack Dorsey To: All Employees Date: October 13, 2015 Subject: A more focused Twitter Team, We are moving forward with a restructuring of our workforce so we can put our company on a stronger path to grow. Emails like this are usually riddled with corporate speak so I’m going…