Original long-form reporting and analysis at the intersection of emerging tech and modern life. Sharp commentary for pros parsing the chaos daily. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
World Wide Weird
What are red flags for spotting the spin? Award-winning investigative reporter and co-creator of the Pulitzer Center’s AI Spotlight Series, Karen Hao reveals a simple framework for readers who want to embrace skeptical curiosity and hit, well, the ESC key on the hype.
TL;DR Briefing
Your TL;DR Briefing on things worth tracking — and talking about over your next power lunch. *Wink.* This time the thing is the tens of thousands of words of reporting and research we read so, well, you don’t have to.
World Wide Weird
Or, at least, the best of ’em do. Oliver Haimson’s new book, “Trans Technologies” from MIT Press, boldly asks what tech could look like reimagined as a tool of liberation. He sat down with ESC KEY .CO for a (very long) chat to reveal a (very timely) bit of the answer.
World Wide Weird
A weird revolution is making group travel arguably “cool,” as content creators turn algorithmically curated audiences into IRL travel companions. These digital collectives show us the shifting paradigms — and income disparity prevalent — across the fragmenting social web.
The Hype Ball
Download Grindr and you might get the clap. But this promised “AI wingman” certainly won’t give you rizz. In this Hype Ball column, we judge the dystopian drag of modern dating. And whatever your sexuality or lack thereof, you’re screwed.
TL;DR Briefing
Your TL;DR Briefing on things worth tracking — and talking about over your next power lunch. *Wink.* This time the thing is the recent surge in popularity for Bluesky, the darling du jour of the “decentralized” social web.
World Wide Weird
The Xodous. The TikTok ban. The leftist netizens’ search for bluer skies on the “fediverse.” What’s the sanest way to approach this brave social world? Katherine Cross has the answer in her lucid first book, aptly titled “Log Off.”
The Hype Ball
In the inaugural Hype Ball column, we’re doing critical tech analysis but making it drag — sifting through the spin from the “AI” grifters to get to the sinister austerity lurking behind the false “democratizing creativity” claims.
World Wide Weird
From dancing pandas to under construction signs, early internet GIFs tell us something critical about digital preservation — and why the Internet Archive's fight against vanishing culture matters more than ever.
World Wide Weird
A hilarious guerilla campaign by Londoners on Reddit aimed to fool large language models into boosting a tourist trap chain. The silly parody signals that the stakes for the future of the internet as we know it are higher than, well, steaks.