Archive (Page 7) • 5it • Buttondown

The Only Utopian Demand

March 23, 2015

1. Actual solar and wind power installations have far outpaced expert predictions about their growth. "Over the past 15 years, a number of predictions – by...

No Longer a Creepy Interaction

March 20, 2015

1. If you're not following the scientific-ethical debate about CRISPR gene-editing technology, it's time to start. "A group of leading biologists on Thursday...

Must Be Processed, Manipulated, and Interpreted

March 19, 2015

1. On Hollywood's love for unrealistic, one-dimensional futures. "They’re striking, I think, in how they exemplify the two dominant cinematic trends in...

Without You There Is No Us

March 18, 2015

I'm here at TED with the crew from Pop Up Magazine, so I'm sharing links to the work of the people I'm performing with today. 1. Dana Goodyear on the limits...

The Laser's Scanning Path

March 16, 2015

1. A new desktop browser? Meet Vivaldi. "The power user's current solution to the simplification, arguably the infantilization, of the Web browser interface...

Relative Paragons of Economy

March 13, 2015

1. The first people to walk on a new volcanic island are tourism entrepreneurs seeking to sell the experience of visiting a new volcanic island. "The island,...

Sourced from a Bankrupt Factory

March 12, 2015

Today's edition is guest-edited by subscriber Dorothy R. Santos, a writer, editor, and curator focused on new media and digital art, the internet of things,...

A Multivortex Character

March 11, 2015

1. What happened to the guy who wrote the Anarchist's Cookbook? "Powell is now a sixty-five-year-old grandfather. He still speaks with a slight English...

Well, That’s What I Haven’t Found, Barlow

March 9, 2015

1. In praise of the shitphone, by John Hermann, who is on a writing tear. "If shitphones were ready for everyone, they wouldn’t be shitphones. As devices,...

The Harriet Tubman-Sarah Connor Brigade

March 6, 2015

1. Maybe we should take Venus not Mars. "Mars One. The Mars Rover. Bruno Mars. Mars Bars. It's pretty clear we're OBSESSED with the idea of Mars, especially...

rf: disaffected

March 4, 2015

1. How Y2K really went down. "If Y2K has been remembered as a 'non-event,' a hysteria and a farce, is that because it was an overblown threat? Or is it...

rf: direful

March 3, 2015

1. The future of eyewitness testimony, which is often garbage. "[I]n fact, it’s 'the number one cause of wrongful convictions,' says Daniel Medwed. Medwed is...

RF: directress

March 2, 2015

People have asked me: why does your newsletter show up at all different times of the day? Some have asked whether it is an engagement strategy or some kind...

RF, special edition: perception

February 27, 2015

1. Is it a rabbit or a duck? "An ambiguous figure in which the brain switches between seeing a rabbit and a duck. The duck-rabbit was 'originally noted' by...

RF: digit

February 26, 2015

1. How the American Sign Language community works out how to sign new words like "selfie" and "photobomb." "As a collective, we see various signs until one...

RF: differentia

February 25, 2015

1. The brutal beginning of the sulfur supply chain is in an Indonesian volcano. "Ijen spits out striking blue flames that are only visible at night, which is...

RF: didactic

February 24, 2015

1. Dating bots make me ... uncomfortable. Do coders really need one more special advantage? "I realized that when I stormed out of the lab, I’d accidentally...

RF: diarchy

February 23, 2015

1. Phone battery life should be longer. Battery innovation is hard, though, so maybe phones should be thicker. "Take the latest iPhone. Let’s do a thought...

Real Future

February 19, 2015

1. The codes that reveal the presence of network infrastructure all over New York City. "Sometimes you'll see a manhole cover that is surrounded with...

Real Future

February 18, 2015

1. These are all the sounds discarded when Suzanne Vega's 'Tom's Diner' was compressed to MP3. "Right now, you’re probably listening to music on your...