I kind of hate messaging these days. Over the years different software have imposed on their users FOMO inducing features that lead us to this ridiculous reality in which we all collectively agreed that a response to a text needs to be returned within minutes, no matter the content nor the urgency. I sometimes choose […]

Read-Only Memory publishes high-quality books that document videogame history.

A web typography learning game

L.M. Sacasas: “When I was a child,” the Apostle wrote, “I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.” And, we may add, I looked like a child. Thus the appropriateness of my childishness was evident in my appearance. Yes, that was me as I was, but that is […]

From the New York Times course to teach its reporters data skills.

Oona Räisänen: If you ever connected to the Internet before the 2000s, you probably remember that it made a peculiar sound. But despite becoming so familiar, it remained a mystery for most of us. What do these sounds mean? […] The first thing we hear in this example is a dial tone, the same tone […]

Arvind Narayanan: I will focus the rest of my talk on this third category [predicting social outcomes], where there’s a lot of snake oil. I already showed you tools that claim to predict job suitability. Similarly, bail decisions are being made based on an algorithmic prediction of recidivism. People are being turned away at the […]

Anton Dubrau does a fascinating overview of existing tunnel boring machine technology: People tend to think it’s the tunnels that are the most expensive part of underground systems like metros, but thanks to the already existing TBM technology, they often represent only a small portion of the overall cost. Sometimes as little as 10%. The […]

Ethan Marcotte: I want to suggest that web design has, as a practice, become industrialized, and I want to look at how that will change the nature of our work in the months and years to come. I want to talk about how the web has always excelled at creating new kinds of work, before […]

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A museum of software interfaces.

Huber Horan: In reality, Uber’s platform does not include any technological breakthroughs, and Uber has done nothing to “disrupt” the eco­nomics of providing urban car services. What Uber has disrupted is the idea that competitive consumer and capital markets will maximize overall economic welfare by rewarding companies with superior efficiency. Its multibillion dollar subsidies completely […]