Why YouTube Won’t Ban Trump’s Misleading Ads About Biden
The online political advertising wars rage on. In late September, Facebook pleased almost no one when it announced that it would exempt posts by politicians, including ads, from its fact-checking system. Almost as if on cue, a few days later the Donald Trump reelection campaign dropped an ad full of conspiratorial claims about Joe Biden. […]
200 Researchers, 5 Hypotheses, No Consistent Answers
Another team tested the same hypothesis by asking subjects to self-identify with a political party and then to rank their feelings about a hypothetical member of the opposition party. Using this approach, they found that people are very willing to report their own negative stereotypes. Meanwhile, a third team showed subjects photos of men and […]
Jack Dorsey Wants to Help You Create Your Own Twitter
“Rather than relying on a few giant platforms to police speech online, there could be widespread competition, in which anyone could design their own interfaces, filters, and additional services, allowing whichever ones work best to succeed, without having to resort to outright censorship for certain voices,” Masnick wrote. “It would allow end users to determine […]
An Early Flu Season, a Flight Simulator Revival, and More News
Flight Simulator is back and influenza’s on the attack, but first: a cartoon about trend revival. Here’s the news you need to know, in two minutes or less. Want to receive this two-minute roundup as an email every weekday? Sign up here! Today’s News This year’s flu season is off to a weird (and early) […]
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Was Built to Win. So It Had to Fail
First, a seemingly controversial opinion: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a good movie. A good movie—not a good film. Films win Oscars and play festivals. Movies sell popcorn and play in multiplexes. There are films that qualify as movies and movies that qualify as films, but Rise of Skywalker is definitely a movie. […]
12 Best After-Christmas Sales (2019): Amazon, REI, GameStop, Best Buy, and More
Rudolph has come and gone, but there are quite a few post-holiday sales going on. Now is a great time to use up any gift cards that you may have received. Or if you still have a few stragglers to shop for, you can pick them up a belated gift at a discount. The same […]
Russia Takes a Big Step Toward Internet Isolation
Over the holidays, the Russian government said it had completed a multi-day test of a national, internal internet known as RuNet, a bid to show that the country’s online infrastructure could survive even if disconnected from the rest of the world. Though Russia claims the initiative relates to cybersecurity, researchers and human rights advocates inside […]
BranchVFX: Making Visual Effects Pop
hen Shade VFX, the Emmy award-winning Los Angeles visual effects firm behind some of the hottest shows on HBO and Netflix, wanted to expand its operations, it didn’t look to nearby Santa Monica, up the coast to the Silicon Valley, or even overseas. Instead, it set up shop in an emerging Hollywood on the Hudson: […]
Asomándonos a la Revolución Cubana de Internet Hecha por los Propios Cubanos
El Centro Habana es un mal residuo de un pueblo Potemkin, que el Gobierno ha renovado para el consumo turístico. Justo al oeste de la pintoresca Habana Vieja y al este del moderno Vedado, donde entre montones de escombros de edificios derrumbados o basura apilada uno se topa con edificios de época colonial reducidos al […]
Director Luc Besson Tests the Outer Limits With His New Film, Sci-Fi Epic Valerian
Besson’s origin story doesn’t start with film. He grew up with a weekly habit familiar to nerds worldwide: On Wednesdays, he went to buy comics. French bandes dessinées, though, weren’t like US comics. They eschewed primary-colored spandex-clad do-gooders in favor of science fiction, weirdness, and sex. He didn’t go to film school. Besson talked himself […]