Author Archive
Data
‘How Could the CDC Make That Mistake?’
The government’s disease-fighting agency is conflating viral and antibody tests, compromising a few crucial metrics that governors depend on to reopen their economies. Pennsylvania, Georgia, Texas, and other states are doing the same.
Data
State and Federal Data on COVID-19 Testing Don’t Match Up
The CDC has quietly started releasing nationwide numbers. But they contradict what states themselves are reporting.
Data
How Virginia Juked Its COVID-19 Data
The state is combining results from viral and antibody tests in the same statistic. This threatens to confound America’s understanding of the pandemic.
Emerging Tech
Flying Cars Are Real—And They’re Not Bad for the Climate
They might even be greener than electric ones.
Data
What Spy-Satellite Companies Can Teach NASA About Climate Change
The space agency is exploring what three Earth-observation start-ups can teach it about the planet.
Emerging Tech
Google’s New Tool to Fight Climate Change
The company will begin estimating local carbon pollution from cities around the world.
Policy
The Tech Industry Is Fighting Trump—and Mostly Losing
Legal opposition and strongly worded remarks could not defeat the president’s travel ban.
Emerging Tech
Someone Flew a Drone Too Close to a Wildfire, Again
Firefighters in Colorado had to ground their aircraft for an hour.
CIO Briefing
Scott Pruitt’s New Rule Could Completely Transform the EPA
It would not only undermine 30 years of clean-air regulations, but radically restrict what science the agency is allowed to use.
Emerging Tech
Mark Zuckerberg Says He’s Not Resigning
In an interview, the Facebook CEO tells The Atlantic he’s not walking away from the company, but he is looking for outside expertise.
Data
Facebook's Ideological Imperialism
Andrew Bosworth’s memo may seem insidious, but its logic used to be very popular.
Featured eBooks
Emerging Tech
Shrugging Toward Doomsday
Experts warn that the world is now as dangerous as it was at the height of the Cold War. Many Americans already know it.
IT Modernization
7 Questions About Twitter's Doubled Character Limit
Why now? Why this? And will it make Twitter better?
Data
Could Facebook Have Caught Its 'Jew Hater' Ad Targeting?
“Facebook can monitor the things it does that make it money.”
News
Can the U.S. Government Seize an Anti-Trump Website's Visitor Logs?
The Department of Justice is seeking the 1.3 million IP addresses that accessed a website advertising Inauguration Day protests.
CIO Briefing
Why an Anti-Fascist Short Film Is Going Viral
“I’ve heard this kind of talk before, but I never expected to hear it in America.”
CIO Briefing
2016 Was Hot, Weird, and Unprecedented, Says NOAA
Five lessons from the agency’s report on the year’s record-breaking weather
IT Modernization
Your Smartphone Reduces Your Brainpower, Even If It's Just Sitting There
A silent, powered-off phone can still distract the most dependent users.
CIO Briefing
What Steve Bannon Wants to Do to Google
The White House strategist reportedly wants to treat tech giants as public utilities, an idea that some Democrats also support.
Data