In late 2019 then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced that his company would look for ways to decentralize its social network to give users more control over their tweets and other content, and to rely less on Twitter itself to dictate what could and couldn’t be said on the platform. The idea was to use the blockchain, or something like it, to make Twitter more like email, where users can choose a “client”—that is, a software program or web program that acts like a fron
It’s a beautifully sunny day in San Francisco, and I’m roaming the roof deck above an apartment in the city’s North Beach neighborhood. There’s a lot going on up here: In quick succession, I explore a model of the solar system, attempt to outrun a zombie, paint in 3D space, and learn about various types of flowers as I arrange them in a vase. From the celestial to the down-to-earth, all of these experiences are digital. They’ve moments of augmented reality that
As Coinbase rolls out beta testing for its NFT trading platform Wednesday, it joins a host of cryptocurrency exchanges that are reconfiguring themselves for tokenized collectibles. In many ways, that’s a natural evolution for blockchain businesses, but unlike rival platforms, Coinbase NFT clearly aspires to go beyond just a hub to buy and sell goods. In fact, its user interface looks a lot like—dare we say it?—a social media app. Coinbase first publicized the project back in
Josh Clemente was only 28 years old, but he was extraordinarily tired. He was, by all metrics, healthy. Yet he was convinced he had a terminal illness. Unfortunately, his doctor told him that his blood work revealed only a niggling vitamin D deficiency. He decided that he wanted to better understand his relationship to sugar. After making his fingers black and blue with finger-prick blood tests, a book called Wired to Eat led him to something called a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) that could
Josh Clemente was only 28 years old, but he was extraordinarily tired. He was, by all metrics, healthy. Yet he was convinced he had a terminal illness. Unfortunately, his doctor told him that his blood work revealed only a niggling vitamin D deficiency. He decided that he wanted to better understand his relationship to sugar. After making his fingers black and blue with finger prick blood tests, a book titled, Wired to Eat, led him to something called a continuous glucose monitor that could give
Worm Capital, the Austin-based hedge fund and long-time Tesla bear, is pressing its case on the EV maker, saying in a new report Monday that the stock–even at more than $1,000 a share–remains considerably undervalued. The report, written by Worm Capital partner Eric Markowitz and researcher Cameron Tierney, is the result of a multi-year study of all of Tesla’s businesses–cars, batteries, trucking, and AI–the competitive advantages the company has built up to ad
Presentation apps have tried practically everything to gain an edge over Microsoft PowerPoint. They’ve given their software away for free (Google Slides, Apple Keynote). They’ve focused on simple formatting (Ludus, Paste, Beautiful.ai). They’ve positioned themselves as virtual meeting enhancers (Prezi, Mmhmm). Christian Reber, CEO and co-founder [Photo: courtesy of Pitch]Now, a startup called Pitch has come up with a more novel idea: It’s letting users embed pre-recor
Sketchy ads, like those for miracle weight loss pills and suspicious-looking software, sometimes appear on legitimate, well-regarded websites. It turns out that most websites don’t actually decide who gets to show ads to their viewers. Instead, most sites outsource this task to a complex network of advertising tech companies that do the work of figuring out which ads are shown to each particular person. The online ad ecosystem is largely built around “programmatic advertising, 
If you’ve got an Android phone and you haven’t yet tried Google Messages as your texting go-to, give it a whirl. It’s got a great mix of features without feeling overly bloated. It’s simple enough to use right out of the gate: Sending and receiving messages is about as straightforward as it gets. However, there are a few under-the-radar features worth checking out as well. Set reminders Thanks to the instantaneous nature of messaging, it can often feel like you have t
A report published this month by marketing watchdog Fairplay finds that Instagram’s algorithm promotes an extensive network of pro-eating disorder content. According to the report, “Designing for Disorder,” there are over 90,000 unique accounts promoting such content, all of which collectively reaches some 20 million users around the world. More troublingly, the report notes that one in three exposed accounts belong to someone under the age of 18. Meta, Instagramȁ