Inside Google's Civil War • Discoverology

Inside Google’s Civil War

Business, Long Reads, Tech

With its “Don’t be evil” mantra, Google was a central player in creating the rosy optimism of the tech boom. Some employees say Google is losing touch with that motto. What happens when an empowered tech workforce rebels?

Related tags
Related posts
How The Government Came To Decide The Color Of Your Food

How The Government Came To Decide The Color Of Your Food

Business, Food

Tomatoes are red, margarine is yellow, and oranges, are, well, orange. We expect certain foods to be in certain colors. What we don’t realize is that these colors are not necessarily a product of nature but rather of historical controversies and deliberate decisions by various actors—including the government.

The Unhealthy Truth Behind ‘Wellness’ And ‘Clean Eating’

The Unhealthy Truth Behind ‘Wellness’ And ‘Clean Eating’

Food, Health, Long Reads

I thought about food all day; I woke up at night thinking about sausage rolls, pizza, roast chicken with crisp, lemon-rubbed skin. Food friends and foes drew into two distinct camps in my mind, and I saw ill-health at every turn and in every mouthful. I became fearful and thin. I had found wellness. I was not well.

How Small Farmers Are Fighting To Keep Vermont’s Identity Alive

How Small Farmers Are Fighting To Keep Vermont’s Identity Alive

Long Reads

Not much says “America” more than the small dairy farm, and Vermont has spent decades selling that image. Increasingly, it’s a relic of a bygone era. As of the third quarter of 2019, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food and Markets had accounted for only 675 dairy farms in the state.

The Soviets’ Unbreakable Code

The Soviets’ Unbreakable Code

History, Tech

Created at the end of World War II and introduced in 1956, the Fialka replaced the Albatross, a Soviet cipher machine that was itself more complex than the Enigma. By the 1970s, Fialka encryption machines had been widely adopted by Warsaw Pact and other communist nations, and they remained in use until the early 1990s.

The Twitter Electorate Isn’t The Real Electorate

The Twitter Electorate Isn’t The Real Electorate

Apps, Media, Politics, Tech

For anyone interested in politics, Twitter is the closest thing to a global community center, or a small-ads section—the virtual room where it happens. All of this gives the social network outsize power to shape the political conversation. However, social media is distorting our sense of mainstream opinion.

The Story Behind An Identify Theft

The Story Behind An Identify Theft

Crime, Tech

Lurking behind a simple email in our inbox is a network of fake websites, letterbox companies and more than 100 victims around the world. We untangled a web of fake accounts and followed the digital breadcrumbs back to two Danish fraudsters. This is how we tracked them down, step by step.

Instagram, My Daughter, And Me

Instagram, My Daughter, And Me

Apps, Life, Tech

What Instagram has allowed me to do is to employ a kind of digital physics, to warp my experience of space and time in my favor. In the offline world, I spend precious hours with her and then she disappears. But online, she is with me again when I post, and then again each time I receive a notification.

What Will An Ice-Free Arctic Look Like?

What Will An Ice-Free Arctic Look Like?

Long Reads, Nature, World

Several years in the past decade have reached new lows for summer sea ice extent, raising questions about what will happen in this new Arctic as the ice declines and retreats. How will the ecosystem respond? Can treaties keep fishing in the central Arctic in check?

How Our Home Delivery Habit Reshaped The World

How Our Home Delivery Habit Reshaped The World

Business, Long Reads, Tech

The great trick of online retail has been to get us to do more shopping while thinking less about it – thinking less, in particular, about how our purchases reach our homes. This divorce of a product from its voyage to us is perhaps the thing that Amazon has sold us most successfully.

Nao Tatsumi Paints From Google Street View For Its Neutral Gaze

Nao Tatsumi Paints From Google Street View For Its Neutral Gaze

Art, Tech

Looking at Nao Tatsumi’s tranquil paintings, it’s evident that the Japanese artist has a background in architecture. The Tokyo-based illustrator and artist turns to the web rather than the outdoors for inspiration, fascinated by the impartial gaze that Google’s location tool offers.

We use cookies on this website to analyse your use of our products and services, provide content from third parties and assist with our marketing efforts. Learn more about our use of cookies and available controls: cookie policy. Please be aware that your experience may be disrupted until you accept cookies.