The Rise Of Nintendo
Nintendo hasn’t always made video games. It was founded over a century ago and at one point sold ramen noodles and operated a taxi service. Today, Nintendo is part of a crowded video game market, up against companies like Sony, Microsoft, Apple and Google. When Nintendo first got into the home console business in the 80s, it dominated.
The Myth Of The Ethical Shopper
What has happened in those sweatshops since they became a cultural fixation three decades ago? All sources led to the same conclusion: Boycotts have failed. Our clothes are being made in ways that advocacy campaigns can’t affect and in places they can’t reach. So how are we going to stop sweatshops now?
Why Perfect Grades Don’t Matter
Research shows that chasing after perfect grades discourages creativity and reduces academic risk-taking. The constant quest for perfect grades can lead to high stress and mental health problems. Here’s why good grades don’t always translate into success in life.
The Great American Labor Paradox: Plentiful Jobs, Most Of Them Bad
The numbers tell one story. Unemployment in the US is the lowest it’s been in 50 years. More Americans have jobs than ever before. Wage growth keeps climbing. People tell a different story. Long job hunts. Trouble finding work with decent pay. A lack of predictable hours.
How Online Shopping Makes Suckers Of Us All
Will you pay more for those shoes before 7 p.m.? Would the price tag be different if you lived in the suburbs? Standard prices and simple discounts are giving way to far more exotic strategies, designed to extract every last dollar from the consumer.
Tor vs VPN, Which One Should You Use For Privacy, Anonymity And Security
Many regular people that choose VPNs do so to prevent their ISPs from spying on their browsing history and selling it to advertisers. What they don’t realize is that they are not enhancing their privacy – they are just delegating the trust to a different company.
How The Environmental Lawyer Who Won A Massive Judgment Against Chevron Lost Everything
Few news outlets covered the detention of Steven Donziger, who won a multibillion-dollar judgment in Ecuador against Chevron over the massive contamination in the Lago Agrio region and has been fighting on behalf of Indigenous people and farmers there for more than 25 years.
Escape From The Matrix
The fear of missing out, a spawn of technological advancement and proliferating social information, is the feeling that we’re missing out on something more exciting, more important, or more interesting going on somewhere else. FoMO haunts our social networks and our real lives alike. But there is a way to break free.
How You End Up In And Survive A Cult
How do well-meaning, intelligent people end up in a cult? EnlightenNext was an organization, founded by self-styled guru Andrew Cohen, that aimed to facilitate spiritual awakening. Cohen’s most devoted students meditated for hours—at times, months—on end, were often celibate, and lived together.
When Elon Musk Tried To Destroy A Tesla Whistleblower
It started with an Elon Musk Twitter meltdown and ended with a fake mass shooter. A former security manager says the company also spied and spread misinformation.
What Are Third-Party Internet Cookies, And Why Is Google Killing Them?
Killing the cookie might be a good first step in finally respecting consumer privacy. But when it comes to fixing what ails the modern internet, it’s a drop in the bucket. The effort is belated, murky, and not quite the revolution it’s being portrayed as.
Buyers Club: The Network Providing People With Affordable Hepatitis C Medicine
In 2013, a cure was found for hepatitis C. It could save millions of lives, but its price tag of between $40,000 and $84,000 for 84 pills puts it far out of most patients’ reach. Greg Jefferys defied the US pharmaceutical company that holds the patent to set up a worldwide supply network for the generic version.
How To Digitize Handwritten Notes
A number of smart devices offer to digitize your scribblings, either as you write or shortly afterward. In addition to storing images of your notebook pages in electronic form, some of these hardware and software packages actually convert your writings into searchable text.
Google Maps Is Different Depending On Your Location
If you go on Google Maps in Japan, the region between South Korea and Japan is shown as the “Sea of Japan”. However, if you’re using Google Maps inside South Korea, it will instead appear by the name “East Sea”. Two names for the same body of water on the same site.
McHive, The World’s Smallest McDonald’s For Bees
Some of McDonald’s restaurants in Sweden have beehives on their rooftops. The initiative started out locally but is now growing. To celebrate the initiative which is part of McDonald’s Swedens sustainability work, they created what could be the world’s smallest McDonald’s – a fully functioning beehive.
When The iPhone Nearly Killed A Nation
Nokia dominated the first decade of the cellphone boom, becoming a beloved brand around the world and pumping billions of dollars into the Finnish economy. Then, along came Steve Jobs and his iPhone in 2007 and ruined everything. Tens of thousands of jobs were lost. Nokia sold its phone business to Microsoft. And Finns took a serious hit to their country pride.
Goldman Sachs, Patagonia, And The Mysteries Of “Business Casual”
The importance of the Patagonia vest is that it is both an evolution of the business-casual costume and a reversion to the waistcoat of the ancient three-piece suit. “Business casual” is less a style of dress than an enigmatic language of power.
What It Really Costs To Own Or Charter A Private Jet
One of the ultimate symbols of luxury and affluence is private jet travel. An experienced bizjet pilot breaks down the industry, the costs, who can really justify such an expensive luxury, and why.
The Dark Secrets Lurking Inside Your Outdoor Gear
Allegations of abuse have surfaced at Bangladeshi and Malaysian factories whose multinational owner manufactures for some of the most popular outdoor brands we love. Here’s why that should surprise no one.
The Wonder Drug for Aging, Made From One of the Deadliest Toxins on Earth
Botox is derived from a toxin purified from Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium that thrives and multiplies in faultily canned food. The botulinum toxin is so powerful that a tiny amount can suffocate a person by paralyzing the muscles used for breathing. That’s part of what protects Allergan’s $2.8 billion Botox empire.
Why Recycling Isn’t Quite Working Anymore
Is recycling worth it? When it first took off recycling was seen as one of the environmental movement’s great successes. But recent market forces have made more and more countries reconsider the cost of going green.