Mail to Print page Submit a letter: Email us letters@nybooks.com Reviewed: Life’s Engines: How Microbes Made Earth Habitable by Paul G. Falkowski Princeton University Press, 205 pp., $24.95 A New Hist

Years ago I read an article by Martin Rees, in which he surveyed the options for what the dark matter of the universe might be. I forget the exact wording, but near the end he said something like “The

Why I Buy “All Those Apps” Ever since my fascination with technology became known by my colleagues, I’m often asked for my opinion regarding all sorts of quibbles and buying decisions. Most of the time, I’ll do it willingly, as I enjoy talking about this stuff anyway. There’s one type of…

The iPad is my primary computer . What Apple announced at WWDC this week completely changes the iPad and, I believe, will mark a turning point for the device. Apple’s iPad announcements – with multita

Next post Previous post Even before I read Federico Viticci’s excellent article on iOS 9’s multitasking 1 features, I was thinking about how Slide Over and Split View will change the way people use th

Jony Ive has been "promoted"; is this one step towards retirement? Subscribe to Stratechery Plus to receive full access to Stratechery and a whole lot more. If you already have a subscription, sign in

The interface flaw in Apple’s latest gadget — and how to fix it. Published in Backchannel · 8 min read · May 18, 2015 -- It’s been almost a month since the first official reviews of the Apple Watch be

Let Physics Be the Dream It Used To Be Or, how to make physics fun 8 min read · May 2, 2015 -- I received a very nice e-mail this week from an esteemed theoretical physicist who was concerned about tw

Seymour Hersh speaking in 2005. Craig F. Walker/The Denver Post via Getty On Sunday, the legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh finally released a story that he has been rumored to have been

I t’s been ​ four years since a group of US Navy Seals assassinated Osama bin Laden in a night raid on a high-walled compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The killing was the high point of Obama’s first t

Featuring: The Arments (Tiffany, Marco and Hops) ♬ Music: http://everyday.jonathanmann.net || https://jonathanmann.bandcamp.com || http://bit.ly/MannSpotify We want to help you make Your stains disapp

http://www.houzztv.com Architect Jeffrey Pelletier has amassed a collection of 250,000 Lego pieces in the basement of his family's 1902 Seattle home. Watch the video to see how he organizes all those

Published in Technology Musings · 8 min read · Apr 26, 2015 -- I’m an insufferable asshole, and I’m here to complain about my brand new $350 luxury watch that so far hasn’t lived up to my insanely hig

Next post Previous post Lots of people have been talking lately about the innovations Apple is making in manufacturing. The most common topic is how Apple is using its huge cash reserves and purchasin

From my days at Apple, I knew Steve pretty well. Here’s my take on the Schlender-Tetzeli bio. Published in Backchannel · 6 min read · Apr 14, 2015 -- I suspect that Steve Jobs would not be thrilled wi

This post has been corrected. Perhaps you’ve been following the news from the digital front in India—there’s been a significant movement in support of net neutrality. Advertisement This is the concept

I’m still not entirely sure when it actually happened, but at some point over the last couple of years the crossover between tablets and laptops stopped being an idea and became a real thing. Perhaps

A few days ago, M.G. Siegler wrote a wonderful post entitled “ A Tale Of Two Wearables ” in which he describes how simple and carefree your life is at Disney World when you wear the theme park’s all-purpose “MagicBand.” In his piece, Siegler suggests that, one day, maybe Apple Watch will become the…

April 1, 2015 Tesla is a Battery Company Tesla Motors started as a Car company, but they should now be considered to be a Battery company for three key reasons: Tesla Leadership has Expertise in Batte

Tim Cook assumed he was ready for the harsh glare that shines on Apple’s (AAPL) CEO. He had, after all, filled in for Jobs three times during the Apple founder’s medical leaves of absence. Cook ultima

Tim Cook is chief executive of Apple. There’s something very dangerous happening in states across the country. A wave of legislation, introduced in more than two dozen states, would allow people to di

H ow are you supposed to be confident about something when you have nothing to feel confident about? Like, how are you supposed to be confident at your new job if you’ve never done this type of work before? Or how are you supposed to be confident in social situations when no one has ever liked you…

On October 16, 2011, the early evening weather on the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, California, was almost unspeakably gorgeous — mild as a warm bath, a cloudless sky above, a full moon bea

If you want to imagine how the world will look in just a few years, once our cell phones become the keepers of both our money and identity, skip Silicon Valley and book a ticket to Orlando. Go to Disn

@gak_pdx Apple is the world's foremost manufacturer of goods. At one time, this statement had to be caged and qualified with modifiers such as "consumer goods" or "electronic goods," but last quarter, Apple shipped a Boeing 787's weight worth of iPhones every 24 hours . When we add the rest of the…

Dogs are humanity’s oldest friends, renowned for their loyalty and abilities to guard, hunt and chase. But modern humans may owe even more to them than we previously realised. We may have to thank the

To transmit, or not to transmit, that is the question. Published in Argumenta · 6 min read · Feb 22, 2015 -- The Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico. Image Source: NAIC There has been quite a bit o

R ESEARCHERS WORKING with the Central Intelligence Agency have conducted a multi-year, sustained effort to break the security of Apple’s iPhones and iPads, according to top-secret documents obtained b

I’ve been struggling to get back in shape after chemo. Since being diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma (Stage IV) in late 2011, my life changed. Beyond the psychological and emotional consequences of how

2014 was a big year for emoji. In the spring, Twitter implemented emoji on their website. In June, the emoji standard was extended to include around 250 new images . With the release of iOS 8 in the f

In July 2011, participants at a conference on the placid shore of Lake Traunsee in Austria were polled on what they thought the meeting was about. You might imagine that this question would have been settled in advance, but since the broad theme was quantum theory, perhaps a degree of uncertainty…

Guest-post by John Johnson , professor of Astronomy in the Caltech Department of Astrophysics. His research is on the detection and characterization of exoplanets. This post is a re-post from his blog

Published in Be Yourself · 6 min read · Feb 15, 2015 -- It all started with my nephew at a family dinner. We were grilling him about a kid his age, someone we vaguely knew. “He’s an OK guy, I guess,”

Note : This story has not been updated for several years. [ Updated April 9 to account for the final release of Photos for Mac. Also don’t miss our Photos FAQ . ] As I wrote my TidBITS article about t