It's the Far Side, Not the Dark Side
China's Chang'e 4 pulled off the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon last week, and it's bugging me how many headlines still call it the "dark side."
Tech News
Tech News
Nobody Has Actually Found This Drone
The couple arrested over the Gatwick drone shutdown were released with no evidence against them, and nobody's actually produced a drone. Some thoughts on a story that outran its own facts.
Tumblr's Filter Can't Tell Soup From Porn
Tumblr's new adult content filter went live yesterday and it's flagging everything from soup bowls to knitting patterns as explicit, while actual affected communities scramble to leave.
Google+ Finds a Second Way to Die
Google just moved up the Google+ shutdown after a second data-exposing bug hit 52.5 million accounts. A look at why the pattern matters more than the bug itself.
64 Satellites, One Rocket, and a Cold Cup of Coffee
SpaceX crammed 64 satellites onto one Falcon 9 rocket last week, and I got up early to watch it. Also: digging through old Starwood account emails after the Marriott breach news.
Tumblr's Porn Ban and the Robots Getting It Wrong
Tumblr's incoming porn ban kicks in December 17th, and the automated filter doing the flagging is already misfiring badly on art, fandom content, and even grapes.
Bethesda's Idea of an Apology Is Five Bucks of Pretend Money
Bethesda's response to the Fallout 76 Power Armor Edition bag swap was to offer angry buyers five dollars of in-game currency, and it's a perfect little case study in how not to apologize.
The Real Story of Landing Day Was Two Briefcases
The real hero of Mars landing day wasn't the InSight lander, it was two briefcase-sized cubesats nobody's talking about that relayed the touchdown signal home in near real time.
500 Atoms and a Nylon Bag
Bethesda tried to make up for a swapped-out canvas bag with 500 Atoms, and the whole thing tells you more about how game companies handle mistakes than any patch notes ever could.
Checking Coinbase Before Bed Was a Mistake
Bitcoin slid back under six grand this week and I made the mistake of checking the price right before bed — plus a confession about the GPU I bought to mine it back in 2017.
A Laser Company Nobody's Heard Of Just Tanked Apple's Stock
A little-known laser supplier named Lumentum cut its guidance and took a chunk out of Apple's stock price this week, which says more about the fragility of the supply chain than about actual iPhone demand.
A Few Small Things About the Google Walkout
Thoughts on Thursday's Google walkout, the Andy Rubin exit package that sparked it, and why the arbitration demand is the part worth actually watching.