The Verge - Weekenders

The Weekender: a new 'Star Trek', Google's big event, and government and science as games

2013-05-18T14:00:02Z

Welcome to The Verge: Weekender edition. Each week, we'll bring you important articles from the previous weeks' original reports, features, and reviews on The Verge. Think of it as a collection of a few of our favorite pieces from the week gone by, which you may have missed, or which you might want to read again.

Feature

Inside Hangouts, Google's big fix for its messaging mess

Google has had maybe half a dozen messaging tools over the years — many of which are still in use — but none has ever become "the one." We sat down with the team behind Hangouts to talk about the company’s effort to pull all of those services together, the need to move away from an open platform, and out what took so long.

Report

Can fancy photos and lavish linking help Google+ take off?

Google is using the breadth of its network’s knowledge to power some big new features for Google+. We got an in-depth look at the changes and spoke with the head of the company’s social efforts about what makes the new technology possible.
Review

‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ review: boldly going back to the future

J.J. Abrams’ first take on the cult series was a memorable summer blockbuster that made us excited for more. Into Darkness is just as action-packed, but can Abrams deliver another ride that's emotionally powerful as well?
Report

Ventus: can we crowdsource the fight against global warming?

There’s about 30,000 fossil fuel-burning power plants throughout the world, but little data about where they’re located and the emissions they produce. Now, a university researcher is trying to turn collecting the data into a crowdsourced game.
Interview

Sketching Instagram: co-founder Mike Krieger reveals the photo app's humble beginnings

Mike Krieger helped build the first version of Instagram in 2010, and today he’s leading the company’s team of engineers. We chatted with him about working under Facebook, building well-made features, and the evolution of the filters that made Instagram famous.
Report

Metadata matters: how phone records and obsolete laws harm privacy and the free press

You leave behind countless bits of information when carrying out just about any digital task. Though the information can be incredibly revealing, privacy laws still haven’t been updated to protect it — and the government is taking advantage while it can.
Report

Immigration as a game: 'Papers, Please' makes you the border guard

Checking immigration papers may sound dull, but Papers, Please challenges players with difficult moral decisions as they man the desk guarding a cold-war era communist state.
Report

Pick your poison: messaging will be fragmented, expensive, or locked-in

Google may have tied all of its own messaging services together, but it hardly means the end of every other chat app that’s trying to kill SMS. We look at the history of interoperability in messaging, and why that’s been going away.

The Weekender: an entrepreneurial monk, fires in space, and GI Joe

2013-05-11T15:30:05Z

Feature

Who am I? Data and DNA answer one of life’s big questions

DNA testing has allowed us to learn about several generations of ancestors without doing much more than spitting into a vial, and new technologies are enabling a surge of young hobbyists are able to explore two eternal questions: who am I, and where did I come from?

Report

Bitter pill: life-saving HIV drugs fuel crime and addiction in South Africa

A mixture of heroin, marijuana, and antiretroviral medications make up the South African street drug “whoonga.” But the prolonged effects of smoking whoonga — stomach ulcers and internal bleeding, for starters — may not be the worst aspect of it. Creating whoonga means taking medications from those who need it, and some researchers suspect that the drug could hurt users’ response to important HIV treatments in the long run.
Interview

The illusion of simplicity: photographer Peter Belanger on shooting for Apple

Making Apple’s products look simple in ads isn’t as easy as you’d think and the images actually aren't renders. The photographer behind some of Apple’s most iconic images spoke with us about how he came to work with the company and what it takes to make a product look so good.
Review

Fitbit Flex review

Is there really room beside the Jawbone Up for a bland plastic strap like the Flex? Absolutely. Flex is great at collecting fitness information — but at the end of the day, what can you do with all of it.
Report

Everything, Zen: can you be a monk and a tycoon too?

As Jeremy Riney’s startup, Project Playlist, was being sued toward its collapse, Riney decided to leave Silicon Valley for an Ohio monastery. The entrepreneur has headed back to the startup world after 18 months of living as a monk, and he’s wondering if it’s possible to find balance in business and religion.
Feature

Body Message: GI Joe and the invention of the viral video

Eric Fensler’s re-edited GI Joe cartoons went viral in a time before YouTube and Twitter. Now a decade later, we chatted with Fensler and took a look back at how a meme is born and what becomes of its maker.
Report

Burn notice: NASA discovers that fireproof materials ignite in space

Accidental fires have been a continued safety concern aboard the International Space Station. Now as commercial flights aim to leave the earth, it’s become increasingly important to figure out how just how fire works in low gravity environments.

The Weekender: a year offline, a black market online, and an app that keeps you in the present

2013-05-04T14:00:05Z

Feature

I’m still here: back online after a year without the internet

One year ago, our own Paul Miller decided to see what life would be like without the internet, and it didn't quite go as planned. Recapping his year in video and text, Paul lays out what went right, what he learned, and what went horribly wrong.

Review

‘Iron Man 3’ review: Robert Downey Jr. becomes the latest lethal weapon

Tony Stark's first two outings were some of Marvel’s best superhero films, but now, a new director has taken the series’ reigns. The new film is something closer to an ’80s buddy flick — can Iron Man take on a new villain and a new genre?
Report

Drugs, porn, and counterfeits: the market for illegal goods is booming online

If you know where to look, you can buy just about any illicit item over the internet. Startups are launching every month to tap into the underground economy, and some sellers are making big money thanks to the anonymous currency Bitcoin.
Review

BlackBerry Q10 review: revenge of the keyboard

The all-touch BlackBerry Z10 came out earlier this year to less than stellar reviews — but the Q10’s keyboard puts the device back inside the company’s home field. Typing on the Q10 works great, but we’re left wondering if a QWERTY keyboard is useful in 2013.
Report

We know who you are: the scary new technology of iris scanners

Iris scanning is almost commonplace in certain countries: India plans to scan all of its citizens, and Mexico is beginning to roll out a program this year. Now, a new device marketed toward US law enforcement can turn an iPhone into an iris-scanning surveillance tool — and we're left how far away the tech is from creating a Minority Report-style future?
Interview

How @breakingnews keeps news junkies current in a crisis

Over 5.6 million people follow @breakingnews on Twitter to stay plugged in, and we chatted with the team’s general manager Cory Bergman. He speaks about their relationship with NBC, getting facts right in a crisis, and how they operate at such a breakneck pace.
Review

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11 review: a netbook by another name

The Yoga 11 is a little underpowered — but it’s well-designed, has an incredibly long battery life, and is relatively inexpensive. With Windows RT and a copy of Office, does the Yoga 11 make for a compelling machine?
Report

Tears in rain: how Snapchat showed me the glory of data death

Just about all of your social activity on the internet is permanent, unless you take your time to go back later and clean it up. But with a forced transience, services such as Snapchat may have nailed how human interaction really works: inside a single, present moment.

The Weekender: a better Bitcoin, a 1986 supercar, and a one-way trip to Mars

2013-04-27T14:00:03Z

Review

‘The Machine’ review: a stylish indie sci-fi thriller about humanity's obsolescence

It may echo Blade Runner and RoboCop, but director Caradog James’ new thriller still offers a fresh take on big sci-fi questions. As humans become increasingly augmented with their machines, what becomes of their humanity?
Report

Star search: a non-profit group wants to send four people to Mars... forever

Mars One is part game show, part reality TV, and part science experiment. The Dutch non-profit wants to bi-annually send send four people on a one-way trip to Mars and then film their every move.
Review

Samsung Galaxy S4 review

It’s finally Samsung’s turn to take a shot at upgrading a massively successful phone. The company has built in a ton of new features and a really great display — but that may not be enough to stand up to HTC’s latest and greatest, the One.
Feature

Status Symbols: Porsche 959

Meet the 1986 supercar that Bill Gates waited over a decade to ride inside the United States. The Porsche 959 introduced a multitude of features unheard of at the time — and set the stage for cars of today.
Review

'Lil Bub & Friendz' review: internet cat culture doesn't need rock stars

Does a meme deserve space on the big screen? Lil Bub gained a massive following online over the past year, and now it's spawned a documentary covering the cat, her owner, and cat fandom as a whole. But do we really need a love letter to too-cute cat culture?
Report

World Wide [Redacted]: inside Iran's private internet

Iran has long threatened to build a state-controlled internet, and we’re beginning to see what that internet looks like. The country is now blocking ways that citizens use to get around censorship, and it looks as if it may be acquiring more and more advances ways to do it.
Review

Fujifilm X100S review: Making today’s pictures with yesterday’s design

The X100S has a throwback design that makes it distinctly fun to shoot with and a hybrid viewfinder that gives photographers the best of both mirrorless cameras and traditional SLRs. Our own Dan Seifert took it around New York to see if Fujifilm’s camera is a serious tool or just a fancy novelty.
Report

Gold 2.0: can code and competition build a better Bitcoin?

Will the future of Bitcoin be merely a modification on the digital currency or will it be something altogether new? One product, Zerocoin, is trying to improve the currency that we already know, while a new startup, Ripple, is completely rethinking the concept.

The Weekender: healing your brain, late-night hacking, and an apocalyptic beauty

2013-04-20T14:00:02Z

Feature

Talking heads: how a late-night hack turned into Facebook's next big thing

Chat Heads, an ever-present way to message your friends, might just be the best feature of Facebook Home. We follow the genesis of the project and how it ties in to Facebook’s culture of moving fast and breaking things.

Review

‘Oblivion’ review: a post-apocalyptic beauty that succeeds even while it stumbles

Joseph Kosinski’s directorial debut, Tron: Legacy, was exceedingly gorgeous but fell flat when it came to character development and plot. Oblivion is his follow up — can Tom Cruise carry the film to box office success?
Report

I think, therefore I heal: the weird science of neurofeedback

Neurofeedback has been considered pseudoscience for decades. But now, it’s convincing skeptics and gaining traction in the military, and more scrupulous studies are beginning to test if the practice actually has worth.
Report

Is it legal to shut down cellular networks in an emergency?

Law enforcement can order a shutdown of cell networks in the event of an emergency, but the FCC is still trying to clarify when it’s appropriate and how it should happen.
Review

Twine review: the little blue box that hacks the world around you

What if you could receive notifications for events that happen in the world around you, just like on your smartphone? Twine is a small box and a set of sensors that can do just that — but you’ll have to figure out if there’s a use for it.
Interview

Science writer Mary Roach: ‘everything I learn is pretty shocking and weird’

Mary Roach has written books on cadavers, sex, and space travel, and her latest, Gulp, focuses on human digestion. As part of the launch of our new science section, we spoke with her about the new book, the difficulties of science writing, and how she chooses her eclectic list of subjects.
Report

Taming of the shrewd: can the ACLU free Android from carrier control?

As CISPA makes its way through congress, the American Civil Liberties Union has brought up what it believes is another cyber security issue: the lack of regular updates to many Android phones.
Review

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 review

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 isn't just another screen size in Samsung's tablet lineup — it's a powerful tablet designed for much more than watching movies and checking your email. It's a direct competitor to the iPad mini and Nexus 7, two of our favorite tablets. David Pierce broke out the S Pen to see if the Note 8.0 can keep up.

The Weekender: augmented dating, transparent brains, and a phone filled with Facebook

2013-04-13T14:00:04Z

Welcome to The Verge: Weekender edition. Each week, we'll bring you important articles from the previous weeks' original reports, features and reviews on The Verge. Think of it as a collection of a few of our favorite pieces from the week gone by, which you may have missed, or which you might want to read again.

Feature

OK, Cupid: giving your love life to Google Glass and the hive mind

Technologies like Google Glass have the ability to augment not just our senses, but our entire personality. Artist Lauren McCarthy used a streaming video setup to outsource her entire personality during a series of blind dates, and she found out that leaving your actions up to the masses can get pretty confusing.

Review

HTC First review: a Facebook phone that's pure Google at heart

Mark Zuckerberg may have said any phone could be a Facebook phone, but the HTC First is truly a Facebook phone. It's a reasonably-sized Android device with LTE and a big surprise underneath. Could this Facebook phone be the perfect companion to Google's mobile platform?

Report

Bad SEO: a martial arts champ responds to rape allegations with Internet Marketing trickery

Welcome back to Scamworld. Here’s what happens when an MMO star and internet marketer responds to rape allegations using his business techniques.
Feature

First Person Shooter: Taser's new cop-cam takes aim at perps and privacy

Police in Mesa, Arizona are wearing head-mounted cameras while on patrol, capturing both the mundane and thrilling moments of the daily beat. Taser's new technology has the potential to protect officers against legal fallout, but what does it mean for the future of privacy and surveillance?
Interview

Filmmaker Shane Carruth talks 'Upstream Color' and making movies like albums

Upstream Color has finally begun a limited theatrical release, and we sat down with director Shane Carruth to talk about the film and what happened in the nine years since his debut with Primer.
Report

Technique to create transparent brains could transform neuroscience

Researchers have developed imaging methods that allow them to see through the brain and analyze it in greater detail. What could they learn using these new techniques?
Review

Facebook Home review: are people more important than apps?

Facebook Home completely redesigns your Android phone, moving your apps and widgets aside and placing your friends' status updates front and center. Dieter Bohn tried to find out if it's the overhaul that your phone needs.
Report

Suicide and silicon: why would anyone want to kill an American engineer in Singapore

Shane Todd’s girlfriend found his body hanging in his apartment two days after he celebrated leaving a job for a better one. Nothing about the alleged suicide seemed likely, and now it’s grown into international intrigue as answers are demanded about the secretive projects that Todd was working on for his employer.

The Weekender: Daft Punk, sperm donors, and 28,000 disappearing rivers

2013-04-06T14:00:05Z

Welcome to The Verge: Weekender edition. Each week, we'll bring you important articles from the previous week's original reports, features, and reviews on The Verge. Think of it as a collection of a few of our favorite pieces from the week gone by, which you may have missed, or which you might want to read again.

Feature

Come and get it: how sperm became one of America's hottest exports

The global need for sperm donors is satisfied largely by men from the United States. How does the industry work, and what are its implications?

Report

Why did 28,000 rivers in China suddenly disappear?

Officials attribute the disappearance of many of China’s rivers to outdated mapping techniques, but experts tell a different story. Rivers are drying up, and demand for water is only increasingly worldwide.
Editorial

Facebook Home is beautiful, but what if your friends aren't?

This week Facebook introduced a slick new look for Android that prominently features information from your news feed. But its reality might be a little more dull than Facebook would have us believe.
Feature

One more time: can Daft Punk make albums matter again?

Daft Punk's upcoming major label release promises excitement, nostalgia, and mystery, but can it revitalize the major label itself?
Editorial

'BioShock Infinite' makes great art from America's racist past and political present

Ben Popper muses on what it means for an artistic, beautiful new video game to grapple with the United States' violent, turbulent, and racist past.
Review

Ouya review: can an indie console take on Sony and Microsoft?

63,416 backers pledged over $8.5 million on Kickstarter in support of Ouya. Now the console is on its way to supporters — but it might not be everything that they thought they were backing.
Report

Why Facebook matters in the fight for gay marriage

As the Supreme Court took two cases to trial that could bring sweeping reform, millions of Facebook users joined together in support… by changing their profile pictures.
Report

E-bleeder: is Nook on its deathbed?

Barnes & Noble stepped into digital book selling to compete with giants like Amazon and Apple. But the venture hasn’t seen those companies’ level of success, and Nook’s future is increasingly uncertain.

The Weekender: pyramid schemes, a Steve Jobs manga, and the science of clouds and sports fans

2013-03-30T14:00:05Z

Feature

Income At Home, Herbalife, and the $8 billion pyramid

A DVD, a 12-page brochure, and a phone call set Barron Hansen off toward finding out the truth behind Income At Home. Turns out, it’s the multi-level marketing company — and possible pyramid scheme — Herbalife.

Review

Razer Edge review

The Razer Edge claims to be all things to all gamers — tablet, console, and PC rolled into one two-pound package. There's been a lot of hype around the $1,000 gadget, but does it live up to its billing? We spent a week gaming like crazy to see if this is the gaming device we've been waiting for.
Report

Heavy weather: why we need supercomputers to teach us how clouds and climate change work

Scientists are trying to work out what effects climate change will have on the Earth — but before they do that, they’re going to need to figure out something seemingly simpler, but incredibly complex: how clouds operate on a small scale.
Report

Is T-Mobile finally a real threat to AT&T and Verizon?

T-Mobile unveiled a bold new initiative this week and an upgrade to its network. It seems that CEO John Legere won’t relent until consumers pay attention, but whether T-Mobile’s new pricing model is what they want remains to be seen.
Review

LG Optimus G Pro review

The LG Optimus G Pro is a 5.5-inch phone / tablet hybrid that exists in direct competition with the Galaxy Note II and the host of giant-screened phones that hit the market in the last few months. It has some unique features and impressive specs, but can this device make us love phablets? We shimmied the device into our skinny jeans and found out.
Book
Review

Steve Jobs manga portrays the man as a dreamy, drug-fueled genius that Japanese girls could love

If Walter Isaacson’s 656-page biography Steve Jobs was a bit too thick for you, Mari Yamazaki may have an alternative. Her manga adaptation of Isaacson’s book captures the same rebellious, larger-than-life version of Jobs that we love to watch.
Report

In 'Disney Infinity,' worlds collide in your virtual toy box

Disney Infinity may be an obvious cash grab from the home of the Magic Kingdom, but it could be a whole lot of fun. This is what happens when Minecraft meets Mickey Mouse.
Report

The madness of March: why the 'Big Dance' may affect fans' minds more than other sports

If you’re watching the Elite Eight this weekend, that feeling of anticipation you have isn’t so simple. Our reporter Carl Franzen takes a look at psychological and emotional symptoms that you may be experiencing.
Review

HP Spectre XT TouchSmart review

A few months ago, HP announced the Envy Spectre XT, one of the best MacBook Air competitors we'd seen yet. But the device had some drawbacks, so HP tried again — the Spectre XT TouchSmart has a better display, and it's much more ready for Windows. Sean Hollister took it for a spin to see if HP is finally in the Air's league.

The Weekender: regulating drones, the shock of the present, and living without Google Reader

2013-03-23T14:00:04Z

Feature

The calm before the swarm: drones over US soil

Unmanned aerial vehicles are exploding over US skies. There are tens of thousands of hobbyist drones using flight control systems and GPS technology which ten years ago would have been the exclusive purview of defense contractors. The FAA wants to see 30,000 drones flying commercial and law enforcement missions by 2015. But the laws around privacy and security have not kept up with this rapidly advancing technology.

Review

RSS isn't dead: the best Google Reader alternatives

Google may have killed Reader due to "declining usage," but the response after the announcement has shown that there are still plenty of RSS-reading fans out there. Ellis Hamburger immersed himself in the world of Feedly, Reeder, NetNewsWire, and the rest in hopes of finding what will rise from Reader's ashes to become the RSS reader of choice.
Report

Intel vs. Microsoft: was Windows RT a mistake?

Microsoft created Windows RT so it could offer a faster, cooler version of its operating system that promised much longer battery life. Intel created Atom processors so it could offer all those things without any of the compromises that come with Windows RT. Can Intel's latest chips give you the best of all worlds?
Interview

Obsessed with the Now: Douglas Rushkoff and the threat of 'Present Shock'

Twitter has made our desire for knowledge of the ‘now’ almost insatiable. In Present Shock, Douglas Rushkoff explores the idea that society is becoming too focused on what’s immediately happening, and is no longer able to take in the bigger picture. Paul Miller sat down with Rushkoff to discuss.
Feature

40 years of icons: the evolution of the modern computer interface

In 1984 Apple’s Macintosh computer brought the desktop user interface to the masses, but until recently, little has changed. As smartphones and tablets continue to alter the way devices are interacted with, we take a look back at how UI came to where it is today, starting with the classic WIMP interface — windows, icons, menus, and pointers — that we all know.

The Weekender: Google's shakeup, 'Ridiculous Fishing', and a tweeting rover

2013-03-16T14:00:06Z

Feature

Greed is Groupon: can anyone save the company from itself?

When Groupon CEO Andrew Mason was fired two weeks ago, even Mason admitted that he had it coming. Though the company initially saw tremendous growth, Groupon has been riddled with troubles since going public — and sources at the company paint a picture of competing powerhouses conflicted over what to do.

Review

HTC One review

There should be little disagreement that the HTC One is the best looking Android smartphone around right now. But the company has made some interesting choices when it comes to software: the phone’s homescreen has been replaced with a continually updating Flipboard-like news feed. The big question though is if HTC’s bets will pay off in its coming battle against Samsung and the Galaxy S4.
Report

Inside the New York Times' web redesign

Having announced its first major web redesign since 2006, Tim Carmody heads across town to the offices of the New York Times to sit down with the people behind it.
Report

Google shuffle: can Android and Chrome OS combine to take on Microsoft?

Android co-creator Andy Rubin's sudden shuffle away from the Android team could signal a major shift in Google's strategy. Could a combined Android-Chrome OS juggernaut be in our future?
Feature

NASA rockets into social space, but lacks a clear mission

Thanks in no small part to the landing of the Curiosity rover, NASA's social media presence has become one of the most popular and entertaining on the internet (among government agencies, anyway). But is it going the direction that a successful space program needs to go? Adrianne Jeffries reports from SXSW.
Report

'Ridiculous Fishing' turns slaughtering sea life into one of the iPad's best games

Thanks to a fast-selling clone, one of the most popular iOS games of the year — Ridiculous Fishing — almost didn't happen. Andrew Webster talks to the title's creators.
Review

Roku 3 review

Is having all of our content in one easy-to-use place too much to ask? With 750 “channels” — from Netflix and Pandora to rental services like Vudu — Roku might just have everything that we're looking for.

The Verge - Weekenders

The Weekender: a new 'Star Trek', Google's big event, and government and science as games

Feature

Inside Hangouts, Google's big fix for its messaging mess

Report

Can fancy photos and lavish linking help Google+ take off?

Review

‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ review: boldly going back to the future

Report

Ventus: can we crowdsource the fight against global warming?

Interview

Sketching Instagram: co-founder Mike Krieger reveals the photo app's humble beginnings

Report

Metadata matters: how phone records and obsolete laws harm privacy and the free press

Report

Immigration as a game: 'Papers, Please' makes you the border guard

Report

Pick your poison: messaging will be fragmented, expensive, or locked-in

The Weekender: an entrepreneurial monk, fires in space, and GI Joe

Feature

Who am I? Data and DNA answer one of life’s big questions

Report

Bitter pill: life-saving HIV drugs fuel crime and addiction in South Africa

Interview

The illusion of simplicity: photographer Peter Belanger on shooting for Apple

Review

Fitbit Flex review

Report

Everything, Zen: can you be a monk and a tycoon too?

Feature

Body Message: GI Joe and the invention of the viral video

Report

Burn notice: NASA discovers that fireproof materials ignite in space

The Weekender: a year offline, a black market online, and an app that keeps you in the present

Feature

I’m still here: back online after a year without the internet

Review

‘Iron Man 3’ review: Robert Downey Jr. becomes the latest lethal weapon

Report

Drugs, porn, and counterfeits: the market for illegal goods is booming online

Review

BlackBerry Q10 review: revenge of the keyboard

Report

We know who you are: the scary new technology of iris scanners

Interview

How @breakingnews keeps news junkies current in a crisis

Review

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11 review: a netbook by another name

Report

Tears in rain: how Snapchat showed me the glory of data death

The Weekender: a better Bitcoin, a 1986 supercar, and a one-way trip to Mars

Review

‘The Machine’ review: a stylish indie sci-fi thriller about humanity's obsolescence

Report

Star search: a non-profit group wants to send four people to Mars... forever

Review

Samsung Galaxy S4 review

Feature

Status Symbols: Porsche 959

Review

'Lil Bub & Friendz' review: internet cat culture doesn't need rock stars

Report

World Wide [Redacted]: inside Iran's private internet

Review

Fujifilm X100S review: Making today’s pictures with yesterday’s design

Report

Gold 2.0: can code and competition build a better Bitcoin?

The Weekender: healing your brain, late-night hacking, and an apocalyptic beauty

Feature

Talking heads: how a late-night hack turned into Facebook's next big thing

Review

‘Oblivion’ review: a post-apocalyptic beauty that succeeds even while it stumbles

Report

I think, therefore I heal: the weird science of neurofeedback

Report

Is it legal to shut down cellular networks in an emergency?

Review

Twine review: the little blue box that hacks the world around you

Interview

Science writer Mary Roach: ‘everything I learn is pretty shocking and weird’

Book
Review