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The Weekender: face transplants, fan fiction, and furtive NSA surveillance

The Weekender: face transplants, fan fiction, and furtive NSA surveillance

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The best of the week gone by

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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.

  • Secret NSA spying: how can it be stopped?

    NSA and FBI spying on millions of Americans' phone data was just the tip of the iceberg. Here’s your cheat sheet on what we know about the government’s secret surveillance, what we can do about it, and what could happen next.

  • Feature

    Beyond recognition: the incredible story of a face transplant

    Five years ago, Carmen Tarleton was victim to terrible chemical burns at the hands of an attacker. Dozens of surgeries couldn't restore common functions to her face, but two months ago she was offered the chance at a major surgery that promised to help: a face transplant.

  • Review

    ‘The Internship’ review: welcome to Google’s island

    Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn are back together, and their backdrop this time around is pure Google. Is The Internship a light-hearted buddy comedy, or an awkward piece of Google propaganda?

  • Report

    How Amazon's commercial fan fiction misses the point

    Amazon’s Kindle Worlds program gives fan fiction authors some legitimacy by removing their works from the legal gray area that they’ve long existed in. But in doing so, Amazon could be hampering the instincts and interests that make the community thrive.

  • Feature

    Silicon Bayou rising: New Orleans' drive to be the next great tech city

    Like so many other cities, New Orleans is hoping to be home to the next great tech scene. While it's still reeling from Hurricane Katrina, a group of local entrepreneurs wants to inject some of that Silicon Valley magic into the Big Easy. Can the city still thrive while keeping its character?

  • Review

    Sony VAIO Pro review: 'we're going to war with the MacBook Air'

    Sony’s back with two seriously competitive ultrabooks. The larger of the pair is a lithe 2.34 pounds and .68 inches thick — but can Sony make the laptops’ finer points work where other Windows machines have stumbled?

  • Interview

    Former FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski: 'people have the right to send and receive information over the internet, period'

    After four years as FCC chairman, Julius Genachowski recently stepped down from his position, and we caught up with him at D11. Our very own Nilay Patel chatted with him about how wireless evolved over the past four years, how he dealt with net neutrality, and what he’s going to be doing next.

  • Report

    Why 'My Ex-Boyfriend the Space Tyrant' is 'the gayest game ever made'

    While puzzles and comic book-style art make My Ex-Boyfriend fun to play, it’s a heavy helping of innuendo that makes it shine. But the game’s very existence has seen a mix of excited support and angry backlash.

  • Review

    Citizen Eco-Drive Proximity review: a different kind of smartwatch

    Rather than making a smartwatch to compete with devices like the Pebble, Citizen is making its traditional watches just a little bit smarter. We checked it out to see if a little bit of buzzing can convey a lot of smart information.

  • Report

    How high-tech jobs could solve the autism unemployment crisis

    Some adults on the autism spectrum have just what it takes to make the perfect tech employee. Now the industry is starting to notice, and groups are popping up to train the potential wave of highly-focused software engineers.