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The Weekender: radio revival, remade 'RoboCop,' and a renaissance through robots

The Weekender: radio revival, remade 'RoboCop,' and a renaissance through robots

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The best of the week gone by

By Jacob Kastrenakes, a deputy editor who oversees tech and news coverage. Since joining The Verge in 2012, he’s published 5,000+ stories and is the founding editor of the creators desk.

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via assets.sbnation.com

Welcome to The Verge: Weekender edition. Every Saturday, we'll bring you some of the best and most important reads of the past seven days, from original reports, to in-depth features, to reviews and interviews. Think of it as a collection of some of our favorite pieces that you may have missed — or that you may just want to read again. You can follow along below, or keep up to date on Flipboard.

  • Report

    Alien earths: why life on other worlds would be far weirder than us

    Potentially habitable planets may be far more common than we initially believed. But that doesn't mean they'll look much like Earth: planets could have no rotations, permanent days and nights, and plants that grow entirely black to stay alive.

  • Report

    Return of the 808

    Roland's legendary drum machine is back. It may not be analog this time, but the new TR-8 is able to recreate everything musicians loved about the original 808. Here's what it's like to use the new machine (and its entire family of electronic partners).

  • Review

    Stay fit: Jawbone Up24 and Nike+ FuelBand SE review

    Jawbone's Up24 and Nike's FuelBand SE are the successors to two of the most popular fitness bands around. They're both stylish and simple and even more capable than their predecessors, but can these basic bracelets actually get you moving?

  • Report

    Class tensions build in San Francisco as protestors target TechCrunch awards

    Tensions between newly wealthy tech workers and longtime San Francisco residents have been rising to boil lately. Last Sunday, protestors outside a startup award show argued that tech companies should be doing more for the city, while inside potential reformers suggested ways they might help out.

  • Feature

    Can we save AM radio?

    Almost no one tunes their radio to anything but FM these days. That alone would make it hard for AM to stay alive, but degrading signals and expensive new equipment are only making its existence all the more troubled.

  • Review

    'RoboCop' review: meet the new model

    The new Robocop may not have all the original's character, but José Padilha's remake still comes with plenty to like. Now RoboCop is more human than ever, and that only makes his isolation all the more engaging. Be sure to read our interview with Padilha too.

  • Preview

    Combat evolved: 'Titanfall' is the first real next-gen shooter

    The immediate success of the original Xbox is often credited in part to Halo, a wildly popular game that breathed new life into first-person shooters. Now Microsoft is searching for a game that can do just that for the Xbox One, and it may well have found it in Titanfall. Here's what it's like to play the exhilarating and innovative upcoming FPS.

  • Report

    Can Google's robots build a new future for US manufacturing?

    Manufacturing could return to the US, but not quite how we always imagined it. New robots could start a manufacturing renaissance — but while it'll help the economy, whether it'll help employment is far from certain.

  • Interview

    ‘X-Files’ creator Chris Carter on his long-awaited return to TV: Amazon's ‘The After’

    After a decade away, X-Files creator Chris Carter has finally returned to television… sort of. His latest series is actually on Amazon, where you can view its pilot right now. We spoke to him about his new series, his time away from TV, and what it's like to have the world judge his pilot online.

  • Report

    Counting sleep: seven nights in bed with the Basis band

    Plenty of fitness bands promise to track how you sleep, but the Basis band actually works without you doing anything more than going to bed. When the morning comes, can it tell you what it'll take to get a better night's rest?

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