When you think of Roman soldiers marching into war, you probably don’t picture them carrying chickens to predict the army’s fortunes. And you likely don’t throw spilled salt over your shoulder to ward off bad luck. If superstitions like these seem silly to us now,...
Watching someone juggle makes us apprehensive. Each time they add an orange or a bowling ball, the risk of failure goes up. We wait, wide-eyed, knowing that one small slip could make the whole thing fall apart. After all, they only have two hands, and there’s no way...
We’ve got it pretty easy compared to the cavemen. Those prehistoric souls waged a constant battle for basic survival, and I’ll take central heating and modern medicine any day. Yet for all the innovations that have made life easier, we deal with a new kind of stress...
Algorithms might not be sexy, but boy are they efficient. Search the web for new shoes, and an algorithm instantly shows you hundreds of similar ones. Look at some new furniture, and the same sofa suddenly appears in all your ads. From TikTok reels to fast-food, the...
There’s always a clear winner in the game rock paper scissors. Paper covers rock, rock breaks scissors, and so on. But what’s a winning strategy when it comes to preserving your precious files? Digital has lots of benefits, but a closer look reveals that,...
Trigger thumb. Text claw. Tech neck. Those names might sound straight out of science fiction but the ailments are very real, and odds are good that you’ve experienced at least one of them. They’re repetitive stress injuries that come from overuse of things like...
Ask ten people to describe the cloud and you’ll get ten different answers. Some might say it’s a mysterious place where your files go to disappear. Others would say it’s a server. Many assume it’s a place to store your photos so you can delete them from your...
Everything’s coming up QWERTY. At least, that’s what the rise of the keyboard feels like. Everywhere you look, typing has replaced the pen. At home, at work, in classrooms—there’s just no need for handwriting anymore. Or is there? There are two entrenched sides in the...
I’ll never forget the look on the young man’s face as he handed me his waterlogged phone. It was a brand new flagship device, barely six months old, and it had all the functionality of a brick. Even less, in fact, since he couldn’t build much with a broken phone. He’d...
Love it or hate it, there’s no debate that technology is a boon for accessibility. From Braille keyboards to apps you control with your voice, the tech industry is creating new and better accessibility features all the time. Which is why it surprises me how rarely...
Who owns your robot? Not an actual robot, but the kind in the picture up there. The kind of image I created after typing a few prompts into Stability AI. The answer might surprise you, especially if you plan to use any sort of AI content in your own life....
If you haven’t heard of passkeys yet, odds are good you’ll be hearing about them soon. They’re a new way to log in to apps and websites, and they hold the promise of a future without passwords. Passkeys are great for a lot of reasons. They’re more secure than...
As much as I love tech, I also love the quiet, focused feeling of sinking into a great book. And the past year was a fabulous one for discovering some new reads! Some, like Yellowface by R.F. Kuang, were recommended by family. Others, like Robopocalypse by Daniel...
Some days it feels like our devices have cast some sort of spell over us. Everywhere we look people are constantly scrolling their phones, drawn like moths to the brilliant light of their screens. It might be your spouse surfing social media, or your kids...
I was recently debating the idea that artificial intelligence will replace humans, and heard what seemed like a solid point against it: AI won’t replace humans for the simple reason that it can’t come up with anything original. Everything AI creates is simply a...
There you are, phone in hand, lined up to get the perfect shot. Or maybe someone’s emailed you an important file, something you need to download and sign to sell your house or get a job. Except there’s one problem: your device is full. There’s no room to download any...
Suppose you had to fill a bathtub and you had two ways to do it. The first is with a thimble. The second is with a bucket. Obviously, you’d choose the bucket—until you realize that the bucket is riddled with holes, and nearly every drop of water runs out as fast as...
It’s incredible to ponder the immense power of a jet plane. The sheer brilliance of being able to step on board, buckle in, and travel at incredible speed around the world. Now suppose someone gave you the controls—the power of a sleek jet all your own, the ability to...
We’re spoiled for choice when it comes to entertainment these days. Whether you’re commuting to work or chilling on the sofa, there’s no end of movies and TV shows to pick from—everything from Love Island to Animal Control. To some, it’s one more sign of our...
I get it. It’s all going too fast, this technology stuff. One minute we’re trying to set the time on our VCRs, the next we’re at risk of annihilation by AI. You’re not alone if it feels like technology is speeding out of control. Just trying to learn the basics can be...
