The Social Life of Machines
How networks of computers are increasingly transforming the human world, from blockchains to the Internet of Things
The Rise of Cryptocurrency Ponzi Schemes
Scammers are making big money off people who want in on the latest digital gold rush but don’t understand how the technology works.
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Benoit Tessier / Reuters Cryptocurrency Might be a Path to Authoritarianism
Extreme libertarians built blockchain to decentralize government and corporate power. It could consolidate their control instead.
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Lou Dematteis / Reuters A Brief History of SETI@Home
How astronomers deputized early internet users to help find alien civilizations
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Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters The Nomad Who’s Exploding the Internet Into Pieces
Could decentralizing online life make it more compatible with human life?
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Dale Wilcox / AP When a Robot Names a New Color of Paint
“Stoomy Brown.” “Burble Simp.” “Stargoon.”
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Google Maps The Weird Thing About Today's Internet
The world’s biggest tech companies might be bigger than you think.
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Phil Noble / Reuters Global Ransomware Attack Stuns Systems in Up to 74 Countries
Businesses and hospitals were disrupted in a massive wave of cyberattacks Friday. Such attacks have increased by more than 500 percent in recent years.
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Reuters An Albatross Census From Space
Researchers are using high-resolution satellite images to count the large birds on remote islands.
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C.J. Burton / Getty Online Dating Tries to Flirt With the Workplace
A chat bot that tells you if your co-workers have crushes on you, so you never have to stop working, or dating.
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Jeff Chiu / AP The Internet of Things Needs a Code of Ethics
Technology is evolving faster than the legal and moral frameworks needed to manage it.
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Jeff Chiu / AP Chatbots Have Entered the Uncanny Valley
When virtual assistants almost pass as human, they only seem more robotic.
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Ethan Miller / Getty Don't Use the Force, Luke—Use the Targeting Computer
Machines can now see into the future, and we ignore them at our peril.
