Journal

The author of Where Am I Now? talks about her emergence as a writer after years of being known as a former child star.

The author of Where Am I Now? talks about her emergence as a writer after years of being known as a former child star.

Every single day, somebody tells Mara Wilson she’s ugly. As a former child star, it’s an unfortunate, inevitable reality. On the positive side, her hard-earned immunity to this kind of abuse has saved some shock in dealing with the internet bristle worms she may attract in her new career as a writer.

Read Full Story

Creative director Jonathan Lee explains what Google was thinking when it updated one of the world’s most familiar visual signatures.

Creative director Jonathan Lee explains what Google was thinking when it updated one of the world’s most familiar visual signatures.

Perhaps you didn’t notice when Google updated its logo last fall. The changes were relatively subtle, with a cleaner, sans-serif typography replacing the original’s highly ornamental lettering. But the revamp was actually a big deal, and not just because the logo is viewed trillions of times a year on Google’s search page. It reconceives the logo as an interactive visual device that adds functionality, using a clever animation of dots to communicate various responses to user actions. We spoke to Jonathan Lee, a Google creative director who helped spearhead the redesign, about how he approached the changes.

Read Full Story

Hint: It has everything to do with the fact that they’re related.

Hint: It has everything to do with the fact that they’re related.

When Alli Webb started talking about her idea for Drybar seven years ago, everybody thought she was crazy. On the surface, the concept really doesn’t make much sense. It’s a hair salon, but you don’t actually get a cut or color; all you get is a blow dry. And the whole experience costs you $45. Who would go for that?

Read Full Story

Collaboration has defined the world of work for decades. This former IDEO designer says these days, it’s showing its limits.

Collaboration has defined the world of work for decades. This former IDEO designer says these days, it’s showing its limits.

Something’s afoot in the future of work, but it’s hush-hush. People don’t like talking about it.

Read Full Story

With technology tightly entwined with business, transportation, and government, lawmakers need to work closely with the tech community.

With technology tightly entwined with business, transportation, and government, lawmakers need to work closely with the tech community.

During my 35 years of covering the technology industry, I have seen firsthand how companies have tried to keep an arm’s-length relationship with the government. With some rare exceptions—the Pentagon’s cooperation and collaboration with industry brought us the internet—Silicon Valley has generally tried to avoid federal and state bureaucrats. After all, the less the government knew about what tech companies were doing, the fewer legal and legislative issues the industry would have to deal with.

Read Full Story

With spin-off investments Grail and Helix, and a new software-savvy CEO, Illumina is poised to make DNA an even bigger part of your life.

With spin-off investments Grail and Helix, and a new software-savvy CEO, Illumina is poised to make DNA an even bigger part of your life.

It would raise the stakes even higher, but that didn’t stop Jay Flatley, Illumina‘s then chief executive, from sending in vials of his own saliva and blood to the company’s newly opened lab. It was January 2009, and Illumina’s scientists were about to embark on their first mission to sequence a whole human genome.

Read Full Story

The people in your office may not trust you as much as you think they do. Here’s how to win them over.

The people in your office may not trust you as much as you think they do. Here’s how to win them over.

Do the people in your office trust you? Maybe not as much as you think they do.

Read Full Story

Several new companies are building their businesses around the mainstreaming of androgynous clothing, no longer a passing fad.

Several new companies are building their businesses around the mainstreaming of androgynous clothing, no longer a passing fad.

Androgyny has been a steady part of pop culture for years: Remember David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust in the ’70s, Grace Jones’s flattop hair in the ’80s, Kurt Cobain’s queer grungy looks in the ’90s, and Prince’s endless array of glittery numbers throughout his career?

Read Full Story

Nikon says image quality will be the killer feature in its rugged, $500 KeyMission 360 virtual reality camera.

Nikon says image quality will be the killer feature in its rugged, $500 KeyMission 360 virtual reality camera.

When you think of major camera makers, names like 360fly, LG, and Ricoh may not spring to mind. Such newcomers have staked out early spots in the emerging 360-degree virtual reality video market. That changes today as Nikon launches its KeyMission 360 virtual reality camera.

Read Full Story