We got a VC’s take on the pitch decks of five now-billion-dollar tech companies. Here’s what they got right (and wrong) from the start.
Is it impossible now to imagine life without an Airbnb, LinkedIn, or YouTube?
The DJ Behind Dash Radio Believes Apple Swiped His Idea For Beats 1–And That’s A Good Thing
Apple’s radio play may get all the attention, but DJ Skee’s baby is growing fast.
When Apple introduced its revamped Apple Music ecosystem in June, one of the most intriguing features was Beats 1, a live, 24-hour, human-curated Internet radio station featuring top talent. Beats 1 eschews firm playlists and computer algorithms in favor of an old-school, expert-led, handcrafted listening experience, using lean, internet-only technology. Observers have hailed it as a “serious threat” to both traditional and satellite radio as well as other streaming services, and analyzed its content for secrets to Apple’s grander musical agenda.
5 Great Free Apps for Making Smarter Decisions
Cheaper plane tickets, better Amazon deals, movies you’ll actually like, and more.
When you were a kid, you leveraged a Magic 8 Ball to help you make decisions. Now that you’re all grown up, you have technology on your side—and hopefully your Magic 8 Ball tucked safely away in your closet, just in case.
The Trouble With Digitizing History
The Netherlands spent seven years and $202 million to digitize huge swaths of AV archives that most people will never see. Was it worth it?
Driving through the Dutch countryside near the town of Hilversum, I have an overwhelming feeling that the surrounding water will wash out the road, given that my car is almost level with it. So it’s surprising that the Netherlands’ main audiovisual archives at the Sound and Vision Institute reside in a multilevel underground structure here, ostensibly below sea level.
Are GIFs The Future Of Novels?
Novelist Dennis Cooper’s latest books use found GIFs to tell creepy horror stories.
Novels are made of words. Graphic novels are made of pictures, and often words. But what does a novel composed of GIFs look like, and can it be called a novel at all?
Yanking Out The Underground Tracks Is One Way To Solve Urban Mobility Problems In London
The architecture firm’s “Walk the Line” concept subs in airport-esque people movers for Underground cars.
“Transportation in London is a bit of a minefield,” Christian Coop, design director at NBBJ’s outpost in the British capital, says. The global architecture firm is no stranger to wildly imaginative design proposals and when prompted to dream up a way to make the city better, NBBJ turned its attention to the Underground—a labyrinthine system that accommodates more than 1 billion passenger trips in a year and is notorious for congestion and overcrowding.
Apple’s 3D Touch Is Trying To Solve The Biggest Problem In Mobile
But can pressure sensitivity really beat Google’s mind-reading AIs?
Let’s say you want to take a selfie, or hail an Uber, or send a new email. How many taps does it take you? How many screens do you have to visit? It depends on what you’re trying to do, but the answer’s going to be “more than one.” This is mobile’s shallow UI problem; everyone from Google to Apple is feeling the pinch.
Exclusive Interview: Everybody’s Working For The Weeknd
The chart-topping artist talks about those epic VMA ads, his relationship with Apple Music, and the art of being a brand.
On the song “Tell Your Friends,” The Weeknd sings, “Last year I did all the politicking/This year, I’m a focus on the vision.” And since his voice first mysteriously dropped online back in 2010, it’s been clear the 25-year-old Toronto native has had a shrewd strategy all along. From no pictures or interviews at the start, to building his name and spreading the word through key associations with artists like Drake and Ariana Grande, then appearing on soundtracks for blockbusters like The Hunger Games and Fifty Shades of Grey—all bricks in the foundation for becoming one of the biggest acts in music.
If The Masters Of The Art World Designed Bikes, They’d Look Like This
What would a bike by Claude Monet, or Frank Stella look like? To celebrate a museum’s 100th birthday, Handsome Cycles tried to find out.
There’s no shortage of bike museums around the world, but there aren’t too many bikes that are displayed alongside paintings by Claude Monet and Frank Stella. But these bikes by Handsome Cycles are an exception: they are designed specifically to complement three showcase pieces in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA).
Who’s Most At Risk From Climate Change? Not The People Who Caused It
Global warming will hurt some parts of the globe more than others.
As climate change gets worse, the tiny African country of Eritrea might be one of the worst places in the world to live. Droughts and floods will ruin crops on subsistence farms. Hotter weather will spread disease like malaria. Rising sea levels along the coast will make groundwater too salty to drink. And because the country is one of the poorest in the world, it’s also one of the least prepared for those changes.
