Counting Cars to Understand Demographics
What Google Street View images tell us about our neighborhoods—and ourselves.
Can Google Finally Create a Successful 'Smart City'?
Many have attempted, and failed, to integrate technology into urban planning. and now Sidewalk Labs is trying it again in Toronto.
How We Give Online Advertisers the Tools to Manipulate Us
New research shows the effectiveness of aligning ads with a potential customer’s easily identified personality traits.
Do Corporations Make Any Sense?
If the old corporate goal was to claim as many assets and employees as possible, the new one is to hand production off to external vendors and contract labor.
What Google Bros Have in Common With Medieval Beer Bros
The exclusion of women from coding fits perfectly into centuries of labor history.
The Artificial Intelligence That Solved Go
Nineteen years after Deep Blue won a chess match against a grand master, a Google team has created an A.I. that's able to win against professional players of the ancient Chinese strategy game of Go.
What's Behind 2015's Most-Googled Search Terms?
Oh, yeah, we were so into Caitlyn Jenner too!
What We Know About the Computer Formulas Making Decisions in Your Life
When big data uses bad data, discrimination can result.
The Pointlessness of M-City
Why test cars on fake roads when they'll need to operate on real ones?
The Filter Bubble; or, the Problem With Google's Apparent Omniscience
It’s called the “filter bubble,” and it’s helping Google play to our prejudices.
Why Google's Deep Dream Is Future Kitsch
It's easy to discuss Deep Dream as an independent creature. But like all kitsch, it comes straight back to its creators.
No, You Don’t Have Free Speech Online
We treat platforms like they are public utilities. They’re not—but maybe they could be.
The Omniscient Classroom
An early look at a Pacific Standard story that's currently only available to subscribers.
Searching the Internet Creates an Illusion of Knowledge
A new study finds merely looking things up on the Web increases our belief in our own knowledge—even with topics unrelated to our search.
Income Inequality Inspires Interest in Luxury Items
A state-by-state analysis of Google searches find high-status goods are of more interest in places with a larger gap between rich and poor.
The Persistence of the Office
More workers are telecommuting than ever before, but tech is clinging to the campus life that made it so homogenous.
Self-Driving Cars Won’t Fix Our Transit Woes
Real transportation futurism looks more like a fleet of self-driving buses.
Silicon Valley’s Brave New Economic Order
A recent study suggests the United States is starting to resemble an oligarchy more than a democracy, and the trend’s cradle is unmistakably Silicon Valley.
Your Digital Photos Aren't Built to Last
Preserving digital content—and the Internet—for future generations will be a technical, political, and legal challenge.
Robotic Ride-Shares Could Have Human Impact
Rumors abound that Google is entering into the ride-share race with its self-driving cars. Could that change the face of our cities?
Do Fonts Actually Matter?
On Android's ever-changing quest to find a working typeface for all of its devices.