We realize that free and open source apps often do have the mission of mimicking the features of some one or several commercial apps, as if they’re Prometheus bringing features to the common computer user — but that is not… Read More ›
Articles
Why do we love word puzzles and games?
If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything it’s that, given large stretches of time confined mostly inside our homes, we will eventually experience the desire to do something besides binge-watch television. Many people have long been daily devotees of… Read More ›
You can stop the New York Times taking Wordle from you
The news that the New York Times is buying Wordle is a concern for those of us who spend a couple of minutes playing it every day. It has been something free and simple to play, and to compete with… Read More ›
100 seconds to midnight
Every January, the scientists assess how close the world is to ending, in their view, and use knowledge of how things have changed to move the clock either closer or farther away from midnight. To quote Prince’s prescient 1999 lyrics,… Read More ›
Famous for cajoling killers into confessing to their crimes
The woman was Bobbie Sue Hill. Nearly a decade before this conversation, kids had stumbled upon her body in a creek bed under a bridge, less than a mile from Driskill’s home. Investigators pieced together that she was a 29-year-old… Read More ›
‘Impossible’ mathematics problem cracked
The mathematics problem is a bit like Sudoku on steroids. It’s called Euler’s officer problem, after Leonhard Euler, the mathematician who first proposed it in 1779. Here’s the puzzle: You’re commanding an army with six regiments. Each regiment contains six… Read More ›
The sixth mass extinction may have already started
Over the past 450 million years, life on Earth has been devastated by at least five mass extinctions, which are typically defined as catastrophes that wipe out more than 75 percent of species in a short amount of time. Many… Read More ›
When you attack the BBC, the NHS and the Queen you are not patriotic, and you will lose
‘One day, we’ll have a PM who isn’t a monstrous arse. There won’t be knighthoods for failure. The Culture Secretary won’t be a vain moron. The Home Secretary won’t be a dullwitted bully. The govt won’t need to be under… Read More ›
You can’t replace the feel of turning a real page
That trend undermines the tech companies’ seductive promises that apps and platforms will always and inevitably eclipse physical objects. The unexpected triumph of printed books – partly a result of their enhanced design values – proves that not all upgrades… Read More ›
Why is the bar so low for men?
No shade at all to Christensen for sharing the content in question. She’s a regular gym goer and has probably had plenty of experience of men staring, making comments, offering unsolicited advice, invading her space and generally making her feel… Read More ›