Month: April 2022

The mathematician and author talks about the exploitation of our feelings, cancel culture, and why she believes JK Rowling is an example of ‘punching-down shame’ Cathy O’Neil is a writer, a mathematician and author of the bestselling Weapons of Math Destruction, which won the Euler book prize. Her latest book is The Shame Machine: Who …

Cathy O’Neil: ‘Big tech makes use of shame to profit from our interactions’ Read More »

Husbands, wives and children: there was something for everyone at the Earl’s Court Motor Show that year ‘Probably the safest place to drive a car in Britain now is in the middle of a Scottish loch,’ is the arresting beginning of the Observer Magazine of 16 October 1966, a special issue to coincide with the …

Traffic jams and parking meters: the perils of motoring, 1966 Read More »

Diaspora families typically travel to the region each year for wedding shopping. But the pandemic has changed everything Once a year, between December and February, brides-to-be and their families from all over the the US and Europe flock to India and Pakistan to escape the cold, wintry weather, visit family and, perhaps most importantly, shop …

How south Asia’s bridal industry built a WhatsApp empire Read More »

Cloisters Interactive; Annapurna Interactive; Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One/Series S/Series XA dreamlike ‘interactive poem’ explores the emotional dynamics driving an Olympic swimmer A Memoir Blue opens at a press conference, a thatch of interviewers’ microphones aimed at the protagonist as she flinches in a lightning storm of camera flashes. In her right hand …

A Memoir Blue review – a deep dive into the price of success Read More »

The New York-based photographer and his wife adopted an injured bird, which gets annoyed when they leave it home alone Jeffery Jones had a parakeet as a kid but never considered himself a bird fanatic. Yet when he and his wife settled into an apartment block in New York’s East Village, the pair began noticing …

‘I’m not the pigeon guy – I just happen to have a pigeon’: Jeffery Jones’s best phone picture Read More »

Chinese-owned video platform is set to overtake the advertising scale of Twitter and Snapchat combined • TikTok: five of the UK’s favourite videos TikTok is on track to overtake the global advertising scale of Twitter and Snapchat combined this year, and to match mighty YouTube within two years, as trendsetting teens and young adults make …

The rise of TikTok: why Facebook is worried about the booming social app Read More »

Unlikely stars, unexpected stories and, of course, a silly video of a pet The rise of TikTok: why Facebook is worried about the social app Former postman Nathan Evans’ rendition of Wellerman, a 19th-century folk song about the whaling trade, went viral during the Covid lockdown in the first half of last year and single-handedly …

TikTok: five of the UK’s favourite videos Read More »

As Twitter prepares to roll out its new edit function, a look back at the tweets that could have done with one After years of public pestering, Twitter has finally begun work on an edit button, the company announced this week. The ability to alter existing tweets has long been the platform’s most-requested feature, according …

Ten tweets in need of the new edit button: from covfefe to Oscars selfie Read More »

A suburban two-bedroom apartment was the HQ from which Amazon’s multimillion-dollar anti-union effort was defeated The living room of the small two-bedroom apartment in Staten Island – sometimes called New York City’s “forgotten borough” – is overflowing with office supplies, mail, red union stickers, and flyers with information about unions. It seems almost unbelievable that …

‘The model is listening’: union’s win at Amazon hatched in a small apartment Read More »

The Artful Escape is among the indie games to beat big-budget rivals on a night that recognised a tough period for the industry The Bafta games awards took place at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on Thursday night, honouring 2021’s creative achievements in video gaming. It was the first time the ceremony had been held …

Bafta games awards 2022: Returnal and Unpacking win big Read More »