Author: Rebecca Greenfield

Twitter Is What You Make It, Ashton

Reuters

Doesn't Ashton Kutcher know what happens to people who complain about how terrible Twitter has gotten since the good old days? They get shamed with the following adage: Twitter is what you make it, bro. 

By Elspeth Reeve and Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 14, 2012

Calculating Barack Obama's Geek Quotient

Does Barack Obama's have "very high" "geek quotient" as chief technology officer -- a.k.a official White House geek -- Todd park claimed today in a CNN interview?

Comments | 2,866 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 14, 2012

The Politics of Silicon Valley: 'Obamacare Scares Me'

Thanks to venture capitalist Fred Wilson, a backer of hip tech companies like Twitter and Tumblr, there's a new catch phrase to describe Silicon Valley politics: "Obamacare scares me."

Comments | 5,183 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 14, 2012

An Unconvincing Denial of Gender Discrimination in Silicon Valley

Following Ellen Pao's gender discrimination claims against the Venture Capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the company has responded without addressing many of the harassment claims Pao alleges.

Comments | 1,552 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 13, 2012

MacBook Pro Retina Display Reviews: A Lot of Money for a Pretty Screen

Reviewers have gotten their hands on the big talk of the Apple announcement bonanza Monday, the revamped MacBook with Retina Display.

Comments | 5,475 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 13, 2012

How the Future of the Internet Will Be Determined

ICANN, the organization that runs the world's domain names, today released a first round list of applications for new domain name extensions, some of which will become a regular part of our Internet lexicon and some of which will fade away into oblivion.

Comments | 944 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 13, 2012

Today in Research

Blame La Niña for the Warm Spring; Kids Sext The Darndest Things

Discovered: Blame La Niña for that warm Spring, kids really do send nudie pics to each other, women doctors make a lot less money than their male counterparts, and no ice at the Northeast Passage this year.

Comments | 2,242 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 13, 2012

Why Nobody Will Miss iTunes Ping

After hearing that Apple will discontinue its its music social network discovery tool, Ping, via AllThingsD's John Paczkowski, nobody got upset, at all.

Comments | 593 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 13, 2012

This Horrific Story Is Why the Kids-on-Facebook Debate Misses the Point

After hearing about the multiple child rapes that happened on Skout, an online people-meeting app that links up with Facebook, we're convinced this so-called kids on the Internet debate needs to come to an end.

Comments | 2,048 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 12, 2012

Today in Research

Humans Caused Ocean Warming; Diesel Fuels Cause Cancer

Discovered: Humans for certain caused ocean warming, diesel fumes cause cancer, Prometheus style interstellar travel isn't happening anytime soon, personalized e-mails do not work, and scale walls like Spider-Man with this backpack.

Comments | 1,774 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 12, 2012

Runner Caster Semenya Looks a Lot More Feminine Than She Did in 2009

Caster Semenya, the South African athlete whose masculine look and testosterone levels caused a stir back in 2009, when she won an 800-meter world championship, has gotten more feminine looking over the last few years—because she has to.

Comments | 35,490 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 12, 2012

The End of the Phone Is Getting Closer

Verizon has just announced the first ever data-share cell phone plans, meaning that end of the phone we predicted a couple weeks ago just got closer.

Comments | 6,367 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 11, 2012

Today in Research

A Surface That Never Gets Icy; Tiny Particles Are Killing Us

Discovered: A surface that is immune to iciness, the health dangers of nano-particles, quit smoking at any age, and low dopamine means high aggression.

Comments | 944 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 11, 2012

All the Companies Apple Dinged Today

This afternoon among Apple's many upgrades and updates, the company announced a bunch of features that other companies are trying to build into businesses. already existed via other non-Apple services.

Comments | 2,931 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 11, 2012

Apple's Big Event: Skinny Laptops, Smarter Siri, and Maps

So here we have it, today we get new, skinnier laptops, an updated iOS with a smarter Siri and smarter maps, plus the brand new Mountain Lion operating system.

Comments | 7,069 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 11, 2012

Steve Jobs' Pentagon File Explains Why He Was a Jerk, Drug User, and Criminal

Following the FBI file that confirmed Steve Jobs was a jerk, drug user and poor student, Wired has gotten its hands on a Department of Defense file which shows Jobs doing a little explaining for his suspect behavior. 

Comments | 12,670 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 11, 2012

All The Ways Apple Will Jab Google Today at the WWDC

Following Google's announcement of its enhanced maps last week, we expect Tim Cook will counter-back during his keynote today at the World Wide Developers Conference.

Comments | 750 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 11, 2012

Twitter's First TV Commercial Is Oddly Endearing

Many commentators are saying that Twitter created its first television ad for advertisers. Then why did it make us a tiny bit emotional?

Comments | 1,994 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 8, 2012

An Anarchist Constitution for Twitter

Of late we've come across a couple of guides for living our lives on Twitter, and, you know what, we're sick of rules.

Comments | 2,987 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 8, 2012

Today in Research

Vacations Aren't Really Vacations; The Kids with the Worst Allergies

Discovered: We don't disconnect when we go on vacation anymore, the kids who get the most allergies, why the uterus doesn't reject a fetus, and a very life-like robot fish.

Comments | 1,039 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 8, 2012

America's Most Vibrant Industry Right Now Is $80,000 Sneakers

Unless you're of a certain (mostly young, mostly male) demographic, you probably haven't heard that one of the biggest, most anticipated product launches of the year, Nike's Air Yeezy II sneaker.

Comments | 4,823 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 8, 2012

The True Costs of a Prepaid iPhone

Though the straight numbers, at least according to this Cult of Mac breakdown, say that the new prepaid iPhone offerings from Cricket Wireless and Sprint Virgin Mobile are the way to go, it got us wondering what kind of hidden costs come with the too-good-to-be-true cheap option.

Comments | 19,984 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 8, 2012

Facebook Is Quietly Proving Its Worth

Stuck in a 40 day quiet period following its IPO, Facebook has to show, rather than tell, that it has a real business model that works.

Comments | 1,009 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 7, 2012

Actually, Silicon Valley Sounds Like an Awful Place to Meet Men

Silicon Valley may have a glut of bachelors, just as Alex Williams describes in his  New York Times article about the successful and single entrepreneurs of the tech world, but from what we know about that part of the world, these men don't sound so appealing.

Comments | 2,973 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 7, 2012

Today in Research

The Alzheimer's Vaccine Is Looking Good; The Science of Cool

Discovered: A promising first trial for the Alzheimer's vaccine, the science of cool, gastric bypass really works, and the very first space things.

Comments | 1,791 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 7, 2012

Twitter Just Might Be a Big Business After All

Today Twitter did something we're not used to from the company, it showed some business savvy, with Twitter CEO Dick Costolo announcing the company's mobile strategy is working, and the company is predicted to be bringing in $1 billion in revenue by 2014.

Comments | 1,311 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 7, 2012

The End of the Password as We Know It

After two big password hacks on two major Internet sites, it looks like the whole password security system has become obsolete.

Comments | 22,787 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 7, 2012

The Internet Is Getting Awfully Naggy

Now that Facebook and the rest of the social Web has succeeded in making the world more "open and connected" in the words of Social Internet King Mark Zuckerberg, the next phase of Internet will move beyond just connecting us to telling us what to do.

Comments | 517 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 6, 2012

Today in Research

Climate Change Turned Tundra to Forest; The Perfect Amount of Booze

Discovered: Climate change has already changed some biomes, the healthiest amount of booze, kids need to stop stressing, a delicious way to quit smoking, and an insane cool picture of Venus.

Comments | 3,312 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 6, 2012

In the War of the Maps, Google's Secret Weapon Is Offline Access

While everyone was getting all excited about Google's 3D announcement today, Google revealed an even more useful, if less sexy, feature: an offline mode.

Comments | 2,541 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 6, 2012

A Blip in LinkedIn's Pretty Good Record

In this whole social media bubble implosion scenario, LinkedIn often gets portrayed as the angelic social media company that actually makes money and has a useful purpose compared to that wanton do-no-good social network Facebook -- until today.

Comments | 690 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 6, 2012

This Is How Boring the Internet Has Become

At yesterday's launch event for Airtime, Sean Parker noted the Internet has gotten boring, repeating a variation on the same SoMoLo (Silicon Valley speak for social, mobile, local) theme over and over and over again — and then he launched something that looks like the rest of the Internet.

Comments | 5,518 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 5, 2012

Trusted Medical Groups Were Plain Wrong About the Morning-After Pill for Years

Until recently, both the National Institute of Health and the Mayo Clinic, two respected and oft-Googled sites listed what science now considers misinformation regarding emergency contraception.

Comments | 5,518 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 5, 2012

Today in Research

Drink Milk, Get Skinny?; Your Brain Understands a Woman's Touch

Discovered: Milk's magical diet ingredient, this is your brain right before sex, our planet used to have a giant bug problem and American kids may be fat, but their blood pressure is fine

Comments | 2,670 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 5, 2012

Airtime Tackles the Internet's Lonely Male Problem

This afternoon Napster creators Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning launched something that sounds awfully similar to Chatroulette, that randomized video chatting service turned into a hub for exhibitionist men before it was shut down.

Comments | 1,552 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 5, 2012

Silicon Valley in a Funk After Facebook IPO Flop

Following Facebook's IPO disappointment and subsequent stock market fizzle, the rest of Silicon Valley has started to feel the after-shocks, furthering our suspicions that this is a very selfish social media bubble.

Comments | 1,207 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 5, 2012

Amazon's Warehouses Are Cooler, More Humane These Days

After a much blogged about expose revealed the borderline inhumane working conditions at Amazon's American shipping warehouses, the online retailer has made working in its facilities more humane. 

Comments | 1,416 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 4, 2012

Today in Research

Exercising Is Like Doing Drugs; On the Way to Curing Prostate Cancer

Discovered: There is such a thing as too much exercise, a new Prostate cancer drug, American heads are getting bigger and bug bombs don't work on bed bugs

Comments | 1,724 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 4, 2012

A Definitive Etiquette Guide for Couples on Social Media

Guys, we don't need special apps for couples. Couples and singletons can coexist on the same social networks as long as we all live by a few ground rules.

Comments | 5,071 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 4, 2012

You Know What's Cool? 1 Billion Users. You Know What's Really Hard? 2 Billion.

Throughout this Facebook IPO fail advertising has gotten a lot of the blame for the social network's lack of stock market success, but today another possible money-making problem has come to our attention: user growth.

Comments | 893 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 4, 2012

No, Silicon Valley Is Not the New Hollywood

Just because the general population cares about the every move of one Silicon Valley tech executive does not mean the geeks to the north are anything like Hollywood types.

Comments | 446 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 1, 2012

Today in Research

The Milky Way Is on a Crash Course; Get Ready for a Nasty Hurricane Season

Discovered: Our galaxy is on a crash course, get ready for a nasty hurricane season, the poor butterflies, and chocolate is now healthy.

Comments | 2,493 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 1, 2012

3D Maps Are Coming: Will They Actually Be Useful?

The latest front in the great Google-Apple war is to provide 3D maps on Smartphones, which at first sounds like a chest-thumping battle of techno-corporate pride, but after a bit of investigation might actually benefit people who are stuck with plain old 2D.

Comments | 2,931 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 1, 2012

The End of the Phone Is Nigh

These days our "phones" aren't really phones in the dictionary sense ("an instrument for reproducing sounds at a distance") any more. And soon enough, if the CEO of AT&T is correct, they won't even involve namesake capability anymore.

Comments | 5,649 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 1, 2012

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Bath Salts (But Were Afraid to Google)

After discovering that it was bath salts that turned 31-year-old Rudy Eugene into the face-eating "Miami Zombie," we did some crowd-sourcing -- ie. asked our colleagues at The Atlantic Wire -- and realized we don't know much about these bath salt things.

Comments | 49,213 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

Jun 1, 2012

So This Is Facebook's Genius Ad Strategy

Facebook has figured out an ingenious way to capitalize on all that social sharing, finally giving its ad model the edge it needs to impress advertisers and prove the company is worth something.

Comments | 4,002 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

May 31, 2012

Today in Research

Old People Don't Smell Bad; Total Rehab of a Broken Spine

Discovered: Old people don't smell bad, we don't need more aerosol in the air, fewer food choices aren't always better, and fixing a spinal cord injury.

Comments | 2,439 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

May 31, 2012

This Is Just How Much Hollywood Hates Silicon Valley

Things got heated at last night's AllThingsD conference session with Hollywood super agent Ari Emanuel, who in less than one hour embodied the entire beef between Hollywood and Silicon Valley.

Comments | 3,896 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

May 31, 2012

Hell Hath No Fury Like a Wi-Fi User Stalled

Nothing gets a privileged train rider—or really any expectant Internet user—more riled than lack of a connection.

Comments | 1,521 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

May 31, 2012

Kayak Is Just the First Victim of Facebook's Selfish IPO

One of the many groups that will lose out after Facebook's selfish (and somewhat failing) IPO are all the other tech companies that hoped to ride out the bubble Facebook was supposed to create.

Comments | 942 Views

By Rebecca Greenfield

May 30, 2012

Today in Research

Once Fat, Always Fat; Another Close Asteroid

Discovered: Another close-to-Earth asteroid, even the formerly fat are remembered for being fat, and TV only improves the self-esteem of white boys.

Comments | 2,518 Views

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