Babbage

RSS feed for the Babbage Economist blog.

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/10/09/and-its-goodnight-from-us

For Microsoft, Windows 10 is both the end of the line and a new beginning

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/10/06/why-10-not-9-is-better-than-8

Deadlines in the future are more likely to be met if they are linked to the mind's slippery notions of the present

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/10/03/future-imperfect-and-tense

Why can’t pixels be more like ink?

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/09/29/the-paperless-dilemma

The future of the ethics and legislation of robotics gets a serious look

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/09/25/how-to-judge-a-bot-why-its-covered

India asserts itself as a capable and penny-wise space power

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/09/24/first-time-lucky

THIS week our correspondents discuss Indian and American space probes at Mars and jurisprudence for robots

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/09/23/robots-need-laws-too

Has Elon Musk bitten off more than he can chew with his Tesla for the masses?

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/09/22/teslas-high-stakes-gamble

The next generation of screens may be based on microscopic aluminium rods

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/09/19/making-al-green

Asia’s monsoons are millions of years older than was once thought. And carbon dioxide seems to make them more powerful

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/09/18/where-the-wind-comes-from

THIS week our correspondents discuss Google’s Android One smartphones, aimed at the “next billion”, and the plans for a robotic lander to touch down on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/09/16/harpooning-a-space-duck

With a picture four times sharper, Ultra-HD is out to grab your attention

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/09/15/a-sharper-image-for-tv

Fossils in Morocco represent the first semi-aquatic dinosaur, and it was a big one

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/09/11/lost-in-fire-found-in-water

American web users face a mocked-up slowed-down internet for a day

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/09/10/faux-go-slow

This week our correspondents discuss the past and future of Apple and a weighty problem in physics

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/09/09/apples-future-will-reflect-its-past

Getting into a prestigious university is a crap-shoot—so treat it as such

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/09/08/gaming-the-college-system

The common mouse breaks one of biology's rules of thumb; researchers now think they know why

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/09/05/the-sense-of-the-father

A partnership taps into the enormous social-science potential of popular websites

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/09/04/social-net-working

Australian officials struggle to explain new electronic snooping plans, or find support for them

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/09/03/surveillance-state-of-confusion

THIS week our correspondents discuss Google’s drones programme and a step towards suspended animation

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/09/02/putting-death-on-ice

Frenzied work to transcribe Ebola's genetic code, and push toward a cure

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/08/29/that-others-may-live

Hopes and dreams for less-than-deadly crowd-control technology

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/08/28/thou-shalt-not-kill-in-theory

Technology’s ups and downs of inflated expectations

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/08/27/divining-reality-from-the-hype

THIS week our correspondents discuss Amazon’s purchase of Twitch and the reasons behind the recent pause in global warming

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/08/26/a-saline-solution-to-global-warming

The flower industry is the driving force behind Florida's self-driving future

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/08/20/petals-to-the-metal

THIS week our correspondents discuss the Uber-Lyft rideshare war and dust particles from interstellar space

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/08/19/rideshare-dust-ups-and-space-dust

Passwords are becoming easier than ever to crack

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/08/18/you-have-been-hacked

That magpies are attracted to shiny objects may be a myth

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/08/15/had-a-very-shiny-no

Thermal cameras could be coming to a mobile phone near you

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/08/14/hot-or-not

THIS week our correspondents discuss the Rosetta space probe's triangular "orbit", and the reality of net neutrality

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/08/12/probing-questions

The effects of large earthquakes can be seen, and heard, on distant ice sheets

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/08/12/a-shock-heard-round-the-world

RSS feed for the Babbage Economist blog.

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/08/08/fighting-the-fever

Why music lovers are snapping up mono LPs

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/08/08/the-joys-of-monomania

Divers are set to get a better grip on things

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/08/07/grasping-at-claws

This week: An update on the Ebola outbreak and catching an asteroid in a bag

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/08/06/how-not-to-stop-ebolas-spread

Abuse of America’s digital copyright rules is damaging innovation

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/08/04/wanted-a-tinkerers-charter

The genes that make pets docile may make also make them cute

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/08/01/how-the-labrador-got-its-spots

Historical data meet a burgeoning discipline of science to reveal patterns within Western culture

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/07/31/where-culture-goes-to-die

THIS week our correspondents discuss fly-inspired hearing aids and Airbnb’s move into business travel

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/07/29/listen-like-a-fly-on-the-wall

Hopes of an El Niño relieving California’s drought are fading fast

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/07/28/the-pacifics-wayward-child

A look at the RoboCup in Brazil, where robots show their football skills and push the boundaries of artificial intelligence

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/07/25/messi-v-the-machines

Mimicking a fly's aural mechanism may replicate its acuity for humans

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/07/25/now-hear-only-this

All dinosaurs may have had feathers

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/07/24/not-for-plucking

THIS week our correspondents discuss the career of Joep Lange, a chief AIDS researcher who died in the MH17 crash, and consider Amazon's new Kindle Unlimited service

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/07/23/leading-light-and-e-bookworms

Amazon enters the fray of e-book subscriptions, but their unlimited service has limits

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/07/22/on-the-volume-of-volumes

The task of recycling the toxic innards of e-waste is being dumped on the world’s poor

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/07/21/where-gadgets-go-to-die

THIS week our correspondents discuss Microsoft’s future and a new look at big data

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/07/16/big-data-small-wins

A long-sought compound made of boron makes its first appearance

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/07/16/getting-from-c-to-b

Google goes hunting for software flaws across the web

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/07/16/zeroing-in

The ubiquitous connector is making travel easier

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/07/14/in-praise-of-the-humble-usb

COMPANIES, markets and countries are increasingly under attack from cyber-criminals, hacktivists and spies. They need to get much better at protecting themselves

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/07/10/defending-the-digital-frontier

THIS week our correspondents discuss cyber security and “jerk tech”

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/07/09/jerks

RSS feed for the Babbage Economist blog.

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/07/08/equal-and-opposite

How the Old Masters allied optics to the easel

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/07/07/through-a-glass-darkly

Citizen scientists have made a significant step in rebooting an ancient satellite by firing its rockets.

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/07/03/an-old-workhorse-satellite-spins-back-up

FACEBOOK'S psychological experiment and a new law to reduce spam

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/07/02/spam-no-more

RSS feed for the Babbage Economist blog.

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/30/yolanda-bee-cool

Facebook's secret manipulation of users' emotions sparks controversy

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/29/emotional-issues

RSS feed for the Babbage Economist blog.

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/27/home-is-where-the-water-is

After 16 years and $100 billion, the ISS is producing a trickle of interesting science

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/26/high-hopes

AMAZON turns 20, a new messaging app has a long historical precedent and an old innovation debate gets a fresh fight

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/25/yo

A breakthrough agreement between fustily named font foundries and web browser firms will result in a Cambrian explosion of faces available for designers, turning the web's uniformity into somethi...

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/25/true-to-type

A FORMER researcher at Amazon and current head of richrelevance, David Selinger explains the huge retail company's successes, and looks toward consumers getting back lost time

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/24/innovation-is-not-a-programme

RSS feed for the Babbage Economist blog.

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/24/stick-em-up

A child's passing is memorialised with the name of web colour

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/23/the-colour-purple

RSS feed for the Babbage Economist blog.

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/20/making-fancy-fertiliser

Amazon's new phone turns the whole world into a shop, and its users into a rich source of data for the internet giant to mine

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/19/reading-its-customers

Arachnids follow Adam Smith’s prescriptions

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/19/a-web-of-collaboration

Are we in a tech bubble? Ben Horowitz, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist and author, tells us where the smart money should be headed

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/18/the-full-stack-startup

The project that sparked the web finally launches, decades late

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/17/a-kubla-khan-do-attitude

RSS feed for the Babbage Economist blog.

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/16/in-the-moment-of-the-heat

Now all players can bend it like Beckham

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/13/a-ball-fit-for-brazil

A law clinic has released to guide to help sort out America's public domain for a confusing period

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/13/copyrights-and-wrongs

RSS feed for the Babbage Economist blog.

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/12/cognitive-dissonance

THIS week: Microsoft and Sony's video-game battle, when science goes wrong and the containerisation of software

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/11/gamers-delight

A mystery illness threatens New England’s lobsters

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/10/shell-shock

RSS feed for the Babbage Economist blog.

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/09/fork-off

A popular card game opts to build its own direct distribution system

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/09/dispatching-obscene-boxes

RSS feed for the Babbage Economist blog.

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/07/of-bucks-and-buck-rogers

The big dog in online crowdfunding relaxes its rules and reverses previous policies.

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/06/kickstarter-is-a-store-after-all

Are desktop 3D printers destined to remain toys rather than tools?

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/05/making-the-cut

THE rise of nanosatellites, Apple’s latest announcements and rats that sniff out landmines

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/06/04/babbage-herorats-and-nanosats

A team of private citizens brings an old solar bird back online.

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/05/30/how-to-revive-a-satellite

RSS feed for the Babbage Economist blog.

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/05/29/waves-of-confusion

This week: YouTube’s interest in Twitch, a multi-billion dollar tech merger in South Korea and Google’s new driverless car

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/05/28/a-new-direction-for-driverless-cars

Don’t expect the “internet of things” to live up to the hype

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/05/28/the-internet-of-nothings

The rise of nanosatellites is spawning a new generation of aerospace engineers

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/05/27/up-in-the-air-junior-birdmen

RSS feed for the Babbage Economist blog.

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/05/22/escargot-to-go

THIS week: AT&T's purchase of DirecTV, Microsoft's new tablet and the reincarnation of the Longitude Prize

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/05/21/back-to-the-future

RSS feed for the Babbage Economist blog.

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/05/21/an-unwelcome-return

The tiniest and least-expensive satellites ever lofted reached orbit and then burned up before release

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/05/19/an-elegy-for-satellites-like-maple-tree-seeds

Twitter unveils a mute feature that prompts the question: why not unfollow?

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/05/16/a-muted-response

RSS feed for the Babbage Economist blog.

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/05/15/knot-happy

This week: Google and the European Court of Justice, rumoured mergers in America and the science of lucid dreaming

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/05/14/the-science-of-sleep

RSS feed for the Babbage Economist blog.

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/05/14/camels-and-bats-and-mers-oh-my

RSS feed for the Babbage Economist blog.

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/05/14/its-going-down-under

Secrets of the world’s longest serving airliner

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/05/13/revenge-of-the-gooney-bird

A technology for children's book belies its serious nature

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/05/12/how-does-scratch-and-sniff-work

An attempt to create a paid social network that provided rich infrastructure has fizzled but persists

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/05/09/last-one-out-turn-off-the-lights

RSS feed for the Babbage Economist blog.

https://www.economist.com/babbage/2014/05/08/sticky-on-the-inside