I tried to understand location tracking. It’s nearly impossible

I discovered that even when it’s collected in a way that protects privacy, location data ultimately helps companies more than people. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

I’m 14, and I quit social media after discovering what was posted about me

When 8th grader Sonia Bokhari joined social media for the first time, she discovered that her mom and sister had been posting about her for her entire life. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

How the tragic death of Do Not Track ruined the web for everyone

A decade ago, a simple browser setting promised to make it easy to protect your online privacy from nosy advertisers. Too bad it never came anywhere near to living up to its promise. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Nike cofounder: Why I approved the controversial Colin Kaepernick ad

A moving conversation with basketball star LeBron James played a key role in the brand’s decision, Phil Knight reveals. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

“If you listen to Reply All, and you listen on Apple Podcasts, you can continue to listen to Reply All on Apple Podcasts,” said Gimlet’s cofounder. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Facebook designer:Sometimes you don’t know something’s wrong until it’s too late

Facebook acquired Maria Giudice’s design firm in 2013. Today, she’s an independent consultant and an advocate for “designing for unintended consequences.” | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

The freezer aisle is ad targeting you now

Walgreens is using cameras, eye tracking, and motion sensors to show you real-time ads meant to influence which ice cream you buy. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Pixar's new short “Purl” takes workplace bro culture to task

With mild swearing and double entendres, this is not the typical Pixar fare. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Right-wing meme slingers weaponize a toxic patriotism

In her first battle on the Hill against digital propaganda from the right, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spotlights a toxic kind of patriotism. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Researchers dismantle Mark Zuckerberg’s “meaningful interactions” argument

Zuck’s theory that there’s a right and a wrong way to use Facebook may not stand the test of time. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

I bet on Zuckerberg–and helped write the Soros speech that earned Facebook’s ire

How one of Mark Zuckerberg’s mentors helped billionaire philanthropist George Soros write the Davos speech at the center of another Facebook controversy. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Calm just became the first meditation unicorn with its $88M Series B

The meditation app is growing. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Apple will limit websites’ access to your iPhone’s motion data

Websites can use your motion data to identify and track you–and even steal your PIN. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

YouTube’s best beauty tutorials don’t teach you anything about makeup

Artist Addie Wagenknecht layers information on passphrases, troll blockers, and secondary phone numbers into hilarious, deadpan videos about face masks and concealer. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

A spyware-hunting PhD student foiled a private spy over lunch

With a fake story and necktie camera, digital watchdog Citizen Lab and reporters from the Associated Press ensnared an operative linked to the spy firm Black Cube. Read and hear how it went down. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Here’s the cure for the deluge of scammy, spammy robocalls

STIR and SHAKEN have the potential to prevent fraudsters from spoofing Caller ID. But a number of details are yet to be worked out. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

A shockingly large majority of health news shared on FB is fake or misleading

Upon examining the top 100 articles shares of social media, scientists discovered that many contained misleading or exaggerated claims. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Why tech’s favorite color is making us all miserable

The cold blue light of modern touchscreens may be aesthetically pleasing, but it poses health problems. Designers and technologists should take cues from military history and embrace the orange. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Cambridge Analytica whistle-blower Wylie now works at H&M

Christopher Wylie has a new, fashionable job. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Jigsaw is using AI, human connections, and AdWords to fight ISIS

The Redirect Method is a program from Alphabet’s Jigsaw that aims to stop kids from becoming radicalized terrorists.  | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Future pills will be personalized and 3D printed, just for you

Meet the scientists using 3D printers to deliver safer, more effective tablets for children. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Feast on the vintage silliness of Apple’s 1992 sales meeting

27 years ago, the company was on a roll—and its salespeople all flew to Nashville to celebrate in (‘90s) style. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

The saddest puppet in L.A

Even after the closure of the flagship location of the legendary marionette theater where he learned the ropes, El Triste and his creator ride on. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Lessons from not checking my email messages for a month

I was skeptical of the experiment, but I felt that it was necessary to try it for the sake of my sanity. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Reeling from algorithm glitch, Instacart institutes $3 minimum fee for drivers

A well-publicized case of a driver paid just 80 cents for an hour’s work has prompted Instacart to introduce a new minimum wage. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

It’s Time to Ditch Google Analytics

In the last year, a swell of privacy-focused website analytics platforms have started to provide an alternative to Google’s tracking behemoth. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

How to design a successful crowdsourcing contest

Providing regular updates to competitors–and awards for reaching milestones–during innovation contests yields better solutions faster. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Pushing buttons on Facebook pushes your buttons

Social media can push you to slip easily from thought to behavior, decreasing the opportunities for you to think more thoroughly. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Brazil is using a facial recognition system during Rio’s Carnival

Carnival just got less fun. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Japan to hack its citizens’ routers and webcams in name of cybersecurity

The hacking program is an initiative aimed at increasing cybersecurity in Japan before the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo next year. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Facebook workers hobbled and “angry” after Apple blocks its internal apps

Facebook employees are stuck in the middle of a growing feud. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Facebook is quietly paying teens to gather their data after an App Store ban

Facebook’s use of its “Research” app may violate Apple’s developer rules. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Humanity is a team sport. Our technology is ruining it: A Q&A with Rushkoff

In “Team Human,” media theorist and veteran cyberpunk Douglas Rushkoff reminds us why we wanted progress in the first place. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Meet the Guy Who Holds the Guinness World Record for Collecting Spreadsheets

Ariel Fischman’s office shelves are a veritable museum devoted to the era of VisiCalc, Lotus 1-2-3, Multiplan, and other products that once duked it out for number-crunching supremacy. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Now’s the Perfect Time for Apple to Bring Messages to Android

Last week’s bombshell about Facebook’s messaging merger has users looking for other options–and Apple should take full advantage of it. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Risky software is inspiring creative ways to hack transparency

In the absence of rules around algorithms, activists, lawyers, and tech workers are hacking transparency through other means. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

How to prevent and recover from burnout

A clinical psychologist shares science-backed strategies for responding to burnout. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Loop, a new zero-waste platform that may change how we shop forever

Loop will send you name-brand products, like Tide detergent, Crest mouthwash, or Häagen Dazs ice cream. When you’re done, you ship the empty container back, where it gets cleaned and reused for the next customer. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

The number of pedestrians killed by cars keeps going up

Americans are walking less, but the number of people killed by drivers while walking keeps going up. Unsurprisingly, these deaths happen more in poor neighborhoods of color. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Landmark ruling gives new power to sue tech giants for violating privacy

The Illinois Supreme Court ruled consumers can sue firms for biometric privacy violations even without proving harm, swatting down an argument used by Facebook and others. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Amazon lawyers vetoed enthusiastic NYC mayor comment about HQ2

Shortly after Amazon announced its search for HQ2, a quote that sung NYC’s praises didn’t fly. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Microsoft's Code Jumper teaches blind kids to code

Microsoft’s Code Jumper lets you play with code with your hands. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

What technochauvinists get wrong about maps

So much. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Oslo decided to make its downtown basically car-free?

It was a huge success: Parking spots are now bike lanes, transit is fast and easy, and the streets (and local businesses) are full of people. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Oslo made its city center basically car-free--and it's great

It was a huge success: Parking spots are now bike lanes, transit is fast and easy, and the streets (and local businesses) are full of people. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Meet the designers who make a living building tiny houses on the Sims

Their construction videos get millions of views. Why are so many people obsessed with virtual tiny homes? | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

What climate change? Davos bigwigs slammed for taking private jets

Top business execs and politicians visiting the World Economic Forum in Davos are, once again, being criticized for flying to the event in gas-guzzling private jets and helicopters. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago

Machine learning is a sweet way to tell if your honey is fake

One of the world’s most adulterated foods could get a new authenticity test, thanks to software that has “learned” to recognize certain grains of pollen. | Continue reading


@fastcompany.com | 5 years ago