WIRED MAGAZINE (October 31, 2023) – The latest issue features understanding Tik Tok and talent manager Ursus Magana; How Telegram Became a Terrifying Weapon in the Israel-Hamas War; Here’s the Truth Behind the Biggest (and Dumbest) Battery Myths, and more…
The creator economy is fragmented and chaotic. Talent manager Ursus Magana can (almost) make sense of it, with a frenetic formula for gaming the algorithms.
Hamas posted gruesome images and videos that were designed to go viral. Sources argue that Telegram’s lax moderation ensured they were seen around the world.
At around 8 am local time the morning of October 7, Haaretz’s cyber and disinformation reporter, Omer Benjakob, was woken by his wife at their home in the historic port city of Jaffa. Something was happening in southern Israel, she said, but Benjakob shrugged it off, presuming “another round of the same shit.” Flare-ups between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and militants in southern Israel are not uncommon. “No, no,” Benjakob’s wife insisted. “It’s more serious.”
Yes, charging your phone overnight is bad for its battery. And no, you don’t need to turn off your device to give the battery a break. Here’s why.
For an object that barely ever leaves our palms, the smartphone can sometimes feel like an arcane piece of wizardry. And nowhere is this more pronounced than when it comes to the fickle battery, which will drop 20 percent charge quicker than you can toggle Bluetooth off, and give up the ghost entirely after a couple of years of charging.
The worst predictions for costs have not come to pass, partly because Russia is selling plenty of wheat. But plenty of food-price woe may still await.
We examine the curious re-appearance of the polio virus in the West. And the trials of “Pink Sauce” reveal the perils of being a cottage-food producer—or consumer—in the social-media age.
Welcome to the era of the audio meme, a time when replicable units of sound are a cultural currency as strong as — if not stronger than — images and text.
The hype about TikTok is justified—and so are the concerns. There’s a reason why the world’s most exciting app is also its most mistrusted https://econ.st/3bQE9JX
The Wall Street Journal created dozens of automated accounts that watched hundreds of thousands of videos to reveal how the social network knows you so well A Wall Street Journal investigation found that TikTok only needs one important piece of information to figure out what you want: the amount of time you linger over a piece of content. Every second you hesitate or rewatch, the app is tracking you. Photo illustration: Laura Kammermann/The Wall Street Journal
TikTok is becoming a popular forum for Gen-Z and Millennials to learn about entrepreneurship and making money. To find out more, WSJ spoke with three TikTokers who are attracting large audiences that support their thriving online businesses.
The Chinese-owned app TikTok has been labelled a national-security threat by the U.S., but it’s not unique in the data it collects. WSJ explains why countries are building digital walls and treating user data like a sovereign asset, and how that could change our tech.
Walmart’s potential deal with TikTok may not only change the retail giant, it could reshape how Americans shop online. Video commerce, which allows users to shop while they watch viral videos, is already wildly popular in other countries.
Illo: Mike Cheslik for the Wall Street Journal
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious
