Ahead of the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, a liberal Gen-Z-led group has purchased a handful of domain names related to the top Republican primary candidates in an effort to extinguish support from young voters. “Republicans are not investing in outreach to young people, and we know why,” Jessica Siles, …
Read More »The Stark Realities of Posting Your Layoff on TikTok
The tech layoffs keep coming. Workers are anxious and frustrated, as more than 400,000 people are estimated to have lost jobs over the past two years. Younger workers, particularly Gen Z, are posting through it. People have been sharing day-in-the-life videos about being laid off—or videos of their company laying …
Read More »The Internet Couldn’t Save Vivek Ramaswamy
At a ritzy boutique hotel on Monday night in Des Moines, Iowa, dozens of young voters braved subzero temperatures to see Vivek Ramaswamy deliver what they would soon learn to be his final speech as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. After thanking his team, campaign volunteers, and, of …
Read More »The Emmys Proved Streaming Changed TV for the Better
This year’s Emmys marked the event’s 75th anniversary. As part of the festivities, aired Monday night, the ceremony held cast mini-reunions for some of television’s biggest shows: Cheers, The Arsenio Hall Show, Grey’s Anatomy, Martin, even Game of Thrones. It was a testament to the way TV has infiltrated popular …
Read More »What SoundCloud Created Can Never Die
Kaytranada and Kehlani. Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road.” Sheck Wes’ “Mo Bamba.” The commonalities these artists and songs share is neither region nor genre but platform. SoundCloud was their origin point. “It sparked so many careers once upon a time,” says Stonie Blue, a New York-based DJ and cofounder …
Read More »What’s the Value of 3 Million LPs in a Digital World?
Kindle libraries; troves of infinitely streamable songs on Spotify and Apple Music; scores of shows and films on Netflix, Max, and Hulu. Even the Criterion Collection is online now. Cultural archives now live on server farms, so much so that the value of physical media seems ever-shifting. While there’s some …
Read More »The Year the Millennial Internet Died
The millennial internet first died in 2015. I remember the day exactly because I was one of seven staffers, in addition to many more permalancers, at Gawker Media who were laid off as part of a company-wide restructuring. I received a message on Slack, was asked to join a meeting …
Read More »Brazilian Gamers Aren't Waiting for Hollywood. They're Building Their Own Cons
A large group of young people are cosplaying as their favorite characters. Others are wearing T-shirts with similar motifs and bright, colorful hair. This scene is typical to many conventions around the globe, but here in São Paulo, it’s different. Many of the attendees are Black and brown Brazilians. Their …
Read More »AI Is Telling Bedtime Stories to Your Kids Now
The problem with Bluey is there's not enough of it. Even with 151 seven-minute-long episodes of the popular children's animated show out there, parents of toddlers still desperately wait for Australia’s Ludo Studio to release another season. The only way to get more Bluey more quickly is if they create …
Read More »The Internet Isn't Dead. It's 'Saturday Night Live'
The internet sucks now. Once a playground fueled by experimentation and freedom and connection, it’s a flimsy husk of what it was, all merriment and serendipity leached from our screens by vile capitalist forces. Everything is too commercialized. We commodified the self, then we commodified robots to impersonate the self, …
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