Conclusive proof that emotionally charged conversations do NOT belong on Gchat
Breaking news: It is still a miserable hellscape outside, and if you somehow managed to forget that, the Wall Street Journal is here to remind you. The paper of record published what I can only term a sadistic compilation of people slipping and falling on ice in New York. Excuse me, WSJ, going outside in this weather is painful enough without the threat of a photographer lurking around every corner. But anyway that wins the Internet. Also-rans:
1. OkCupid may very well be a wasteland, but don’t game the system the way this mathematician did -- because that, it turns out, is a federal computer crime. Real talk, though, this Wired story on hacking OkCupid is equal parts incredible and insane. Someone get Chris McKinlay a rom-com or a book deal.
2. Today in overthinking it: Gchat’s “Caitlin is typing…” indicator -- linguistic innovation, font of unending anxiety, or conclusive proof that emotionally charged conversations do not belong on Gchat?
3. If you watch one thing today, make it this unsettling seven-minute documentary on web addiction centers in China, where therapists call the Internet “electronic heroin” and gamers wear diapers to avoid bathroom breaks.
This is my vote for best GIF of 2013; you can cast your ballot here.
Postscripts: The 6 things that make stories go viral. Book titles rewritten to get more clicks. Choire Sicha on the quality and quantity of writing online. Very important Internet art news: Twitter matryoshkas, Google class-war statuary, famous paintings reduced to pixels. Jay-Z is the #museumselfie we needed … and .sexy is the new domain we did not.
Until tomorrow,
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