Opinion
Walk Like an Octopus
"Octodad: Dadliest Catch" is a new video game coming out early this year that puts the player in the perspective of an octopus masquerading as a human.
AX Mina
News
British Library Releases 1M Images into the Public Domain
Earlier this month, Open Culture pointed to a big move from the British Library: the library is putting a million images into the public domain.
Opinion
Chat Bots and Big Data
OAKLAND, Calif. — With our data-driven lives, so much of what we do can be seen through the lens of algorithms.
Opinion
Keeping It Short: A Compilation of Telegraph Code Books
One of the fascinating aspects of studying the history of communications is how often we repeat the same strategies, and telegraph code is a great example of this.
Opinion
Traffic and the Human Condition
A few years ago, China's traffic jams of epic proportions started to make the news. Traffic on the ring roads in a city like Beijing is on par with, sometimes even worse than, that of Los Angeles's 405 or New York's BQE at rush hour. It seems to be an inevitable part of our lives, as this amazing co
Art
An Open Source Map for Conservation
LOS ANGELES — One of the loveliest sites on the web belongs to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, a database of all of UNESCO's World Heritage sites, from famous locales like Australia's Great Barrier Reef to the lesser-known underground river of Puerto-Princesa, Philippines.
Opinion
Going Private: From WeChat to SnapChat
Around this time last year, Instagram caused a flurry after attempting to change its terms of service — what the Globe and Mail's Russell Smith called "an apparent move to appropriate and sell every user’s photos." Smith pondered how growing awareness of the public documentation of our private lives
Opinion
Curating African Art on Dynamic Africa's Tumblr
OAKLAND, Calif. — A few weeks ago, I looked at contemporary African photography thanks to a terrific series from Dynamic Africa, one of my new favorite blogs. A great example of Tumblr's possibilities as a site for curation, it is the work of Funke M., a culture curator and observer based in South A
Opinion
The (New) Handgun Aesthetic
OAKLAND, Calif. — We've all seen the moment in movies when the hero, villain, or unwitting victim has to stare down the barrel of a gun.
Opinion
Literature and Publishing in Developing Contexts
I was recently sent an article about the potential of e-books in developing countries. It's one year old, but with the rise of e-books and the growing popularity of Kindles (including on airplanes taking off and landing), it seemed worth revisiting.
Art
Chinese Artist Draws with Smoke
OAKLAND, Calif. — Stare up at the ceiling of any bar or night club that's been around since before indoor smoking was banned and you'll doubtless see traces of smoke on the ceiling. Though a symbol of the ephemeral, smoke leaves lasting marks over time, whether that be buildings or lungs or anything
Art
Curating at the Airport: The SFO Museum
SAN FRANCISCO — If our first impressions of a city are often framed by the airport, then SFO makes up for its lack of architectural grandeur with its own unique museum and culture.