Computers and the Internet

November 15, 2019

Can FaZe Clan Build a Billion-Dollar Business?

LOS ANGELES — FaZe Clan could be called a media company, or an esports team, or an influencer marketing agency, or all of the above. “Something […]
November 11, 2019

On the Internet, No One Knows You’re Not Rich. Except This Account.

In February, an Instagram account called @BallerBusters cropped up and began wreaking havoc on the flashy Instagram entrepreneur community. Its goal: To expose phony entrepreneurs. Using […]
November 2, 2019

Those People We Tried to Cancel? They’re All Hanging Out Together

ImageCredit…Anthony Freda Katie Herzog was a largely unknown freelance journalist living in Seattle. Then she published an article in The Stranger about trans people who halt […]
October 30, 2019

Did Storming Area 51 Teach Us Anything?

When Bob Lazar, the original Area 51 “whistle-blower,” emailed me late last month to tell me his thoughts on the Storm Area 51 meme, he wrote […]
October 19, 2019

High Schools to TikTok: We’re Catching Feelings

WINTER GARDEN, Fla. — On the wall of a classroom that is home to the West Orange High School TikTok club, large loopy words are scrawled […]
October 15, 2019

Kickstarter Calls Itself Progressive. But About That Union.

Kickstarter, the Brooklyn-based crowdfunding site, has long tried to stand apart from Silicon Valley, seeking to portray itself as a socially responsible enterprise that cares more […]
October 14, 2019

Fortnite Goes Dark. Gamers Wonder What’s Next.

If you have an inconsolable gamer in your life, here’s why: Fortnite, one of the world’s most popular video games, has gone quiet. Since Sunday afternoon, […]
October 4, 2019

That Music You’re Dancing To? It’s Code

On a computer, Sonic Pi looks like any other coding language. It’s a mess of numbers, parentheticals, punctuation marks and keywords, splattered over an LCD screen. […]
August 8, 2019

Markiplier’s Work Diary: ‘I Find a Game and I Play It. Not Much to It.’

He’s being modest. (Maybe?) The YouTube streamer — who made a reported $17.5 million last year — has created videos that have been watched 11 billion […]
May 2, 2018

All We Want to Do Is Eat Junk and Watch Each Other Play Fortnite

Gamers are the new stars. Esports arenas are the new movie theaters.