Tomb Raider, Grand Theft Auto IV, and Halo (Graphic: Nicole Antonuccio) Welcome back to AVQ&A , where we throw out a question for discussion among the staff and readers. Consider this a prompt to compare notes on your interface with pop culture, to reveal your embarrassing tastes and experiences,…

Airbnb is betting big on automation. The company is currently developing a new AI system that will empower its designers and product engineers to literally take ideas from the drawing board and turn them into actual products almost instantaneously. The AI-powered solution aims to simplify the…

On one hand, hell yeah, Acid Rap : true definition of a new classic album. Every beat is dope and Chance dances all over it. It eventually made him a household name, a Chicago uniter whose music Malia Obama could jam, and her parents fucked with too. They probably got an advance copy, since Chance’s…

Fragile Structures Sophie Rzepecky October 2017

Ask Ingo Maurer what he sees when staring at a simple light bulb, and he'll go beyond wattage pretty quickly. "You can see the flame, the soul inside," says the German artist, who since the mid '60s, has been experimenting with the artistic possibilities of illumination (his signature piece is a…

At Maialino , the Roman-style trattoria on Gramercy Park, they hover in groups of two and three. At the Standard Grill in the meatpacking district, they snake through the cafe, restaurant and patio. And at Recipe , a rustic spot on the Upper West Side, they cluster near the entrance as an…

Under a tungsten sun: Brooklynites in their preferred habitat—a bar lit with Edison bulbs. Alyssa Loorya/CityLab Mapping the Edison Bulbs of Brooklyn Thomas J. Campanella Oct 24, 2017 Behold vintage incandescent bulbs, the illumination of gentrifiers. The indicator species of gentrification are…

David Cage has been a polarizing figure in the games industry for years. When Indigo Prophecy released back in 2005, it felt like a major step for interactive storytelling in games. At the end of the day it was a supernatural techno-thriller, but it was also filled with the sorts of small, quiet…

These days, it seems like almost anyone who owns a laptop is trying to launch their own startup. They all have a dream of turning their “great idea” into the next Lyft or Airbnb — in other words, a startup that goes from a few people sitting on boxes in the garage to a major power player that…

It originally launched just three years ago, but BioShock Infinite , even compared to the other, older BioShock games, feels dated. Its obiter dictum on politics—whether far right or far left, everyone is equally questionable—in this US election year rings particularly false. Only a writer unaware…

Illustration by Angelica Alzona/Deadspin/GMG When I was in high school, I let my guy friends shoot crumpled paper balls into my cleavage at lunch. I thought this made me cooler than the other girls, and that my ability to assimilate and remain sexualized was special. Besides, it was just a silly…

A senior Spanish cabinet minister has warned that Madrid is prepared to use force to restore order in Catalonia as separatists vowed to resist direct rule. Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, the Spanish government spokesman and education minister, told The Times that Catalan police would be used to quell…

Illustration by Tom Bachtell In 2015, in a hotel hallway in New York, the movie producer Harvey Weinstein insisted that an Italian model named Ambra Battilana Gutierrez come into his room. Gutierrez protested. The previous day, Weinstein had groped her aggressively, and she had returned to see him…

Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge This morning, Amazon announced a new service called Key . It allows Prime customers to get in-home delivery, meaning the courier will unlock your front door and drop the package off inside. To work, Amazon is releasing a brand-new gadget called the Cloud Cam. It’s…

Violence is always political. World War II was political. Shooting Nazis was always political. But for a time, it became blasé, an inoffensive theme to gives some justification and context for games' mechanical combat. By the time Wolfenstein: The New Order came out in 2014, players had been looking…

This article originally appeared on Noisey US. You can watch it on YouTube. "The Last Robert Taylor Homes Hi-Rise Demolition, Pt. 5." 47 thumbs up, 19 thumbs down. The description, from February 21, 2007: "If you used to live in this building, I should warn you: it may be unsettling to watch." The…

More than a century ago, Albert Einstein’s celebrated theory of relativity altered the world’s understanding of space and time. This week, the wild-haired physicist’s far-simpler “theory of happiness,” imparted to a bellboy, fetched more than $1.5 million at an auction in Jerusalem. In 1922,…

Twelve years ago, Amazon launched Prime, a subscription service that entitled members to free two-day shipping in the United States. Since then, it has added a number of options to make delivery faster and more convenient. Prime customers can get same-day delivery, and drop off with an hour or two…

A new mirror won't show a reflection unless you flash it a smile. The concept may seem playful, but industrial designer Berk Ilhan invented the Smile Mirror to uplift the spirits of cancer patients. The plug-in device looks like a tablet with a built-in camera and an opaque surface made with a smart…

The cannabis tides are turning—they have been for a while now. Eight states have legalized recreational use, giving both casual and committed stoners easier access to weed. With increased openness comes more visibility for brands that embrace what was always true: Women—high-achieving, creative,…

T erry Richardson, the fashion photographer, has been barred from working with some of the world’s bestselling magazines, The Daily Telegraph can reveal. An email circulated within the media group Condé Nast International on Monday and seen by this newspaper announced that the company would no…

Photo by Wokandapix Board games are a safe place to play out conflicts with your family and friends, with the understanding that once the game is over, everyone is on good terms again. That also makes them the perfect place to take out all your petty frustrations and revenge fantasies, under the…

(As prepared for delivery) Mr. President, I rise today to address a matter that has been much on my mind, at a moment when it seems that our democracy is more defined by our discord and our dysfunction than it is by our values and our principles. Let me begin by noting a somewhat obvious point that…

First, read the #metoo stories on your Facebook or Twitter feed. Read about the bosses and teachers and neighbors and friends who have sexually harassed and assaulted the people you know and maybe even love. Pay special attention to the stories. You will see patterns. You will shudder at the abuses…

Bill Cosby. Photo: EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ/AFP/Getty Images When it was announced on Saturday morning that Bill Cosby’s trial for the alleged sexual assault of Andrea Constand in 2004 would end in a mistrial , with a hung jury, Cosby’s family and legal team came to the front steps of the Pennsylvania…

Harvey Weinstein and Ben Affleck. (Todd Williamson/Invision for Producers Guild via Associated Press) Smoke is not weather. Let me tell you why I have said this. Weather is something you can do very little to prevent; you can only prepare for it and warn people about it and buy protective gear.…

On Thursday morning, I planned to write a pointed screed decrying President Trump’s propensity to view the military community as a problem he can buy off with a check. Then, on Thursday afternoon, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, himself a Gold Star father, decried the noxious politicization…

Last month, the NBC sitcom The Good Place returned for its second year after a first season that was widely praised as “ surreal and high-concept ” and “ ambitious and uniquely satisfying .” In the two-part pilot, the show introduced a woman named Eleanor (Kristen Bell) who dies and finds herself in…

Story highlights Nicole Stamp: Decent men can do many things to improve the climate for women Here's what good men can do in the wake of #MeToo, she writes Nicole Stamp is a director, actor, and television host living in Toronto. Follow her at @nicolestamp . The views expressed in this commentary…

Johnny Depp. Edited Oct. 26, 2017, to add: When I published this post almost two weeks ago, I thought it would serve as a mental list of celebrity/Hollywood men to avoid — a kind of ethical shopping guide, if you will. I had no idea so many people would read and share it. It has been boosted by…

Around ten applications a day and a two year long waiting list. Scoring an internship at Swedish creative agency Snask is no piece of cake. Yet, browsing their website or stepping into their office at Skånegatan in Stockholm is like being served a pink and irresistible cake made of bold and playful…

Laurie Menser was a 7- or 8-year-old in Rockville, Md., when she wandered over to a neighbor's house, slipped a glass eye in her mouth and got the attention of the grown-ups in the room. Then she smacked the back of her head and stuck out her tongue — waiting for laughs. "They were appalled," she…

Quentin Tarantino, the Hollywood director most closely tied to Harvey Weinstein, has known for decades about the producer’s alleged misconduct toward women and now feels ashamed he did not take a stronger stand and stop working with him, he said in an interview. “I knew enough to do more than I…

In the course of a ten-month investigation, thirteen women interviewed said that, between the nineteen-nineties and 2015, Weinstein sexually harassed or assaulted them. Illustration by Oliver Munday; source photograph by Raymond Hall / GC Images via Getty This story was first published on…

A stock shot of a man sharing one of his many fascinating opinions. Photograph: Alamy E agle-eyed readers may have spotted I haven't been writing this column for a while. Roughly two people noticed its absence, until the other day when a paragraph in Private Eye claimed I'd asked Alan Rusbridger,…

I have been following the news and reading the accounts of women coming forward to talk about being assaulted by Harvey Weinstein and others. I had shelved my experience with Harvey far in the recesses of my mind, joining in the conspiracy of silence that has allowed this predator to prowl for so…

‘Yes, it’s hypocrisy, but it’s something more than that.’Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images N ow that our culture has finally decided to take violence against (some) women (somewhat) seriously, conversations that have long happened in hushed tones are taking place in the open. In recent weeks, men…