The Media Equation Apple said it would pay $3 billion for Beats Electronics, including a streaming service and a line of expensive headsets. Late last Thursday, I stopped at the fruit stand and some big, vivid red grapes caught my eye. The vendor said a two-pound bunch would be $6, which seemed…

From tween blogger to feminist editrix to Broadway actor, Tavi Gevinson is embarking on her next project: being a grown-up. Simone Rocha top, $1,000, net-a-porter.com , and skirt, $1,240, modaoperandi.com . Credit... Photograph by Hendrik Kerstens. Styled by Malina Joseph Gilchrist. Tavi Gevinson is…

Anthony De Rosa: In the news media, are Muslims the only ‘terrorists’? http://t.co/dgkElbp7DD

Outkast perform at Governors ball Friday, June 6. Press photo Outkast have made something of an art form out of cleverly describing their own level of “cool.” Though the Atlanta duo is far from the first rap group to do so, Big Boi and Andre 3000 have certainly made a game out of it, employing all…

Credit... Michael Mabry Does handwriting matter? Not very much, according to many educators. The Common Core standards, which have been adopted in most states, call for teaching legible writing, but only in kindergarten and first grade. After that, the emphasis quickly shifts to proficiency on the…

WASHINGTON — Edward J. Snowden said that he still considered himself to be an American patriot even after leaking thousands of classified documents, and that he was frustrated to be “stuck in a place” — Russia — that did so little to protect individual rights when he was trying to help protect…

Two founders, Sharan Strange and Thomas Sayers Ellis. Credit... Don Usner Late in 1987, two young poets made the trek to New York to attend the funeral of James Baldwin at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. Deeply moved by the ceremony, yet distressed that they had never met an…

There was a time, not long ago, when Piscine Molitor was the place to be. Tucked away in the leafy outskirts of Paris, the pool opened with Art Deco splendor in 1929, and soon became a magnet for all things chic. Sunbathers would lounge among celebrities and starlets, stretched out in white deck…

Disrupter : Jordan Metzner, CEO of Washio. Photo: Michael Schmelling There was a problem with the cookies. When Jordan Metzner and Juan Dulanto launched Washio , it had already distinguished itself from other laundry and dry-cleaning services. There was no storefront, no rotating rack, no little…

Once, we were warned about a future of overabundant leisure. Now we’re busy complaining about being busier than ever. Illustration by Nishant Choksi In the winter of 1928, John Maynard Keynes composed a short essay that took the long view. It was titled “Economic Possibilities for Our…

Those who worry that Gmail or the National Security Agency may be rifling through their emails now have a new alternative: ProtonMail , a super-secure email service created by students from Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It was the Snowden leaks that got us started,"…

Facebook says it will push its users to do a privacy checkup periodically, perhaps once a year like a doctor’s physical. SAN FRANCISCO — Do you know who can see what you are posting on Facebook, including your photos, birthday and personal cellphone number? Chances are that you don’t. Facebook is…

Adam Lashinsky, in a piece for Fortune last week, wrote at length about the question that has crossed the minds of everyone north of San Jose: are we in a bubble ? He takes a nostalgic trip down memory lane, talking about the dot-com bubble and how we are starting to see similar behaviors again.…

Real Estate and the Recovery Jenna Dillon-Gasparino, her son, William, and Rocky the dog in their house, which they are selling at a sharply higher price than they bought it for, just four years ago. Credit... J. Emilio Flores for The New York Times Billy Gasparino and Jenna Dillon-Gasparino were…

Banners in Bethlehem show “State of Palestine” emblems alongside portraits of President Mahmoud Abbas and Pope Francis. BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Pope Francis plans to give a strong show of support for a sovereign Palestinian state when he makes his first visit to the Holy Land this weekend, becoming…

Photo: Keystone-France/Corbis Eimear Lynch , who interviewed 80 women for her new book, The Bridesmaids: True Tales of Love, Envy, Loyalty, and Terrible Dresses , talks to one with some firsthand French-wedding experience. The following is the experience of Keriann, 28. French women don’t have…

Nieman Lab: Culture change is hard: What Nikki Usher learned in five months embedded in The New York Times newsroom http://t.co/y6YjxiKkZh

“ The Origins of ‘Privilege,’ ” by Joshua Rothman. The idea of “privilege”—that some people benefit from unearned, and largely unacknowledged, advantages, even when those advantages aren’t discriminatory —has a pretty long history. In the nineteen-thirties, W. E. B. Du Bois wrote about the…

Michael Naess, left, has rented a room to guests like Dark Bontkowski and Martina Held from Germany. Credit... Ruth Fremson/The New York Times The vacationing couple from Hattingen, Germany, showed up at Michael Naess’s shipshape Queens apartment at the end of February. They had never met before.…

Andrew Golis: The Abramson/NYT story takes another turn. http://t.co/nbn7u7spBk http://t.co/yvvfNU0yKB

Michael Drewniak, the press secretary for Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, testified before a legislative committee on the investigation into the closing of lanes at the George Washington Bridge. Credit... Mel Evans/Associated Press TRENTON — The chief spokesman for Gov. Chris Christie of New…

Malik Bendjelloul in 2012. His first film won a 2013 Academy Award Award for best documentary feature. Credit... Anders Wiklund/European Pressphoto Agency Malik Bendjelloul, a Swedish filmmaker who won the 2013 Academy Award for best documentary with his debut feature, “Searching for Sugar Man,”…

A large section of the mighty West Antarctica ice sheet has begun falling apart and its continued melting now appears to be unstoppable, two groups of scientists reported on Monday. If the findings hold up, they suggest that the melting could destabilize neighboring parts of the ice sheet and a rise…

ul.share-embed {left:850px !important;}.node-image, .node-article .image-medium {margin-left:30px;}#block-block-23, #block-block-24, #block-block-25 {display:none;}@media screen and max-width 480px{.noshowsmall {display:none;}} Flickr/Sean Winters This article has been corrected. On the staff of The…

Midriffs at the Met: from left, Emma Stone, Imogen Poots and Cara Delevingne. Credit... Josh Haner/The New York Times “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes was pulsating through the dimly lit Ab Attack class at Crunch gym near Union Square on a recent morning. Jewlie Williams, 25, a fashion…

Nicholas Kristof What’s So Scary About Smart Girls? WHEN terrorists in Nigeria organized a secret attack last month , they didn’t target an army barracks, a police department or a drone base. No, Boko Haram militants attacked what is even scarier to a fanatic: a girls’ school. That’s what extremists…

Editor’s note : Nieman Lab friend and contributor Nikki Usher is out with a remarkable new book, Making News at The New York Times . It’s the result of five months she spent immersed in the Times’ newsroom in early 2010, observing newsroom culture, watching how news turned into stories, and seeing…

It’s the Economy Credit... Illustration by Kelsey Dake There are many things that bother Jon Cooper about the market for marijuana. “It’s nearly impossible to find a consistent product,” said Cooper, one of the legion of tech start-up guys and M.B.A.s plunging into the world of pot. “You go into a…

Books of The Times The title of the journalist Glenn Greenwald’s impassioned new book, “No Place to Hide,” comes from a chilling observation made in 1975 by Senator Frank Church, then chairman of a select committee on intelligence. The United States government, he said, had perfected “a…

“ Multitask Masters ,” by Maria Konnikova. There is generally an inverse relationship between how good people are at multitasking and how good they think they are. In 2012, David Strayer found himself in a research lab, on the outskirts of London, observing something he hadn’t thought possible:…

TV Sports Credit... Illustration by Sam Manchester/The New York Times The seventh game of the playoff series between the Nets and the Toronto Raptors on May 4 was about two and a half hours old and seemingly just about finished. But then the game’s final minute kicked in, and play inched ahead…

The New Yorker: What does Apple want with @beatsbydre? http://t.co/UVknurNG7z

A Twitter campaign using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls has focused global attention on the plight of some 276 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by the Islamic militant group Boko Haram. Three photos of girls have been posted and reposted thousands of times, including by the BBC and by the singer Chris…

Photo Jimmy Iovine, left, and Dr. Dre founded Beats Electronics. Credit Todd Williamson/Invision, via Associated Press Apple is in discussions to buy Beats Electronics, the company behind the popular Beats by Dr. Dre headphones, for $3.2 billion, according to people briefed on the talks, in what…

after 63 years as a cultural mainstay and chronicler of black life in America, it will cease its print edition and adopt an online-only format starting in June.

Pulse of the People As President Obama sets out to convince the public that climate change requires immediate attention, he has his work cut out for him. Perhaps more than people in any other rich nation, Americans are skeptical that climate change is a dire issue. In Pew Research Center surveys…

Dan Shapiro playing Robot Turtles with his children. He designed the game to be a stealth lesson in basic computer programming. Credit... David Ryder for The New York Times MERCER ISLAND, Wash. — Dan Shapiro sold a company to Google and worked at Microsoft. His name is on nearly a dozen…

Belting out Alicia Keys and Cyndi Lauper songs, Sister Cristina Scuccia, seen on YouTube, stars in Italy’s version of “The Voice.” Credit... YouTube ROME — A true if unlikely tale: Young woman enrolls at a drama school sponsored by nuns, where the artistic director is a former Italian erotic film…

willy: when will someone from the MTA let us know what "sick passenger" *really* means? http://t.co/XPVMHuawup (also, this is fascinating)