Stories from Around the Web (Week Ending May 24, 2013)

A roundup of the most interesting stories from other sites, collected by the staff at MIT Technology Review.

MIT TR Editorsarchive page

May 24, 2013

Inside Google’s Secret Lab
A bit light on detail and insight, but they got more out of Google than anyone else has.
—Tom Simonite, IT editor

Revenge, Ego and the Corruption of Wikipedia
A deliciously twisted story of one author’s efforts to manipulate his own page, and those of his rivals, on Wikipedia; the piece raises questions about impartiality and oversight on the online encyclopedia.
—Will Knight, online editor

Who’s Your Daddy? The Perils of Personal Genomics
Turns out the most common finding from 23andMe tests is not health-related.
—Tim Maher, managing editor

Julius Genachowski Leaves the FCC
A smart give-and-take with pointed, direct questions.
—Brian Bergstein, deputy editor

Disconcerting Robot Detects Depression
This report explains “virtual therapists,” software that analyzes a subject’s body language to augment psychiatric diagnoses. Watch a short video showing the virtual therapist interact with patients.
—Kyanna Sutton, senior web producer

New “Cloned Video” GIFs from Erdal Inci
A really creative and interesting use of the phenomenon that is the animated gif.
—Emily Dunkle, user interface designer

A Face in the Crowd: Say Goodbye to Anonymity
This fascinating 60 Minutes story on facial recognition software talks about commercial and government applications and shows eerie new software in action.
—David Sweeney, marketing communications manager

The One-Person Product
An insider’s view of the growth of Tumblr. Refreshing to read after all the speculation about how Yahoo! will mess it up.
—Brent Turner, chief digital officer

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