Recommended from Around the Web (Week Ending August 16, 2014)
A roundup of the most interesting stories from other sites, collected by the staff at MIT Technology Review.
The Truth About Obama’s High-Speed Rail Program
Obama’s high-speed rail billions haven’t done much yet, but here’s what they have done.
—Kevin Bullis, senior editor, energy
50 Million New Reasons BuzzFeed Wants to Take Its Content Far Beyond Lists
Buzzfeed just got $50 million more in venture funding. What types of new publishing technologies and content types might we see as a result?
—Mike Orcutt, research editor
The Most Wanted Man in the World
A revealing interview with Edward Snowden that is beautifully designed. A great lunchtime long read by Wired.
—Colin Jaworski, assistant art director
The Internet’s Original Sin
Ethan Zuckerman challenges assumptions about the “fiasco” that is the free, ad-supported Web.
—Brian Bergstein, deputy editor
How to Make Battery Power More Powerful
Popular Mechanics nicely told a battery startup’s story in human terms.
—Brian Bergstein
Top Math Prize Has Its First Female Winner
The Fields Medal honors mathematical achievement under 40. Maryam Mirzakhani is the first female medalist ever.
—Antonio Regalado, senior editor, business
Top 10 Reasons Drones Are Disruptive
Worth reading, especially drones/balloons=surveillance
—Antonio Regalado
What the Ivies Can Learn from Wellesley
Average grade at Harvard was a C-plus in 1950. Now? An A-minus. How to fix grade inflation.
—Antonio Regalado
Meet Botlr: World’s First Robot Bellhop Being Trialed at Silicon Valley Hotel
Say ‘Allo ‘Allo to ALO - bellhop in training (for night porter)?
—J. Juniper Friedman, associate Web producer
As Data Overflows Online, Researchers Grapple With Ethics
An interesting piece on the challenges involved in developing ethical guidelines to studies of Internet users.
—Kyanna Sutton, senior Web producer
The Most Fascinating Profile You’ll Ever Read About a Guy and His Boring Startup
How a cofounder of Flickr set out to make an online game and accidentally created a workplace communication tool luring customers with the promise that it can kill internal eimail.
—Tom Simonite, senior editor, IT
A Brazilian Wunderkind Who Calms Chaos
Meet the Brazilian chaos theory wunderkind who just won the “Nobel” of mathematics and has his best ideas whilst knee deep in water on Rio’s beaches and wandering the streets of Paris.
—Tom Simonite