Smartphones Don’t Make Us Dumb
It’s not clear that phones shrink our attention span, but they may be changing the way we think, reducing reflection and daydreaming.
—Nanette Byrnes, senior editor, Business Reports

Deep Web Marketplaces
VC Joel Monegro’s primer on the Dark Web includes some possible implications for other businesses.
—Nanette Byrnes

Google Search Will Be Your Next Brain
Steven Levy’s four-part Medium series on Google search.
—Antonio Regalado, senior editor, biomedicine

The Whole Haystack
Mattathias Schwartz digs into the NSA’s claim that bulk phone records are useful in sniffing out terrorists.
—Brian Bergstein, deputy editor

Microsoft in the Age of Satya Nadella
A long look at how Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella plans to remake the company with a holographic headset.
—Tom Simonite, San Francisco bureau chief

At 90, She’s Designing Tech for Aging Boomers
Ninety-year-old designer Barbara Beskind guides young designers toward technological innovations caterered to older generations.
—J. Juniper Friedman, associate Web producer

How Paper Magazine’s Web Engineers Scaled the Back-End for Kim Kardashian (SFW)
A fun read (if you’re interested in the often bizarre way websites actually work).
—Will Knight, news and analysis editor

Why Can’t the World’s Greatest Minds Solve the Mystery of Consciousness?
 A fascinating piece that might even persuade you that your smartphone has a soul.
—Will Knight

Invisibilia
A very good new science podcast.
—Will Knight

Project HoloLens: Our Exclusive Hands-On with Microsoft’s Holographic Goggles
Wired’s exclusive investigation of Microsoft’s new technology.
—Kristin Majcher, special projects editor

Government Health Care Website Quietly Sharing Personal Data
Though what is exactly is disclosed and how it might be used is unclear, the AP has an interesting if not alarming scoop regarding Healthcare.gov.
—Mike Orcutt, research editor

Vehicle-Mounted Cameras See When Buildings Leak Energy
The equivalent of Google street view for identifying wasted energy.
—Kevin Bullis, senior editor, materials

The Future of Control: Putting Virtual Wind Turbines Inside Real Ones
An interesting long read about GE’s advanced energy modeling research in Shanghai.
—David Talbot, chief correspondent