The Big Read

Page 5
Art by Clark Miller
The Big Read

The Ben Horowitz Paradox

By Julia Black · Oct 11, 2024 9:00am PDT · 3 comments
On the night of Sept. 21, a group of Black entrepreneurs, investors and Congressional Black Caucus members navigated a labyrinth of gated security to reach a megamansion with views of the Las Vegas Strip. Their hosts: venture capitalist Ben Horowitz, his wife Felicia and Rep. Steven Horsford, chair of the Democratic congressional group. As... On the night of Sept. 21, a group of Black entrepreneurs, investors and Congressional Black...
Art by Clark Miller
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Why Women in Tech Are Sounding an Alarm

By Julia Black · Oct 4, 2024 9:00am PDT · 24 comments
There wasn’t any one thing that led to the slow death of Girls in Tech, a standard-bearer nonprofit that provided Silicon Valley women with the kind of mentorship and training opportunities that men took for granted. First, the pandemic struck, and donors shifted their attention to health and science causes. Then the Black Lives Matter... There wasn’t any one thing that led to the slow death of Girls in Tech, a standard-bearer...
Mark Rober. Art by Clark Miller. Rober image via Getty
The Big Read

How a YouTuber Got Inside the Heads of Silicon Valley’s Families

By Annie Goldsmith · Sep 27, 2024 9:16am PDT · 3 comments
Last fall, Satyajeet Salgar, the director of product management and user experience at Google AI, was huddled outside his kids’ Palo Alto, Calif., elementary school with a group of parents who were there for a class performance. The parents began talking about their kids’ favorite shows, and the conversation landed on the topic of... Last fall, Satyajeet Salgar, the director of product management and user experience at Google AI,...
Art by Clark Miller
Bling It On: An AI Startup Turns Shoppers Into Jewelry Designers
By Ann Gehan · Sep 20, 2024 6:00am PDT · 7 comments
Art by Clark Miller
The Big Read

Bling It On: An AI Startup Turns Shoppers Into Jewelry Designers

By Ann Gehan · Sep 20, 2024 6:00am PDT · 7 comments
When I met Mariam Naficy last week, she couldn’t wait to show me her new jewelry. She had designed the earrings she was wearing herself. And her bracelet. And her ring for good measure. Technically, Naficy—whose keen eye for e-commerce trends led her to found the early online makeup retailer Eve.com and Minted, which makes custom... When I met Mariam Naficy last week, she couldn’t wait to show me her new jewelry. She had...
Art by Clark Miller
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The Firebrand Investor Who Can Explain Trump’s Rise in Tech

By Abram Brown · Sep 13, 2024 9:11am PDT · 16 comments
“You’ve been here before?” asked the guard at the gate, a pistol fastened to his belt. I shook my head no. “If you go past the red Tesla,” the guard said, waving my Uber through, “you’ve gone too far.” After a few minutes of Texas shrubland, we arrived at Joe Lonsdale’s back door, where... “You’ve been here before?” asked the guard at the gate, a pistol fastened to...
Art by Clark Miller
The Big Read

AI Isn’t the Enemy for Some Schools Anymore—Flaky Startups Are

By Paris Martineau · Sep 6, 2024 9:00am PDT · 2 comments
In early January, Marty Sharpe thought he’d get a few dozen teachers to show up to his professional development course on using generative artificial intelligence in the classroom. After all, it was an optional workday after the two-week winter break at the Catawba County Schools in North Carolina. Instead, Sharpe—the Catawba school... In early January, Marty Sharpe thought he’d get a few dozen teachers to show up to his...
Art by Clark Miller
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The Aging Videogame That Fuels Fake Wars

By Simon Parkin · Aug 30, 2024 9:00am PDT
A few months ago, a user from Chongquing, China, posted a video to Chinese social media platform Weibo, which has more than half a billion active users. The grainy 26-second clip appears to have been filmed on a primitive camcorder: We see a barrage of rockets ascend from a small vessel into a dusky sky, then streak toward a nearby aircraft... A few months ago, a user from Chongquing, China, posted a video to Chinese social media platform...
Art by Clark Miller
Welcome to Fakesville: Inside an AI Nightmare That Tore Apart a School
By David Kushner · Aug 23, 2024 9:10am PDT · 6 comments
Art by Clark Miller
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Welcome to Fakesville: Inside an AI Nightmare That Tore Apart a School

By David Kushner · Aug 23, 2024 9:10am PDT · 6 comments
On January 17, @murder_ink_bmore, a Baltimore-based Instagram account with 240,000 followers, posted what it said was a voice recording of Eric Eiswert, principal of Pikesville High School outside Baltimore, denigrating Black students and faculty as well as Jews. “I seriously don’t understand why I have to constantly put up... On January 17, @murder_ink_bmore, a Baltimore-based Instagram account with 240,000...
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The Saga of Snowflake: Can AI and a New CEO Save the Company?

By Abram Brown · Aug 16, 2024 9:24am PDT · 9 comments
Sridhar Ramaswamy seldom takes a day off. He prefers to work seven days a week, putting in a “non-small number of hours” on the weekend, he said, usually in the morning before his wife, a dentist, wakes up and then again in the afternoon. “Listen, I’m from India: We’re always very insecure. I can’t sit around... Sridhar Ramaswamy seldom takes a day off. He prefers to work seven days a week, putting in a...
Art by Clark Miller
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The Far-Right Guru Who Has Befriended Silicon Valley’s Extreme Factions

By Julia Black · Aug 9, 2024 9:00am PDT · 17 comments
In recent weeks, Democrats have relentlessly blistered Donald Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, using a straightforward message: They’re too weird to hold high office. If Trump and Vance are weird, imagine what the American public might make of Curtis Yarvin, 51, whose far-right thinking has influenced both Vance and, increasingly,... In recent weeks, Democrats have relentlessly blistered Donald Trump and his running mate, J.D....
Art by Clark Miller
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Will BlackSky Be a Space Race Standout—or Another Cautionary Tale?

By Sarah Scoles · Aug 2, 2024 9:11am PDT · 2 comments
Stop whatever you’re doing and look up at the sky. Now give Brian O’Toole, CEO of BlackSky Technology, a big smile. One of his company’s 16 state-of-the-art satellites might be passing overhead, ready to take your picture. “The plain-English thing about what we do is we have a satellite flying over your house every... Stop whatever you’re doing and look up at the sky. Now give Brian O’Toole, CEO of...
Photoillustration by Clark Miller
An Asbestos Lawyer’s New Crusade: Suing Social Media Companies
By Paris Martineau · Jul 26, 2024 9:01am PDT · 2 comments
Photoillustration by Clark Miller
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An Asbestos Lawyer’s New Crusade: Suing Social Media Companies

By Paris Martineau · Jul 26, 2024 9:01am PDT · 2 comments
In January, after members of the Senate Judiciary Committee had spent hours grilling tech CEOs about their platforms’ effects on children, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley pounced on Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Hawley, a Republican firebrand and a vocal tech critic, accused Zuckerberg of ignoring internal company data that suggested... In January, after members of the Senate Judiciary Committee had spent hours grilling tech CEOs...
Art by Clark Miller
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Dawn of the Silicon Valley Superbaby

By Julia Black and Margaux MacColl · Jul 19, 2024 9:00am PDT · 7 comments
When venture capitalist Jack Abraham first began dating his wife, Gabriella Massamillo, he insisted on one condition: that when they were ready to have children, she’d be willing to conceive using in vitro fertilization. Abraham had lost both his mother and his aunt at a young age to ovarian cancer, linked to a rare mutation in their... When venture capitalist Jack Abraham first began dating his wife, Gabriella Massamillo, he...
Art by Clark Miller
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The Epic Corporate Marathon of Strava, Cult-Favorite Fitness App

By Annie Goldsmith · Jul 12, 2024 9:00am PDT
While running a half-marathon in Philadelphia a few years ago, Courtney Kitchen noticed another woman near her running roughly her pace: She seemed like she’d make a great training buddy. But there wasn’t an opportune moment for the pair to exchange phone numbers at the race, so later that day, Kitchen opened Strava, the popular... While running a half-marathon in Philadelphia a few years ago, Courtney Kitchen noticed another...
Art by Clark Miller
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Fear and Longing in Sun Valley

By Nick Wingfield · Jul 5, 2024 9:00am PDT · 1 comment
The summer gatherings of the alphas are upon us. This weekend, the annual running of the bulls will commence in Pamplona, Spain. And a couple days later, the media, tech and finance moguls of the world will begin descending in their private jets on Sun Valley, Idaho, for the annual confab hosted by Allen & Co., boutique investment bank. ... The summer gatherings of the alphas are upon us. This weekend, the annual running of the bulls...
Art by Clark Miller
Fame, Feud and Fortune: Inside Billionaire Alexandr Wang’s Relentless Rise in Silicon Valley
By Cory Weinberg · Jun 28, 2024 9:00am PDT · 7 comments
Art by Clark Miller
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Fame, Feud and Fortune: Inside Billionaire Alexandr Wang’s Relentless Rise in Silicon Valley

By Cory Weinberg · Jun 28, 2024 9:00am PDT · 7 comments
In January 2021, Alexandr Wang’s friends and colleagues gathered for a party at his swank South of Market apartment, which featured a 2,000-foot private terrace with a hot tub and views of the San Francisco skyline. Wang, co-founder and CEO of Scale AI, wanted to mark his birthday with a bang: He was turning 24. Wang had spent the holidays... In January 2021, Alexandr Wang’s friends and colleagues gathered for a party at his swank...
Art by Clark Miller
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Trump’s Young Man in Silicon Valley

By Margaux MacColl · Jun 21, 2024 9:00am PDT · 16 comments
Soon after a Manhattan jury found Donald Trump guilty of falsifying business records last month, the former president headed uptown to a restaurant, where a dinner party awaited him. Trump, who appeared unfazed by the conviction, walked in with a smile on his face, greeted by about 20 supporters and members of his innermost circle. The crowd... Soon after a Manhattan jury found Donald Trump guilty of falsifying business records last month,...
Art by Clark Miller
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How the World Plans to Stop American AI Domination

By Julia Black · Jun 14, 2024 9:00am PDT · 3 comments
Founders usually create startups to make money for themselves and their investors—or to change the world and protect humanity, as some of them say in their more grandiose moments. For Aleph Alpha, an artificial intelligence startup in Germany, those things mattered too, but its founders had another, more tribal motivation: to make sure... Founders usually create startups to make money for themselves and their investors—or to...
Art by Clark Miller
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The Three Young Founders Looking at Food Tech’s Dark Age in a New Light

By Larissa Zimberoff · Jun 6, 2024 6:00am PDT
A few weeks ago, at a former jellybean factory in Emeryville, California, I tasted what may be the future of food: the lab-grown, or cultured, meat produced by Prolific Machines, a four-year-old startup that has been operating in secret while it develops its technology. “Last night, I worried what you were going to think,” admitted... A few weeks ago, at a former jellybean factory in Emeryville, California, I tasted what may be...
Art by Clark Miller
Mega-billionaire Ken Griffin Wants to Own Our World
By Michelle Celarier · May 31, 2024 9:00am PDT
Art by Clark Miller
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Mega-billionaire Ken Griffin Wants to Own Our World

By Michelle Celarier · May 31, 2024 9:00am PDT
The popular image of Ken Griffin is that of a master manipulator of financial markets, the bogeyman of a generation of memestockers who spin conspiracy theories about his company, Citadel Securities, interfering with their ability to trade shares of GameStop. But two decades ago, when his hedge fund was still young, Griffin was the one who... The popular image of Ken Griffin is that of a master manipulator of financial markets, the...