GreatSchools wanted to disrupt online school ratings. But did it make neighborhood segregation worse?

For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter. Thalia Tringo, a real estate agent in the Boston area, faces a dilemma whenever a homebuyer asks her if the local schools are any good.

History of New Zealand Huts

Empress Hut, perched on the western flank of Mt Cook, is one of more than 1000 huts peppered throughout the New Zealand back country. But how secure is this heritage in the face of difficult economic times? Tramping hugs and bivvies are dot­ted around the back country of New Zealand like nowhere else on earth.

Habitat as Virtual Exhibition

Visit the exhibition Habitat: Expanding Architecture from the comfort of your own home. The Jaap Bakema Study Centre developed this spatial model in partnership with Ardito on the basis of the exhibition held ...

VICE - Coronavirus Is Not a Good Reason to Abandon Cities

Coronavirus has raised the question of whether density in cities is good or bad. The answer depends on what politicians do next.

Truckloads of JUMP Bikes Are Being Destroyed During a Nationwide Shortage

Over the last few weeks, thousands of perfectly good JUMP electric bikes and scooters have been dropped off at a recycling facility and will be shredded, Motherboard has learned. The untimely end of these micromobility devices comes at a particularly absurd time, with the nation facing a widespread bike shortage because of surging demand for safe, affordable urban transportation during the pandemic.

Learning from Logistics

In the 19th century railroads and canals provided both structure and motor for city development. This role has been taken over today by the global flow of data and products, as the author argues. Flow of material and communication is the DNA of contemporary environments.

Demographics of Mobile Device Ownership and Adoption in the United States

In contrast to the largely stationary internet of the early 2000s, Americans today are increasingly connected to the world of digital information while "on the go" via smartphones and other mobile devices. Explore the patterns and trends that have shaped the mobile revolution below.

Tech Firms Are Spying on You. In a Pandemic, Governments Say That's OK.

While an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, Joshua Anton created an app to prevent users from drunk dialing, which he called Drunk Mode. He later began harvesting huge amounts of user data from smartphones to resell to advertisers.

Airport Surveillance Is About to Reach a Whole New Level of Ridiculousness

This article is part of Privacy in the Pandemic , a Future Tense series. Flying seems like just about the most dangerous thing you could possibly do right now. You're spending hours confined in a metal tube, with hundreds of strangers from all over the world, without any way of knowing where they've been or whom they've been with.

Norway halts coronavirus app over privacy concerns

The news: Norway is halting its coronavirus contact tracing app, Smittestopp, after criticism from the Norwegian Data Protection Authority, which said that the country's low rate of infections meant that the app's privacy invasions were no longer justified. As a result, the app will cease collecting new data, all data collected so far is being...