Google Buys Nest for Billions

A Twitter-shaped short story, Google's new Nest, Four Tet's "Thriller" and more in our weekly look at the web

“Father of the iPod” Matt Rogers and his Nest co-founder Tony Fadell have taken their world-changing vision and hundreds of patents to Google. This week the tech giant announced they’ve acquired the connected-device company, Nest for an astounding $3.2 billion—cash. The heavy price tag not only places a high value on Rogers and Fadell’s work; it also indicates Google’s serious interest in advancing conscious products …

The Art of Time Travel

A Twitter-shaped short story, Google's new Nest, Four Tet's "Thriller" and more in our weekly look at the web

A tip from writer Kate Donnelly led us to Japanese photographer Chino Otsuka, who has seemingly done the impossible and traveled back in time. Her photo series, “Imagine Finding Me” (collected by museums from all over the world), inserts her present adult form into photos taken of her decades-younger self. The beauty comes from Otsuka’s expert Photoshop manipulation and different, natural poses that make the …

Bike Tracks

A Twitter-shaped short story, Google's new Nest, Four Tet's "Thriller" and more in our weekly look at the web

Julian Smith’s “Techno Jeep”—in which he and a group of friends performed a rhythmic jam live only using actual sounds from a Jeep—became a viral hit on YouTube in 2009. In a similar vein, composer Johnnyrandom kicks it up a notch by sampling sounds only from a bicycle, creating a more ambient, harmonic track titled “Bespoken.” From using an EBow on derailleur cables to hitting …