The Outline

Rollin Bishop

Rollin Bishop
Culture Aug 16

How a board game about bitter legal struggles became a bitter legal struggle

After Andrew Yoon drowned, his mother and best friend fought for control of the board game he created.

The Future Jul 07

Pepe’s creator is on a mission to save his meme

Matt Furie wants to move away from Pepe the Frog’s unfortunate legacy.

The Future Jul 06

Which cities will drown first?

The sea level is going to rise, and it’s going to hit these cities hard.

The Future Jul 06

Drowning cities

Sea levels are rising. Where will it be felt first? Swipe or scroll to find out.

The Future Jul 03

Google’s AI lab got caught up in a privacy violation

Health care providers in the U.K. improperly shared patient data with DeepMind’s app.

The Future Jun 26

Death when it comes will have no sheep

Research scientist Janelle Shane on why she made an artificial neural network write proverbs.

Power Jun 22

What to read on the new healthcare bill

The Obamacare repeal will be voted on soon in the Senate. Here’s how to catch up on the possible changes.

Power Jun 22

What just happened with Obamacare?

Some of the key details on the Republican plan to dramatically alter the ACA. Swipe or scroll for more.

The Future Jun 22

Yahoo didn’t kill Tumblr but Verizon surely will

The soft touch of Yahoo versus the suspected iron fist of Verizon.

The Future Jun 21

The woman who spends her free time hunting down GoFundMe fraud

The creator of the blog GoFraudMe explains how to avoid getting ripped off.

Culture Jun 16

Woman convicted of manslaughter for texting her boyfriend to kill himself

Michelle Carter will not have access to social media or texting until her sentencing, the judge said.

The Future Jun 15

The latest cryptocurrency frenzy is fueled by FOMO

People are investing thousands in ethereum because no one wants to lose out on the next bitcoin boom.

Power Jun 13

The Senate hallway interview ban is over

At least for now, reporters are free to interrogate the senator of their choice.

The Future Jun 09

Pepe the Frog is not allowed in the App Store

Apple says the symbol is not allowed under its guidelines.

Power Jun 07

James Comey wrote down every interaction with Trump he ever had

The result is a surreal look at a President who prizes loyalty above checks and balances.

Culture Jun 05

Drug overdose is now the leading cause of death for Americans under 50

An analysis by The New York Times shows we’re overdosing more and more.

The Future Jun 05

Harvard revoked admission for at least 10 students because of a private, hateful Facebook chat

Someone reported them to the admissions office.

Power Jun 02

Here are Apple’s child care benefits

Apple is famously tight-lipped about what happens inside its doors, but we got a copy of its corporate benefits.

The Future Jun 01

How hackable is bitcoin?

The digital currency is worth more than ever. Will cyber attacks follow?

The Future May 31

Why don’t more tech companies offer on-site child care?

They can afford it.

The Future May 30

The world’s best Go-playing computer is retiring

The team behind the artificial intelligence AlphaGo is moving on to other “grand challenges”

The Future May 26

Fake comments could heavily skew the debate around the open internet

Someone out there really hates net neutrality.

The Future May 23

Humanity just lost to AI by half a point

The top-ranked Go player lost his first match against AlphaGo, the Google-developed artificial intelligence.

The Future May 12

Here’s hoping the new Sims game isn’t free

Free to play schemes are ruining mobile games.

The Future May 10

Internet stores rule our lives now

The vagaries of Steam, Amazon, the App Store and others keep buyers and sellers guessing.

The Future May 08

Twitter probably didn’t think too much about color blind users

A Google engineer pointed out how Twitter neglected to design for people with color blindness.

The Future May 08

Google Surveys were supposed to save journalism. What happened?

Google wanted to pay for “high-quality content on the internet.” Five years later, that vision hasn’t quite panned out.

Power May 04

First Church of Cannabis founder on Trump’s religious freedom order: ‘I laughed very hard’

We interviewed Indiana's highest church about Mike Pence and religious freedom.

The Future May 01

Colleges are starting varsity programs for video games

We may see the NCAA of esports soon.

The Future Apr 28

Google is bad at detecting fake local business reviews

A researcher found a network of around 100 fake accounts leaving ludicrously positive reviews

The Future Apr 26

The fight for net neutrality isn’t over

Advocates of deregulation control the FCC, the presidency, and Congress. But that doesn’t mean the open web is dead

Culture Apr 24

The OK sign is becoming an alt-right symbol

First Pepe, now this.

The Future Apr 24

Would these hyper-realistic masks fool a facial recognition system?

Some would definitely be duped.

The Future Apr 17

Why can’t Karen Sandler get the source code for her pacemaker?

Regulators are waking up to the dangers of hackable medical devices, but one cyborg lawyer still hasn’t seen her device’s code.

Culture Apr 17

Anime comes bearing hope

‘Your Name’ and other anime are inherently optimistic stories of broken worlds.

Culture Apr 12

Microsoft wants to make even more cash off kids

Which is why ‘Minecraft’ is getting its own digital currency

The Future Apr 10

Why Google’s AI is still playing Go

The machine learning challenge isn't over yet.

Culture Apr 05

TV has become an augmented reality game

No one wants to just watch things anymore.

The Future Apr 04

Why do we keep learning new stuff about T. rex?

T. rex is the most well-known dinosaur and we have plenty of bones. But this is just how science works.

Culture Apr 03

If ‘Rick and Morty’ fans want McDonald’s ‘Mulan’ sauce back, they need to ask Disney

How a beloved TV show brought publicity to a food created for a movie.

The Future Mar 30

“Verified” is now a derogatory term on Twitter

Somehow being verified has become synonymous with being a liberal elitist.

The Future Mar 28

Facebook keeps recycling a story about a human head transplant

An Italian surgeon announced wild plans for the procedure in 2013. It's no closer to happening, so why do we keep hearing about it?

The Future Mar 27

There are people who spend their time yelling at the Mars Curiosity rover on Twitter

“Do humanity a favor and self destruct.”

Power Mar 21

Money isn’t buying America happiness

U.S. happiness is falling as GDP rises.

Culture Mar 20

Here are some of the LGBTQ+ videos blocked by YouTube’s wonky “Restricted Mode”

Reason No. 5,927 why algorithms are never the full solution