Farhad Manjoo

20 Stories

Alex Murdaugh Verdict Should Have Taken Longer
2 Takes on the Speedy
Murdaugh Verdict
OPINION
Mar 3, 2023 11:27 AM CST

2 Takes on the Speedy Murdaugh Verdict

3 hours may not have been long enough for jury to consider issues raised by data from devices

(Newser) - After a six-week trial with testimony from 75 witnesses, the jury found Alex Murdaugh guilty in less time than it would have taken them to watch Avatar 2. Farhad Manjoo at the New York Times , who uses they/them pronouns, says that while they have "little quarrel" with the decision...

Rich Liberals Are Creating 'Unlivable' US Cities

In 'NYT,' Farhad Manjoo says Dems have a NIMBY attitude that belies their progressive stance

(Newser) - California is suffering from an "emergency that feels like a dystopian showcase of American inequality." That's the take of Farhad Manjoo in the New York Times , who writes that the Golden State is weighed down by a "livability" problem, plagued with a lack of affordable housing,...

Getting Rid of Billionaires Isn't 'Un-American'— It's Necessary

That's Farhad Manjoo's take for the 'New York Times'

(Newser) - Farhad Manjoo would like to end our "devastating national love affair with billionaires"—and he thinks the way to do that is to force-phase them out. Writing for the New York Times , Manjoo says he got to seriously thinking about the concept of abolishing the super-rich after reading...

If Firms Can't Protect Data, We Shouldn't Let Them Collect It

Farhad Manjoo writes that Equifax is unlikely to face consequences over breach

(Newser) - The way tech writer Farhad Manjoo of the New York Times sees it, Equifax had "one job"—to protect the mountains of sensitive financial data it has collected on Americans. As news of the recent mammoth breach made clear, the company failed at that one job, and the...

Facebook's Big Problem: Its Own News Feed


Facebook's Big
Problem: Its Own
News Feed
LONGFORM
Apr 28, 2017 4:02 PM CDT

Facebook's Big Problem: Its Own News Feed

To break 'fake news' cycle, Facebook may have to reconfigure most prominent feature

(Newser) - Facebook has become a formidable player on the news, political, and entertainment landscapes, with more than 1.8 billion active viewers a month. But its "gargantuan influence" has become its "biggest liability," Farhad Manjoo writes in the New York Times , unpacking how the site was the ideal...

Stop Constantly Upgrading, Hang on to Your Smartphone

We're at 'innovation plateau,' and latest isn't that much better: Farhad Manjoo

(Newser) - With the cost of our smartphones often built into carriers' contracts, it's easy to forget how valuable the gadgets are. And these days, new generations of iPhones and Samsungs aren't necessarily vast improvements over their predecessors. So why not make our phones last longer—if not for ourselves,...

Snapchat Could Revolutionize the Internet

App shows market for 'erasable Internet': Farhad Manjoo

(Newser) - We've started to get used to the idea that once something's on the Internet, it's there forever. An ancient photo on Facebook? An awkward tweet from a few years back? They can be dug up, for better or worse. But this year, Snapchat, the app that deletes...

If NSA Trusted This Guy, Why Should We Trust It?

Farhad Manjoo: Edward Snowden seems like poor choice for security clearance

(Newser) - Forget the constitutional questions surrounding the NSA program for a second, and ask yourself this: Can we trust our secrets in the hands of an agency that would trust the likes of Edward Snowden? Snowden "sounds like a thoughtful, patriotic young man," Farhad Manjoo allows in Slate . But...

Hey, Tea Party: How Does It Feel to Be Profiled?

Farhad Manjoo thinks the IRS scandal should teach the right something

(Newser) - Imagine you're an overworked IRS employee, charged with finding, in your massive stack of 501(c)(4) applications, the groups most likely to make electioneering their main focus. Wouldn't it make a little sense to focus on self-proclaimed Tea Party groups? Sure it would. And there's a word for...

Google Glass Could Make Us Less Annoying
Google Glass Could
Make Us Less Annoying
Gadget Review
May 17, 2013 10:11 AM CDT

Google Glass Could Make Us Less Annoying

'It's way, way less distracting than checking your smartphone': Manjoo

(Newser) - Given all the hate that's been piled on Google Glass lately, Farhad Manjoo strapped on a pair "expecting to experience the digital equivalent of a machine hacked together with duct tape and construction paper." Instead, he came away convinced that Glass, or something like it, will define...

Dogs Are Taking Over America— Enough!

It's time to get Fido out of the workplace, says Farhad Manjoo

(Newser) - Farhad Manjoo is not a dog person, apparently. The usually-tech-focused columnist writes on Slate that pet pooches are now running amok in previously human-only areas of society—and we're just expected to find it adorable. "Sometime in the last decade, dogs achieved dominion over urban America," he...

Google Really Is Trying to Be the Star Trek Computer

Farhad Manjoo discovers that Google's obsession is real

(Newser) - For years, when Google employees likened their projects to the Star Trek computer, Farhad Manjoo dismissed it as a convenient media metaphor. "Google is very likely the nerdiest large company on earth; of course its employees like Star Trek," he writes in Slate . But after many, many references,...

Should You Buy Bitcoins?
 Should You Buy Bitcoins? 
OPINION
Apr 10, 2013 1:17 PM CDT

Should You Buy Bitcoins?

Pundits explore the booming currency bubble

(Newser) - The price of Bitcoins is skyrocketing at a head-turning rate—they're currently worth more than $200 each, up from $90 when we wrote this piece on the phenomenon two weeks ago—which has everyone wondering: Is this a bubble? And should you buy anyway in the likely event that...

Samsung's Secret? 'Try Everything'

 Samsung's Secret? 
 'Try Everything' 
OPINION
Jan 11, 2013 12:30 PM CST

Samsung's Secret? 'Try Everything'

Samsung's 'see-what-sticks strategy' actually works

(Newser) - Samsung's success secret isn't terribly sexy: It became the world's largest tech company by revenue—bigger than Apple, Google, Amazon, or Facebook—by flooding the market with dozens of options in a "see-what-sticks strategy" that has more than worked, writes Farhad Manjoo in Slate . Rather than...

I Was Wrong: Well-Made iPhone 5 Is a 'Miracle'

Farhad Manjoo praises the beauty of Apple's 'boring' new gadget

(Newser) - When Apple first unveiled the iPhone 5, Farhad Manjoo was one part of the legion of tech pundits declaring it "boring." But after owning the device for about a week and a half, he's changed his tune—drastically. "The iPhone 5 is the best phone ever...

Websites That Keep You Clicking Are Pure 'Evil'

'Contemptuous' practice must be stopped: Farhad Manjoo

(Newser) - Farhad Manjoo really, really hates it when websites force you to click through page after page—so much so that, he writes at Slate , he has been forced to divorce his wife and abandon friends over their support for the practice. It's "one of the worst design and...

BlackBerry's Last Hope: Windows

 BlackBerry's 
 Last Hope: 
 Windows 
Farhad Manjoo
Jul 3, 2012 12:15 PM CDT

BlackBerry's Last Hope: Windows

Farhad Manjoo thinks an alliance is RIM's only chance

(Newser) - Research in Motion's latest earnings report was such a train wreck that just looking felt wrong. "If you're betting that RIM's toast, you're probably right," writes Farhad Manjoo of Slate . Its grasps for the consumer market have failed utterly, "and it's obvious...

Ditching US Will Save Saverin Around $67M

Pundits call the Facebook co-founder 'ungrateful'

(Newser) - Eduardo Saverin's decision to abandon the United States like an old MySpace account will save the Facebook co-founder at least $67 million in federal income tax, according to a Bloomberg analysis—and those savings will only grow in the not-unlikely event that Facebook stock soars. That's because Saverin...

You Should Buy Apple Stock
 You Should Buy Apple Stock 
Farhad Manjoo
Feb 16, 2012 10:37 AM CST

You Should Buy Apple Stock

Farhad Manjoo thinks Apple still has nowhere to go but up

(Newser) - You might think that with its stock north of $500 a share, after rising 30% in six months, that Apple has peaked financially. But you'd be wrong, writes Farhad Manjoo of Slate . Apple's price-earnings ratio is still a humble 14—cheaper even than Google, Amazon, and even beleaguered...

Microsoft on Comeback Trail
 Microsoft on Comeback Trail 
Farhad Manjoo
Jan 11, 2012 1:50 PM CST

Microsoft on Comeback Trail

It's got some 'just plain great' products, writes Farhad Manjoo

(Newser) - Believe it or not, 2012 could be the year of Microsoft. No, really. "I'll say it: I'm bullish on Microsoft in 2012," writes Farhad Manjoo of Slate . "For the first time in forever, Microsoft has a couple major products that are not merely good enough....

20 Stories