The Weekender: Hurricane recovery in NYC, the Wii U, and Microsoft Research
The best work ever this week
The best work ever this week
Welcome to The Verge: Weekender edition. Each weekend, we bring you important articles from the previous week’s original reports, features and reviews on The Verge. Think of it as a collection of a few of our favorite pieces from the week gone by, which you may have missed, or which you might want to read again. Hope you’re recovering from your holiday feasting: happy reading.
 | Hurricane Sandy's storm surge flooded Verizon's downtown office, rendering miles of copper wiring useless |
 | Nintendo's long-awaited console is finally here. The Wii U tries to once again reinvent the way we play games, pairing the console with a tablet-like GamePad controller. We spent many hours playing with the new console, and trying out its new media features and improved graphics, all to see if Nintendo might have another hit on its hands. |
 | At an open house at its Cambridge, England facility, Microsoft Research conjures up a not-too-distant future where we're operating virtually everything hands-free. Could the next Xbox play host to some of this technology? |
 | No one knows what the perfect Windows 8 device looks like yet, but Acer and Dell both think it involves a few things: a 1080p touchscreen, and a crazy flexible hinge that lets you use the device in a whole bunch of different ways. Sean Hollister looked at both new machines, and tried to decide which — if any — is the right way to do Windows 8.
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 | Despite a long run of promises, alliances, and agreements, neither Google nor its hardware partners have ever managed to completely fulfill Android's promise as an "open" operating system. Joshua Kopstein explores what's wrong and how the developer community is reacting. |
 | Instagram revolutionized the way smartphone users create and consume photography. Is there a similar revolution on the horizon for video, or is it little more than a pipe dream? |
 | Silk Road, an online haven for drug trade and shady merchants, recently went dark for two weeks. Conspiracy theories are running rampant — is it a law enforcement crackdown? Hackers? Or has Silk Road simply outgrown its infrastructure? |
 | Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos claimed recently that the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 is "the best tablet at any price." Can this big, high-res slate take on the iPad's throne? We found out. |
