The Weekender: supporting startups, curbing crime, and loving Lovecraft
The best of the week gone by
The best of the week gone by
is The Verge’s executive editor. He has covered tech, policy, and online creators for over a decade.
Welcome to The Verge: Weekender edition. Every Saturday, we’ll bring you some of the best and most important reads of the past seven days, from original reports, to in-depth features, to reviews and interviews. Think of it as a collection of some of our favorite pieces that you may have missed — or that you may just want to read again. You can follow along below, or keep up to date on Flipboard.
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Feature
The cult of Cthulhu: real prayer for a fake tentacle
The Necronomicon is a powerful spellbook that informs the world of H.P. Lovecraft’s fiction — but it was almost definitely never a real book. Yet a purported Necronomicon has made waves among fans, and no one can say for certain where it came from.
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Detours
The camera next door: how neighbors watch neighbors in New Orleans
Verge Detours’ final stop of the year is in New Orleans’ French Quarter, where residents have blanketed their neighborhood with private security cameras to deter crime. Eerie as it may sound, the cameras might just be working.
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Review
Sony PlayStation 4 review
The next generation of game consoles is finally here, or at least, they're supposed to be. The PlayStation 4 has more power and more versatility than its predecessor, but does it really change the game?
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Report
Christening the USS Gerald Ford: inside the most advanced, most expensive warship ever built
The Navy’s new supercarrier is an incredibly advanced warship that introduces a number of major new technologies. It’s also really expensive — and not everyone is sure it’s worth the ballooning costs.
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Feature
The edge of the abyss: exposing the NSA's all-seeing machine
Just how does the NSA work and how much of your data can it access? We pieced through everything that's been revealed of the secretive agency to find out exactly that.
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Review
iPad mini with Retina display review
Apple’s smaller tablet finally has a gorgeous, high-resolution display to go with its sleek body. It's fast, it's light, and it has a ton of apps: is there anything not to like?
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Report
Startup metropolis: why so many American cities are trying to be Silicon Valley
More than few big US cities are vying to be the next major tech hub, but is there any real chance that they’ll succeed? Giving entrepreneurs the tools they need is easy for local governments, and so far, signs show that it just might work out for some of them.
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Feature
How to buy a smartphone: a guide
Buying a smartphone is getting harder and harder, if only because the choices are all getting so good. We broke down exactly what you should look for and what you need to know when buying your next phone.
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Review
Lenovo Yoga Tablet review
Lenovo has made some of the smartest convertible laptops to date, and now it’s taking some of that eccentricity to Android tablets. Unfortunately, an eccentric design may be all that's worth noting on the Yoga Tablet.
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Report
Afghanistan is growing more opium than ever ahead of US withdrawal
Afghanistan’s opium trade has accelerated as the US military nears its withdrawal, and once it leaves for good, some suspect that economic instability may only make poppy farming all the more prominent.
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