The Weekender: healing your brain, late-night hacking, and an apocalyptic beauty

The best of the week gone by

by Jacob Kastrenakes

Apr 20, 2013, 2:00 PM UTC

Jacob Kastrenakes is The Verge’s executive editor. He has covered tech, policy, and online creators for over a decade.

Welcome to The Verge: Weekender edition. Each week, we’ll bring you important articles from the previous weeks’ 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.

Feature

Talking heads: how a late-night hack turned into Facebook's next big thing

Chat Heads, an ever-present way to message your friends, might just be the best feature of Facebook Home. We follow the genesis of the project and how it ties in to Facebook’s culture of moving fast and breaking things.

Review

‘Oblivion’ review: a post-apocalyptic beauty that succeeds even while it stumbles

Joseph Kosinski’s directorial debut, Tron: Legacy, was exceedingly gorgeous but fell flat when it came to character development and plot. Oblivion is his follow up — can Tom Cruise carry the film to box office success?
Report

I think, therefore I heal: the weird science of neurofeedback

Neurofeedback has been considered pseudoscience for decades. But now, it’s convincing skeptics and gaining traction in the military, and more scrupulous studies are beginning to test if the practice actually has worth.
Report

Is it legal to shut down cellular networks in an emergency?

Law enforcement can order a shutdown of cell networks in the event of an emergency, but the FCC is still trying to clarify when it’s appropriate and how it should happen.
Review

Twine review: the little blue box that hacks the world around you

What if you could receive notifications for events that happen in the world around you, just like on your smartphone? Twine is a small box and a set of sensors that can do just that — but you’ll have to figure out if there’s a use for it.
Interview

Science writer Mary Roach: ‘everything I learn is pretty shocking and weird’

Mary Roach has written books on cadavers, sex, and space travel, and her latest, Gulp, focuses on human digestion. As part of the launch of our new science section, we spoke with her about the new book, the difficulties of science writing, and how she chooses her eclectic list of subjects.
Report

Taming of the shrewd: can the ACLU free Android from carrier control?

As CISPA makes its way through congress, the American Civil Liberties Union has brought up what it believes is another cyber security issue: the lack of regular updates to many Android phones.
Review

Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 review

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 isn't just another screen size in Samsung's tablet lineup — it's a powerful tablet designed for much more than watching movies and checking your email. It's a direct competitor to the iPad mini and Nexus 7, two of our favorite tablets. David Pierce broke out the S Pen to see if the Note 8.0 can keep up.