At this weekend’s Conservative Political Action Conference, reeling from its demographic drubbing in last year's elections, the American right—or part of it, at least—is chewing over how to align itself with the nation's evolving mores. And much has been made of their efforts to expand the tent. Maybe undocumented immigrants, for example, shouldn't be deported on sight? And is it possible that gays, too, should have the right to marry? READ MORE >>
Only Liberals Succeed in 'SimCity'
A sure way to lose this video game: impose sequestration
Most video games try as hard as they can to immerse you in a world that's entirely imagined. SimCity, which originally launched in 1989, stands among the very few in trying to replicate the real world as closely as possible. READ MORE >>
What the New Pope Can Learn from the New Economy
Your Holiness, READ MORE >>
If You Rebuild It, They Might Not Come
Brad Pitt's beautiful houses are a drag on New Orleans
Other than the nine hours spent clinging to a rooftop, the loss of the house she'd bought in 1977, and the two and a half years spent shuttling back and forth to her daughter's home in Atlanta, Hurricane Katrina has been pretty good to 72-year-old Gloria Guy. That's because, about five years ago now, Brad Pitt built her a really, really nice house. READ MORE >>
A Bite from the Apple Store
What JCPenney's Failed Imitation Says About Retail—and Identity
In 2011, when the frumpy clothier JCPenney hired Ron Johnson as its new CEO, his mission was clear: Reinvent its retail presence in the image of Apple, where he'd spent the last decade designing iconic stores that became the source of its blockbuster sales. READ MORE >>
In the history of commerce, only one corporation could fairly be compared to a major religion, in that it's amassed a devoted following and often is a source of public debate: Apple. But what happens to a group of believers when the object of their devotion disappoints them? READ MORE >>
Microsoft's Mark Penn Mistake
The tech giant is treating Google like a political rival
When anyone bemoans the prevalence of negative advertising in political campaigns, there’s an easy reply: It works. That’s not always true in the corporate world. Just take Microsoft’s ongoing blitz of attacks on Google, which launched last Thanksgiving under the cutesy tagline “Scroogled!” READ MORE >>
Let no one fault local governments for hiding from the networked era. Nearly every official and government agency in a major metro area uses Facebook and Twitter, and some cities have hosted app development contests to get their citizens coming up with ways to use public data for good. Local electeds can even establish their popular bona fides simply through the assiduous use of social media. READ MORE >>
Hunters Have an NRA Problem
At what point does standing with the NRA become riskier than speaking out against it?
The National Rifle Association, though founded as a club for ex-military marksmen, now makes quite clear that it represents another true-blue American constituency: hunters. It's got a whole magazine for hunting, features hunting prominently on its website, and argues that stricter gun laws would simply kibosh a father's ability to take little Jimmy out shooting quail. READ MORE >>
How Do You Stop Racism on Twitter?
Not by shaming or prosecuting users, for starters
Last week, France embarked on a new frontier of hate speech prosecution: Twitter. READ MORE >>
