Each week, we share the top five articles that caught our attention. Here are your must-reads, published here and abroad, for the week of May 1st 2017.
Grumpy Cat is grumpy for a reason
Cats have ruled the Internet forever… but for how much longer? Will “man’s best friend” finally rise to a place of honour with Internet users? The trends say, “ruff!” On social media, accounts like We Rate Dogs and Dogspotting are gaining popularity with captioned photos of dogs that use a new jargon called DoggoLingo. Composed of cute, dog-ified words like doggos, puppers and woofers, DoggoLingo is proving that all dogs are good dogs.
→ Read it on NPR Pocket
Smartphones: 2000-2027
Is the smartphone destined to die out? Matt Weinberger, a tech journalist for Business Insider, thinks smartphones will only be around for another ten years. What will trigger its downfall? And more importantly, what will replace it?
→ Read it on Business Insider Pocket
Build a better breast pump
While cars, computers, telephones and kitchen gadgets have greatly evolved (an understatement) in the last 40 years, the breast pump has not. Used by millions of women around the world, this device remains oddly outdated and has not benefited from the wave of technological innovation that’s defined the 21st century thus far. Babyation to the rescue! This start-up, comprising a team of MIT engineers, entrepreneurs and other thinkers, seeks to bring the breast pump out of the dark ages and into the light.
→ Read it on Wired Pocket
The black magic of Facebook algorithms
Ah, yes, Facebook algorithms! The mysterious formulas that dictate what will appear on your feed, according to your interests… and the source of much controversy. Some have even suggested that they contributed to Trump’s rise, since they created Democratic and Republican “bubbles”. So just how harmful are these algorithms? Jeff Yates, a reporter at ICI Grand Montréal, tested the system.
→ Read it on ICI Radio-Canada Info (In French) Pocket
Buying groceries at Sears?
Sears Canada is looking to expand its offer in the future by selling groceries. That is, providing consumers with Whole Foods-style products at Joe Fresh prices. The department store will soon test this new concept in five Canadian branches. Does this mean we can expect “Sear Days” on organic produce? We’re down with that!
→ Read it on Canadian Grocer Pocket
Prefabricated authenticity
#Sponsored
You can now buy a bottle of Amsterdam air… for just $22. Or open a prefab Irish pub. Or shop in home decor stores that sell “new” antiques. According to Stéphane Mailhiot, our VP of Strategy, it’s the story that we’re paying for.
→ Read it on our blog
In your earbuds: Pod Save The People
Activist and organizer DeRay Mckesson, known for his involvement in the #BlackLivesMatter movement, is keeping the conversation going with this podcast. Each episode of Pod Save The People talks about culture, social justice and politics, in the interest of demonstrating what needs to be done next.
→ Listen to it on iTunes
This week’s favourite thing
Once the backbone of American popular music, the saxophone has been reduced to being a punchline in a joke. Just when did this instrument become so shunned by musicians and music fans? And what led to the decline of the sax?
Image from Mr.Wallpaper
