Are We at Peak HBO? Here’s What We’re Reading Today
The Daily 5 is Sharp’s essential reading list for what’s happening in the world today. Make sure to follow us on Twitter or subscribe to the Sharp Insider newsletter to stay up to date.
Here’s what we’re reading today.
1. The Newsfeed is dying
“The way we consume social media is being transformed and tinkered with as Silicon Valley tries to wring as much engagement, attention, and money out of it as possible. The feed is dying, and we feel shocked by its death — but we shouldn’t.”
2. Are we at Peak HBO?
3. Can Los Angeles manufacture rain?
The county has restarted it’s controversial cloud seeding program in an attempt to kick its longstanding drought. The program involves releasing silver iodide dissolved in acetone, which proponents say has worked in the past. The only problem? There’s not much science to back it up.
4. Puerto Rico is about to default
The US territory has a $422 million (USD) payment due to creditors on Monday, which Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla said his government will be unable to pay. It would be the first state-level default since Arkansas in 1933.
5. We watched hackers take down a power company in less than 24 hours
“Standing outside the main office of a power company in the Midwest, a hacker known as metrofader pulls an employee’s electronic badge out of his pocket and waves it at an outside sensor. The door unlocks, even though it’s a fake card made with data stolen earlier that day.” Read TechInsider’s account of a crew of white-hat hackers exploiting a power company’s security system. Spoiler: It was easier than you’d think.
+1: How one programmer took down the internet by deleting 11 lines of code.
