Body
A Zero-Nicotine Vape Still Teaches You to Reach for It
Ripple+’s peppermint vape removes nicotine while preserving the draw, flavor and exhale. That distinction matters more than the wellness packaging admits.
Ezra Kimani · 7 min read
The archive
All articles
478 articles, newest first — page 10 of 20.
Body
Wellness Patches Look Medicinal. Their Claims Stay Vague.
Energy, sleep and stress patches borrow the form of transdermal drugs while leaving crucial questions about dose and delivery unanswered. The ambiguity is part of the product.
Ezra Kimani · 7 min read
Money
Your Livestream Return Comes Out of Someone Else's Cut
The refund button hides a chain of reversed commissions, retained costs and downgraded inventory. The shopper gets made whole because everyone below the platform absorbs a piece.
Jonah Reyes · 8 min read
Feeds
A Fresh YouTube Account Is Political Before It Knows You
YouTube can turn a few controlled watches into an ideological profile. Clean accounts and matched histories reveal what the platform adds to the politics you supplied.
Reuben Adeyemi · 8 min read
Feeds
YouTube’s Altered-Content Label Starts With a Checkbox
YouTube labels realistic synthetic media, but the first detection system is still the uploader. The rule is strongest where creators have the most to lose.
Reuben Adeyemi · 7 min read
Feeds
LinkedIn’s Video Feed Turns Your Job Into Creator Inventory
LinkedIn has copied TikTok’s distribution logic while keeping its office manners. The result turns professional identity into a ranking signal and unpaid creator labor into platform inventory.
Priya Nandakumar · 7 min read
Feeds
AI Recipe Videos Don’t Need the Food to Work
A giant cheese-stuffed onion ring kept its perfect shape as it crossed platforms, even while the recipe beneath it changed. That mismatch is the business model.
Priya Nandakumar · 8 min read
Power
A Public Plaza Shouldn't Need a Booking to Host a Protest
Across New Jersey, public plazas are managed like event venues. Calendars, insurance demands and sound permits can narrow protest rights without any legislature voting to do it.
Lena Vasquez · 8 min read
Power
Your Sportsbook Turns the New Jersey Border Into a Data Log
A legal wager depends on a private geolocation system deciding which side of New Jersey’s border your phone occupies. That decision leaves records behind.
Lena Vasquez · 7 min read
Power
A Threat Stays Up When the Right Account Posts It
One May 2020 post was labeled by Twitter and untouched by Facebook. The split exposed the real moderation rule: public interest is an escalation privilege before it is a speech principle.
Kurt Halloran · 8 min read
Power
New Jersey Colleges Treat Protest Tents Like Venue Gear
After the 2024 encampments, public colleges sharpened rules on sound, structures, guests and overnight presence. The result regulates protest like a booked event, with facilities staff holding the switches.
Simone Achebe · 8 min read
Power
A Moderation Appeal Can End Before Anyone Reviews the Post
The appeal button suggests a second judgment. On major platforms, it may trigger an eligibility check, an automated reversal or a narrow audit of the first system instead.
Kurt Halloran · 8 min read
Power
Meta’s Political Content Setting Quietly Moves the Audience
Instagram and Threads can reduce political recommendations without removing posts. The selected setting looks neutral, but it decides which accounts must survive on followers alone.
Simone Achebe · 8 min read
Feeds
YouTube’s Altered-Content Label Fades Outside the Watch Page
Creators disclose realistic synthetic media during upload. Viewers usually get a line in the expanded description, a design that weakens as the video moves into embeds and clips.
Reuben Adeyemi · 8 min read
Feeds
TikTok Autocomplete Can Attach a Scandal Before the Surname
A logged-in account and a clean one did not see identical searches. The durable scandal terms came from TikTok’s wider demand signals, while personalization changed their order and flavor.
Reuben Adeyemi · 7 min read
Feeds
A Recommendation Reset Usually Leaves the Profile Intact
TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube let users restart parts of their recommendations. A paired-account audit shows how to test what the button touches and what it leaves earning money.
Cass Ito · 8 min read
Body
Online ADHD Tests Sell a Diagnosis. The PDF Has Limits.
The assessment may end with a diagnosis, a treatment plan, or a report nobody else accepts. Similar checkout pages conceal very different clinical products.
Tallulah Grange · 8 min read
Feeds
YouTube’s AI Label Disappears Before the Video Does
YouTube can preserve an altered-content disclosure on its own watch page while stripping it from the feed, embeds and copied clips. The label survives as metadata, not as part of the media.
Priya Nandakumar · 8 min read
Body
Your STI Test's Plain Mailer Is the Least Private Part
Discreet packaging hides the test from a roommate. It does not hide the order from payment processors, carriers, lab portals or the vendors behind the website.
Nour Haddad · 8 min read
Feeds
YouTube’s AI Comment Topics Turn Arguments Into Consensus
YouTube’s topic cards compress huge comment sections into clean themes. The useful shortcut also decides which disagreements count and makes conflict look settled.
Cass Ito · 8 min read
Body
A “Leather Cleaner” Label Won’t Tell You What’s in Poppers
Poppers packaging describes a legal fiction, not a safety standard. The formula may change while the familiar bottle stays put, leaving buyers to manage risks the label was designed not to discuss.
Tallulah Grange · 8 min read
Feeds
Instagram Trial Reels Make Strangers Test Your New Niche
Trial Reels reduce the follower backlash that can greet an experiment. In return, Instagram gets a stream of content tested against strangers before creators commit it to their feeds.
Priya Nandakumar · 7 min read
Power
A Mayor’s Facebook Delete Button Does Not Erase the Record
New Jersey records law can follow official business onto a mayor’s Facebook page. Deleting a post or comment may remove it from public view while leaving the government’s copy, retention duty and speech problem intact.
Lena Vasquez · 8 min read
Body
Ketamine Clinics Turn Session Six Into a Renewal Point
Mindbloom’s eye mask lasts longer than its introductory course. Across ketamine brands, the treatment pathway often becomes least specific at the moment recurring payments begin.
Ezra Kimani · 9 min read