"Route 85 in California now inspires dread. Some of us remember when it was a vision of the future."
Longreads
• Peter Rubin
Daring Fireball
• John Gruber
★ John Ternus Should Reverse Apple’s Slide Down the Advertising Slippery Slope
In September 2014, in the wake of a series of hacks that stole private photos from the iCloud accounts of multiple celebrities, Tim Cook wrote an open letter to customers that was published at apple.com/privacy. Apple seemingly no longer hosts a copy of the letter. (That ten...
Sean Ono Lennon on Steve Vai in Crossroads #guitar #guitarist #shorts
The official trailer for Dune 3 . I am so looking...
The official trailer for Dune 3. I am so looking forward to this and need to find an IMAX theater to see this in December.
The Amble One is perhaps the world’s best-designed golf...
The Amble One is perhaps the world’s best-designed golf cart. It’s street-legal, tuned for off-roading, goes 60 miles on a charge, and starts at $25K.
Taffy Brodesser-Akner: I Survived a Cold Plunge and All...
Taffy Brodesser-Akner: I Survived a Cold Plunge and All I Got Was Everything I Ever Wanted. “You sit in the water for two full minutes, because you are a journalist and some of your colleagues are sent into war zones.”
MapTap is like a quicker, easier version of GeoGuessr:...
MapTap is like a quicker, easier version of GeoGuessr: you’re given a series of place names and you need to click as close as you can to them on a globe.
Introducing Muse Spark 1.1
Introducing Muse Spark 1.1
Following Muse Spark in April, here's Muse Spark 1.1 - the first Spark model to offer an API. Meta claim significant improvements in agentic tool calling and computer use.
There are a lot more details are in the Muse Spark 1.1 Evaluation Report. Th...
Can’t believe I found this in my yard
Longreads
• Krista Stevens
The Extraordinary Life And Quiet Death of the World’s Largest Iceberg
"Forty years after breaking away from Antarctica, the frozen colossus known as A23a died as it lived: drifting around the bottom of the globe, fascinating ardent observers, and offering scientists critical new insights about our living ocean."
Colossal
• Kate Mothes
Rob Hann’s Chromatic and Quirky Landscapes Evoke Long-Distance Road Trips
Hann's subjects range from handmade road signs and vintage buildings to peculiar local attractions.
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Rob Hann’s Chromatic and Quirky Landscapes Evoke Long-Distance Road Trips appeared first on Colossal.
We Are Losing the Ability to Discover What We Didn’t...
We Are Losing the Ability to Discover What We Didn’t Know to Ask. “Scientific breakthroughs, artistic leaps, technological innovation — these rarely emerge from efficient retrieval of known information.”
Do you believe that everybody should have fun or that...
Do you believe that everybody should have fun or that only a few people should have fun? “This is what it means to be entertained in the United States of America in 2026. Want to have fun? Like, the most fun? Get rich, or die trying.”
Daring Fireball
• John Gruber
Meta Sets Default for Instagram Accounts to Permit Content Reuse by AI
Eli Tan, reporting for The New York Times (gift link):
The company’s new A.I. image generator has a surprising twist: It
allows people to use images from public Instagram accounts.
When Meta unveiled an artificial intelligence image generator
called Muse Image on Tuesda...
Stacks : “Run HyperCard stacks directly on your...
Stacks: “Run HyperCard stacks directly on your modern Mac. No emulator required!”
XKCD: What if chess included the offside rule? (If...
XKCD: What if chess included the offside rule? (If someone hasn’t done one already, I’d guess at least one person is working on a playable Football Chess game rn.)
Longreads
• Cheri Lucas Rowlands
Inside the Strange, Fragile World of Keeping Exotic Cats as Pets
"As of May 2026, you can no longer buy or sell exotic cats in British Columbia. What do we do with them all now?"
Longreads
• Cheri Lucas Rowlands
Dopamine TV
"How China’s short dramas are redefining entertainment."
08.07.2026
The Atlas Obscura Podcast
• SiriusXM Podcasts & Atlas Obscura
Running 50 Marathons in 50 States in 50 Days
Dean Karnazes has visited all 50 states in the U.S. But he did it in an incredible way: In 2006, he ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days.
Plus: Have you visited all 50 states? Or are you trying to? We want to hear your story. Give us a call at 315-992-7902 and leave a message. You can also record a voice memo and email it to us at Hello@AtlasObscura.com, or simply email your suggestion. And don’t forget to join Atlas Obscura to connect with your fellow travelers.
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