Technology & Innovation — August 31, 2010

Spam Is Dead. Now What?

“Despite the death of spam, e-mail hasn’t gotten much easier to deal with. That’s because our inboxes are inundated with legitimate mail.” Slate reports on Google’s new ‘Priority Inbox’.

bigthinkeditor

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

“On Tuesday, Google is launching a remarkable new feature in Gmail—a system that sifts through your daily flood of incoming mail and picks out messages you’re likely to deem important. The new system, called Priority Inbox, is the opposite of a spam filter. Instead of looking for keywords that mark unwanted mail—’Buy now Vic0din 3o% of!’—Priority Inbox looks for signals that a message is especially valuable. Among other things, it analyzes your experience with a particular sender—is a message from someone whose mail you tend to open and reply to?”

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Surprising Science

Climb Out From Under Your Oppressive Mountain of E-mails

The more unread e-mails staring you in the face every morning, the worse you feel. Here’s how to clear out that inbox and, in the process, clear your mind.

A detailed, colorful brain visualization with intricate patterns of green, blue, and yellow on a dark background.

Neuropsych

The most detailed brain map ever

Scientists have created a magnificent portrait of every connection among neurons in a fruit fly’s brain.

Animated characters observe a family walking in a snowy scene through a viewing screen, inside a control room.

Thinking

Everyday Philosophy: Is there such a thing as a “negative emotion”?

There’s little more infuriating in the world than being told to “calm down” when you’re in the midst of a simmering grump.

Starts With A Bang

Ask Ethan: Is antigravity even possible?

Humans, when we consider space travel, recognize the need for gravity. Without our planet, is artificial or antigravity even possible?

World map highlighting the Brandt Line, dividing the Global North and Global South across continents.

Strange Maps

The Brandt Line gave us the Global North and South. It needs an update.

In 1980, Willy Brandt drew a line across the map that still influences how we think about the world.

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Technology & Innovation

Internet Justice

As our knowledge of politics expands, we increasingly set out on our quest for social justice over the Internet, which often results in crazed and ineffectual debates in online forums.